Five Albany County men saw the most dramatic sunrise of their lives recently.
That’s because they were standing near the top of Mount Kilimanjaro at the time.
To me, the best way to describe it is how you’d draw a picture of heaven, said Voorheesville resident Tom Markert. `It was astonishing.`
`It was just unbelievable,` added Delmar’s Mark Bryant. `You felt like you were seeing the sun rise over Africa.`
Forty-five minutes later, they and the rest of their 11-man climbing party were standing at the top of Africa. Some were overjoyed to reach the summit, while others were dazed by the climb.
`I’d like to tell you that I was overcome by emotion and savoring the moment, but I was more overcome by the altitude,` said Markert. `I was actually stumbling.`
The trip was partially a family affair. Markert was joined by his brother Paul and his cousin Jim, while Bryant had his brother Jeff along for the climb. Another portion of the climbing party was made up of two mutual friends of both families ` Tom Fashouer of Guilderland and Mike Brennan of Voorheesville.
`The 11 guys all got along very well,` said Bryant. `It was amazing that people from different places (across the United States) got along so well.`
`Everybody was single-minded in getting to the top. Nobody wanted to be the one not to make it to the top,` added Markert.
Bryant planted the seed for the trip three years ago when he started thinking about things he wanted to do as he sat in his office at Bryant Asset Management, which he and his brother Jeff run.
`I got up from my desk feeling chipper three years ago, and I walked into my brother’s office and said, ‘I want to do something before I turn 50 Let’s climb Kilimanjaro,’` said Bryant.
Fortunately for Mark, Jeff had his sights set on the same mountain.
`It’s been my life’s goal (to climb Kilimanjaro),` said Jeff.
Not long after that, Jeff Bryant contacted Markert to see if he was interested in making the trip.
`We were just talking, and when we first mentioned it, it was sort of to gain a reaction from each other,` said Markert. `We’re sort of adventurers, so we were both into the idea.`
Markert sent out e-mails to people he thought would be interested. Fashouer was on that list.
`I knew Tom from skiing,` said Fashouer. `So very early on in the process, he sent out some e-mails about it, and that’s when I jumped on it. It was a trip of a lifetime ` it was too good to pass up.`
Fashouer then told Brennan about the trip, and the 66-year-old Brennan asked to be included.
`I think I roped them into taking me with them,` said Brennan. `But anybody who knows me knows I’m an athletic person.`
Once the group was established, everyone started collecting information about Kilimanjaro and learned that it possessed only one physical challenge ` its height, estimated at more than 19,300 feet.
`It’s not a technical climb,` said Brennan. `You don’t have to climb any (rock) walls or use any crimp-ons or hand picks to traverse any ice.`
`Over the last four or five years, Kilimanjaro has taken over as an everyman’s Everest,` said Markert.
Everyone trained over two years to prepare for the ascent, but it was what their guide, John Hauf, taught them on the first day of the hike that proved to be the most valuable training regimen for them.
`He had us walking very slowly from the outset, and they had you so focused on walking slowly that it was easy until the last day ` that’s when they cram everything,` said Mark Bryant.
`It was a little different at first because we were used to (hiking in) the Adirondacks, where there’s no altitude problems, and we were all in very good shape,` added Jeff Bryant. `We were really shocked that we needed to be at that (slow) pace.`
The group spent the first day walking through a rainforest to reach the base of Kilimanjaro.
`The rainforest was very Dr. Seuss-like. You’d have these wild branches hanging overhead, and it just looked so surreal,` said Mark Bryant.
The terrain and the altitude changed once the group reached Kilimanjaro. Over the next four days, they traversed their way over a rocky landscape formed by ancient volcanic activity as they climbed up and down the mountainside to get acclimated to the altitude.
`The physical part was fine,` said Fashouer. `It was the altitude that was a problem, but I handled it well.`
Sleeping on the mountain also had its share of challenges. Though each camper was provided two pads ` a closed-celled pad and an inflatable mattress ` to go along with a sleeping bag, the angle they slept at and the altitude they were at caused some in the group to lose some sleep.
`It wasn’t comfortable,` said Mark Bryant. `You had all this padding, but you still slept at angles and your sleeping bag would slide off (the mattress) from time to time.`
The one advantage the group had was a large support staff of guides, porters, cooks and waiters provided by the travel company that did everything from carry the heavy equipment to serving meals. They also provided entertainment on two occasions ` once when they reached the mountain, and the other when they returned.
`There’s no question that it made it doable for us,` said Brennan. `We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the guides.`
Though the support staff made it easier for the group to go up Kilimanjaro, the 11 campers had to traverse the final stage to the summit with only the help of their guides. What’s more, they had to do so mainly in the dark.
`We got a wake-up call from our guide at about 11:30 at night saying we had to be starting our ascent at midnight not that anyone slept,` said Mark Bryant. `You were very anxious about the hike, and you were starting to feel (the altitude) at that point.`
Aided only by the headlamps they wore, the group slowly made their way up the final 3,000 feet to the summit.
`I think we were all a little surprised (at the beginning of the trip) at how slowly we were going to walk,` said Fashouer. `But on summit day, that’s how fast you walked. And I still found myself going two or three steps and then taking a couple of deep breaths.`
The payoff came at around 7 in the morning on the sixth day of the climb as each member of the group reached the summit. The Bryant brothers ` who took two weeks off from the family’s business ` reached it together and posed for a picture holding the company’s banner.
`I think when we got to the top, it was so emotional for us because we felt very fortunate to be up there together,` said Jeff Bryant.
The others followed at their own pace, each determined to make it to the summit.
`It didn’t make any difference if you were at the front of the line or the back of the line. You were going to make it,` said Brennan.
`The friendship was unparalleled,` said Markert. `Everybody was single-minded in getting to the top. Nobody wanted to be the one not to make it to the top.`
After everybody made it to the top ` an achievement unto itself, as nearly 60 percent of all who attempt to climb Kilimanjaro don’t reach the summit ` the group returned to their camp, packed up and began their two-day descent. As they made their way down, they started to think about what they had done.
`The one thing I take away more than anything is to live your life,` said Markert. `Don’t think of things as being great and not doing them. If it seems like it would be good, then it will probably be good.`
They also started thinking about what they could do to top the experience of climbing Kilimanjaro.
`Our guide has a 3,000-acre farm in Pategonia (Chile), and there’s this mountain nearby that’s 22,500 feet,` said Mark Bryant.
`But it’s too early. We haven’t really talked about it yet,` Jeff Bryant quickly added.
If the group does decide to go on another adventure, Brennan would like to be in on it.
`I just have to live long enough,` he said. `That’s all they have to worry about.“
