A week ago I returned from climbing Kilimanjaro — one of the seven summits and the world’s tallest freestanding mountain (19,340 feet). Of the 20,000+ people who attempt to climb it each year, less than 40% make it to the summit. I was one of the lucky ones who make it to the summit, but I also believe that luck favors the prepared, and believe that it was my extensive preparation that led not only to my success, but also to the relative ease with which I made it up the mountain. I did not have any symptoms of altitude sickness during the entire climb, which is virtually unheard of, wasn’t sore afterwards, and felt fantastic the entire 9 days on the mountain.

Since I returned, I’ve been asked repeatedly what I think it was that made me as successful as I was. It turns out that the keys to Kilimanjaro are the same as the keys to everything else — focus on the basics and trust it will all work out.

1. Preparation: In the months leading up to the climb I regularly spent time testing out my gear. Socks, shoes, shirts, pants, undergarments, hats, food, and supplements all went up and down various mountains in the Pacific Northwest. I took notes as to what worked and what didn’t. What worked stayed in, what didn’t got replaced. Click here for more on preparation
2. Attitude: Climbing Kilimanjaro is as much mental as anything else. I heard climbers from other tour groups complaining about everything from their tents to their guides to their food. It’s 9 days in a tent, you’re following someone else’s schedule, you are going to be both stupid hot and freezing cold, not to mention insane amounts of dust, dirt, and wind. You will be convinced you’ll never be clean again, and you start fantasizing about the shower at the end. I quickly realized I could either whine about it, and make myself and my campmates miserable, or I could roll with, laugh it off, and chalk it all up to part of the experience. I chose the latter.  Click here for more on attitude
3. Trust Your Guides: I went with Tusker Trails, widely considered to be THE gold standard for climbing Kilimanjaro. Their guides are top-notch. Since they do this week in and week out, I knew my best chance for success was to trust them when it came to food, drink, pace, and virtually everything else. They have experience doing this, and I do not. The best of the best have a great coach, and that was how I thought of my guides, Francis and Shabani. Click here for more on the importance of having a coach
4. Breathing: Altitude sickness is what turns back most climbers, so I started my research and training on that almost a year earlier. First I had to optimize my breathing patterns at sea level (where I live) and then work on teaching my body to be OK being in oxygen debt (the air at the summit has about half of the oxygen in it than it does at sea level). I worked on both of those extensively before I left, and then really focused on breathing throughout the entire climb.  Click here for more on breathing
5. Endurance: The total climb was approximately 60 very hilly miles over the course of 9 days. The longest day was the summit day, which was about 13 miles — with low oxygen levels. For that many miles over that many days, it’s all about just having a body that can hold up. Click here for more on endurance
6. Balance: There are lots of rocks and plenty of scrambling to be done, so having good balance skills becomes important. It’s no single rock that will get you (OK, there were two moments where the thought crossed my mind, “if I miss my footing here I’m going to die”), but it becomes the aggregate of the 60 miles that is rough on the body.  Click here for more on balance
7. Eyes/Vision: Having good depth perception and being a good judge of spatial relationships is really important. If your eyes tell your brain that the rock you are about to step on is 12” down but in reality it’s 14” down, you’ll still likely land on it, but it’s going to be hard on the body. Over 60 miles, that is going to lead to mis-steps, falls, and likely injury. Visual training can correct those discrepancies.  Click here for more on eyes and vision
8. Strength: I’m naturally really strong, so strength training is not something I typically put time in to — and didn’t for this trip, either. But, there is considerable scrambling up and down large rocks, so you need the body strength to be comfortable pulling yourself up as well as taking HUGE steps up or down with one leg or the other.  Click here for more on strength
9. Food: Food, food, and more food here is the key. Our appetite levels were monitored throughout, and we were constantly being encouraged to eat so we’d have enough energy for the push to the summit on day 7. Our camp cook prepared gluten-free meals for me throughout, and we ate large quantities of fresh, whole foods during our climb. Click here for more on food
10. Sleep: Tent sleeping in near-freezing temps leaves a lot to be desired. But, lack of sleep leads to slow reaction times and poor decision-making — not really your friend on a mountain. I made a point of making sure I could have at least 9 hours each night. Turns out I never needed that much sleep, but everyone who knows me knows how cranky I get when I don’t sleep enough, so waking well-rested was critical. Click here for more on sleep

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to dive in to each of these topics and talk more about what exactly I did to be successful. If you have questions about the trip or my preparation, please leave them in the comments below, and I will get them all answered.