Why I Said ‘Hell YES!’ To Climbing Kili…Twice!
Hello! Pippa from the Camino Women team here.
In early June this year, we shared a whole bunch of amazing photos from our Annapurna Base Camp Trek that had just finished and a beautiful thing happened that I wanted to share with you…
A new guest saw the photos and got in touch to tell me that the pictures brought back so many wonderful memories of a similar trip she did to Annapurna in 1986, that she decided she just had to go again, and she’s booked to go on our next trip in 2026!
How cool is that?
It got me thinking about how a destination can have such a lifelong effect on you and bring you so much joy, that you just have to go back for a second bite. For me, it was climbing Kilimanjaro.
At 25, I was just ‘new-to-life’ when I summited Africa’s highest peak the first time. I’d lost my mum, who adored travelling, only a couple of years earlier. She had always encouraged me to spread my wings, inspiring me to go off and see the world, and see what I’m made of. I didn’t know, as I began the ascent on the Marangu Route with my five equally excited friends, just how much reaching the top of Kili would come to mean to me throughout the ebbs and flows of my adult life.
With its peak at 5,895-metres, this stratovolcano in Tanzania, (it’s actually 3 volcanos in one!) is one of The Seven Summits, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
Seeing it for the first time was so exciting!
It’s a really, beautiful moment. It first comes into view from a great distance away just standing there all on its own, and you know that you’re here, you’ve set that goal to climb it and you’re not going to let anything stop you. It’s a very cool feeling.
You begin the ascent from the muddy pathways of the humid rainforest at the base, and as you climb ever upwards, the terrain opens out into moorland where these strange alien-like Giant Groundsel trees grow, (if a cactus and a pineapple had a baby, then this would be it!) and eventually into the high-altitude ash and shale moonscape of the ice-crusted summit.
As the air gets thinner, the going gets tougher. It’s estimated that 40 percent of climbers don’t make it to the top, with altitude sickness being the main reason that brings people undone. Declining weather, inadequate fitness and being ill-prepared mentally trail closely behind.
But none of that was on our radar in the days before we commenced our climb. We were on an adventure!
Locals tried to prepare us for the realities of what we were about to embark on, and told us, “Oh, all six of you won’t make it to the summit. It never works out like that. Someone might get altitude sickness.”
Ignorance is bliss.
We made it. ALL. THE. WAY.
We were so happy with ourselves. It was incredible!
Being young and fit it never got to the point where we felt, ‘This is horribly hard’. It was challenging, but it was also just so much fun!
My boyfriend at the time seemed to find it all quite easy, so when the rest of us started to feel the thinner altitude creeping in and it became increasingly difficult to move around, we thought, ‘Let’s make this a little harder for him, he’s having too much fun out here’.
We waited for him to go off for a break and then we loaded his backpack up with some rocks.
He didn’t even notice!
Carrying a few extra rocks in his backpack was nothing though compared to our incredible Tanzanian porters and guides. They carried everything; tents, food, supplies, water – even the toilets. Literally everything we needed for the trek was on their backs or balanced on their heads. There’s a total science to where they’re placed – there’s the guides who worked on the logistics, the cooks, those with superhuman strength that carried the gear and the ones that walked with you, chatting and having a giggle as we snaked our way up the mountain.
They really knew what they were doing and were so skilled in their knowledge and how to keep us all motivated and having a good time, so somehow it just never felt hard.
Even on the final push on the last day of our ascent. We stepped along at a snail’s pace to the summit in the pitch black of night with our head torches on, visibility so poor we couldn’t see anything around us or how much farther we had to go. I think the guides planned it that way deliberately. They know the darkness keeps the doubt away. Just one forward step after the other, slowly, slowly – or as the guides say in Swahili, “Pole, pole.”, (pron: “POH-lay POH-lay”) to meet the sunrise at the top.
And that sunrise was magical!
The skies were so clear we could see the curvature of the earth!
It’s not easy to put into words what standing on the Rooftop of Africa felt like, except to say it was just the most joyous experience. I felt like I could conquer anything.
That feeling of summiting Kili is something I held onto tightly in the years to come when other life challenges came my way that I didn’t sign up for. I didn’t know it standing there as a young and carefree 25-year-old woman with the world at my feet (literally and metaphorically speaking!), that breast cancer would cast its shadow on me twice in the years that followed.
First in 2004 and again a decade later in 2014.
With my physical health threatened it gave me a crystal-clear view of the things that truly mattered to me. I was determined to find a way to come out the other side; to be strong and healthy again so I could grab life with both hands and do the things that brought me joy and gratitude and filled my heart and soul with happiness. Like climbing big mountains again. In the words of my Kili guides, ‘Pole, pole.’ was my way back to the top.
In 2018, four years after my second mastectomy and 26-years after that incredible sunrise, I was living in Dubai when Kili called again. A close friend told me he wanted his 15-year-old son to, ‘learn adventure’ and to, ‘do some hard things’. He was thinking of taking him to climb Kilimanjaro, and as he knew I had been once before he asked, “Will you come with us?”
“Hell YES!”, I answered.
Though I was back to full physical fitness and already had the benefit of knowing what it would take mentally, what I wasn’t prepared for the second time round was the dramatic change in the weather. I’d never been so cold in my life!
