She stands tall above the flat plains of Tanzania and Kenya, the Mountain of Greatness, whose snowy peak at 19,341 feet makes the rooftop of Africa. This mountain, whose western summit Hemmingway calls the House of God, was believed by the European colonizers and explorers to be pure myth. Snows in Africa were too incredible to be believed until the German missionary Johannes Rebmann reported her existence and recalled that his guide had tried to bring down the silver from her crown only to have it magically turn to water during the descent into the jungle.

 

Today, Mt. Kilimanjaro is one of the most often climbed mountains in the world. I can only imagine how awesome, in the true sense of the word, it must feel to conquer the jungle and the tundra and gaze down upon Africa. And conquering the Shining Mountain is one of my enduring fantasies, a goal that I long to accomplish before I pass. One day I will.

 

I have never been athletic. I went from being a weak and sickly child to a chubby teenager with spinal fusion. And even though I have been average-to-thin for years, I was never able to shake the perception that I am unfit and too round. This is where Kili comes in.

 

I have found the tools I need to embark on my metaphorical climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I have learned what to pack and how to train to build the body I have always dreamed of, the kind of body that will one day physically carry me to the summit of the fabled mountain. And what is that secret? Peak inside my backback...