Skiing on Kilimanjaro?
I've been reading a book called Beyond Everest, by Patrick Morrow, the Canadian mountaineer who was the first to climb the 7 summits. (Well, actually there's some dispute about that, since not everybody agrees on what to consider as the highest point in Australia/Oceania). I'm more than a little bit obsessed with skiing, so I was intrigued by Pat's description of skiing on Kilimanjaro.
He wrote of the disbelief when people in Africa saw his skis (one tour guide said "You want to ski? Impossible. There is no snow up there"), and then of skiing along the summit ridge ("we cranked a few telemark turns that drew us tantalizingly close to what could have become a screamer of a run into the clouds below. If there had been a layer of corn snow to give our edges purchase, we could have carved turns several hundred yards further down...")
Has anybody else out there skied Kilimanjaro, or seen anybody attempt it?
Turtle says "pole pole"
- Login to post comments
- 2638 reads
I found out a little more about this topic... it seems that skiing (along with snowboarding and mountain biking) may be officially banned on Kilimanjaro.
Snowboard mountaineer Stephen Koch was the first person to snowboard all 7 summits. In an article on his snowboard descent of Kilimanjaro, Stephen wrote that he was denied permission by park authorities to snowboard the mountain, but he smuggled his snowboard up and did it anyways.
Apparently the park policy is that "pleasure devices" are not allowed on the mountain. I hate to think of what other kinds of "pleasure devices" devious (or perhaps deviant) climbers may have sneaked up Kilimanjaro over the years...
Turtle says "pole pole"
Do you know if anyone has skied or snowboarded down the Kersten or Heim Glaciers, as I did, or anywhere else down the glaciers or snow of Kilimanjaro? It is my impression that those have "skied" or "snowboarded" Kilimanjaro have only made a few turns off of the top and walked down the path. This is not what I would consider a descent since there is turnable terrain on the mountain, or at least was in 1997, when I did it.
Hi Stephen,
I want to try to ski down Kilimanjaro at the end of this year, and was not able to find anybody else who has done it.
I'm stillo at the beginning of my planning and preparing for the trip, and I'm looking for as much usefull information as possible.
Do you have any advice, which part of the mountain is the best for a skiing descent (and I don't mean just a few turns)?
Is the ond of December a good time, for such a trip?
What do you have to consider, when planning on such a trip...which you would not really think of during a backcountry skiing?
Which route to take to have access to the most skiable area?
Do you have any other advices?
Thanx for your answers,
Peter
kaso34@yahoo.com