It’s not that we were ill-prepared with our gear, the weather was just so different compared to my first summit which was also at the same time of year, December.
It’s funny how life’s little annoyances melt away when you’re sitting in a tent being buffeted by icy gale force winds, thinking you’re about to be blown off a mountain!
Another thing I noticed was how much busier the trek had become.
There are seven routes that lead to the summit at Uhuru Peak, each with their own advantages. This time we had chosen the Machame Route which, (like the Lemosho Route that our Camino Women trek takes) had a high success rate, spectacular views, allowed us to ‘walk high, sleep low’, and gave us the best chance to acclimatise to the altitude.
As we neared the summit and the different trails converged, I realised, ‘Wow, there’s actually quite a lot of teams out here!’. Apart from the occasional bottleneck at a few really steep sections, it didn’t affect us at all. We were so self-focused on just taking each new step to the top.
Or if you were this guy, each push of his pedals!
I guess he never ran into those locals that tried to warn my friends and I off the first time, or he just chose not to listen.
There was another difference to my first summit too; technology had come along way with the invention of the smart phone. People could share their beautiful photos so easily now. No wonder Kili had become so popular.
But even though the number of people on the route had grown hugely, I was glad to see that there wasn’t rubbish lying around everywhere.
A lot of effort was still being made by everyone; the guides and the trekkers to keep the campsites clean and to ‘carry out what you carried in’. It was wonderful to feel that Kili still had that sense of being a sacred place.
And the guides?
They were just as fantastic as ever! Seriously some of the most joyous people you could ever meet. The camaraderie between everyone made it feel like we were one big team.
Summiting Uhuru Peak that second time held even more special meaning for me than the first. I felt like I had just made it to the top of an epic life crusade.
I’d overcome cancer (twice!) and some pretty challenging personal events in the 26 years since I’d last watched the sun light up the earth from the Rooftop of Africa, and here I stood, joyous and grateful (albeit shivering!) with my treasured friend and his 15-year-old son who had just ‘learned some adventure!’ We had much to celebrate!
I think my Mum would be proud to know what I’m made of.
Climbing Kili twice has brought me so much joy and it can for you too!
Here’s a few lessons I learned along the way if you’re thinking of joining our 12-Day Kilimanjaro Lemosho Climb …
- Prepare yourself physically and mentally
You don’t have to be a mountaineer or super fit to hike Kili, but you do need to be prepared physically and mentally for the challenge. Training gradually and consistently over a longer period of time will serve you better than trying to cram it into a few months. Things like running, swimming, walking and hiking with a day pack on will help build up your leg muscles and cardio fitness to be able to cope well in the thinner air. Knowing you have the right physical fitness will help support your mental fitness. What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve. - Don’t take new gear, or unnecessary gear
Make sure you trial everything by wearing it, (layers are essential!), using it or carrying it a bunch of times in the lead up to the trek. You don’t want to be breaking in a new pair of hiking boots and have to suffer through blisters. It’s harder to move in the higher altitude so don’t take unnecessary gear – you won’t be needing that hairdryer and eyelash curler. The wind will take care of these things for you naturally! - Double check your gear
I once did a hike and realised that I’d left the hood of my jacket behind, and it rained the entire time. You’ll have a briefing with your guide the day before the climb starts to thoroughly take you through your kit in case you need to buy anything at the last minute, but it pays to check twice that you have everything. - Protect yourself from the elements
The air is thin and icy, and the wind can be crazy! Sunscreen, moisturiser, lip balm and a face mask will be your best friends to protect your face against the varying weather conditions in the high altitude and will help save your big smile for your epic summit photos! Sleeping at altitude can be more difficult so taking ear plugs to help block out the sound of your tent flapping in the wind is a great way to help ensure you get adequate rest, and those little heat packs to warm your feet and hands are a godsend! - Listen to your body
Altitude sickness can affect anyone regardless of how fit you are so it’s important to listen to your body and if you do start to feel the effects – please don’t be quiet about it! Tell your guides, they’re skilled at knowing how to help you acclimatise and what the symptoms and signals indicate. Don’t suffer in silence. - Age isn’t a barrier
The oldest person to summit Kili is an American woman and great-grandmother, Anne Lorimer. She first claimed the Guinness World Record for being the oldest woman to reach the summit when she was 85-years-old. A year later, an 86-year-old woman took the title from her, so Anne went back and climbed it again when she was 89! A fall at the start didn’t stop her and neither did her broken ribs, proving that it really doesn’t matter how old you are. Being fit and determined does. - Believe in yourself & go after your dreams
Nothing in life worth having is achieved by staying safe and comfortable. When you’re faced with adversity and challenge yourself physically, mentally and spiritually, that’s where you grow. You learn a lot about yourself and it’s where all the good stuff happens that you’ll tell your grandkids about one day. If you just add a tiny squiggle to the word ‘Impossible’, suddenly it becomes, ‘I’m possible.’
So, GO!
Say, ‘Hell YES!’ and chase your dreams whatever they may be.
YOU are possible.
P.S. In case you were wondering about the guy on the bicycle…
He made it all the way to the top too!
If you’re up for a chat about Kili or any of our trips, give me a call on AU +61482073107 or NZ +6498022918, or shoot me an email here.