BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi there. I am new to the forum but I've already found a lot of really useful info here.

I am hoping to climb Kili in September but finding the choice of operator difficult. My number one priority is having a guide who pays attention to the health of the climbers and knows when a climber should descend - I have read so many stories about guides ignoring symptoms etc. With that in mind, the safety focus of operators such as Tusker are very attractive to me - however, on the Lemosho itineraries on the Tusker website thay say "You'll be running short of breath here, so we'll give you oxygen, if you need it." To me, band-aid oxygen seems to be a risky proposition and at odds with the otherwise strong safety focus of Tusker. I'm no expert, but I wonder if the use of oxygen in non-emergencies is a method of boosting success rates to sell future climbs. And I wonder if there would be some pressure from guides to take oxygen rather than descend (I hope I'm wrong).

Basically, I would like to be able to rely on a well-trained guide who knows when its time to descend. I would really appreciate hearing about experiences of oxygen use on Kili and the Tusker approach to this (also recommendations for quality operators with top notch safety-conscious guides would be greatly appreciated).

Thanks so much in advance for your help.