Kilimanjaro Guide Training May '05

For info on past training sessions please see:

Guides training

Bi – annual training a success
The previous season of climbs proved the impact of intense training held last November. Feedback received back from clients (feedback forms given to all clients for confidential information) showed that knowledge and professionalism was reaching new highs. And so during the ‘low season’ of April and May, climbs manager Ake Lindstrom decided to extend the training session over both months cumulating with a intense 5 day session on Kilimanjaro.

The format of the training this season included:
1. Classroom based sessions 3 days x 3 hours per day per week with end week test sessions for almost 2 months (over 20 sessions).
a. First aid
i. Wilderness first responder training
ii. Specialist CPR training by Red Cross Society
iii. Evactuation methodologies
iv. Hoopoe mountain sickness testing and procedures
v. Oxygen therapy & Pulse oximeter training
b. Geology
i. Earth structure
ii. Plate motions
iii. Rift valleys
iv. How Kilimanjaro was created
v. Geology / volcanology on Kilimanjaro (main rock types, formations and volcano sequences)
c. Glaciology
i. Main glaciers
ii. Glacial features on Kili
d. Flora / fauna

2. Mountain based training – 5 day session (Machame camp, Shira camp and plateau, Lava tower and surrounding areas, arrow glacier and surrounding area, Western Breach, summit region and ash pit, glacial valleys and lava flows of southern Kibo).
a. Specialist botanist Danial Sitoni (Tanzania Pesticides Research Institute botanist) spent two days with the guides in the forest and heath zones describing species and zones.
b. Geology & glaciology: with the help of detailed reference books all the lava flow history was covered along with the concurrent glacial movements.
c. Mountain sickness, Rescue routes & methodologies
i. AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) testing
ii. Oxygen therapy
iii. Carrying patients (in custom made Hoopoe evacuation stretchers)
iv. Which routes when
v. Communications
vi. Hypothermia wraps and treatment

The time on the mountain was also an excuse to increase fitness levels pre season. All guides set a very respectable sub 5 hours decent time from Stella Point to Mweka gate…

Next training already set
Hoopoe runs training sessions bi-annually in November and then in April / May. Next November training starts right away on the first until the 25th during which time will also be spent on the mountain once again.