Guardian Blunders On Kili Dangers

Unbelievably, yet another national newspaper, is still propagating the myth that 'any reasonably fit person' can climb Kilimanjaro, despite the dangerously short acclimatisation time allowed on many organised trips to Africa's highest mountain.

Even worse, Guardian contributor Sandy Balfour, attempted the near 6,000-metre mountain with his 14-year-old daughter Meg. So what, you might be thinking? But it's well documented that children and teenagers are more susceptible to potentially fatal altitude sickness than adults, yet nowhere in the story is this fact mentioned or explained.

If the text of the article is accurate, Balfour and his group ascended to 4,700 metres in just four days, which is ridiculous. Unsurprisingly several members of the team were obviously suffering AMS symptoms at around the 4,000 metre mark and it seems that Balfour, daughter and team eventually turned back at the 5,100 metre mark.

Ironically, the Guardian / Observer group has previously carried an Ed Douglas story highlighting the appalling situation on Kilimanjaro where groups are charged a daily peak fee, which in turn makes a quicker, cheaper, but more hazardous ascent more appealing. The result is an under-publicised, but high death rate on the mountain, which could be avoided if the peak fee system were revised to a flat rate allowing for extra acclimatisation days.

The failure rate on the most popular Marangu route is a ridiculous 60 per-cent, largely because most schedules do not allow sufficient acclimatisation time on the mountain. There's more information in previous articles below, but if you are contemplating climbing Kili, do some background reading on altitude and look at the detailed intineraries on offer.

Perhaps the best option is to acclimatise first in the nearby Meru area where there are no time / money pressures. Contrary to the Guardian's story, trekking at altitude does not have to involve nausea, headaches and other AMS symptoms. A sensible schedule should allow most people to acclimatise comfortably without significant symptoms making the climb up the mountain hard, but far less of an exercise in potentially dangerous suffering.

And if you're thinking of taking a child or teenager up Kili, then proper acclimatisation is doubly important. The Guardian should be ashamed of its shoddy reporting and cavalier attitude.

You can read the full feature on the Guardian web site at travel.guardian.co.uk.