Bermudian Lawrence Grant undertook a feat this past January that few in the world will ever duplicate — he climbed 19,340 feet to the summit of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. The fourth highest peak in the world — behind only Everest (Nepal), Aconcagua (Argentina) and Mt. McKinley (US) — Kilimanjaro is also the tallest free standing mountain range in the world. Mr. Grant wrote firsthand for The Royal Gazette about his experiences

I booked my trek through my friend Achmed in Africa who owns and runs Base campsite tours in Arusha, Tanzania.

Our friendship started in 2002, when I made my first trek on Kilimanjaro. Since then I have trekked to the summit of Mount Meru (14,979 feet) and Ol Doinyo Lengia, an active volcano around 9,524 feet.

The following is a brief account of my recent return trek on Kilamanjaro via the Machame Route.

One of the things to consider is what operator you should go with and why the price is so different between the operators. All non-African tour operators charge double and some times triple the price that African operators charge. I have seen the price for a seven-day trek up Kilimanjaro priced at $5,400 when you can get the same tour booked by an African operator for $1,200, so shop around for the best price before you go.

What should you wear on the mountain? Layering works best. Most outdoor sporting shops can provide you with a quick list of what you need to be comfortable. Synthetic performance clothing is the best choice for mountaineering. Regular thermal clothing will provide the warmth but it will not remove the moisture from your body, so stick to things made by Patagonia, Polartec and Icebreaker.

On average you need to have a base layer, middle layer and a water and windproof outer shell and good pair of hiking boots and a few pairs of sock liners and thermal socks. To keep your hands warm use glove liners with mitts supplemented with chemical hand warmers. A woollen hat and hiking poles are a must to reduce the strain on the joints. Use nagene water bottles with liners because the water will freeze on the summit attempt night.

If you go slowly and drink lots of water, around three to four litres a day, your body should adjust to the altitude as you hike.

I also suggest that you bring your own sleeping bag; a four season one with at least a zero degree rating and purchase a silk liner, which will give you an extra -10 degree rating.

To prepare physically for the trek, allow ten to 14 weeks of strength training and cardio work. That would get you in good shape to take on the rigors of hiking around ten to 18 kilometres per day through altitude.

Mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation. Determine not to be denied and that the conditions that you are experiencing at the moment are temporary and they will not last. It will be accomplished one step and one camp at a time.

The Trek: Day One

Started at 11 a.m. after getting the registration sorted at the gate. We hiked from the gate through the rainforest for about eight hours. The distance is around ten kilometres and we stop after reaching an altitude of about 9,800 feet. There were about six other groups starting at the same time. Also several locals were on hand trying to sell last minute gear that they were given as gifts by other trekkers on the mountain.

You could see excitement on people’s faces as they started the adventure. During the trek through the rain forest, you see some very small waterfalls and you hear the birds and the black and white Colobus monkeys moving through the canopy above.

The hike is fairly steep and the trail was quite muddy because of the short rains of December/January. As we hiked, my guide Freddy decided to help out a hungry native by paying him 3,000 Tanzanian shillings — less than $3 — to carry the rucksack which must have weighted about 30 pounds.

At the first camp, my guide informed me that the our luggage must be weighed again — this to make sure porters are not being made to carry too much weight. This spot check will continue for next three camps.

Shortly after we settled into our tents we had our popcorn and a cup of Ovaltine and followed by dinner which consisted of a large bowl of vegetable soup, potatoes and rice and fruit.

Day Two

We hiked for another eight hours up to Shira Hut at 12,300 feet — around six kilometres away. We started early and after a breakfast of toast and oatmeal and Ovaltine. Still gradually hiking higher, we moved from the forest area to the short grasses that is called the Moore Lands.

We crossed the stream onto its west bank and followed the path up the steep rocky ridge, criscrossing a few times before reaching Shira Hut at the base of a semi-circular wall of rocks.

As we ascended the coolness of the high altitude became more apparent. The hike took us through some large boulders in the areas and we passed some small brooks and streams. We had a small packed lunch of lettuce sandwiches, peanuts and a boxed juice and some fruit.

At the main camp it was our staple dinner of vegetable soup and veggies and fruit for desert.

The local pineapple and mangoes were delicious. This camp was an exposed camp and we started to feel the drop in temperature in the evenings.

Day Three

We hiked to Lava Tower, which proved to be a long steep hike, which is around 15,000 feet. We then descended to Barranco hut campsite at 12,800 feet, which is not much higher than our previous camp.

There were lots of little streams and brooks from the melting snow on the mountain slopes. At Lava Tower, you can see the Western Breach route, which is now closed because of dangerous rock slides. This route was made famous by the IMAX film done by National Geographic, ‘Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa’.

My guide Freddy was a porter on that trip. The total time on the trail was nine hours. En route to the camp we got fairly wet in the rain so, I needed to break out my reflective silver blanket after I stripped off the wet hiking gear. This allowed me to quickly stabilise my body temperature at this cold, damp and exposed camp.

Hypothermia is a major threat on the mountain. Every year either porters or tourists die from it.

Day Four: The Great Barranco Wall challenge

The first leg of the hike took us up and over the top of this 700-foot volcanic rock face, which from a distance seemed just too steep but, it is not really that bad. We zigzagged over the rocks and did a little bit of rock climbing. As we went up along the face we had nice views of the camp and a little waterfall at the base of Barranco Camp. After we reached the top it flattened out and the hike became easier. There are lots of lava rocks and a constant mist from the clouds. Our stop today will be Karanga Valley at 13,000 feet.

