The Hike Like A Woman Podcast

Why We Were So Successful on Kilimanjaro

• Rebecca Walsh

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What if you could conquer Mount Kilimanjaro by trusting the process and maintaining a slow, steady pace? Today, I share why I think our group of women was so successful during our Kilimanjaro climb and summit. 


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Speaker 1:

it was really, really cool to see everybody reach their goal of summoning mount kilimanjaro, and today I want to talk about why we were successful, why I think we were so successful, and if you haven't been listening to the pod the last couple of weeks, welcome. My name is Rebecca. I'm the founder of Hike Like a Woman. I started Hike Like a Woman about a decade ago. It started as a mommy blog where I was just helping women get outside and go on adventures with their children, and we've evolved since then and now my big focus is adventure, travel and bucket list opportunities and group trips, because there's something really special about going on an adventure, especially one like Mount Kilimanjaro, with a group of women who are supportive and lots of fun. So I'm Rebecca. Welcome back to the pod. This is the place where I talk about what I've been up to, what adventures I'm going on. I also interview people on this podcast. If you know someone who's super interesting that you would like to see me interview, let me know. But usually this is just a very raw, personal, unfiltered, kind of like a diary show, and I try not to interrupt the pod for, you know, advertisement or unnecessary conversation, because I like you and I like being your friend and I like that you're hanging out with me. So this is me. This is the pod. I do have a favor for you and if you like the show, can you do me a favor and subscribe, maybe drop a review, maybe share this episode with a friend, especially if you have a friend who might be interested in climbing Kilimanjaro with us next August, august of 2025. Or maybe you're listening and you're thinking, hey, I've really liked this Kilimanjaro series. Maybe you've watched some of our YouTube videos and you're like, oh man, that sounds super fun. Well, you know, you should climb Kilimanjaro. I think you can do it and if you want to chat about it, reach out to our team, hiathikelikeawomancom. If you have any questions about climbing Kilimanjaro. I'm happy to answer them and I would love to have you and maybe one of your friends, or maybe two of your friends, join us for our next Kilimanjaro. This is the last podcast in kind of our three podcast series about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. We talked a little bit about five mistakes that I made preparing for and on the mountain. We talked about mindset and I think the mindset that we had as a group that made us really successful. That made us really successful and today we're going to talk about you know why we were so successful on Kilimanjaro. When you look at it, we probably shouldn't have been as successful as we were, and here's three reasons why I think the Hike Like a Woman crew that climbed Kilimanjaro with me last June was so successful.

Speaker 1:

The first reason why I think we were so successful was because we trusted the process. We went slow and steady. We followed our guides instructions. Our guides said to hike pole pole or slowly, slowly, and we did. We didn't see what the rush was.

Speaker 1:

Some climbers approach Kilimanjaro like a competition or pushing for speed. Most people in our group embrace the wisdom of our guides and their mantra pole pole or Swahili for slowly, slowly. And this slow and steady pace we're talking really slow, you guys. I think we hiked about a mile an hour the whole trip. So it is slow, but this slow and steady pace allowed our bodies to acclimatize properly as we increased in altitude. This pace prevented altitude sickness. Even those in our group who weren't able to take the prescription medication Dymox to prevent altitude sickness still were able to handle the altitude properly, and I think it's because they hiked pole pole and we learned that this climb was not about speed and it was about just really ensuring that we were able to reach the summit safely and feeling good. Slow and steady really does win the race on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Speaker 1:

The second thing that we did that made our group so successful was we trained and we were prepared. We trained, everyone in our group took training seriously and we all trained in really, really different, really really different ways. Some of us did a ton of long, slow distance, as I mentioned in the first of our Kilimanjaro series. Some people really hit the weights hard. Some people did a ton of climbing, but everybody had a training plan or a training program. Everybody followed that training plan and that training program and we all arrived physically and mentally prepared to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. And it was really fascinating to me too, because I live in the Rockies, it's pretty easy for me to get to altitude. Our trails actually were pretty similar to what I experienced on Mount Kilimanjaro. But even our climbers who came from Kansas and Louisiana and these low South Carolina, these low elevation places where it wasn't as easy for them to replicate what we would see on the mountain, they all did great and it's because they were prepared and having that preparation, that training, that groundwork, that mental toughness, as we talked about last week, made the challenging sections of the hike more manageable. And then it allowed us to enjoy the experience.

Speaker 1:

Because here's the thing about training and being ready for a climb like this it's not just one day of climbing, it's seven days of climbing. So someone on our trip I think someone described it as like every day we're climbing a 14 or so, a 14,000 foot peak, like we have in Colorado or in California. So it's like climbing a 14 or every single day. And then on summit night it's like running a marathon. And that was a really that really put into perspective the kind of training that is important to do to prepare for an event like that right. So if you can suffer for one day, that's great, but no one really wants to suffer on a hike like this and you don't want to suffer for seven days. So all of that training up front really kind of reduced the amount of suffering that we had, especially on those later days. You know, summit day, the day after summit day, especially on those later days. You know, summit day, the day after summit day, especially on those later days, just having that strength and stamina to sustain the climb every single day for seven days.

