The Road to Kilimanjaro
Entry 04 September 2026
The goal is simple: summit Mount Kilimanjaro.
Having worked at Back Track for 13 years, I’m privileged to have been surrounded by adventurous itineraries, incredible journeys and people taking on personal and physical challenges. Being immersed in that world has had an impact, and the idea of climbing Kilimanjaro has been quietly sitting in the back of my mind for nearly a decade.
So now it’s time for me to take on the personal challenge and see what I am capable of.
That doesn’t mean I am not a little intimidated.
I’ve never completed a multi-day trek, and the altitude and endurance required are daunting, and honestly, bush bathrooms may end up being one of my biggest challenges!
But I believe that with good preparation comes the best chance of success, and that’s where Rowan comes in. I’m working with Rowan from Summit Strength, who has tailored a training program to help me prepare.
Before I had even officially started the program, my first task was to complete a self-assessment to help Rowan tailor the training program to my current abilities and starting point.
Honestly, I found it harder than I expected. Assessing your own strengths and weaknesses can be confronting, but it was also interesting to identify areas for improvement, like how one leg seems to have much better balance than the other!
Some of the movements also felt unfamiliar and unnatural, which made me feel a little awkward and not particularly confident when doing them. But I’m looking forward to completing the assessment again at the end of the program to see how much I have improved.
The Challenges Ahead
The next few months will come with their own challenges. I’m getting married in October, have a holiday in March, and there will definitely be mornings when getting up in the dark to train does not sound particularly appealing.
But the goal isn’t to make this easy. The goal is to arrive at Kilimanjaro feeling strong and confident, knowing I have put in the work to build the fitness, strength and endurance needed for the challenge ahead.
This is the beginning of the journey.
