BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello Everyone,

I'm planning a trip with a friend of mine in December and I was thinking about spending a night at crater. It's going to be a unique and once in a lifetime experience. However, I know the risk of spending 24 hours at 18,500 feet shouldn't be underestimated.

My outfitter (Team Kilimanjaro) has suggested spending the night at crater after summit to climb high and sleep low. I live in Atlanta and have no experience in high altitude training except when I climbed Pikes Peak (14,000 feet).

What are your recommendations in this regard? Did you consider adding Crater excursion to your itinerary? How was the experience in terms of AMS for those who actually did spend a night at crater.

Cheers!

Only 5% of all trekkers visit the crater, maybe even less since the close of the Western Breach in 06'.
I found it a "not to miss" experience.
I have been posting a "picture of the week" all year on;
www.mtkilimanjarologue.com
The current photos are from the crater as my images move up the mountain to the summit and down again.
Camping at 18,800-ft next to the glaciers was awesome.

Good luck!

The 3 companies I have narrowed it down to all have on the itinerary to sleep at the crater. They "say" it is to avoid that night summit and of course acclimitize.

I'm going with Team Kilimanjaro in December. Their strong caution is this. Never spend a night at crater on the way to summit. According to them you should spend a night at Crater after having summitted so you can climb high and sleep low.

My intent is to see the crater but not necessarily sleep there at 18,500 feet. So we are going from summit to the ash pit and around the crater and finally down to the camp. This, I believe, gives us the opportunity to see the crater but not expose ourselves to high altitude overnight stay.

Good luck with your trip.

I will be very interested to hear about your experience with Team Kilimanjaro, as they are on my current list of possible Kili guides - please be sure to post after your trip! I'm planning to trek Kili next summer.

Rupesh,

I looked on the Team Kilimanjaro website and looked at your 6 and 7 day climbs. Neither one "climbs high & sleeps low" even though they call their routes "acclimatization routes". They are both 6 or 7 day slogs up the mountain.

Your summit day leaves from Barafu Camp like most everybody else. It takes 7.5 to 9 hours to reach the top if you can make it. The down hike to Mweka takes 5 to 7 hours. That is a 12.5 to 16 hour day before you even think about a walk, down to, and around the Reusch Crater (5 miles) or 2 miles just to look in and head down.

I'm not trying to scare you, just be prepared for a long day.
Less than 5% of summiteers ever see the Reusch Crater.

As for AMS. Even taking 8 days to get to the crater top, both my son and I could not sleep because of Cheyne-Stokes breathing.
(Waking up with the feeling of suffication) This is a common altitude issue, however, I never heard of anybody else experiencing it...most people sleep like babies...must be cause we are from Wisconsin.

Ask your outfitter about their evacuation protocol and health monitoring. Most deaths on the mountain come from guides not knowing you are sick and not having a plan to get you down if you become sick.

I too look forward to hearing about your trip on these pages.

Have a great time...

Erratum:

We note that the above post says:

"I looked on the Team Kilimanjaro website and looked at your 6 and 7 day climbs. Neither one "climbs high & sleeps low" even though they call their routes "acclimatization routes". They are both 6 or 7 day slogs up the mountain."

Please be advised that the above poster's claim 'Neither one "climbs high & sleeps low"' is utterly false and is an unsubstantiated fabrication.

1. Our 6 day Machame climb has a minimum climb high, sleep low elevation differential of 658 vertical metres.

2. Our 7 day Rongai Climb - the very climb that Rupesh is climbing as I write - has a maximum climb high, sleep low elevation differential of 912 vertical metres; by far the greatest differential of any route on the mountain. This route is however, unique to TK.

Sincerely,

TK.

Team Kilimanjaro - It's ridiculous to climb the Machame route in 6 days. You guys should know that. You know how hard it is to hike from Barranco Camp to Barafu Camp in one day, sleep for a few hours, and then try to summit Kilimanjaro and return down to Mweka Camp. I haven't read your itinerary, so please let me know if you have a better way of doing it.

All this said, in the context of a Kilimanjaro climb, it is indeed advantageous to minimise unnecessary exposure to high altitude prior to summitting, but certainly not at the expense of being in a better position to assault. Those who fail on the Machame Route will far more likely fail because of fatigue, sleep deprivation / inadequate rest and depleted reserves during the assault, than because of failing to acclimatise adequately. Starting from Karanga within the same 24 hour period as that in which a climber summits means that they will have to move 640 vertical metres to Barafu, rest there for just a few hours, probably getting no more than 2-3 hours’ sleep, before being woken late the same evening as the day in which they satrted from Karanga, to continue a further 1,215 vertical metres to the summit.

In my experience, climbing 1,855 metres within 24 hours with no more than 3 hours’ sleep within this period (which is what is required on the conventional 7 day Machame Route that TK do not usually use), makes summitting much harder than if a climber is instead afforded a full nights’ sleep, a day’s rest, the opportunity to replace depleted reserves, carbo-load and re-hydrate, and then only have to climb 1,215 metres to the summit within a 36 hour period. That said, if climbers are quite senior and the guide judges that the 9.4km (5.8 miles) leg from Barranco and Barafu will over-exert them, we will always revert to the conventional 7 day Machame Route.

Hi,

We just got our itinerary and it shows a night in the crater. Which actually sounds pretty cool now. The idea is to leave Barafu at 6am and then spend the night at Crater Camp after the summit.

I would guess that if the crater camp is at 18,000 it would get to -16C over night. Does that sound about right? I would imagine that there is snow to make water from, or do you think the water would need to be carried in?

Regards,

Tim

Hi Tim,

You are in the ball park with -16C at Crater Camp.
My sleeping bag was rated for -28C. It was over kill at the lower camps (I simply unzipped it) but kept me nice and warm at Lava Tower, Arrow Glacier & Crater Camps.

I don't remember where our porters got the water from. Unless they chopped a chunk of glacier off for the pot, the closest spring on my map is in Arrow Glacier Camp. The air was too thin to figure anything out.

When we were on the crater there was no new snow but the glaciers were of course still there. I've seen photos of both extremes. Snow comes and goes. It is the glaciers that are getting smaller.

You will not regret your trip into the crater. Very few souls ever experience it.

The very best of luck to you.

ED