Summit Sunrise

The most frequently asked question since divulging my desire to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro has been "where did that come from?"

A couple of months back Kito and I were watching a documentary about a young man who set out to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and watch the sunrise from the summit. The footage was staggering in its beauty and I was amazed at how "normal" all the people on the expedition looked. Old, young, fit, not so fit, the adventure appealed to all different types of people. Some were on their second and third trips up the mountain. I had my old-school knee-jerk response of "wow, wouldn't that be amazing to do" and moved it out of my mind. It didn't stay out of my mind for very long.

One of the side effects of massive personal change is that all preconceived notions about what you are and are not capable of kinda fly out the damn window. All those years spent dismissing opportunities with "oh, I could never do that" start to seem ridiculous next to the growing list of accomplishments and multiple occasions of proving your old self dead wrong.

I'm going to climb that damn mountain. Partly to say that I will, partly to say that I did, but mostly because I want to know what it would feel like to look down on this:


I keep discovering more and more pictures taken from the top, and with each new photo the goal becomes more and more solid. Just like a really long and daunting Crossfit workout, the steps and tasks to get to Africa will be broken up. Collect the gear, save the money, one little step at a time.

I've decided this kind of thing would be much more enjoyable in the company of friends, who wants to join up?

Life changing experiences, as RX'd, AMRAP in a lifetime. I'm down.