| Angels on Kili Trip Report |
| Angels on Kili   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Tanzania, Africa Date Climbed/Hiked: Jun 24, 2008 Activities: Mountaineering Season: Summer | Page By: gingber Created/Edited: Dec 23, 2010 / Dec 20, 2011 Object ID: 686857 Hits: 251  Loading... Page Score: 86.47% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
KilimanjaroAngels on Kili
In the Chagga language, Kilimanjaro means "shining mountain", "mountain of God". It is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. A little more than a week ago, my son Michael and I and twenty other Climb For Hope teammates stood on the top of it. (Michael and I bookended the team- he at 17 was the youngest, I at 59, the oldest.) The summit success rate on Kili is 40%. Every one of our team of 22 reached the summit- unheard of, a minor miracle considering the make-up of our team. Many of the team (including Michael) were at high altitude for the first time, climbing for mothers, sisters, and friends lost to breast cancer. Before the start of the climb, one of our teammates said to us that the angels of our loved ones would pull us to the top of the mountain. When I hear stuff like that, I just shrug it off. I know from hardened experience what it takes- grit and guts, teamwork, and doing the right things would get us to the summit.
But sometimes mountains give you incredible moments.
Michael fought his way up the Macheme route to the top of Kilimanjaro. Vomiting, dehydrated, freezing, beyond physical exhaustion, he refused to quit. He left it all on the mountain and when he got to the top he was totally wasted and his tears flowed with everyone else's. I was the only one not crying. Instead, my focus was on Michael's condition. You're breathing half the oxygen at 19,340 feet, and Michael's breathing was very labored. He honored his pledge to his high school graduating class- he missed the graduation for the climb- and left their yearbook pictures under a monument of rocks. But then, concerned about High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, we made the decision to rush Michael down the mountain to the safety of lower altitude. One of our African guides, Arnold, took Michael's pack and one of his arms, another named John took the other arm, and they bombed down the mountain, Michael's feet barely touching the ground. Pretty wasted myself, I could not keep up. So I got separated from Michael on the way down. The downhill was torture. I was wracked with guilt and worry that I had blown it, that I had crossed that line between letting Michael go for the summit and turning around to live to climb another day. I knew better, but I had put my son's health, maybe even his life, on the line. All the way down the mountain, my mantra was a prayer: "Be all right, Michael. Be all right."
After a few hours of pure worry and fear, I caught up with Evan, one of our American guides taking a break on some rocks. There was a radio clipped to the shoulder strap of Evan's backpack, and I asked him if there was any word on Michael. "Sorry, Gary", Evan said. "No word." Evan and I were still above the clouds, and we watched as a cloud rushed up the mountain to overtake us. We braced ourselves for the cold rush of air we knew the cloud would bring. But instead, as the cloud passed through us, it brought a burst of warm air and a fresh, sweet smell. "What the fuck was that?", Evan asked, and in the next instant his radio crackled. Then came Michael's voice, sounding sure and strong, reporting on the radio that "John, Arnold, and Michael are safely down in base camp." I slumped back against the rocks. "That was an angel," I answered Evan. "There was an angel in that cloud." And then I lost it.
The next day we made our way off the mountain, and as were driving back through Moshi to the Kia Lodge to well-earned hot showers and cold beers, we saw Kilimanjaro rearing in all its majesty from the road. Michael looked up at the summit and then at me and said, "Dad, we conquered that mountain." Looking back though, Michael, what you really did was conquer yourself. You hit your wall on Kilimanjaro but refused to give in. Instead you broke through that wall with strength and courage and determination. And what's on the other side of that wall is rarefied air and the stuff of greatness. When you win in the high places, you know that you can win anywhere. Michael, you are destined for great things.
It's your time now, Michael- the end of an amazing high school career, the beginning of the rest of your life. Climb some more shining mountains. Get out there and change the world. Find that rarefied air, and remember- there can be angels in those clouds. Images
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