The Scary Bit

"Extreme fatigue, persistent headache, dizziness, a loss of appetite and disturbed sleep" This cheery sounding description leads into a more serious side to our Kili adventure, altitude sickness, or as it is often referred to Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). The symptoms above sound like (and indeed are compared to) a hangover but actually refer to mild AMS as experienced by the majority of people who attempt this climb. You might think a lack of fitness would be a major reason people fail to reach the summit but this is not the case. The vast majority of those who fail to complete the trek fall victim to AMS. So what is it? And why are we taking it very seriously indeed?

We all know we need oxygen to breathe and many of us have a vague idea about the air getting thinner as you get higher. At sea level oxygen forms around 20% of the atmosphere and this percentage remains constant as the altitude increases. What does change is air pressure, this reduces by approximately one tenth for every 1000 metres of altitude. It is air pressure which helps push air into our lungs as we breathe so as the pressure decreases the amount of air we take in with each breath reduces. AMS symptoms can start to appear at 2500m and Kilimanjaro's peak stands at almost 6000m meaning that climbers take in 50% less oxygen than at ground level.

Ok, so mild AMS although unpleasant doesn't sound unbearable, a small price to pay for the experience surely? After all you can just take an aspirin can't you? And anybody can cope with a few days of feeling a bit tired? Unfortunately this is where the real risks begin and I start to scare our mothers (sorry mum!).

I have described mild AMS but there are two further stages - moderate and severe. If you are unlucky enough to progress to moderate AMS the nausea becomes actual vomiting, aspirin and paracetamol will not touch the headache and you will be permanently out of breath even when sitting still. Not pleasant. But it can and does get worse.

Severe AMS has a new range of fun symptoms on top of the existing ones including confusion, slurred speech, lack of coordination and an inability to stay awake. It can also include a gurgling sound on breathing, a watery cough and blueness around the lips. The risk of death is very real. At this point the only option is to go down the mountain, and quickly. Figures are difficult to find but my book says that there are at least ten deaths per year. As many as 50% of people are forced to descend because of AMS. Surprisingly the fittest people are more likely to suffer from AMS as they tend to ascend faster and not follow the advice to go slowly. Dele and I would not be classed as superfit and have every intention of going slowly, in fact we may be in danger of being asked to hurry up a bit!

So having thoroughly scared our families, what can we do? Although it is impossible to predict how our bodies will react there are some things we can prepare for. We have chosen a longer route with a higher success rate and have included an extra day to acclimatise and thus improve our chances of success. The body can, given time, adapt to higher altitudes. It does this by producing more red blood cells, making your heart beat faster and making you breathe faster and deeper - our bodies really are miraclulous things! On the mountain eating and drinking are very important (which shouldn't be a problem for us!) and we have a pact to look after each other and force each other to descend if necessary.  Other than that we have to wait and see!

So, when you start to receive sponsorship requests from either, or both of us please pause and remember that although this will be an amazing experience we are taking significant risks and would really appreciate all you can offer our chosen charities.