7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 1)

Day 1 of the trek to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro started the night before. After a couple of days volunteering at the orphanage the group was in high spirits but as we came together the evening before the start of the hike we were asked to put it all aside and shift gears to focus on the next 7 days looming before us.

Kevin (our lead guide) gave a briefing to prepare us for the mountain, and whilst his intent was absolutely to reassure us, for me, a complete novice, that’s when my decision to climb this monstrosity (oops, mountain) became frighteningly real.

I have nothing but praise for K2 Adventures Foundation, their level of preparedness and instruction I believe is second to none. I hadn’t climbed a mountain before but my husband had trekked to Everest Base Camp and he was just as impressed (if not more so)…

K2’s philosophy is TRUST + RESPECT = RESULTS; and the result they are looking for – to get you back safely. And given the industry standard is only a 45-50% summit success rate and K2 Adventures Foundation have a 97% success rate, we figured we were in pretty good hands.

However, when you start getting the run down on what needs to be in your day pack and mountain bag, how long you will be ‘walking’, what will happen when you stop to camp and what you will need to prepare for (like potential sickness and taking bathroom breaks on the trail and at night) that’s when this ‘5-star resort style holiday gal’ started to panic just a little.

So I certainly do believe that this was my first lesson from the mountain. I had reasoned with myself that since almost everything during this experience would be a ‘first’ for me, I was truly going to need to live by Tony Robbins words of “trade expectation for appreciation”.

I was just so far out of my comfort zone on this ‘holiday’ that I knew I was going to need to relinquish ‘control’ and instead of expecting things to be a certain way I needed to simply appreciate each and every new element of this entire experience for what it was.

And from this came a freedom that I have never experienced in my life.

So with this philosophy, I staved off the panic by simply accepting the guidance from the experts about what was required to be successful.

Coincidentally it was that evening I earned my nickname (a tradition for K2 that every trekker earns a mountain name), and so of course mine was “The Virgin” which aptly summed up both my feelings of apprehension and level of experience!?!

Day 1 Statistics
Start: Machame Gate @ 1640m (5380 ft)
Finish: Machame Camp @ 2850m (9350 ft)
Distance: 11km (7 miles)
Time: ~5-7hrs

7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 2)

7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 3)

7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 4)

7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 5)

7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 6)

7 Days of Leadership Lessons from Mt Kilimanjaro (Day 7)