BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello,

We are headed up in March and were wondering about sleeping bags. I have a -3C bag and am planning to use it for the hike. My only concern is at Barafu since it might get a little colder than that. I was thinking that if it does get cold, I can always put on a toque and some light fleece.

Can anyone relate how cold it gets up there?

Thanks,

Tim

The sleeping bag I rented last month on Kili, was -20c plus it had a microfibre cocoon liner. I was toasty warm. You certainly don't want to have to go to sleep or get up cold, that would suck! About the temperature-it is chilly at Barafu, but you have one thing going for you already-you are from Canada, like I am and are used to cold,snowy winters! If you don't mind going outside on a cold day at home, you will be fine! Have fun!

Sassysus,

Cold is a relative concept, a nice dry -20C is fine to be out in while a humid -10C calls for hanging out by the fire. If I understand correctly the weather up at Barafu would be around hover around freezing during the day and then drop 10c or so during the evening. Does that sound about right? Is it a humid cold?

When we go to bed before the summit (I am guessing about 6pm) it will be just below freezing and then the trip up will be coldest just before sunrise. I would imagine the coldest it would get would be around -20 to -25c at about 5 in the morning. The nice part is that we will be moving and creating our own heat so it should not be that bad - except for freezing water and any wind chill we would have to deal with.

Does that sound close to your experience?

Regards,

Tim

Hi Tim,

Depending on how warm you sleep (and the brand of bag), a -3C bag maybe a bit cold.

I just got back from Kili and was measuring the temperature in my tent (3-season) at Karanga and Barafu. Inside our tent, it got down to 0C at around 4am at Karanga - which was probably the coldest temperature at which we slept on our trip.

I was actually cold in my 0F bag at around 4am or 5am.

Outside will definitely be colder than this at night and drop to maybe -5C. During the day, Barafu can get really hot inside your tent (30C) as the sun is very strong, but the air temperature probably hovers around 18C. Keep in mind that Barafu is really, really windy and dry because of the altitude.

Thanks Mate,

I will keep your comments in mind. It is interesting that Karanga would be cooler than Barafu considering that it is about 2000' lower. I am trying to balance weight and cost and am considering wearing fleece if it gets cold. - Cheap Canuck

We went for a 4 hour hike in -18c this weekend just to test how our gear worked and it was fine - doing a sleepover is another concept.

Did you keep your boots in your sleeping bag? I heard it was a good trick to keep them warm at night.

Regards,

Tim

I think you feel the cold sleeping at Karanga because you're there at the coldest part of the night - 4-5am.

At Barafu, if you're doing the midnight climb, you're out of bed at 11pm before the temperature is at its lowest.

I think I felt coldest in my tent at Karanga and Lava Tower camps (I did the Shira route).

My sleeping bag was only about -5C rated, so all but night 1 I slept in thermals with a fleece jacket and beanie. I used my thick fleece pants as a very comfy pillow too! ;-)

I didn't keep my boots in my sleeping bag, just in the little storage vestibule in the front of the tent. I had no problem with them getting cold. I just wore 2 pairs of socks on summit night. Thermal liners and thick fleece socks over them.

I always kept my pair of running shoes there too, pre-laced loose enough to slip on without being so loose that they fall off...good to quickly get shoes on for a late night toilet stop ;-)

Thanks for the info,

I was thinking of much the same setup. I was thinking of fleece pants to hang out in the camp with, they would probably be too warm to wear while hiking - but sure nice to have when you want to stay warm.

Were you staying in 2 person tents? People have a way of keeping tents warm.

Regards,

Tim

Yeah, 2 person tents. Some of our group managed to get a tent to themselves though.

I found 2 people was a bit cramped when it was time to pack up etc. But generally the tent was at least 5 degrees warmer inside than outside.

The only time you might wear the fleecies while you're walking is on summit night. I did (though I wish I'd taken them off before coming back down to Barafu...they were soaked with sweat when I got back to camp and didn't dry out until the day after I was back at Arusha! ewww!).

Hi I will be traveling through africa for four months and have very limited space in pack -was wondering what are the most important thing to bring if I was to hike Kili?
I will bring the normal thermals/sweaters/etc however, am not sure how much layers to bring given that I will only be needing them for a week during the trek.
If anyone knows if there are jackets/pants etc you can rent i would love to hear back!

You should be able to rent a down duvet jacket from your operator. A few people in my group did that. You can rent sleeping mats too, which I recommend if you don't need one in your prior travels. Ditto sleeping bag.

Not sure if you can rent warm fleece pants though. Could be worth taking them anyway, because when you roll them up they double as a nice pillow!

hi Coxy
thanks for replying
from Donavan's response it seems that they don't have much equipment for rent -the only thing i really need in jacket/pants and gaitors....was just curious which tour operater your friend went with that also rented the equipment?

I went with the African Walking Company. They had a stock pile of sleeping bag mats, jackets etc. You just had to let them know well in advance you wanted to hire them and they made sure they had them available for your trek, and delivered them to the hotel the day before we left for the mountain.

I'm sure they're not the only operators that do that.

As for gaiters...there's always a lot of debate about their necessity. I imagine they're much more useful if the weather is bad and so there's lots of mud on the track. For us it was fine almost the entire way, and I only used my gaiters on summit day to keep the scree out of my boots on the way down.

Only 1 other person in our group bothered with them from memory.

So I guess if you aren't going to buy them, or borrow a pair off someone at home, it may not be worth even paying the money to hire them. Personal choice though.

Hey TimD,

I'm starting my hike up Kili on March 9 and taking the Lemosho Route with Tuster Trails.

When are you going up?

Andrew
Ottawa, Canada