Training at Altitude

The training has officially started, we travelled to the French Alps, Meribell, in September to feel the full affects of Hypoxic trianing (training at altitude). 

We had a full week of fitness training and hiking up mountains that went as high as 2000 meters. The first mountain we hiked, we both found it very difficult, I don't think either of us had realised until that hike how unfit and unprepared we both are for the Kilimanjaro climb. 

It took a few days for our bodies to adjust to the altitude and by the end of the week we were finding it a bit easier. We weren't getting out of breath so easily but still the climbs were really hard, and our knees were feeling the full impact of the continuous strains of climbing up and down a mountain. 

Half way through the week we travelled to La Thuile in Italy to hike up a mountain. It was a very cold and rainy day, which made it more difficult to climb up the slippery rocks. Our boots and hiking poles were tested to the max that day, but they got us both up and down that mountain with only a few near stumbles. At the time the climb was really hard, we were wet, tired cold, but we were both determined to go on and our aim was to make it to the top. 

Due to the poor weather our guide took the decision to climb down early as it was steeper at the top and the weather was only getting worse. Even though this decision was out of our hands we both couldn't  help but feel that we hadn't achieved what we'd set out to do. It gave us a glimpse of what it would be like if decisions like this were to be made by the doctors and guides whilst scaling Kilimanjaro. 

Having carried out a lot of research into the Kilimanjaro climb, Altitude sickness - commonly known as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) - is one of the main factors taken into account by the doctors and guides when deciding whether or not to continue with the climb or to head back down. There will be nothing either of us will be able to do if we were to be unfortunate enough to develop AMS. This really scares us both because Acute Mountain Sickness can progress to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) which are both potentially fatal. This is something that literally we can not control but it will determine if we make it to the summit or not.  

We both came back from the week of training knowing where our strengths and weaknesses lie, we got a good feel of what it's like to climb a mountain, we got to test some of our equipment out eg walking poles, boots, rucksacks and waterproof clothes and most importantly we trained at altitude. So all in all the week was a success, it has given us the kick start needed to continue with our training and we are now in full swing with our intense training program which we started at the beginning of October .  

Check back soon for more updates on how our training and fundraising efforts are coming along. 

Lisa and Sinini x