A few years ago, Mark and I decided to do a week-long hut-to-hut mountain bike trip without giving a thought to training. The distance was more than 200 miles – all on steep, rutted dirt trails that turned mucky and treacherous in the rain. It rained every day.
We powered through it and had a great trip despite our lack of conditioning. But we knew climbing 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro would not be so forgiving.
So six months before our scheduled departure we ramped up our usual workouts, incorporating the advice of mountaineers, personal trainers at the YMCA and middle-aged friends who had done the climb.
The key ingredient: time in the boots.
Daily hiking wasn’t possible, though, given the fact that we all have full-time jobs. So on weekdays we developed individual plans for increasing our strength and stamina.
We did lots of walking. Kendall competed in two triathlons and several footraces over the summer. Janet, who lives in Fraser, put in 6-mile walks in the evenings. Mark biked. I ran. We spent hours in the gym with the treadmill set on its highest incline, walking, walking, walking. By midsummer, I started looking at 90 minutes on the stationary bike as a recovery day.
Since we all have various ailments – from back problems to tendonitis and arthritis – we put in lots of hours stretching, lifting weights and doing Pilates and yoga to avoid injuries.
Then on the weekends, we hit the trails.
Colorado offers a tremendous advantage to anyone who wants to summit a high peak. In early June, with snow still deep in the high country, we hiked at lower elevations. By the end of the month, the trails were clear and we hoofed it to the top of Mount Bierstadt, where we experienced glorious sunshine, rain, snow and hail all in one six-hour hike.
We also discovered the limitations of our outdoor gear.
We invested in new packs, trekking poles, socks, boots and pounds of trail mix, recruited several friends to the cause, and on most weekends managed to bag a good, steep, uphill climb, if not a fourteener. We set aside a weekend in mid-August for a long haul – a 14-mile hike on Mount Massive, a distance still nearly 5 miles short of the grueling summit day on Kili.
Days before our departure, we all were feeling strong, if a little apprehensive.
The key factor in a successful climb is the one thing we could not control: acclimatization. We could be in terrific physical condition and still have to turn back if our bodies cannot adapt to altitude. We all have to face that possibility.
But we have tried to reduce the risk. We have chosen the longest, slowest route up Kilimanjaro – the seven-day Machame route, giving ourselves an extra 24 hours above 13,000 feet to let our bodies adjust to the thinner air. We also packed prescriptions for Diamox, which reduces symptoms of altitude sickness and, experienced climbers told us, could help us adapt.
Now comes the test. Will we make it to the top?
Stay tuned.
