What are your Limits ?

A friend has suggested we climb Kilimanjaro this summer, or more precisely winter as it lay just below the equator. We'd go with our sons and it would be an experience of a lifetime. As this sounds a fantastic challenge and something well worth doing, I've been doing some research on it.

Kilimanjaro is 4th amongst the seven sisters - highest peaks on each continent and is an achievable objective without strong mountaineering skill. It's exceeded in height only by Everest, McKinley and Aconcagua in Asia, North and South America respectively. It's an inactive* volcano (that's what the experts think anyway!) and is 5895 meters tall, or 19,341 feet. Anything over 17,000 feet is generally considered to be extreme altitude, so its still not something that should be approached lightly. It's large enough to create its own weather system, and is one of the world's largest free standing mountains.

Ascents are guided, and porter-assisted. They range in length from five days to ten days, and the longer time depends on route taken and the time spent to acclimatize to the altitude - the longer you take, the better your chances of summitting. That's the goal, as it would be a tremendous shame if you didn't summit, having trained, planned and so on for the months previous.

That's really the place my own head is at now with this adventure in mind...what's my limit, and what's the limit of those I'll climb with. We regularly hike together, and living for a week in a tent is something we do for fun. (At this point as a Canadian, we normally break into Monty Python's "Lumberjack song" but I wasn't sure how to embed the sound clip.) The hardship of being away from civilization isn't concerning, and I've been to Africa more than a few times, so know what to expect there too. The concern keeping me thinking is how we'll deal with the extreme stress when our foggy, oxygen deprived brains tell us to stop, but our will wants to push forwards and upwards. At the heart of it, that is what makes this effort a defining one.

The nature of pushing yourself to the limits of your ability to cope - and the idea that this is considered a desirable thing to pursue...that's interesting on so many levels. There are obviously parallels in other parts of our lives - any moment of significant changes, but when it's attractive just for the sake of it..hmm. One of the things that stuck with me from my youth that I'll randomly attribute (incorrectly I'm sure) to Sir Edmund Hillary was the answer to the question as to why to climb Everest - "Because it's there". As an answer, it's simple, it's elegant, and it's accurate. It's why I want to go to Kilimanjaro - because I want to be there and overcome the obstacle.

The climb as I've become boringly fond of saying begins today.