Through the study abroad program at Trinity, many students have the opportunity to travel out of the country to learn anything from creative writing to urban planning. Ash Meckel, junior economics and geology double-major, took this learning to another level, literally, by hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Meckel grew up enjoying the outdoors and hiking with his family, and climbing one of the Seven Summits of the world has always been in the back of his mind. The Seven Summits include the tallest mountains on each continent, with Kilimajaro being the tallest mountain in Africa. Even before he confirmed participation in his study abroad program, he knew that he wanted to scale Kilimanjaro.
The International Honors Program enabled Meckel’s journey. The program, unaffiliated with Trinity, takes students to multiple countries during their time abroad. In Meckel’s case, he traveled to Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Cape Town, staying for a month in each country. He studied mainly culture, politics and urban planning.
Kilimanjaro was one of the last things he did, Meckel said. He hiked with three other students: Huarui Lai from Carnegie Mellon University, and Jacqueline Metzler and Annabel Williams from Brown University. On average, Kilimanjaro takes anywhere from five to nine days to climb. Meckel and his cohort completed the journey in seven.
“If you’re going to climb a big mountain, Kilimanjaro is the one you would do. There’s no ice climbing, no rock climbing; you’re just walking. Yeah, it’s intensive, but it’s so much less intensive than the other big mountains,” Meckel said. “I don’t think I would have gone and done it alone, so I think the other students being with me was a super big help.”
Meckel began his journey in the small town of Moshi and its rainforests. The first four days of the hike were a steady climb to roughly 15,000 feet. Meckel stayed in camps every night, and professional guides, Chris and Deus, monitored the group’s progress in addition to keeping track of their food intake.
“We were camping the whole time, but with the mandatory guide that you have to get, they kind of make it like glamping,” Meckel said.
After four nights of camping, Meckel completed an acclimatization hike to Lava Tower to prevent drastic changes in internal oxygen levels. He said that this camping is meant to help his body get used to the high altitude, and that without it, he could pass out. In fact, on the way up, one man did faint, and he had to be transported to the ground via helicopter.
“Unfortunately, that’s how a lot of people end their trip,” Meckel said.
On the fifth day of the climb, Meckel woke up at 11 p.m. to hike to the summit of Kilimajaro. It is necessary to hike overnight because cloud cover during the day prevents hikers from seeing a clear path forward. Meckel travelled with roughly 100 other people to the top, reaching just under 20,000 feet. Any higher, he said, and he’d require oxygen to stay up there.
“I’d say that’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because you’re moving so slow,” Meckel said. “It feels like you’re running, you’re so out of breath, but you’re just taking one step after the other.”
After spending time admiring the view at the top, Meckel and his group began the much faster two-day trip down Kilimanjaro. Meckel said that having to continue hiking for two more days after the trip to the summit was the second most difficult part of the trip. However, the struggle was well worth it.
“It was very powerful, especially being a geology student, to see a mountain of that scale,” Meckel said. “Seeing the natural world in such a grand and massive, powerful way — you’re just a speck up there — looking down over everything is crazy.”
Meckel safely made it back to Moshi and took only a few days to recover before flying back to the United States. He said that his favorite memory from the trip was spending time in this town, both before his climb and after it. He bonded with not only the students who climbed with him, but also his guides. When reflecting on the time, Meckel said that he had a clear idea of what he wanted the hike to look like before he flew out of New York to Buenos Aires.
“It’s super common for people to bring up flags or messages to take pictures with at the top. I decided, even when I was just thinking about going on the trip, to bring that Trinity athletics T-shirt so I could hold it at the top,” Meckel said. “Luckily, I made it to the top, and that goal became a reality.”
