Lessons from the mountain part 10 – Mother Africa is calling

It's been a while since I last wrote about mountaineering. A lot has happened in my home country, Israel, prompting me to take a one-year blogging break. Writing felt impossible while my brothers and sisters faced daily struggles.

The situation continues, and I hope and pray every day for the safe return of our boys and girls (#BringThemHomeNow) and towards the end of wars, everyone suffers from war and conflict, and we all deserve the basic right to live in peace.

Africa

This isn't my first time in Africa. My last visit was to Rwanda, where I saw the spectacular mountain gorillas. I was there with my late dad, who taught me about the Black Continent, its power, its people, and its magic. That trip ignited my love for Africa, and I knew I’d return.

It took 25 years and a call from Mt. Kilimanjaro to bring me back.

Kilimanjaro, the mountain of greatness

Mt.?Kilimanjaro,?Africa's?tallest?mountain,?peaks?at?19,341?feet?(5,895?meters) and is located?in?Tanzania,?East?Africa.

Kili is home to the Chagga people, who reside on its slopes. In Swahili Kili translates to "The Mountain" and Manjaro is "Greatness".

The mountain of greatness, stands tall and prominent, its beauty symbolizes freedom, resilience, spiritual strength and perseverance to many in Africa.

To this day, the mountain inspires countless books, stories, art, music, and even political movements. ?

The climb

Planning began 6 months ago when a good friend at Microsoft forwarded me an email from the Microsoft Africa Development center. The team in Kenya were arranging a climb to Mt Kilimanjaro and invited climbers across Microsoft worldwide to join an expedition.

It took me about 5 seconds to decide... Mt Kilimanjaro has been waiting too long and I finally got the sign I needed. I’m going to Africa to climb!

During my various climbs, I learnt that every mountain possesses a different challenge, an opportunity, and a training plan. Kilimanjaro story is high altitude, the length and duration of the travel to its summit. It’s not a technical climb, but it’s very high, which makes it a difficult climb.

The only way to succeed to summit Mt Kilimanjaro is to acclimate well to altitude. That is done by spending time in high altitude, going up the mountain during the day, and then going down to sleep in lower altitude. Repeat that for 7 days and you get a nice expedition.

Our team consisted of 10 climbers and 44 support people! That’s the usual ratio for a complex expedition. These people are here to help you succeed and to get to the top, they range from cooks, porters, guides, folks that build the camps, and they are all amazing local mountain people and hardworking people. Respect!

Kilimanjaro has a few routes, and our group choose the Lemosho route which traverses the mountain and crossing it from one side to the other. This route has a higher success rate, since it’s longer in duration and distance which allows more time to acclimate to the altitude. It is also the nicest route in my opinion as you cross 5 different mountain ecosystems, starting in a tropical?rainforest,?transitioning?through?moorland?and?alpine?desert, and?finally?reaching?the?icy?summit?at?Uhuru?Peak.

Summit

As in most expeditions, the "summit push" starts in the middle of the night with flashlights, it's cold, you want to stay in "your bed", and the last thing you want is to shove in calories and hit the "rest room", but you have to... and that's a deal breaker.

So, you dress up, wear your special summit gear, think of your loved ones, say your prayer to the mountain gods, and stay super positive no matter what, this is how you get ready!

And a test... every night we check the oxygen level for each climber. If it drops below 70%, you're not going up buddy, you're going down.

And we go. Surprisingly we go slow, slower than I want, but we all optimize for success and duration and not speed and bursts, it's a marathon, not s sprint, and it's mainly a mental thing. One step after the other, until the top!

As in most volcanoes, towards the top of the mountain you reach a big crater that was created when the mountain erupted. You have to cross it to reach the peak, the mountain highest point. That last kilometer is usually very hard and very emotional for me. All my prep work, all my effort, all my doubts and all my learning rise up, I want to run, but I can’t, the altitude is just too much for my body and there is that very dangerous crater rim that I don’t want to fall into.

And then you see the top popping up and you know you did it. That is also where I stop, just a few steps shy of the actual peak, I don’t summit, I never do, it’s not my goal to stand on the top of the world, or top of Africa, and I don’t need a sign or flag to tell me I did it.

The mountain is always above me, and I kneel to her from below, I don’t need to conquer, I am there to observe, respect and give thanks for the opportunity and the right of passage. If I summit, I won’t really have a reason to come back for that mountain again…

Kilimanjaro calling

As?I?ascended?towards?the?summit,?the?mountain’s?call?became?clear to me.

Kilimanjaro,?the?birthplace?of?creation,?where?humanity?story?began?in?pure?equality,?untainted?by?divisions?of?race,?skin?color,?or?politics, this is the place we were?all created equally as one and we were united.?

Climbing the mountain awakened?a?longing?to?return?to?these?roots,?urging?me to?strive?for?harmony?and?unity between us all.

I am me because of you - Ubuntu

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