Failure is Always an Option
IN TRANSIT – One of the reasons I felt comfortable joining this expedition was the attitude of the expedition leader, Francisco Seufferheld. He made it abundantly clear that this was to be a positive experience and that we were not to become so driven to reach the goal that we forgot to stay safe and have fun.
What we are doing: Blog Introduction
It’s a good thing, too, because we will have to overcome a lot of obstacles to make it to the lake at the top of the volcano. The altitude is the most formidable challenge, but there are others.
Francisco, his wife, Jeannine Koninckx, and I are in our fifties and have many of the physical limitations that come with age. Francisco has back problems, for example, and in early December developed a nasty infection in a molar. Luckily, this happened before the trek and not at high elevation. And luckily, Jeannine is a dentist.
I was diagnosed with scoliosis in October and I’m pretty sure my right leg is shorter than my left. I was having pain in my right hip until a physical therapist showed me how to stretch and strengthen the affected muscles. Sometimes when I get up from sitting I hobble a bit before everything works properly again.
Jeff, who is younger and stronger than me and jokes that he will be my Sherpa on this trip, had surgery on a ligament in his left leg in August. He recovered from that and went back to work as a mailman in early November. A few days later he stepped in a hole on the job and sprained his other ankle. Now he can walk and climb stairs, but the affected ankle still swells a bit after use.
Preparing for a trek like this takes a lot of mental fortitude. Conditions change, sometimes daily. For example, Francisco told us yesterday in an email that "it has been -20 to -30 C near the summit [of the volcano] with high wind of around 60 miles/hour." The perpetual optimist, he assures us that conditions are improving. And we don't expect to be on Ojos until early January.
My brother has a neighbor who climbed Kilimanjaro some time ago who says that we might make it as high as 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) but not to 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) or higher. The effects of low oxygen are profound, my brother warns me.
"The difference between 15,000 and 20,000 feet is a mile," he says on the phone. I try not to gulp audibly.
And it's true: We might not make it. The altitude or any number of circumstances or mishaps could stop us and turn us back..
We have to be mentally prepared to push through the pain and discomfort of climbing into thinner and thinner air while feeling nauseous, irritable, tired and mentally fuzzy.
But we also must be prepared to turn back if one of us is too sick to go on, or the conditions aren’t right, or we just don’t have the strength to complete the trek. This in many ways would be more difficult than carrying on.