KILIMANJARO

couscous007

I am climbing Kilimanjaro in approx 4 weeks for charity.

I was looking for advice from all of the experts who frequent this site:

1. What equipment to take - lens/filters?
2. I have a Manfrotto 055x Pro tripod - probably too heavy - any advice/suggestions?
3. Taking care of my lens/batteries?
4. Flip Camera? yes or no? - got the 8GB one - not sure whether to bring it?
5. Any other advice in relation to photographing the journey would be amazing?!

Thank you so much.

Couscous007

dazftw

Travel as light as possible. Bring one camera and 1 or 2 lenses. What lenses do you have?

Get a monopod instead of using the tripod if you can..

Flip camera for video? I've seen them before and they're quite small so I don't see why not.

Hugh_C

I echo dazftw's post. I brought a Nikon dSLR with a 18-200 zoom, damn nearly killed me at altitude, it weighed about 1.5 kg at sea level, felt about 10kg at 5895m

in order of your points:

1. bring a camera and 1 walkabout lens, a wide-telephoto zoom would be ideal, you won't have the energy at altitude to f3ck about with lenses. Bring a circular polariser, that's the only filter to bother with.

2. don't bother with a tripod, you'd need an extra porter to carry it, the emphasis on high altitude trekking is on lightness of kit. You can get walking poles which have a tripod attachment, I got one from www.jackson-sports.com in Belfast. Acts as a walking pole and a monopod. You could borrow mine on the understanding that if you break it, you replace it.

3. it's very dusty up there so try and stick the gear in a pouch. I brought three batteries with me which was one too many. Keep them wrapped in bubble wrap to keep insulated from the cold.

4. one of our party brought a flip camera but only used it at Millennium Camp on the way down - too tired to use it on the way up.

5. you can read about my experience here. It's quite a long read but has proved useful to others.

5a. I didn't bother with Diamox, your GP might try to prescribe it for you. My reason for not taking it is that it can mask symptoms of Mountain Sickness and therefore you'll keep going when you should actually be heading down. Drink more water than you think is possible - I was drinking about 5l a day and hardly peeing at all. Don't look up above Barafu Camp (if you're going up the Machame route), you will get depressed, keep looking straight ahead or down at your toes.

Anything else just ask.

Hugh

kfish2oo2

I was going to suggest that you grab yourself a Hahnel Triad 30 - its amazingly compact and surprisingly stable - but it is heavy. You'd be better off getting a walking stick/monopod combo like Hugh suggests.

couscous007

Hugh_C wrote: »

I echo dazftw's post. I brought a Nikon dSLR with a 18-200 zoom, damn nearly killed me at altitude, it weighed about 1.5 kg at sea level, felt about 10kg at 5895m

in order of your points:

1. bring a camera and 1 walkabout lens, a wide-telephoto zoom would be ideal, you won't have the energy at altitude to f3ck about with lenses. Bring a circular polariser, that's the only filter to bother with.

2. don't bother with a tripod, you'd need an extra porter to carry it, the emphasis on high altitude trekking is on lightness of kit. You can get walking poles which have a tripod attachment, I got one from www.jackson-sports.com in Belfast. Acts as a walking pole and a monopod. You could borrow mine on the understanding that if you break it, you replace it.

3. it's very dusty up there so try and stick the gear in a pouch. I brought three batteries with me which was one too many. Keep them wrapped in bubble wrap to keep insulated from the cold.

4. one of our party brought a flip camera but only used it at Millennium Camp on the way down - too tired to use it on the way up.

5. you can read about my experience here. It's quite a long read but has proved useful to others.

5a. I didn't bother with Diamox, your GP might try to prescribe it for you. My reason for not taking it is that it can mask symptoms of Mountain Sickness and therefore you'll keep going when you should actually be heading down. Drink more water than you think is possible - I was drinking about 5l a day and hardly peeing at all. Don't look up above Barafu Camp (if you're going up the Machame route), you will get depressed, keep looking straight ahead or down at your toes.

Anything else just ask.

Hugh

Hi Hugh, thanks for your advice....can you advise if this is the same type of monopod/walking stick you have....They are not giving a lot of detailed info, however, can tell you the weight is just under 350g, it is a 4 piece pole and reduces to 705mm at its shortest.
Speed Lock system is very quick and easy to adjust and use.
The top grey piece twists off and there is a simple bolt to screw into the camera base . This fitting allows pole to still be used as a pole with camera attached.They don’t make any recommendations on weight of camera, but I imagine it would be fine to use with an SLR and reasonable sizes of lens.

Just received the new Leki Photo System – see –
http://www.jackson-sports.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=8466
No image yet but see link to Leki for details –
http://www.leki.com/trekking/trekkingPole.php?pID=65
Delivery is free to Ireland
Leki Photosystem Carbon

Hugh_C

Nope, mine is a Leki Sierra Photo in 3 sections - as I said above if you want a "go" of it, I'm in the Dublin area and you can borrow it. Knob twists off the top and uncovers a tripod fitting. saves you about 2 stops of shake I think ...

