About half the way up, I ran into Addy, one of my heroes. (Sheroes). Addy, just completed the accent of Mt. Kilimanjaro ; the highest peak on the African Continent. Although she had completed her climb a little over 1 month ago, I could tell that she was still hacked-up from the experience.
Addy then shared with me that she had passed Peggy G., another of my heroes (sheroes) who was also hiking the mountain today and who had coincidentially just completed her own climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro about 2 weeks before Addy. As it turned out, I had already de-briefed Addy about her experience, but I had not seen nor spoken with Peggy G. since she had returned.
Seeing them both, at the mountain on the same day, was a beautiful thing! From my perspective this are the little things that make my hiking experience such a wonderful experience! Both these woman are at a point in their respective lives where hiking St. Mountain is something that most in their league would simply not do. Both of them are in comfortable professional positions, closer to retirement than not and earning a comfortable income.
Today, I had the opportunity to hike down St. Mountain with Peggy G. and her husband. We discussed her trip to Kilimanjaro which included side trips to Zanzibar and Paris! In hiking Kilimanjaro, Peggy took a different route and time table from Addy. (Addy is the subject of the next post!)
Peggy's trip was a 6 day climb and included a group of 80 or so support personnel (Guides, Doctors, Porters, etc.). On the final accent of the Mt., they left base camp at 12:00 midnight and arrived on top at 10:00am the next morning. Unfortunately, within less than 1 hour after arriving at the top, an impending storm forced the entire group to literally 'run' back down to base camp! The 10 hour hike up was only 2 hours when running down.
Apparently, the Guides were well aware that to be caught on top of Kilimanjaro in a storm meant almost certain death. Therefore they hurriedly packed up and 'ran' down on the decent. Once at base camp, they had to continue to hike down because of the same storm. As she explained, in the 24 hours of the accent and decent, she was able to sleep only 2 hours! She hiked the other 22 hours on Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Peggy G. is one of my heroes (sheoes) because of her willingness to step out of the 'box' that is her life and do amazing things like this. I usually meet someone interesting each and every day that I 'hike' up St. Mountain, but it is particularly impressive to meet people like Peggy G. and Addy; two woman who appear ordinary, but who show up as extra-ordinary! Congratulations to you both!
