Hiking the Seven Summits — scaling the tallest mountain from each of the seven continents — is a daunting project involving some extraordinary physical, mental, financial, and geographical challenges that need to be overcome. While we don’t have exact numbers, according to AI, approximately 3500 people attempt this challenge annually and we can safely say only a tiny percentage of people succeed. Again according to AI, only 500 people have succeeded since this concept was conceived in the 1950s. So how does one do it? Well, like all things hiking, it’s done (or started anyways) one step-at-a-time, one mountain-at-a-time. The ordering of these mountains is probably a result of logistics and accessibility more than anything. This means a lot of folks will begin with Mt Kilimanjaro. With an elevation of 19,341ft/5895m it’s not the shortest, but it is widely regarded as the “easiest” of the lot, despite its high altitude. This is mainly due to its lack of technical challenges — it’s an hike — as well as its accessibility. Cost is another factor.
This said, how does one prepare? Obviously quite a lot of hiking needs to happen prior to taking on Africa’s tallest mountain, even with its extremely subservient porters. The answer: Hiking everything. This was the case for a pair of hikers from New York. They came to us looking to get some uphill miles under their feet. Originally the plan was to take on Mt Washington. Unfortunately it is the Home of the World’s Worst Weather and it looked like it was not going to be a good objective thanks to rain and high winds so they ended up beginning the day by pivoting to a new objective. Redline Guide Eric Hansen chose Mt Hale with the option of making it longer (by using Lend-a-Hand and Zealand Trails to form a loop).
To the credit of our guests, they did summit the mountain taking them one step closer to their goal. They had hoped for a second day with us but ended up having to throw in the towels thanks to family commitments. They do plan to come back according to Eric, but we will have to wait. Hopefully when they do take on Kili they are prepared and successful. Doing it will leave them with six peaks to go and we wish them the best of luck. What follows are a few photos of the day — a day they thoroughly enjoyed, awed by the woods and the running water on-mountain.