Hugh

couscous007

I'd love to take a look at it!? Can you post a photo of it up?

Also what camera did you use it for?

I Live in Mayo - so getting hold of yours could be difficult?

DaireQuinlan

Hugh_C wrote: »

...
Hugh

Fantastic writeup. I was going to skim it looking for pictures, but I ended up reading the entire thing, enthralled.

PCPhoto

read the whole thing too ... excellent.

Am considering volunteering to go up an photo an expedition to Kilimanjaro in October....should i ? (would less than 2 months training be enough ?)

Hugh_C

Hugh_C wrote: »

I

5a. I didn't bother with Diamox, your GP might try to prescribe it for you. My reason for not taking it is that it can mask symptoms of Mountain Sickness and therefore you'll keep going when you should actually be heading down.

This an oft repeated myth. Acetazolamide does not mask AMS. It speeds up acclimatisation by a factor of two, roughly. If anyone wants more details on how it works I am happy to provide them.

The only common side effect is tingling and numbness.

I don't think I would have made it up Kilimanjaro without it. I got sick at the first camp at "only" 3000m. I started taking diamox and thanks to that was able to acclimatise over the next 3 days at shira camp (3800m), baranco camp (3900m) and karanga camp (3900m) I was just about beginning to feel ok in time to head to barafu and the summit. Without the diamox I don't think I would have recovered from the AMS in time. The slow ascent schedule was a huge help as well, obviously.

Hugh_C

Deleted User wrote: »

This an oft repeated myth. Acetazolamide does not mask AMS. It speeds up acclimatisation by a factor of two, roughly. If anyone wants more details on how it works I am happy to provide them.

The only common side effect is tingling and numbness.

I don't think I would have made it up Kilimanjaro without it. I got sick at the first camp at "only" 3000m. I started taking diamox and thanks to that was able to acclimatise over the next 3 days at shira camp (3800m), baranco camp (3900m) and karanga camp (3900m) I was just about beginning to feel ok in time to head to barafu and the summit. Without the diamox I don't think I would have recovered from the AMS in time. The slow ascent schedule was a huge help as well, obviously.

I think it depends on the dosage. My group was all prescribed 125mg as a prophylactic, whereas other groups were prescribed 250mg. All I'm clear on is that I didnt take it, had a very mild background headache a good deal of the time which I dealt with by chucking a few aspirin down the neck. I also saw "sparks" when i moved my eyes quickly in the dark, something i also experienced in the Himalaya. However, I don't think I experienced AMS per se.

Alison_B

Hugh your blog was fantastic! I am going up the mountain in 2 weeks and it has really inspired and excited me. Thanks all for the tips on cameras and equipment to bring.

Hugh_C

Enjoy it Alison, it'll be a huge experience

couscous007

Thanks Hugh for all your advice, and your blog is truly inspiring...I just got today the below - and its amazing.

http://www.jackson-sports.com/

Leki Photosystem Carbon

I'm heading in 17 days, and I cant wait. Thank you so much.

mckildare

Hope the OP (and anyone else!) is enjoying the start of the climb now, I'll be looking forward to see some pictures of your experience please!

@Hugh, I remember reading your blog along with so many others in the few weeks before I headed for Kili. It was such a great write up I saved a quicklink to it and when I came back I re-read to compare my experience.

Although we were only 2pax (I was the one who booked so my friend became known as plus-one by the porters :pac::pac:), the route was step for step so it was lovely to see that for each of the pictures you posted in the blog I had a very similar one. While I'm typing this I'm looking at a peek of the peak photo when the clouds parted for a brief moment, in the same position as yours on Day 5 morning, I have it stuck on my wall at my desk

We were lucky with the weather, it rained only once, but on summit morning it was overcast and -15, my reserve platypus leaked on the way up and the porters were laughing at the icicles hanging from my rear , so our shots from the top were fast and without any real subject A few more working brain cells would have been nice. Your Icefield shot is great!

Had I the photography bug before I went, I would have bought a decent camera and gear rather than a borrowed film SLR which I hadnt a clue how to use and a Fuji P&S as backup. Still, my friend bought a Nikon P90 for the trek and with his trigger finger we had several hundred photos to go through. You can never take too many snaps!

Now 2 years on, I am looking to scan the 8 rolls of film to digital. I had them all developed so whichever is better, the negatives or the prints, if anyone knows where I can get a good deal on scanning I would love to know please and thanks

The only way is up!
Martin

pete4130

2 charged batteries, one in your jacket pocket nice and warm for when the cold one gives up, then swap and repeat as the one in use gets cold.