I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro with my dad last year. Seven days climbing the world’s highest free-standing mountain was an unforgettable experience, and spending the time with my dad was so precious. We trained separately – being on opposite sides of the earth. He flew to Africa from Minnesota and I traveled from my home in Australia. On the morning of day 6, October 1st 2012, we departed our summit base camp at midnight and summitted (19341 ft) at 7:30AM. We only stayed at the top for 15 minutes as the air is pretty thin and things can go wrong quickly. We were 1750 ft higher than Everest Base Camp. Absolute total exhaustion – but feeling so very very happy! Once off the mountain 30 hours later, that Kilimanjaro beer tasted great and my first shower in 7 days was heaven!
On another note, I was traveling with my kids in Cambodia & Vietnam in January 2011 when I ran into a group of Gusties on J-Term in the lobby of the Hotel Rex in Saigon. Professor Voight had left the hotel so I couldn’t catch up with my forensics/speech coach after 20 years, and unfortunately I didn’t think to snap a photo for the Quarterly until we had walked across town. I could blame the Vietnamese heat and humidity, but perhaps it was the famous Rex rooftop cocktails.
Leave a Reply