Turning 50

 At the beginning of 2024 I realized I would be turning 50. It seems like an important milestone- and one I was not looking forward to. As I've gotten older, I have redefined what it means to be old. Old is no longer my current age- but a few years down the line. However 50 would not be ignored. I decided I needed to do something big. Some grand gesture to push back. I guess I could have gone skydiving or something, but that didn't feel right.  As an avid hiker, Kilimanjaro seemed like the answer. Challenging, but not impossible. No new skills, but would require training. Something exotic. Something memorable. The world's largest freestanding mountain.  The highest one can hike with any technical skills.

Now that I had a goal- details needed to be worked out. My frequent adventure travel partner is my son Will. He was not moved by the idea. However, he was motivated by the idea of a safari. So we would see go on safari afte
r the climb in some of Tanzania's national parks after the climb.  We settled on late December 2024 start to take advantage of his college break.

There are widely divergent success rates quoted for Kilimanjaro based on various factors. Traditionally it was thought about half the climbers made it. The big issue preventing success is altitude sickness. The number is surely higher now- but hard to find. Hiring a guide is mandatory. Route, number of days, guide company, etc affect success. These details needed to be worked out. The shortest climbs were 5 days- with comparatively poor success rates. 7 days or more have better success. I also decided I wanted to use a company that followed guidelines set for protection of the porters needed to do the support work of the trek (KPAP approved).  I'm sure this added cost, but I figured any company that treated the porters well would treat us well.  I would rather be part of a group climb rather than private- I'm not the most social person, but I liked the idea of meeting other people. After I found out when I could get reasonable airfare it cut most of the options down to one. Our trip was set for 7 days Machame route with Altezza. The number of companies we could use seemed overwhelming, but by setting a few a criteria the decision was easy.  Their website predicted me to have a 90% chance of summiting.

Our flight from Chicago was through Addis Ababa. The flight was about 14 hours, and it was an older plane. My seat was broken, so I was moved away from Will into an aisle. I was not able to sleep as expected, so I watched the third season of Industry.  Not bad.  Due to change in flight schedule, our 2 hour layover became 7. The plus side was that Addis Ababa sat at 8000 feet of elevation, so we were able to spend the day getting our bodies used to the high altitude. The second flight was a newer plane and much better. After collecting our stuff we met our driver and headed to the hotel for some pre- climb sleep.