Altitude Illness on Mount Kilimanjaro

The latest issue of High Altitude Medicine and Biology has a study entitled “Incidence and predictors of acute mountain sickness among trekkers on Mount Kilimanjaro.” Kili is notorious for altitude illness due to it’s aggressive ascent profile. While it has some significant limitations, this study, free online, showed a high rate of AMS and no protective effects from a mid-climb rest day or from acetazolamide, probably because the ascent rate is too high too fast for these measures to help.

The authors remind us of David Shlims golden rules for altitude:

1) If you feel unwell, it is altitude sickness until proven otherwise;
2) Never ascend if you have symptoms of altitude sickness;
3) If you are getting worse then descend immediately.