Each morning I wake, I’m lucky enough to look outside and see across the valley to Mt. Rose, the highest peak (at 10,778 feet) in the greater Sierra Nevada mountain range within Nevada. This time of year it is blanketed in snow, which sometimes doesn’t melt until late summer. In fact, there have been years that patches of snow can be seen until October when the first storms of the winter begin to roll in. When the sun rises on cold, clear winter mornings and the light turns Mt. Rose pink, it is a truly breathtaking sight.
Recommit to Make the Journey
Each year hundreds of people brave the wilderness and take the trail to the summit. It’s a day trek with a 2,300 foot elevation change to reach the peak. Although I’ve yet to climb Mt. Rose, I definitely feel the draw. When I listen to people who have hiked the loop to the top describe the wild flowers, waterfalls and views, it has made me recommit to making the journey this year. Enough contemplating, take that first step and embrace the challenge. Only then will I be able to share my own stories of adventure to others dreaming about making the trek.
While this post is not about me or Mt. Rose in particular, it is about four women who became the “firsts” when they reached the summit of another famous mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro. The first woman, the youngest woman, the oldest woman, and the fastest woman. Each had a talent all their own. Those talents facilitated each woman’s success in a unique way, each making the history books in different categories. Let’s learn how they each managed this great feat of strength and endurance.
First Women of Kilimanjaro
First, for some context of what it means to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, consider first that it is 19,341 feet in elevation. That is equal to climbing up more than 13 Empire State Buildings, stacked one on top of the other, or 19 Eiffel Towers. Or, you could climb up the face of Niagara Falls 115 times and you would cover the same distance. But distance is not the same as altitude or ascent. The path is dangerous, the altitude sickness is real (potentially life-threatening), and the weather can be unpredictable. Now that you have a sense of the various dangers and seriousness of the commitment to climb, let’s discuss the women that did it in a special way.
The youngest. While most kids her age are gaining skills and mastery in sport leagues or individual activities, 8 year old Roxy Getter became the youngest female in 2017 to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Clearly Roxy is a determined young woman and at a young age persevered to reach these heights along with her family. But, it is even more amazing considering she started her life out with heart problems requiring open heart surgery when she was only 1 year old.
The oldest. What do you hope to be doing when you are (nearly) 87 years old? Climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro? That’s exactly what Russian-born, Angela Vorobeva did in 2015 as part of a group expedition. On the seventh day, at the perfect age of 86 years and 267 days, Angela became the oldest woman to reach the summit.
The fastest: If you are on a fast route you could make the trek in under 5 days. The percentage of climbers successfully reaching the top increases as the overall length of the trek increases. This makes Anne-Marie Flammersfeld’s accomplishment even more astounding, as she made it to the summit in only 8 hours and 32 minutes in 2015. To descend, she took a mere 4 hours and 26 minutes, amazing! Total time spent on the mountain was 12 hours and 58 minutes. Hint: if you left New York for Hawaii you would be landing just about the time Anne-Marie made it back down the mountain. Astounding speed considering all the variables of the hike.
The first: It was 1927, a mere 91 years ago, that Sheila MacDonald became the first woman who climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro at the age of 22. Times were different and, as a woman, she was not entirely new to mountain climbing. When she was just 12, she climbed several mountains in Scotland. Seemingly, as further proof of her experience and skills, during the trip up Kilimanjaro, she outpaced two men that she was climbing alongside. She slept in caves and was reported to have “sustained herself on champagne”. She seems like my kind of woman! Like I said, times have changed.
Another Summit Story (as told by a friend)
So we’ve covered the youngest, oldest, fastest and first to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, what a great accomplishment! And now, I’d like to introduce you to another amazing account of a summit day; this one told by a more recent female hero, a personal inspiration of mine. Meet Amy Patee Colvin. Amy is one of the first women you will meet if you listen in on the No Labels No Limits podcast that launches today (another first). When I sat down and talked with Amy about her challenges and accomplishments, naturally, we eventually talked about her climb up Kilimanjaro. This is an excerpt from her interview:
“On summit day, which actually started at 11:30 at night, we were walking up this mountain in the dark. We had a full moon which was beautiful and that’s why we chose the dates we chose [to travel]; and [we] had that willingness to know that there is something out there that [we] aspire to [accomplish]. In this case, it’s aspiring to get to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
That process, of putting down the left foot, putting down the right food, planting my poles and doing that over and over and over again for six hours, it wasn’t particularly pleasurable. It wasn’t particularly awful. But it is what needed to happen to get to the top.
So, being willing, on occasion, to be in that mindset of considering, is this really fun? Maybe not fun, but it’s worthwhile. It’s worth pushing. It’s worth continuing because you believe in where you’re going. You believe that in the long run, there’s something really great that’s going to happen.”
So today, on International Women’s Day let’s celebrate all these women and their “firsts.” And, let’s celebrate all the women that add to the richness of life daily by being who they are: enough and complete.
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