Far away places with strange soundin’ names
Far away over the sea
Those faraway places with the strange soundin’ names
Are callin’, callin’ me . . .
They call me a dreamer, well, maybe I am
But I know that I’m burnin’ to see
Those faraway places with the strange soundin’ names
Callin’, callin’ me . . .
Sung by Bing Crosby
Oh my goodness! I did some research about the world’s tallest mountains, and the strange-sounding names of exotic places I’d never heard of kindled my imagination anew and filled me once again with a longing to see them. However, I am content with armchair adventures. To tell the truth, Bill, Vicki and I had a taste of backpacking in the Tetons many years ago, and that was enough to convince me that I wouldn’t put up with the discomfort and dangers that real adventurers accept.
I’m going to continue the account of how Dr. David Stuhldreher and his family made a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro which is called a sky island because it rises up from a totally different environment. Located in Tanzania near the border with Kenya, it’s one of the 25 highest mountains in the world at over 19,000 feet. It’s the tallest free-standing mountain on Earth, rather than being a part of a range such as the Himalayas or the nearby Karakorums where K2, the second tallest mountain in the world, is located.
Dr. Stuhldreher and his family have done things that I’d never do such as hiking up to Angel’s Landing, a narrow fin of rock over 5,000 feet high with dizzying drop-offs, in Utah’s Zion National Park. People fall to their deaths there every year. I asked if his parents were adventurous. “No, they weren’t. I learned a great appreciation of nature when my son was in the process of becoming an Eagle Scout.” I understand what he means. Getting close to nature in wilderness places has a great depth and joy.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a little south of the Equator so that trekkers ascend from jungle heat to arctic cold. Just as heat diminishes with altitude, so does rainfall. Dr. Stuhldreher explained that it has five distinct climate zones. At the bottom is farmland where some of the best coffee in the world is produced, then forest and jungle, then moorland, then an arid, moonlike desert and finally the glaciers of the three dormant volcanoes that form the mountain. The last eruption is estimated to have been 150,000 years ago.
Mount Kilimanjaro is such a popular destination because it’s so beautiful and exotic. Also, it doesn’t require special equipment or mountaineering skills such as rappelling and using an ice axe. However, the ascent of Kilimanjaro is no Sunday afternoon walk in the park. Forty percent of the trekkers turn back without reaching the summit. Thus, Dr. Stuhldreher, his wife, Pinky, who is also a physician and his children, Jason and Rachel, are part of a rather elite group.
The summit of Kilimanjaro is over three miles high. People don’t understand and prepare for the difficulties that face them at high altitudes. Eight or nine people die there every year from causes such as mountain sickness or heart attacks.
Why in the world do people subject themselves to such discomfort? This is what George Mallory who disappeared on Everest in 1924, and whose body was found in 1999 said when asked why he wanted to climb Everest, “Because it is there. . . It is impossible to make any who have not experienced it realize what that thrill means.” Dr. Stuhldreher gave me an enthusiastic “Yes!” when I asked if he’d do it again. “It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done—and the hardest!” More to come. Wclark@comcast.net