BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello all, I climbed Kili a while ago, but I imagine that what I have to say is still valid.

I did not ahve waterproof gloves on the advice of the friend I was climbing with.

Unfortunately he has far better balance and did not need to use his hands anywhere.

I did. We both were probably not wearing enough clothing though we had many of the appropriate layers...

I got to the top and took my glove off to see why I could not really move my left hand.

It was yellow!

Dry gloves were put back on, but they turned a very dead looking colour!

Apart from a horrendous amount of lymph (at the time) leaking from the blisters that had to torn off and still having circulation problems, my hands are fine!

So: make sure you have enough layers and also wear waterproof gloves (although make sure these are warm enough as well...possibly some layers here as well.

Does anyone have further advice (particularly medical) that would be useful?

I find a solid pair of mittens helps keep my hands warmer vs gloves...

Ouch, seton, that sounds pretty painful. Sorry to hear about that! I agree with having good gloves+mittens. I didn't think it would get *that* cold at the top, and was a bit ill prepared (had windproof gloves and polartec mittens. Got frostbite on one of my thumbs. Nothing major -- it was just numb for a few months.

But hopefully this will help someone else who is preparing to go up the mountain!

Thank you, yes it was rather painful!

I have had some other thoughts...

I used technical clothing for rowing, but that was not great, I suggest using climbing specific.

However, I do not have much experience with that.