The hike up Mount Kilimanjaro is breathless in several ways

The climb has started. “Polle, polle” is the theme: “slower, slower” the guides will say. Our team of 16 climbers, one of five attempting the climb, has taken the message to heart. Hearing the horror stories of the failures of all the kids our age: The staggering statistic is that the group that fails most often on the climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro is men between the ages of 18-25. Though it is a little disappointing to leave for the summit without some of our teammates it is still exciting to move closer and closer to the daunting peaks in the sky.

The amazing things about this mountain are not limited to its great size. The mountain is a home to nearly every ecosystem. It is home to many families that came out to walk with us a bit on our climb. Some of the children who walk each day down the path that took us hours to climb, carried their back-packs and slowed down to talk to us.

The scenery going up the mountain was also a great distraction from the enduring step-pause-breath-step pattern we were employing. The needles on the pine trees we passed were so fine they looked like the bristles of a brush. When we passed into the rainforest area on the first day the greenery was so lush and diverse that I found myself tripping over rocks while I was distracted.

The feet and backs of many of us are sore at camp but the world around us keeps our minds and imaginations occupied between the games and stories that we share with our teammates. All in all, it was a great start to the end of our journey.

Day two of the climb, when we awake at around 6:30 the cold waiting for us outside the tent is bitter and biting. We make our way slowly to the mess tent, wiping a rough night’s sleep, for most of us, from our eyes. The air is already a little thin and it is tough for many of us to breath too easily in the few short steps to the tent.

We enjoy a breakfast of toast, pancakes (more like crepes) and fruit before packing up our day packs to move. Today’s walk would be the first real test: four hours uphill, short break for lunch and then another four hours to camp. By the time we finish the day two of our group members are sick, from the water that was not treated appropriately, one of our other group mates is feeling sick from the altitude and at the rate that we are going and the amount we are struggling right now is starting to put into perspective the task we have undertaken.

When we finally reach the camp we hear that the oldest of our coaches attempting the hike, and one of the players had been sick before the climb. Feverish, they both couldn’t eat and laid in bed just hoping to get through the night and maybe feel well enough to reach the next camp. One day at a time seems to be becoming more and more important.