Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, 1985 |
 This emergency stretcher under one of the huts at Horombo was a timely reminder of the dangers of altitude sickness. The first symptoms of altitude sickness often occur at about this altitude – which is something to which I can personally attest. In 1959, at roughly the 12,000-foot mark on Mt Kilimanjaro, I’d "collapsed with exhaustion and mountain sickness" (to quote the diary of one of my 1959 climbing companions). In 1985, however, I wrote the following in my own diary: “I’m feeling good: no sign of the exhaustion which affected me … in 1959, and I’ve so far had no nausea or headaches.” |