Equipment list

Day 1 and 7

These days are spent in the rain forests of the lower slopes of the mountain. We experienced very muddy, occasionally drizzly and slippy conditions.

Equipment/clothing required

Gaitors

Shorts

Day pack (30 litres)

Waterproof jacket

Rucksack waterproof cover

Walking poles

Also it is worth ensuring the bags that your porters are carrying are contained within a waterproof plastic bag otherwise your stuff maybe soaked when it arrives at the first nights campsite.

Day 2 to 5

General mid-altitude trekking on the mountain. Daytime temperatures are usually hot although overnight frosts are normal.

Equipment/clothing required

Shorts (trousers in day pack above 4000m)

T shirt

Day pack (30 litres)

Waterproof in day pack

Sun hat

Sun protection creams

Day 6 - Summit Day

Climbing through the night to reach the summit exposes you to temperatures down to -15/20 C. Wind chill can push this figure much lower. The 5-6hr plus slog to the top with minimal breaks keeps you reasonably warm if you have sensible clothing to start with.

Equipment/clothing required

Boots - Thick leather are best

Good quality thick socks - 1 pair sufficient

Liner socks - 1 pair

Gaitors

Day pack (30 litres)

Thermal leggings

Mid layer trousers - eg Ron Hill tracksters

Warm windproof overtrousers

Thermal long sleeve shirts - 2 layers of

Longsleeve T-shirt

Thin fleece layer

Thick Fleece jacket

Windproof jacket

Balaclava

Fleece hat

Very warm gloves

Petzel Headtorch (with spare torch to hand, extra batteries are no good as they are awkward to insert with thick gloves)

Sun protection creams

Walking poles

Cameras

We wanted to record our experiences as well as possible. We decided to take an APS (35-50mm Zoom) and a SLR 35mm (35-70mm Zoom) to cover all formats and to provide backup for each other. The panoramic shots from the APS were very good although the sharp focus of the SLR was worth having as well. Both cameras worked well although the APS seemed to freeze up on the summit and the pictures were out of focus. Thank goodness we had the SLR which produced some excellent summit shots.

We also took a digital video camera that worked well providing a different perspective on the trip to the still photographs. The modern lightweight video cameras are no problem to keep in your daypack and with two batteries pre-charged we managed 40 minutes of film with life to spare. The cold did affect the batteries a little but they seemed to regain their charge when they warmed up. The video also worked well on the top although the digital clock lost it's memory.