Hiking will last about five hours today.

We had our dinner and snack before the sunset and explored the camp and socialised with the other trekkers on the mountain. This camp became quite busy as other trekkers from the Lemoshu route stopped also before going on to their final high camp, Barafu.

Day Five

We hiked up to our final high camp before our summit attempt. Here we really started to get a feel for how remote the lower slopes of the mountain are. Lots of jagged and broken rocks and you are out in the open totally exposed to the elements.

Barafu Camp is also the coldest of the camps on this route. Even though it was the coldest camp, we do not spend much time here because the summit attempt started at 1 a.m. in the morning. There is no access to any streams at this camp so any water must be carried from the previous camp.

Fortunately for us, we still had a few bottles of water left. It rained in the afternoon during our approach to camp so I had to go through the exercise of warming my body up before we could do anything else. Total hiking time was around five hours and the distance covered, four kilometres at an altitude of 15,091 feet.

At this camp I started to feel the effects of the high altitude. At one point while I was resting, the tent felt like it had spun and I started to get an annoying altitude induced headache. I mentioned it to Freddy and he reassured me that what I was feeling was completely normal at this altitude.

To make myself feel comfortable, I popped about 125 mgs of diamox. Diamox is used to help the body to acclimate to high altitude and if you take it before you go to altitude it can be really helpful. That evening at dinner I had extra, and I do mean extra, carbs included because the team wanted to make sure that I would have enough energy for my long summit day.

I had my regular large bowl of vegetable soup (which was around three regular size bowls). I had four slices of bread then they brought me French fries and vegetable sauce.

I felt stuffed after the first serving of soup and bread. The food was always very good. It was the high altitude that caused me to lose my appetite but you have to force yourself to eat.

They brought me mangoes and pineapples for the dessert. I couldn’t pass on the mangoes.

Day Six

Summit approach day — Barafu Camp at 15,091 feet to the Summit at 19,343 feet and then to Millennium Camp at 12,500 feet; hiking time round trip 18 hours. Estimated distance is 15 kilometres.

We tried to start around 1 a.m. and expected to be hiking for a large portion of the day. We had hoped to leave around 1 a.m. but the cold air and dampness had caused some of my clothing to get wet. The previous day we had gotten wet again and some of the clothing needed to be dried. Joseph placed some of the wet base layers on the oven and they were able to dry our clothing for the morning hike through the cold.

They heated up two bottles of water and we placed them in the insulated wraps to keep them from freezing. I figure we were the last to leave camp so it was just Freddy, Joseph and myself. The next thing that happened sort of caught me off guard.

Freddy asked me to pray before we left our final camp. So I prayed a short prayer and then Freddy prayed and so did Joseph. The strange thing about this is that Freddy didn’t believe in life after death but he apparently believed in God.

Three days before he had heard me praying ask we walked through the first two camps. I had asked God to hold back the rain because I knew that getting wet out in the open terrain without shelter would be very bad for the expedition. After a brief chat we were off to go to the roof of Africa. I reckon that I had ten pounds of clothing on for the morning hike.

Three layers on my lower body and five layers on the midsection and one layer on my face — a balaclava and the thermal polarec hat and a woollen beanie on top of that with a piece of reflective blanket on top of my head for maximum heat retention as well as one pair of glove liners and mittens with a hand warmer in each. I also had on a pair of thermal socks with sock liner and a fleece liner in the boot of the boots.

The trek was about 17-plus hours round trip from our base camp at Barafu to Uhuru Peak then down to our overnight camp, which for us was the Millennium Camp, which we approached in the cover of night. The temperatures this day ranged from just below freezing to maybe 30 degrees Fahrenheit when the sun is out in the middle of the day — but it can also change very quickly.

The summit is from the south that leads up to a long, winding stretch. It is easier to walk on this side of the mountain then to approach from the north where the loose scree and sheer steepness of the Gillman’s approach is a real heartbreaker, even though it is shorter.

The Stella Point approach is extremely long but Uhuru peak is closer from Stella Point and is just a 90-minute walk through altitude. Since Kilimanjaro was snow covered all the way to the top, hiking speed was greatly slowed.

The snow in some areas, when you stepped on it until it impacted, was about 12 to 18 inches deep. It seemed like the top of the rim was always moving. The more we hiked, the farther we still had to hike.

Well we made it to Uhuru Peak (19,340 feet) and took the mandatory summit shots had a few laughs then we had to make our way down because it was late in the afternoon and we needed to get to our overnight camp.

Day Seven

Millennium Camp at 12,500 feet to Mweka Gate 6,000 feet; estimated distance is 18 kilometres. We arrived at our overnight camp at 12.30 a.m. after going around in what appeared circles. I wondered at one point if Freddy was lost but I think the poor light may have messed up his sense of direction.

At the end of the trek, he asked me for my headlight.

Freddy was not sure if the camp had been moved to Mweka or Millennium Camp. He had sent Joseph ahead to get the porters to break camp and move after 4 p.m. the other day. After a quick late dinner of soup and fruit, I drifted off to sleep after a long summit day. At 7 a.m. we were up and ate a quick breakfast of pancakes and fruit and we were off to the gate to sign the book and pickup the certificate for successful completion of the mountain trek.

At the gate, we said our final goodbyes and thanks. Then my team sang the traditional Kilimanjaro song. Final day of hiking to the gate was about 4.5 hours.