Travel firms have seen an increase in bookings following the successful summit by nine celebrities¹ for last year's Comic Relief campaign.

 

But Edinburgh University scientists warned many climbing Africa's tallest peak "know little or nothing" about high altitude, which can be fatal.

 

Scientists camped out to test altitude sickness in more than 200 climbers.

 

The researchers camped for three weeks on the mountain at a height of 4,730m - not far below the 5,895m summit.

 

They assessed climbers using the Lake Louise consensus² scoring system, which records symptoms such as headache, sickness and fatigue³.

 

The academics found almost half, or 47%, of those who had climbed Kilimanjaro, were suffering from altitude sickness before they reached the summit and most were ascending⁴ too high, too quickly.

 

Signs of sickness include vomiting⁵, headaches, difficulty sleeping and sometimes problems with co-ordination.

 

Effects can be felt from as low as 2,500m above sea level and 75% of people will have mild symptoms at 3,000m or higher, the study said.

 

Reserachers said the best way to acclimatise was to climb slowly and some trekkers incorporate acclimatisation rest days.

 

Some also opt⁶ for anti-sickness drugs, although there is controversy⁷ in the mountaineering community about whether they are effective.

 

However, the experts found that neither altitude-sickness drugs nor rest days had a major effect on whether people got ill.

 

They concluded that climbers were going up so rapidly, the drugs could not protect against the harmful effects of altitude.

 

It also did not matter which route people took, suggesting "the rate of ascent⁸ on any itinerary⁹ is sufficiently¹⁰ fast to cause acute mountain sickness in a large proportion of climbers".

 

However, climbers who had managed to acclimatise beforehand on nearby high mountains were less likely to suffer from sickness, the research said.

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