On the way up: Fynn and Kim’s Climb

Why do people climb mountains?

The typical answer is “Because it is there”. But for me last week on Mt. Kilimanjaro — I realized my answer was very different. I was there because my 10 year old son was determined to climb the tallest mountain in Africa to raise money for Every Mother Counts and he needed his mama to go with him!

So for me, my journey to the summit started out as supporting my son, but like all journey’s in life, revealed so much more then I could have imaged.

The climb itself was fairly intense. We walked for 7 hours a day and both felt good physically and mentally for most of it. But when it came to Summit Night, it was a whole other mental ball game. We woke up at midnight to -5 Celcius and took our first steps at 1:01 am.

The first hour was brutal but bearable. As the night wore on, however, the temperatures dropped, the wind intensified, and the air got thinner. The hardest thing for Fynn was the fact they wouldn’t let us stop. Not for one second. Not for one breath. For me, I understood the consequences of stopping — you would freeze — which was my biggest challenge. I have never been that cold or miserable in my life. It was as if someone woke me up at midnight and put me in a meat freezer; wearing nothing but my knickers; and made me go on a stairmaster for 6 hours with the fear of death if I stopped climbing. Add to that a little diarreah, headaches, and lack of oxygen and it begins to create the picture of what it was like during those dark hours on that final ascent.

At 3am Fynn collapsed. I thought for sure we were done but a quick pep talk and a snickers bar and he was up again in less then 2 minutes. At 4:30 he collapsed for the second time. This time into me. He started crying but soon realized it was impossible to cry and breath at the same time (something I had learned a few hours earlier!). But this time he was truly done. He said he couldn’t do it and he just wanted to go down. Before I could say “OK — you did your best — let’s turn around”, our guide Noah said to him “Fynn, I know you can do this. You have just given up in your head. I will make you a deal. If you get yourself up to the summit — I will get you down.” Fynn had to think about this deal. It would be another 2.5 hours up, but then he could get carried down. If he turned around now, he still had to hike the 4 hours just to base camp then another 4 hours to get to our camp for the night. He looked at Noah and said “OK.” And with that, it was one foot in front of the other…Pole Pole (slowly slowly).

About an hour later, Fynn took a few steps off the path and headed to a rock outcropping where he just lied down. I followed and propped him up in my arms like when he was a baby. He was crying again. This time he couldn’t catch his breath. I told him how proud I was of him. I reminded him of how many lives will be affected by his efforts, but what stuck with him the most was that I told him he was only 45 minutes away from sunrise. And with the sun came warmth. We could stop in the sun and rest. We could defrost and catch our breath. We could make it if we could just get through the next 45 minutes of darkness. The reality was, we were going to be hiking for the next 45 minutes one way or another, the only question was weather we were hiking up or down. He agreed up was better.

With each step, I was thinking of pregnant mamas in this beautiful country who have to walk up to 8 hours while in labour. I was thinking about how scared they must be. How much they DON’T WANT TO WALK. And how they have no choice. Their strength gave me the will to keep going.

My sunrise theory didn’t actually work out very well due to all the clouds, but it did distract Fynn enough to keep going another 1 1Ž2 hours until we finally reached Stella Point — at 5756 Metres. Stella Point is on the rim of the mountain so is considered part of the summit, but Uhuru is technically the highest peak — another 100m up. The moment was anti-climactic to say the least. The temperature was -15 Celcius and the wind that had been blowing a gail all night intensified on the summit. Our guide took a few photos and within minutes we were heading down. To my surprise, there was no sense of accomplishment, or pride, or satisfaction during those few moments. It was all about taking the next step to start the long journey down

Fynn looked to Noah to take him down. Noah looked right into Fynn’s eyes and said “I lied to you man. I can’t carry you down. I just knew you could do it and you didn’t believe you could. So I lied. Now start walking.” And with that, we all started down the hill.

As I suspected, when the sun came out the world looked very different for both Fynn and I. We had made it through the night. We weren’t frozen, we could breath, and we had done it. More importantly, HE had done it! The satisfaction was starting to set in for both of us, and I was one proud mama.

There were so many amazing life lessons, not just on summit night, but throughout the climb. There is the obvious ones around going past your limits and realizing what you are capable of to unleash the power within yourself (birthing mamas know this one!). But here are a few more from our trip…

• The quality of fuel you put into your body is directly related to the quality of fuel you get out
• sometimes the hardest thing to do is to go slow
• we are each capable of amazing accomplishments, we just need to believe in ourselves.
• Our minds our powerful — what ever you tell yourself — you are usually right.
• everyone on this planet shares the basic traits of humanity — we are far more similar then we often believe.
• Support crews are just as important as climbers
• One person with an idea and determination can do a lot
• Bodies don’t function without sleep
• To succeed, you need to communicate honestly
• Life is a journey, not a destination.
• A cup of cocoa can make everything better
• Chilling with mates is just as necessary as training and eating for your success
• A little alone time goes along way
• Everything looks better in the morning
• Your journey is yours to create — create something you love!

Fynn is already talking about his next fundraising hike…2 months on the Apalatian trail. I couldn’t be prouder of him. Of his commitment, of his determination, and of his compassion for the babies who end up as orphans when their mother’s die giving birth to them. But as for the next hike…Jason — you’re up!

Written by Kim Graham-Nye