We’ve set the date! Monday, March 18, 2013. We will be setting out for our semi-trek of Kilimanjaro. I’ll explain why I called it a semi-trek in a little bit. More importantly, I want to start off by saying thank you to all of you who sent checks to my mom. You’re making this adventure possible!
One week from today, we will be climbing to the first base camp of Kilimanjaro. In the morning, we will set out from Moshi into Kilimanjaro National Park. The one-day climb will take roughly five hours. Our guide, John, told us that he will bring us to a lookout where we can get the perfect picture of Kilimanjaro. I asked him what we should bring with us, and his answer made me really excited about the beauty we’re about to encounter. The first thing he said was to bring rain gear. We’ll be trekking through a rainforest to get to the first base camp. He said it would be much cooler than it is here in Moshi (It’s been in the 90’s while we’ve been here), but we can still trek in shorts and a tank top. We’ll still have a cook climbing with us to make us breakfast and lunch. It’s not summiting, but I’m glad we still get to climb.
There were a few reasons why we couldn’t do the five day climb. We’re here for ministry, not to climb Kilimanjaro, so the five day climb was denied by AIM. That’s a lot of days to take off of ministry. Another reason for me has to do with something that I wrote about a few months ago. The air is so thin at the top, and my heart hasn’t been healed of PVST, so climbing to the top is a huge risk for me. I don’t know how my heart would react to such high altitude and strenuous activity. There are a couple other reasons, but they are super minor. I’ve been doing Insanity to get prepared for the climb for about a month, but that’s not nearly enough to summit over 18,000 feet. I would have probably gotten really bad altitude sickness if I attempted the full climb.
So, there’s the latest update. So far it’s Courtney and me climbing next week. We’re really doing it! I can’t stop smiling when I think about it. I’m excited to get on Kilimanjaro, the world’s tallest free-standing mountain.
