Mt. Kilimanjaro - The Triumph Of The Will

Last Day.

Final push to the summit as the sun started to wake....

Last image of her on day 2.5 beFore technology went dark

STELLA POINT - 18,880ft

As we climbed higher, and pushed further than one ever thought the human body could ever push. Running on fumes. Moving by sheer mental force, she started to rise. All I lived for was putting one excruciatingly frozen foot in front of the other. One horrific step at a time. Already prepared for the eventuality of frostBite - in Africa.

Fascinating.

The Kili shuffle, it was called. you did not need to be taught, the Kili shuffle will come naturally to you.  It was the only way to move.

She started to rise...

We could feel her heat. I use "her". What else should I say? She's a female canine with snarling fangs dropping goblets of saliva in the anticipation of scorching some impudent human flesh.

She, is the Sun.

Still, we pushed towards her.

I lifted my eyes to see. I always want to see. Everything.

I lifted my eyes, my pupils contracting to laser points behind my thick sun protectors. I saw the wooden sign with four bars across, the second one the longest; reminiscent of the cross upon which Jesus the Christ was allegedly crucified. As I climbed higher towards Uluru peak, lungs burning from oxygen deprivation; all physical comfort and tangible reality forgotten, all muscles on their final reserve s-t-r-a-i-n... forWarrrrd! The "why" no longer relevant. It was just me in my most primal state of survival, facing the elements and praying they let me be.

....that they let me go back to my life.

"The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone filled my head through my iPod which thankFully, was not dead. Every thing else that linked me to the digital age had gone kaput by day 2/2.5 - this was day six.

As the sound filled my head, I could hear the horse's hoofs running through the tombStones.  I was walking dead but, I was heading for gold. I was literarily going to touch the Sun!

Today, I die; or,  I Am~ reBorn.

Either way, I shall transcend.

The Transcension of Self - a key element  in my journey to Self Actualisation.

The Sun rose higher, she was huge. Blindingly gargantuan. The summit was freezing. I lifted my hands to the air in joy and gratitude, parted my index and middle fingers to form a V and was beginning to break inTo an exhausted and triumphant smile but quickly had to flinch due to my cracked and blistered lips.  I was sweating inSide my layers.  Through the cold the sun came through, but she was not friendly; she screeeeaamed her way through with such venom, appalled by the blatant audaciousness of the minions who dared to think they could come so close to her.  

The sheer nerve of it!

The Cold (as evident by the snow-capped peak) being the main resident (as evident by the thick snow in AFRICA) refused to make way since the sun was only a temporary guest. Each battled for supremacy. Roaring fiercely. Neither giving way. As a result, it was freezing temperature with scorching heat. Let me elaborate: my teeth was chattering while sweat was pouring through my balaclava and (same shocking sweat) would have rolled right inTo my eyes (leaving salty deposits to rudely awaken my tear ducts) save my sun protectors.

Protectors, being the operative word.

I could not breathe.
I was Hot ± Cold. Hold. Cot.
I could not feel my legs or my fingers.
I had long gone past "Omo Faith, what are you doing here?"  I was now...
Nothing,  yet everyThing. Heavy,  yet weightless.
Trapped. . .  yet, FREE.
Dead,  yet ALIVE.
One with GOD.
At peace.

Unbelievably surreal discomfort aside, this was the most MAGIFICIENT(a rather deficient word) thing one could not envisage due to the limitations of the human senses. All my senses running back and forth through the gauntlet of my emotions.

Joy.
                                                                                                                       Happiness.

Fear.

                        Awe.

 Sadness.

                                                                                                       Submission. 

                                                     Dominance. 

          Helplessness.

                                                                                          Strength.

One thought kept ringing through my head which superseded every other thought....

I DID IT !!!

I was standing on the head of the great and wondrous Queen Kili. It was no mean feat getting here though, she'd beaten me black 'n' blue,  tortured me mentally,  made me question my sanity,  was the ABSOLUTELY WORST host imaginable.

Cold and unwelcoming.

Why did I climb this literal mountain ?  

No clue. Just knew I had this burning overwhelming urge to do so. Wanted to. Craved it.  And, it was unPlanned. Last week, I'd been lying inside the sarcophagus of King Cheops (Khufu). This week, I was touching the Sun from the top of the ONLY free standing mountain in the World.

It was surreal....

I was drained, elated, exhausted, traumatised, uncomfortable, terrified, thankful.  My head was pounding. Eyes had crusts on them.  Lips were cracked, peeled and blistered.  Fingers were numb.  Breath was so short, I have now developed a deep appreciation for oxygen.

Awful physical experience.

Deeply spiritual experience.

Mentally explosive experience!

My psyche has been permanently altered by this.
I believe in mySelf now more than ever. I have made history in my personal life and this is someThing that will live with me for as long as I shall take in air.

I,  Òmó Faith, got to the top of the HIGHEST free standing mountain in the world.

The highest mountain in Africa. . . .  Mt Kilimanjaro.

I DID IT !!! 

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