How to Prepare for Mountaineering

The late Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui

The story of Joshua, the great mountaineer who lost his life at Mount Everest, the highest rooftop in the world, while doing what he loved most, has been trending for a while on social media platforms.

Adventurists love epic views, fresh air, breathtaking places waiting to be explored, a little flavor of cardio workout, and activities such as team building—all of which are the rewards of mountaineering and hiking.

However, mountain climbing is not for the faint-hearted, nor does it come with a few lessons and moderate preparations like hiking. Mountaineering requires tough training and conquering one hill at a time before one is ready to conquer mountains. It requires physical and mental training, a must for those wishing to summit mountains like Mt. Kenya (Kenya’s rooftop) and Kilimanjaro (Africa’s rooftop). You will need to do a lot of acclimatization.

Here are the ultimate practical guidelines to prepare yourself for mountaineering:

Plan with a Purpose

How do you want to experience your mountaineering—in a group, with friends, or alone with a guide? Travelling and mountaineering (hiking) with a focused purpose, focusing on what will make it fun, will make all the difference in your adventure. Ask yourself these questions: Do I want to travel alone with a guide? Does the adventure become more fun if I am mountaineering with a group or my family?

Training

Once you have picked your destination mountain and decided how you want to experience the adventure, plan to start your training. This will depend on your destination. Mountaineering requires aggressive training as it is tougher than normal hiking or scaling hills. By the time you are taking up your adventure in mountaineering, you must have hiked hills. Start walking and scaling small hills before graduating to high hills in readiness to master (conquer) mountains. Remember, the higher the altitude, the more the training.

Define Your Goal

Define your goal and start working on it. If you are craving to conquer higher altitude activities, ensure you get in shape by starting with smaller steps. If you have higher goals, it is recommended that you engage in exercises that will help you get in shape.

“Your mountaineering training should include a cardio workout as the first and crucial key to starting your journey properly, with less muscle pain, no blisters, and with all the safety needed,” says Betty Kaimuri, a tour guide and team-building instructor.

She says if you are looking for a positive and exciting adventure, seek a professional who will guide you out of your comfort zone.

In her career spanning over three decades, the instructor and trainer explains that when people take time to do a mountaineering training programme, it makes reaching their goal much easier and more precious.

Here are Betty’s tips on how to conquer mountains:

Start with Smaller Goals and Lower Mountains

To kick the list off, start with shorter walking distances, where applicable, and aim to reach the top in 1-2 hours. Make it a weekend and invite some friends or family members to make your journey even more adventurous. After conquering your first and shorter mountaineering training, you can start striving towards a higher altitude and training for high-altitude mountaineering.

After a few hikes, you are now ready to move to the next level of mountaineering training. The goal and focus is to start your longer hiking tours early enough to avoid any rush or bad weather disruptions. “Your mountain climbing training goal should not be just getting to the top, but safely to the foot of the mountain too. Once you achieve this, research how to make mountaineering more fun and safe,” says the trainer.

Combine Your Outdoor Exercise with Other Muscle Training

This will make your training on mountain hiking so useful that soon, you will enjoy your activity without gasping for air. As you do so, Betty advises that you also train your body and mind with the following exercises:

Warm-Up

Take a 10-minute walk, and if you can access a gym, use an elliptical trainer or other similar devices.

Train Your Lower Body Muscles

Strong legs and core muscles will improve your balance and help you hike longer. Focus on lower body strength and on your cardiovascular workout.

“The workout should include squats, deadlifts, calf raises, and lunges, which are the perfect easy workout exercises for body strength,” says the trainer, urging trainees not to rely only on fitness, gym, or other similar areas, as they can train anywhere—backyard, living room, or bedroom. These exercises, she says, will keep your body ready for the true conditions in the mountains. You will need a stronger back.

Betty says that to achieve your goal, back exercises such as V-ups, deadlifts, diver push-ups, and mountain climbers’ exercises will help develop back muscles with special exercises. These exercises will help build a strong back that can carry the weight of your backpack.