Kilimanjaro & Elbrus

feileacan

Ive just finished 4 years of profesional studying (and working full-time) and am now interested in spending time on me rather than career for a while, I walked to Everest Base Camp in 2008 and loved it and had a thought of doing some of the big high altitude walks, specifically Kilimanjaro & Elbrus possibly this year and Aconcagua early in 2010.

Can anyone recommend companies, books etc ?

tingri

These guys would be good to go with as they go to those places, I went on a trip with them last year and it was fantastic (havent been on any of the trips you mentioned though). A couple of friends have gone on different trips with them as well and only had good reports about it.

http://www.adventurealternative.com/

faceman

Ring this crowd www.tropicalbreaks.com

They are based in Kenya and get far better rates than any western agents. I know the CEO well and always use them for African trips.

Hugh_C

feileacan wrote: »

specifically Kilimanjaro & Elbrus possibly this year and Aconcagua early in 2010.

Can anyone recommend companies, books etc ?

I climbed Kilimanjaro in September with Adventure Alternative. It was a brilliant trip, I've written about it here. I found it well organised and would recommend AA.

Hugh_C

PS I'm contemplating Elbrus in 09 with AA only my wife doesn't know about it yet ...

feileacan

Thanks for all your help, ive contacted AA to get more info and advice

I think ill probably be going with them.

Evil Phil

Hugh_C wrote: »

PS I'm contemplating Elbrus in 09 with AA only my wife doesn't know about it yet ...

When are you thinking of going?

salmonrun

went with "Mauly Tours & Safaris Ltd" in 2004 they were recommended to me by someone who climbed kilmanjaro back in 1998. they were brilliant and very professionally run.

keenan110

I know a friend who did it with Adventure Alternative, said it they were excellent!

Mickeroo

Question, is elberus a mountain you can pretty much walk up, a la Kilimanjaro, or is it a pretty technical climb? Can you climb it solo?

breadmonkey

Do you have to go through an agency to climb Kilimanjaro?

Mickeroo

breadmonkey wrote: »

Do you have to go through an agency to climb Kilimanjaro?

AS far as i know you have to at least climb it with a guide, whether this requires an agency or not i'm not sure.

amulet

i climbed mont blanc in july 08 with 'icicleuk' and they were excellent. they have tours of aconcagua that they run every dec/jan. they really were excellent for mont blanc and i'd hope they would be the same for other tours. goin to elbrus this august with a russian firm called 'lenalp tours'. they seem ok to deal with but its a case of so far so good. one way up kili is to do it for a charity. you just raise a couple of grand and join the tour! theres a bit more to it than that but you get the drift. well done on the everest base camp trek and good luck with everything.

Evil Phil

Mickeroo wrote: »

Question, is elberus a mountain you can pretty much walk up, a la Kilimanjaro, or is it a pretty technical climb? Can you climb it solo?

Afaik the normal route is a snow plod.

ahaskmearse

I climbed Kilimanjaro in october with Gavin Bate from Adventure Alternatives and I have to say he was brilliant.

You have to climb Kilimanjaro with a registered company in Tanzania. They ask all of the companies details at registration at the start of the climb. In my case it was Machame gate

mayotom

Mickeroo wrote: »

Question, is elberus a mountain you can pretty much walk up, a la Kilimanjaro, or is it a pretty technical climb? Can you climb it solo?

Its much tougher than Kilimanjaro, mainly cause the weather can me more extreme, My GF climbed it in July '07 and got caught in a sudden storm, that caught out a lot of very experianced climbers.

8 people didn't make it off Elbrus that weekend,RIP thank god my GF's group made it down safely although shaken

Irish Traveling

I've climber both. There is no comparison between Killi and Elbrus. Even though Elbrus is not as high it is a lot tougher. The weather changes very fast and as a result a lot of people die on that mountain. 13 people died the month before I climbed it, all in one group!! We also got caught in very bad weather, which is very scary if you have not been in similiar weather before.

Having said that, it is not an extremely tough mountain if the weather is with you, but you will need to be able to use an ice axe and crapmons. These are not required in Killi. Killi is just a long slog.

Alll these mountains can be climber cheaper if you go with local guides but you too take a bigger risk. In both cases we used local companies which were very good and were often used by western companies anyway as there "local guides".

K09

Hi,
I am thinking of climbing Mt Blanc and/or Elbrus this year.
I have previously done Kilimanjaro but have done very little since.

Anyone done Blanc/Elbrus? How technical or difficult were they?

Thanks.