Mt Kilimanjaro, Ten Years On

Ten Years is not such a long time.  Or is it a life time?  It has been a full decade since Sarah and I summited the highest mountain in Africa.  That is an anniversary worth commemorating, isn’t it?  There are other things we could also celebrate, but climbing Kilimanjaro has a certain magic.  It needs to be recognized on its own.

Summiting Kilimanjaro seems like a life time ago to me.  A lot has happened in the world and in our lives during that time.  While there was no particular reason to climb when we did, it was a good time for us to break from our other required activities for an outstanding adventure.    Some things just cannot be put off forever.  Eventually you get old.  And then you can look back to remember a stronger you with an adventurous spirit.  

And yet, summiting also seems so satisfying and fresh in my memory.  I remember the nervousness of the day before, and the disarray of the morning we departed.  To those guides and porters who had done it all before, of course this was nothing.  To us it was all brand new, frightening, with a real possibility of failure.   I recall many details of the days doing the slow walk from camp to camp, gradually getting up from the foot hills to the actual steep mountain.  Even if my facts are faded, I feel like I can recall it all perfectly.  I recall the indescribable act of reaching the very top.

On a personal adventure scale of one to ten, with one being a walk in the park and ten being climbing Mt Kilimanjaro,  Kilimanjaro is still my ten.