I bought this book – How to Conquer a Mountain: Kilimanjaro Lessons – and read it in an afternoon. I felt a bit more confident about my ability to reach the top before, than I do now, having read it! Maybe my research should stop right here.
The book is written by a couple, and the woman, Sue, must be about twenty years younger than me – but she struggles with the climb really from the very first day! She gives details of her pulse rate and blood pressure, which sent me shooting off to Stewart’s blood pressure monitor to check my levels. When I first spoke to my GP about the climb – see the blog of 12th February – he said my blood pressure was slightly raised, but that it might be because HE was running late, and that I should come back again in a month. When I went back a month later, the doctorwasn’t running late and my blood pressure was fine. He said that I should check my blood pressure every so often during the coming months, and if it was more than 150/85, that I should check back with him before I go. Stewart, of course, has every handy gadget known to mankind, so it has been easy enough to use his magic monitor. My blood pressure readings have not been higher than advised during the last few months, and my pulse rate has varied between 55 and 72, which is pretty low, I think. Sue Irving had a resting pulse rate of 103 just before starting the climb – and it seems that she did have some undiagnosed health problems. She made it as far as the third day of the climb, before she was told in no uncertain terms that she was to go back down again – so her husband John continued up and made it to the top, while she had to twiddle her thumbs in a posh hotel for the rest of the week. She was told that she had altitude sickness, which resulted in her having trouble with her breathing.
I can see that Americans, as one would imagine, have ingenious ways of preparing for climbing and breathing at altitude. They have various machines that simulate the conditions at the top of mountains. You can lie in bed at home at night in a sort of tent, which deprives you of oxygen while you sleep, by way of preparation. I think that’s one sort of preparation that I will avoid! I will just keep on with lots of long walks, Pilates and the odd bit of cycling.
The Irvings took the same route up the mountain as we will: The Lemosho Route. I am glad to see that they refer to it as being scenic and non-touristy. They describe climbing through all the climate zones. I don’t think you could do that anywhere else on earth in the space of a week. I love the idea that we will be walking through a bit of jungly rain forest and also through a desert before we get to the snowy bit on top. One of the guides points out to Sue some of the wonderful flora en route, such as pink impatiens plants (Busy Lizzie to most of us) which have grown to the size of bushes, red fireball lilies with flower heads the size of tennis balls and daisy-like everlasting flowers, which are dotted all over the Shira valley floor. I am really looking forward to seeing these exotic plants, as well as the more mundane heather, which grows among strange palms and cacti.
However, it isn’t all loveliness! There is another animal to worry about in this book, adding to the leopards and rats (10 March), fire ants (7 May) and big scary birds (13 May), which I have already blogged about! John Irving has a mouse nip his toe while he is dozing in his tent and the mouse proceeds to scurry all over the place and then sits on his pillow to get its photo taken! He describes the rodent as having interesting red fur with white stripes on the back – which might be lovely BUT NOT WHAT I WANT IN OUR TENT, though I guess Oscar may think a bit of wild life would be intriguing.
What I did find interesting is that the Irvings seem to have been either starving hungry or falling asleep – sometimes both simultaneously – most of the time when they were not walking. I had envisaged having longish periods of inactivity and card game playing, but that doesn’t seem to have been their experience.
I think what we should take from this book is that there are several different possible outcomes from our trip, and whatever happens, we need to view it in a positive light. After all, Sue didn’t even get half way up, but has co-written a successful book about her journey. It is the journey that matters, people often say, not necessarily getting there.
We would love if all three of us got there, but even if we don’t, we will have had an amazing experience, raised a substantial sum for worthwhile charities and, who knows, we might write a book too!