To The Roof of Africa - Climbing Kilimanjaro

We watched with awe, reclined in the comfortable seats of the Singapore Omnimax theater. The IMAX movie was on KIlimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa towering at 5,895m above sea level. The movie traced the climb made by a group of average people with the oldest being 64 years old and the youngest just 12. Our immediate reaction was, if they can do it, so can we!

The end of the movie showed the African guide looking up at Kilimanjaro and his words stayed in our minds - "Kilimanjaro - where ordinary people come to do something extra-ordinary". That did it! We were ordinary people looking to do something extra-ordinary. That was in June 2003.

In June 2004, 12 women of different shapes, sizes and ages landed in Tanzania with one goal in mind - to climb to the Roof of Africa. What made us special enough to get into the Singapore Book of Records was that we were not a young team (total age - 600+ years, average age - 51 years, oldest was 59 years young) and we were an all women's team.

We opted to climb via the Western Breach Route which was an 8 day climb - 6 half days up, 1 half days down. It gave us the best chance of a successful climb as it allowed for time to acclimatize. We opted to climb in winter as it was cold but dry. We made sure we had as many advantages as we could have, as the climb itself would be physically and mentally challenging.

On a cold morning in June, 12 of us gathered at Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro and with heads bowed we gave thanks to God for a safe and successful climb. We wept with joy and relief. We had made it. We were standing on the Roof of Africa.

What do I remember about this climb?

• I remember the cold. It was so cold, my hands and feet hurt. They felt like they could break to pieces.
• I remember that feeling of awe when I first saw the glaciers stretching as far as I could see, majestic and silent. Glaciers from the ice age!
• I remember the rock that came hurtling down and bouncing off missing us by mere meters.
• I remember feeling the presence of God.
• I remember watching one of the ladies cleaning her blisters and wondered at and admired her high pain threshold.
• I remember watching another drink up her soup and throw it up into the same bowl. We were all feeling much like that.
• I remember the sense of "buddyship" as we encouraged our buddies on.
• I remember the anxiety of a buddy down.
• I remember the wonderful scenery waking up early in the morning and watching clouds drift below us.
• I remember the feeling of being thankful to be alive and to be there.
• I remember the joy of making it.
• I remember the relief when we got back down safe.
• I remember our head guide Prosper and his words - "You will make it because you are with Prosper."! Indeed he was right.
• I remember the hard work of the 49 men who looked after us. Silently and skillfully, they performed their tasks. We never really saw them at work, but everything that had to be done, got done.
• I remember looking up at Kilimanjaro after the climb and wondered if perhaps it was all a dream ...

We were 12 ordinary women who had come to climb Kilimanjaro, and in doing so we had done something extra-ordinary.