Interviewing The Climbers:The Sasha Report
Behind The Scenes Interviews By Sasha Fraser
(late publication date due to PLAYING TOO MUCH SOKA)
Soon my dad will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa.
He is expecting to see great distances and perhaps look down on the clouds. He expects to see lots of interesting rocks and look down into the volcanic crater. He expects to get a little bit of altitude sickness.
“I think I will feel strange. I think my stomach will be upset. I don’t think I will be eating very well. I think I will have difficulty breathing.”
He says he is going to make it to the top. “ I am going to make it to the top because I’m very stubborn person I don’t give up that easily. If I get really sick I will turn around and come home.”
These were my dad’s predictions before his climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. I was able to interview my mom after her climb. She reached the top of Kilimanjaro which is Uhuru Peak, 5895 metres above sea level on New Years Eve, 2007.
The first thing she remembered was that she had cold hands and it was hard to stay warm. Night time was very cold. She wore ski pants and a toque to maintain body temperature at night. It was warm in the daylight but cold when the sun went down. Horombo Hut was moist and cold.
At the top of the mountain, she wore five layers of clothing, not including her parka and windbreaker. It was minus 20 degrees Celsius and Uhuru peak was foggy and winds were reaching up to 60km per hour. Mom didn’t feel she got a lot of altitude sickness, just a little headache.
“Your body does not have enough oxygen to do its normal functions. You can’t walk and eat at the same time or you will get all numb. When you walk fast, you breathe more heavily and your stomach tightens and you feel like you’re going to vomit.”
Our friend Margie was feeling nausea but then my mom gave her gravol and it went away. They went on and saw glaciers that were well over 100 metres tall.
I am stupefied that both my parents are climbing Kilimanjaro. I hope I will climb Kilimanjaro when I am twenty two years old.
posted by Fraser Malahoffs @ 4:29 AM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Hello Sasha--Your interview of your parents about their Kilmanjaro experience was interesting and very well written. We hope to see more blog entries about your own experiences. Perhaps you're heading for a career in journalism!! Gramps
Hey Sasha, this is great!
Tell your parents you want to climb as a family in 10 years.
By then, your Dad will be so old he'll really appreciate your offer(as the eldest son) to carry his backpack, and your brother and sis can carry your mom's!
My son, Jamie still gets brownie points for doing that for me on Mount Kenya 12 years ago!
Give a high 5 to each of the other 4 kids from us.
Lloyd&Erla Koch
Hi Sasha
I am stupified by the quality of your prose. Keep up the wonderful blog entries. Miss you all.
Steve Adilman
Hey Sasha, wow it was great to read your entry. that is so cool that they are climbing that mountain. You want to climb it when you're twenty two huh? That seeems like a random age.. that's how old I am. I want to climb it too!!!! I miss you all lots and I just thought i'd say your writing is amazing!!! Great job! :):)
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