John’s Story: He cheated death twice in one adventure
by REI Austin on Saturday, July 28, 2012 at 9:33am ·
Meet John Simmons, he is the Store Manager at REI Austin’s Gateway store. Prior to his career at REI, John was the owner of a landscaping company in North Texas and successfully ran his business for 25-years. He was also a member of the REI Co-op and made frequent visits to the store to purchase gear for his numerous camping and mountain climbing excursions; to put it mildly he was a “regular”. It was during those shopping trips that John noticed the extremely balanced and fun working environment, so he signed-on as a sales associate and worked his way to the position of store manager.
As previously mentioned John was an avid mountaineer, scaling the heights of mountain peaks all across the United States. At one point in this mountain climbing career, he and a friend decided they needed a real challenge so they started preparing for the climb of a lifetime, Mt. Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania. He recalls the climb as being a “unique” experience, starting out in the rainforest of East Africa and ending the journey on top of a glacier 20-thousand feet in the air. But the challenge of the climb started even before John’s plane touched down. During their flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport their plane was taken over by hijackers whose mission was to crash the Boeing 747, killing all those aboard. John recalls, “Luckily some of his fellow passengers were able to get inside the cockpit with the hijackers and regain control of the plane”. When asked what he was thinking after they touched down, Simmons says, “There were several people aboard the plane that immediately canceled their trip up the mountain, I looked at my climbing partner and we both decided we are here, this is what we came for.” John says he didn’t believe loved ones back in America would even hear of the hijacking, “So we didn’t call anyone” and to his defense making calls from Africa is not the easiest thing to do. He did manage to call home just before they started their trek up the mountain and Simmons says “That call gave us a real jolt, hearing our loved ones emotional response to the news of our safety and well-being”.
As far as the climb, Simmons says Mt. Kilimanjaro is a mountain you spend a long time training to climb. He and his climbing partner spend several months in Colorado climbing various peaks to adjust to the altitude. “Mountain climbing is a lot more mental than many understand”, say Simmons, “You have to realize you are going to get “sick” on the climb and you must fight through that feeling to keep going”. John says he and his partner led the pack for most of the climb, trudging ahead on the steeper slopes, but on their last day the two hit a wall at an elevation 17-thousand feet. “We had not gotten any sign of altitude-sickness until the 17-thousand mark and we began considering turning back”, says Simmons. He says that is when the mental aspect of the climb kicked in and he had to make a decision of determination, pushing their bodies beyond that point of exhaustion. Simmons and his partner began their last stretch to summit at 11 pm and reached the top by 7 am, just in time to watch the sunrise. Simmons says, “The climb was most exhausting and yet the most sensational experience of my lifetime”.
For those thinking of planning a trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro, John says you’ll need to prepare yourself for difference in altitude and urges all to plan practice runs up mountains in Colorado and Washington. Months before the trip, Simmons says, “Your body will react much better doing this”. He also advocates for having a climbing partner, “This helps with moral support; it gets more about mental exhaustion on the mountain and just how far you can push your body”. But Simmons says recovering from the climb came quicker than expected, “Usually when you push your body that hard it takes days to recover, but once our climbing party made it to a lower altitude our bodies immediately leveled-out”. Simmons says REI-Gateway is fully stocked to prepare anyone planning a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro, from the outdoor education classes on the climb to the full array of gear needed for the trip. He says you can even book the trip through REI’s Adventure Tours at our Customer Service Desk.
-Interview and story by REI Austin Social Media Practitioner: Ryan Poppe
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