In my last post about chipping away at my Bucket List I shared with you my latest challenge being Mt. Kilimanjaro. For those of you not sure what or where that is, Kili is the highest mountain in Africa, standing at an impressive 19,341 feet. [Everest, for reference, is 29,000 feet.] While still not for the faint of heart, it takes several days to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. There are 8 routes to you can take to reach the summit. Each have various degrees of difficulty, scenery, and lengths of time. Most climbers when considering which route to take are restricted to how much time they have. The longer the route, the higher the success rate of reaching the top. That is because the more time you allow your body to acclimate to the high elevation, the less likely you are going to suffer from altitude sickness. I will tell you from firsthand experience, altitude sickness is NO JOKE. Three years ago I climbed Machu Picchu and seriously thought I was going to die. Typically altitude sickness goes away after a day or so but for me I did not feel even smidgen better until we started our descent. Quite honestly, it was miserable. I did not even want to talk about the climb for two months after I got home.
Prior to climbing MP, I also had Kili on my bucket list because it seemed cool and like a good challenge. But it was somewhere on that mountainside in Peru while I praying to my God, Mother Nature and any ancient spiritual Gods that would listen to get me the eff off that mountain in one piece, that I declared I was never climbing a mountain again. Ever. So for about a year, Kilimanjaro was off my bucket list. But as time went by, the memories of those horrendous 5 days faded and slowly but surely, Kilimanjaro snuck it’s way back on the list. However, it was not without some careful consideration and applied learnings from the MP climb that I decided I would do this trek. [In case you are wondering, actual MP is just under 8,000 ft. elevation. However, to get there I climbed to almost 18,000 ft.]
Prior to MP I was in Costa Rica surfing for two months, so, at sea level. I flew to Peru the day before the hike started, leaving myself no time to acclimate. I also had zero idea that I was susceptible to altitude sickness. I mean, I have always been a daredevil, adrenaline junkie, etc. so that was rather surprising/disappointing to me. You can bet this time I will be arriving in Africa armed with prescription meds to combat that. I also was not in the best physical shape. Sure I was surfing every day and had the shoulder strength of Katie Ledecky but I was not in any way prepared for that hike. Right now I am probably in some of the best shape I have ever been in. I still have some areas that I need to improve but on the whole, I am way ahead of where I was for MP. I also plan on doing some altitude training beforehand so again, my approach is going to be much better planned out.
As I have shared my new adventure with some friends and co-workers (no Allison, this is not a joke!), many of them have asked why I would want to do this? You’re not really the camping type; You will not be able to shower for 9 days and when was the last time you went hiking? Great questions, truly. What is my motivation? Well it’s pretty simple. I like to do things that are hard. I like to do things that challenge me. I do like being outdoors and pushing my physical limits and it is true, I would prefer to not sleep in a tent or pee in a bush but I think sometimes doing those things and pushing my comfort zone is what motivates me. I like to see something that seems impossible and conquering it. I like to accomplish things that are obscure and unique. I know that this will not only test my physical strength but it will also push my mental will to get to the top of that mountain. Accomplishing things that are hard to me then remind me in my day-to-day life that I am tough. On the days when I am not looking at the sunny side, I can remind myself that I have starred fear of failure in the face and said, “outta my way.”
I don’t know? Maybe those are crazy reasons to travel to the other side the world to climb a mountain but that’s what makes me tick. And, maybe I will learn to love to sleep in a tent? Miracles can happen 🙂
Little known fact – Indiana Jones discovered most of his archaeological treasures in white skinny jeans.
Bahahaha, that made me laugh out loud 🙂