Fund-raising ascent
by Christine Mahoney
From a distance, the summit reminded me of Longs Peak, but
the closer we got, the more massive this mountain looked, and I wondered, “How
am I going to get to the top of this thing?”
Doubts and uncertainty are evident in the mountainside journal entry of Tom Hilb, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Denver’s Webb-Waring Institute for Cancer, Aging and Antioxidant Research. It was day three of his trek to Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. After enduring two days of pouring rain, hiking through mud so thick it could (and would) pull your boots off, Hilb wondered what lay ahead.
He wasn’t the only one. But despite their fatigue and trepidation, he, along with thirty-one other climbers, was on a mission: to raise money for Webb-Waring’s innovative disease research programs. In all, the adventurers raised more than $403,000. It was the culmination of a year’s worth of fundraising phone calls, training - much of it on several of Colorado’s 14ers - and preparing to tackle the mountain known as the “rooftop of Africa.” At the summit of Uhuru Peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro looms 19,340 feet above sea level; climbing it is a daunting task for even the most seasoned Colorado mountaineer.
Some participants climbed to honor the memories of those who had succumbed to diseases Webb-Waring is striving to cure. Landscape designer and author Judy Sellers, whose book Colorado Wild: Preserving the Spirit and Beauty of the Land was published in 2002, took time out from writing to train for the September 2002 trek. At age sixty-one, the Colorado Springs resident was one of the oldest members of the group. She took on the enormous challenge to honor the memory of a friend of thirty years, Dusty Loo, who had recently died of pancreatic cancer. Dusty’s widow, Kathy, mentioned the trek to Judy, and she jumped at the chance to experience Kilimanjaro. Sellers, who had already climbed more than thirty of Colorado’s 14ers, knew she’d have to work hard to be ready for the challenge.
“I wanted to do it in honor of Dusty. Kathy and I started training the minute we signed up in February of 2002. I spent a lot of time on Pikes Peak, which is in our backyard, so to speak, and which we regarded as our training peak. I hiked the lower part of the Barr Trail a lot, and then also drove up to the top several times, dropping down 2,500 feet, and then waking back up to the top, to get altitude training. I also walked with a loaded pack a great deal of the time.”
Tom Hilb, who was 65 when he made the trip up Mt. Kilimanjaro, was the oldest member of the Webb-Waring group. The African guides called him “Papa,” but he kept up with them during the seven-day journey. To train for the challenge of summitting a 19er, Hilb climbed Mt. Ajax in Aspen at least four times a week the summer before the autumn Kili climb.
“People sometimes say it’s more of a hike than a climb, but that’s not accurate,” says Hilb. “It was a serious effort.”
Hilb says those who want to “take on” Mt. Kilimanjaro will do “perfectly fine” if they practice on 14ers. But, he cautions, once you’re above 15,000 feet, you will notice a difference, even if you’ve summitted 14ers for months.
“As soon as you get above 15,000 feet, there is a distinct difference in how one feels. Until they do it, nobody knows how altitude will affect their breathingÉ and there’s a whole gamut of problems that can develop when the oxygen becomes thin.”
Alex Gart, who at age fifteen was the youngest member of the Webb-Waring group, knows firsthand how the body can react to high altitude. On Summit Day, Alex was running on empty. Like the others, he was awakened at midnight to prepare for the final 4,000 foot ascent to the peak of Mt. Uhuru, at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
I could only force down several cookies and a half a cup of hot water, wrote Gart in his journal. That began the cycle of lack of energy for my body. At around 18,000 feet, my gas tank went to “empty.” Gart was overcome by nausea at 18,200 feet, but after much encouragement from group members and his personal African guide, Armond, Gart was able to continue to the top.
With no energy, an empty stomach, and frozen toes, I had a good argument for bagging the climb and heading down for my warm tent and food, Gart writes in his journal. He continues, This did not happen! I had food forced down my throat, and a pep talk from every guide and my father. We decided that I was too far into the climb to go down.”
That philosophy will serve Alex Gart well later in life, believes his mother, Margie, who was also on the trek. Against the advice of her own doctors and friends, Margie - who suffers from lupus, a chronic auto-immune disease - decided to push her own personal limits to the edge, and beyond.
The Garts with Kili in the background
“For me, it was a personal journey of accomplishment. Webb-Waring does some research around lupus, so we were motivated to raise money for the cause.” In all, Gart and her family raised more than $30,000 from friends and family members. She trained for months, primarily trying to gain more cardio and leg strength. Gart says trainers at Kinetic Fitness Studio in Denver helped her reach her goal. In addition, even though she’d never attempted to summit a peak of this elevation, Margie says a good sense of humor helped her push through the tough times.