Speaker 1:

The third thing that our group did that I think helped us be successful on the mountain is that we had a lot of fun. There was a lot of positivity, there was a lot of fun, there were some shenanigans, there were jokes and it's kind of funny because someone wrote a review of this trip and it was not a very nice review. In fact. I read the review. It was the first time I've ever been given a one star review in my life and I read the review and I cried for like a day and a half because it was, it was. It was so hurtful. But part of this review is they said that it felt like teenagers on a girl's trip for the first time and I that part stung a little bit, but then I just learned to embrace that one star review and it's true Like we did feel like teenage girls on a girls trip because we had a lot of fun. Have you ever been on a girls trip and not had a lot of fun?

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I mean, we had a ton of fun on the mountain and when I posted our YouTube video about this trip, I really wanted my personality to come through, because I think sometimes people have this idea of who I am online and I try to make sure that that matches with who I am in person, but I don't know that it always comes across. It's hard to like get to know me on a podcast or on a YouTube video. So I tried to include some of those elements that were a little bit inappropriate and a little bit silly and a little bit wild, because I don't want to get any more one-star reviews. I want people to know what they're getting when they book a trip with, like a woman and when they know that I'm going to be on the trip. So so, yeah, sometimes it was a lot like teenagers on a girl's trip, and so go and watch the video and check out those portions of the trip, because those that's the kind of fun that we had, most of us had on the climb. There were one or two people who didn't really like the group environment, but everybody else had a great time. So we had a ton of fun.

Speaker 1:

And when we were on our climb there was a group of guys from France, so it was maybe like six 10 guys like Frenchmen. They were probably in their late 20s, early 30s and we had so much fun. We would kind of flip-flop each other on the trail. They would pass us or we would pass them. Usually they would pass us and they would say USA and we would say viva la France. And they were having so much fun on the mountain and even on summit night they were having a ton of fun.

Speaker 1:

But then there were other climbers on the mountain who just seemed super serious and just super focused. Or it was a group where it was like one or two people hiking with one or two guides and they weren't talking, they weren't singing, they were just very focused and very serious. But our group was not serious. We were having a blast. There's a ton of camaraderie, encouragement, support, there was silliness and that made all the difference and I think that's one of the reasons why we were successful on the mountain, because we just had this group that was full of positive energy. That fueled our motivation, it kept our spirits high and that was important throughout the climb. So we had that winning formula right of teamwork up to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. In fact we had so much fun that we're planning a Kilimanjaro reunion.

Speaker 1:

I think some of the Kilimanjaro girls who went with us in June are going to come with me on a hike like woman trip to Costa Rica in April. Everyone said I'm going back on another trip, and so I think that is what it's all about. It's all about joining in a group trip, making new friends, seeing a new place, having a ton of fun and then having these stories and these experiences to come home and tell your friends about. So, anyway, this is kind of a shorter episode, but I just wanted to wrap up our Kilimanjaro episode by sharing the reasons why I think that we were so successful and, if you want to learn more about what we do here at Hike Like a Woman, if you want to join me for a trip.

Speaker 1:

We lead trips all over the world, from Kilimanjaro to Costa Rica, southern Utah. Where are we going? Iceland, peru we go all over the world I would love to have you join me for a trip. If this feels like a group or a community that you want to be part of, I would love to have you join me for a trip. You can learn more about our trips by heading over to our website, hikelikeawomancom. If you're interested in climbing Kilimanjaro, I'd also encourage you to check out our YouTube channel. We're posting a ton of Kilimanjaro content there, everything from physical training gear, clothing, all of the things. So just head on over to YouTube, find us, search Hike Like a Woman or join the conversation on any of our social media channels. Thanks so much for joining me and I will see you next week. Social media channels. Thanks so much for joining me and I will see you next week. Hey, real quick before you go. You know that here at Hike Like a Woman, I rarely promote products or services, but I do want to tell you about a new partnership we have with Global Rescue. I think it's important. This company saves lives On Kilimanjaro.

Speaker 1:

We had a member of our group get altitude sickness and she needed to be evacuated quickly down the mountain. It's not my story to tell out of respect for her, but what I want to say is that our guides recommended calling in a helicopter for this evacuation. So she's really sick. She just got off the summit, she's on the phone with the medical evacuation company and they want to charge her credit card $5,000 before they'll come and get her. All because I had recommended travel insurance that didn't offer high altitude rescue. I felt terrible. She was escorted down the mountain by our guards and porters, and she felt good once she got down a few thousand feet. But as a trip leader, this was a major failure of mine.

Speaker 1:

Since coming home, I've been researching travel insurance and rescue insurance and I've discovered that the best company out there is Global Rescue. They will literally pick you up from anywhere in the world, get you to a treatment facility, get you taken care of and get you back home to the United States or wherever you live, not just if you're sick or injured, but also if there's a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. Whatever happens, wherever you are, they'll take care of you. Also, they have this cool feature where, if you're out on a trek somewhere and you get bitten by a spider and it starts to look funky and gross, they actually provide a doctor that you can talk to. That doctor is going to tell you exactly what to do and where to go. In addition to rescue memberships, they also work with another company to provide regular travel insurance as well, so that'll cover things like your flights getting delayed or your baggage getting lost.

Speaker 1:

So if you're climbing Kilimanjaro or a big mountain, or even just traveling abroad, you need to protect yourself. That's why I am personally using and recommending Global Rescue. They're amazing, you guys. You can learn all about them by visiting my website, hikelikeawomancom. Just head over to hikelikeawomancom, click that tab at the top of the website that says travel safely and you can learn all about them. Thanks so much for letting me share this really important thing with you today.