Wood climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro
Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
“It was just beautiful” is how Weston County resident Ernie Wood described the view from the 19,341-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro, which is located in Tanzania, was a longtime goal for Wood, and on June of this year, it finally happened.
“It was on my bucket list,” he said.
Wood explained that when it comes to climbing this treacherous mountain, it doesn’t matter how good of shape someone may be in. Rather, a dedication to training specifically for the 40-mile-high climb and its thin air is necessary.
“I trained for way over six months,” Wood said, adding that if he hadn’t been in shape, he wouldn’t have made it halfway. During his half-year of training, he hiked every day, no matter what the weather was like, with his dog, Hero, who is half Labrador and half “nobody-knows-what.”
Wood said that hiking at elevations between 6,000 feet and 14,000 feet helped prepare him for the thin air of the mountain, but nothing quite compares to 19,000 feet.
Training that long seems monumental to some, but Wood didn’t find it too hard.
“Knowing what the end result was going to be — it was huge motivation,” Wood said.
When the time finally came to put all his training to work, Wood headed to Africa. He hiked in a group of two, the other person being a young lady from Alaska. However, many other people from different groups were climbing the mountain around the same time.
Wood said that his group included a cook, a server and six porters to carry their gear and to set up camp. The porters also brought hot water and set up a place to eat. The two hikers received their own personal guides.
Wood said that whenever they stopped to eat, they were instructed to eat a lot because it was an “extreme weight-loss program.” They were also told to hike slowly so they wouldn’t burn out or run low on oxygen.
It took four days of all-day hiking to reach the base camp, Wood said, and after catching a few hours of sleep, they were up again at 11 p.m. so they could eat and prepare to start hiking again at midnight.
“That night climb was miserable,” Wood said, explaining that the wind was torturous. However, at 9:30 a.m., they finally reached the top of the mountain.
“I was ecstatic,” Wood said, noting that he’s “still going nuts.”
Wood said that they were only allowed at the top for a few minutes because of the thin air. Throughout the hike, he said, medics constantly checked their breathing and oxygen levels. Many of the young and middle-aged hikers and even one of the guides didn’t complete the climb because of the lack of air, according to Wood.
“It’s not a cake walk,” he said.
Throughout the six-day hike, climbers experienced five “zones”: jungle, trees, desert, open nothingness, and total arctic. While the climate was harsh at times, Kilimanjaro also had stunning scenery, Wood said.
“The plants were absolutely amazing,” he said.
Once he got back to the hotel after his weeklong trek into the heart of the Tanzanian giant, Wood said, he knew exactly what he wanted as his reward for the hard work – “I want a beer.” And he had a “pretty good” local Tanzanian beer, he said.
Wood chuckled.
“By that time, anything would’ve tasted good,” he said.
Wood was told that that it’s best to climb Kilimanjaro before age 70.
He laughed and then said he’s turning 70 in October.
Now that he’s back in the states, Wood keeps busy by running every morning with his dog and taking time to kayak, hike and golf. He even competed in a half-marathon in Spearfish two weeks after his trip to Africa and achieved a best time. He encourages people to take advantage of the opportunities around them.
Now that he has “climbing the world’s tallest free-standing mountain” crossed off his bucket list, Wood wants to take an inland trip to Alaska, do something in both Europe and South America, and explore more of the United States. There’s a lot to do here that he hasn’t done yet, he said.
“I’ve got lots to do before I’m too old,” Wood said.