“The initial weather was terrible,” says Gart. She wrote in her mountainside journal, after the first long, wet day of hiking: Our first day on Mt. Kilimanjaro was certainly an adventure. We learned why they call the “rain forest” the “rain forest.” We set out in a downpour: 30 eager climbers, three guides and 100 porters. By the time Gart and the others reached the 10,000-foot base camp at 5 p.m., they were tired, wet, and more than a little discouraged by the weather. She writes, It poured for most of the evening, and everyone had trouble getting warm. After a late dinner of good, warm food, everyone settled into their tents, and quiet began to settle through our camp. Feet were drying out, spirits were rising, and everyone was anticipating the day ahead.
Margie Gart says she was determined to reach the summit. “I was unwilling to quit unless my body gave out. Miraculously, I found myself getting stronger with each day,” she says. “For me, it was an accomplishment that re-oriented all my perceptions about living with disease.”
For other climbers, like Sellers, reaching the summit was not her only goal. Honoring the life of her friend, the late Dusty Loo, and experiencing the outpouring of love and support on the trek were other reasons to make the climb.
“I celebrated my sixty-first birthday on the slopes of Kili,” remembers Sellers. “I felt so privileged, so grateful to be there, to be alive and able to experience such a mountain and such friendship and to be a part of a fund-raising effort that could affect the lives of so many people in a beneficial way.”
In the end, Sellers and her climbing companion, Kathy Loo, decided not to make the final ascent to the summit. “We were not sure of our strength at that point, and did not want to slow the group down,” recalls Sellers. “I thought it might bother me later that we did not summit, but it really didn’t. We had said before we left, that the summit was not our only goal, and I still feel that way.”
While reaching the summit may not have been the only goal for some of the Webb-Waring mountaineers, they knew that getting there was going to take a lot of training, willpower, and effort. Not to mention the right equipment. Sellers, Gart, and Hilb all stress the importance of wearing several layers of clothing when tackling a mountain like Kili. Hilb remembers the challenges of summit day, when extreme weather and the daunting task of climbing 4,000 vertical feet to reach the peak lay ahead.
“It was freezing cold, but we were sweating. I wore a medium weight jacket while I was climbing, then I’d have to put on a down parka and hood every forty-five minutes, during our rest breaks.” Hilb says he actually had to cut slits in his waterproof, medium weight jacket for ventilation.
Sellers says dressing in layers helped her climbing comfort, too, but her walking sticks were just as essential. “I couldn’t have made the trip without them.” And, “waterproof duffel bags were a must. Test them out first. Several people had brought bags that were supposed to be waterproof, but turned out not to be, so there were a lot of wet clothes and unhappy people,“ Sellers says.
She adds that goggles were helpful near the summit because of the high winds. And Sellers loved how her Sportiva boots performed on the changing terrain of Mt. Kilimanjaro: through the mud, the rain, the slippery “hand over hand” climbing and “steep stepping” over boulders and logs.
Hilb agrees that those who attempt to climb Kili need excellent footwear. “Get boots you’re happy with, because on the last day, you’re climbing up 4,000 feet and down 10,000 feet. You need to be comfortable.”
Some climbers also brought reverse osmosis water filtration systems, which Hilb recommends, because they helped the water taste better. But remember, the more you bring, the more you and your guides have to carry. On average, Kili climbers are weighed down with 35-pound packs, containing everything from water to energy bars to down parkas. The porters, sometimes outfitted in nothing more than sweats and sandals, lug much more: watermelons, eggs, and all the crew’s camping gear.
For many, the memories of heavy packs, wet boots, and altitude-induced nausea will fade in comparison to the beauty of Africa’s rooftop. Says Sellers, “Watching the full moon rise up over the western breach wall on our third night out was amazing.” Tom Hilb wrote in his journal on the third night, after climbing 20 hours to reach base camp: We walked slowly to 14,600 feet. The views of Kili along the way were both awesome and amazing.
Whether they reached the top or not, the climbers say they’ll never forget Mt. Kilimanjaro. “All in all, it was the experience of a lifetime, “ says Margie Gart. “I would do something else like this in a heartbeat.”
And she can. The Webb-Waring Institute for Cancer, Aging and Antioxidant Research is now planning its next fundraising adventure. At press time, Webb-Waring was looking for fifty people to hike, bike and raft through beautiful Costa Rica, October 15-24, 2004. The trip is open to the public, and CMC members are encouraged to join. The cost is $2,200 per person, including airfare. Each participant must also raise at least $5,000 in donations for Webb-Waring research. For more information, or if you’d like to join the Costa Rican adventure, please visit www.webb-waring.org. P