Kilimanjaro safety

Most of what keeps people safe on Kilimanjaro is unglamorous. It is a sensible itinerary, somebody observing you carefully twice a day, and a guide willing to end your climb when you would rather they did not.

Equipment matters, but it is the last line rather than the first. Oxygen bottles and pulse oximeters get the marketing attention because they photograph well. The things that actually prevent emergencies are decisions made weeks earlier, at booking.

The hierarchy, in the order that matters

1. The itinerary

More nights on the mountain does more for your safety than any piece of equipment anyone can carry. An eight-day profile with five nights below 4,000 m produces fewer emergencies than a six-day profile with a well-stocked medical kit. This is the decision, and it is made before you arrive.

2. Pace

Walking too fast in the first three days is the most common self-inflicted problem on Kilimanjaro. Guides who enforce a slow pace — and who are willing to be irritating about it — prevent more altitude illness than they treat.

3. Observation

Twice-daily checks catch problems while they are small. The value is in the trend, recorded across days, not in any single reading. A climber whose numbers and answers are drifting is visible days before they are in trouble, but only if somebody is writing it down.

4. Guide judgement and turnaround authority

Somebody has to be able to say no, and it cannot be the person with altitude affecting their judgement. Clear authority that sits with the lead guide, and is understood by the client before the climb starts, is worth more than any item of equipment.

5. Equipment and evacuation

Emergency oxygen, first aid, communications and an evacuation plan. These matter, and they are what you fall back on when the first four have not been enough.

What to ask any operator about safety

These are the questions we would want asked of us:

• How often are health checks done, what is measured, and is it recorded?
• Who has authority to turn a climber around, and can the client overrule it?
• How many assistant guides accompany a group of my size, and who descends with a climber who has to go down?
• What emergency equipment is carried, and on which climbs?
• What is the evacuation plan from each camp, and who pays for what?
• What medical training do the guides hold, from which body, and how recently was it renewed?
• How do you communicate from the mountain?

Specific answers with numbers and procedures are a good sign. Reassurance without detail is not.

Risks other than altitude

Altitude dominates, but it is not the only thing:

• Cold. Summit night at −15°C with wind is genuinely dangerous if you are underdressed or wet. Hypothermia is a real risk on descent when you stop moving.
• Falls. Most injuries happen on the descent, on tired legs, on loose scree.
• Dehydration. Compounds altitude illness and is easy to fall behind on.
• Sun. Severe UV at altitude, including on cloudy days.
• Stomach illness. Ordinary at home, consequential at 4,500 m.
• Pre-existing conditions. Which is why declaring everything to a doctor and an insurer matters.