Two weeks following the tragedies of September 11, my husband Doug and I decided to proceed with our travel plans to climb Kili, which is unlike any other climb we've ever done.

Pack weight
We were only permitted to carry light day packs while our 3 porters carried everything else (including watermelon, china, camp stools, and thermos). On a six day climb, you'd normally anticipate carrying 60+ pounds. The heaviest pack we carried on this was about 20! Never before have we had hot tea, roasted peanuts, cookies and popcorn served to us upon arriving at camp -- an experience every climber must have at least once in their lifetime.

Altitude
The highest we'd been prior to climbing Kili, at 19,340', was Rainier, at 14,411'. Doug had no trouble with the elevation until Lava Camp (camp 3), when he decided to take some Tylenol and a half-dose of Diamox. I had a real scare at Shira Camp (camp 2) when I suffered from a horrendous headache, but pressure breathing, Tylenol, and a half-dose of Diamox seemed to help.

The runs
DON'T eat the tomatoes unless you remove the skin first, and NO MEAT after day 2! The repeated exposure to warm sun on climbing days, followed by cold nights, is NOT a good thing! Fortunately, we had the necessary medication -- and extra for one of the porters. We also started adding chlorine tablets to all water, even the water our assistants boiled for us.

The foot
6 weeks prior to our trek, I'd broken the fourth metatarsal in my right foot. After very aggressive self-rehabilitation, I felt it was ready enough to be able to tackle 60 km of trekking with poles for assistance. Going up was not a problem; the scrambling was very straight forward (thanks to much climbing experience over the past years) but coming back down was quite challenging since I still couldn't push off the right forefoot without pain. The only time I really lost style points was going across the rock-strewn glacier in the crater -- fortunately, I didn't succumb to the urge to crawl, though I wished desperately for an ice axe or crampons.

Route Recommendation
We highly recommend the Western Breach route for anyone interested in climbing Kili who also wants more of a challenge than the standard Marangu and Machame routes (known respectively as the Coca-Cola and Whiskey routes) or for those who would like to get away from the masses. By choosing this more difficult scrambling route, not only did we get to see some spectacular scenery, but we also had a chance to feel like we were, at times, alone on the mountain„there were only ten other tourists on our route headed for the summit from Arrow Glacier the same morning we were. By the time we descended the eastern slopes to Marangu's camp 4, which appeared at quick glance to be overcrowded, filthy and quite unpleasant, we were extremely pleased with our choice of ascent route through the Western Breach. We weren't even aware of the exposure, as much of it was climbed by moonlight. "Pole pole" - slowly...