Two months.
If all goes well, that’s when I’ll be summiting Mount Kilimanjaro. Starting at the Barafu Huts in the middle of the night and climbing by headlamp light to Stella Point and, hopefully, on to Uhuru Peak. Two months from today.
It’s hard to believe that three months of training are already in the books, and these next two will fly by.
The goals during these next two months will be to get stronger, healthier, improve endurance and do anything possible to improve my chances of summiting. There’s so much to do between now and departure. There’s a flight to book this week, a Tanzania visa to obtain, vaccines to get and a few pieces of necessary gear to purchase.
I’m not nervous, but there is a bit of anxiety. I haven’t been to Africa before, so everything about the experience will be new. I don’t know any of my crew mates I’ll be climbing with — although I know the people I meet will be among the biggest highlights of the trip as they have been on previous trips abroad. I’ve also never undertaken a physical challenge quite like this at such extreme altitude, so I have no way of knowing if all of my preparation is sufficient until I’m actually on the mountain.
Only time will tell.
Two months … it’ll be here in no time.
Chris Wristen 