Even though the trip to Kili is about 5 months away, I am trying to get the equipment for the climb together. Tusker Trails has sent us a checklist of things that are required for the climb and thanks to the Rainier climb from a couple of years ago I have a lot of these already. Rainier is a 2 day climb with most of it through snow fields and galciers and in general a pretty homogeneous terrain (rocks and snow). On the Kilimanjaro climb it seems to be a much more diverse terrain, with the trek going through savannah, forests, scree and glaciers. A lesson learned from the Rainier climb (and the training hikes leading up to it) was that the footwear is very, very important.
I have a pair of La Sportiva Trango boots which are great in many respects, but I have 2 concerns: 1. size, 2. suitability to all terrain types. The size part is from getting a dead big toe nail while trekking down from Mailbox peak. Previous to the Mailbox hke, even though the boots felt a bit snug, I had not considered them too small for me. However after the dead and broken nail, I decided to go back to REI and try out a larger size. Indeed the larger boot felt better and thanks to REIs incredible exchange policy, I now have the same boot in a larger size. In initial walking around th size seems right.
In terms of suitability to the varied terrain, the Trango is waterproof (Goretex lining), has a sole that not only provdes adequate cushioning, but also has a great grip and even can take a crampon. However it is a sold as a mountaineering boot and not a hiking boot and so what I am not sure about is how comfortable it will be for hiking over 10 days. From all that I have read it should be OK, time will tell ...
