The Climb Days 7,8, And The After: The Guy Who Summits With No Legs Is Allowed My Thunder
The last 48 hours of the climb are a blur. It has been four days since we completed the summit and came down about 15,000 feet over two days to the Mweka gate on the eastern end of the national park. It has taken me this long to find the quiet time and words to start to think through how I want to tell this part of the story. I have concluded that I will just tell it exactly as it happened.
This part of the story should be it’s own story as it was so very different from the first six days of the climb in every way. We were, in every practical way possible, absolutely prepared for this summit. And we were also, in several inconceivable ways, totally unprepared for this summit.
We were confident after six days climbing higher and higher into altitude that we would be well enough to make it, if the major gating factor was the thin air. And both of us grew up living our daily lives in frozen climates, so we assumed the snow on the mountain would feel familiar. We had every reason to believe that we were going to be successful and that this would be a joyful yet challenging last leg on our journey. Beyond our own hubris we had guides giving us high marks and put our chances in the sure bet category.