Having escaped a snowbound UK on Friday 18th, Trek & Mountain’s ‘Kili The Hard Way 2013’ team begin their adventure on Sunday with an acclimatisation trek up nearby Mt Meru, before readying themselves to tackle Kilimanjaro itself.
Why ‘the hard way’, you may ask? Well, the route we have chosen for our first ever reader expedition is the little-trekked Umbwe and Western Breach route, the steepest, toughest and – it has to be said – ‘least safe’ trekking route on the mountain. The Western Breach was closed for several years because of the dangers posed by rockfall, and although it is now considered more stable still only a few hundred trekkers attempt to summit via this route each year.
Helly Hansen are the sponsors of the expedition, and they have supplied the team with a selection of kit tough enough to take on the challenge, including items from their high-spec Odin range of mountain-proven clothing.
The full report of our Western Breach trek will be in the March 2013 edition of Trek & Mountain, on sale 28th Feb, but you can follow the team’s progress via Facebook and Twitter where we will be posting daily updates. We are likely to go out of contact as we reach the climax of the trek, the Western Breach itself, but we hope to bring you good news later next week and some spectacular photos of the final push to the top. So stay tuned, and wish us luck!
RELATED LINKS
WWW.hellyhansen.com