Kilimanjaro 2010

It’s 1:00 AM, pitch black, and freezing cold even though we presently find ourselves deep in the heart of East Africa. “Keep moving, don’t look back down” says our guide Richard. Not that if you did, you’d be able to make anything of it. All I can see below is the slow bobbing of a couple dozen headlamps: their high-powered LED lights cast strobes so utterly enveloped by the darkness, that I catch myself thinking the mountain’s inky cloak is about to veil them all forever.

Those few frames of existence always stick out to me. We were at roughly 16,000-ft at the time, and just over 5 1/2 hours later would stand upon the peak of that soundless 19,340-foot-high province, known by all as the “Roof” of Africa. Summiting was fantastic, but in my mind the experience of it will forever hold such a dreamlike quality, that it actually pales in comparison to those few moments of reflection. There was something spiritual about them: looking back down the way we’d come and seeing it perfectly shrouded in darkness, the pressing weight of a question overcame my fatigue — “how are we doing this?”

When it was over we each had differing takes on what got us to the top. But from underneath all of the words, all of the jokes (“a super-intense playlist”), and all of the memories of hardship, a common theme leapt from our mouths: for something greater; for something more — than ourselves. Perhaps it’s my nature to believe in such things, but the fact remains that we all took strength from something outside of our own wants and needs.

The mountain will strip you bare of everything you previously believed to value. Flimsy material desires, old prejudices, even the cold of depression and sorrow, are nullified by the cleansing naked-power of the hill. But from this nothingness springs connection, and an awareness of power besides your own will and ability. I cannot know if this force exists on it’s own outside, but for certain it exists within, and amongst, us all. I believe it’s the power of the human capacity for good, and the strength we each have within us to help one another. This faculty may be somewhat hidden during the busyness of daily life, but on the mountainside, with all outward distractions stripped away, one cannot but become aware of it.

- Kevin McLoughlin

Left to right: Kevin McLoughlin (front), Lauren Werckenthien, Heidi Keiser, Mitch Hannum, and Andrew Repp.