Delano Herald Journal

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Garrett Ehrke climbs Mt. Kiliminjaro on ‘trip of a lifetime’



Climbing the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s
highest mountain, was the highlight of a recent trip for Garrett
Ehrke, 26, of Winsted.

“It was the trip of a lifetime!,”
he exclaimed of his 17-day adventure.

Ehrke, who is a 1995 graduate of Lester Prairie
High School, spent a great deal of time preparing for the trip
­ mentally planning, and working an intense physical routine
to get ready for the rigors of mountain climbing.

Inspiration to climb Kilimanjaro came in the
form of a book, “Into Thin Air” by John Krakauer, Ehrke
said.

The book was written about the 1996 disaster
on Mt. Everest in which several climbers lost their lives, during
the deadliest year for climbers at Everest.

“In the book, it had the company Alpine
Ascents International, and the founder was a climber that helped
several of the people get off the mountain alive.

“I read the book and it just grabbed
my attention ­ the adventure side and the challenge,”
Ehrke said. “I read about the Kilimanjaro trip at alpineascents.com,
began asking questions, and the rest is basically history.”

After deciding to make the trip, Ehrke began
working out at the Hutchinson Health and Fitness Center.

“It’s a real motivation factor when you
have someone else to work out with,” Ehrke said.

“I trained really, really hard. I spent
an hour to two hours there a night lifting weights, doing stairmaster,
and treadmill with a 50 pound pack on my back ­ it was
hard.” He did training at this intensity for about 12 weeks
prior to his trip.

There were eight climbers going through the
company for this particular trip. Ehrke was the only person from
Minnesota. Others were from Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut,
Florida, Washington, and California. He left Minnesota Dec. 7.

He was able to take a driving tour of Kenya
prior to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

He saw where the American Kenyan embassy had
been bombed, markets, and mosques.

The group also went in a museum. From Kenya,
they made the six-hour bus ride to Arusha, near Kilimanjaro.

“It was the eight paying clients,”
Ehrke said, “and there were 28 porters when we reached the
mountain. Porters carry your gear. This wasn’t roughing it by
any means, with the exception of not showering for seven days.
There were also three African guides with, one American guide,
and a cook.”

Each night as the climbers made their ascent,
camp would be set up at a certain altitude. There would be a
latrine, dining tent, cooking tent, and the sleeping tents set
up each night.

Meals on the mountain were in good taste,
as one night pepper steak was served, and on other nights spaghetti
and meatballs, soup, fresh African fruits, and all the trimmings.
“It was just amazing,” he said. “The porters and
cook were all so good to us.”

The porters also do something different than
your traditional caddies ­ they carry everything on
their heads.

“You’ll have a backpack with straps,
and they’d rather put it on their heads,” Ehrke said. “All
the women and everyone carry things on their heads. It’s not
even a struggle ­ it’s just automatic.”

One thing Ehrke noticed when he was hiking
five to six hours a day was the fact that he started out in the
rain forest, basically surrounded by trees, and the higher up
he got, the fewer trees and animals there were.

“As you go up, you can see less and less.
By the time you get higher up, you don’t see anything,”
he said.

Ehrke had trouble with headaches at about
16,000 feet, just because of the altitude difference, but he
said that was the only real problem he encountered.

“Once you get to 18,000 feet you’re at
a 50 percent oxygen level. It gets a little less as you get higher,”
he said.

On summit morning, the sixth day on the mountain,
they left early and reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The
eight paying clients, four guides, and one porter went all the
way to the top.

“At about quarter to six, the sun rose
­ and that was the highlight ­ witnessing the
sun rise at 19,000 feet from the top of Africa,” he said.
“There was nothing in your way of vision for the sun rise.
The mountain is just beautiful.”

The group spent about 45 minutes on the summit
taking pictures and walking around, he said. They descended the
mountain in one-and-a-half days.

Following the climb, the group went on a three-day
safari to see wildlife in its natural environment.

“It was neat to see the animals in their
own environment ­ elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildabeasts,
hippos, rhinos, lions, hyenas ­ you name it, we probably
saw it,” he said.

For parts of the drive, it was like driving
through North Dakota ­ flat and barren, he said “When
you see a Masai warrior standing by the side of the road with
a sword ­ you know you’re not in North Dakota any more.”

Ehrke is now in the planning stages for a
climb of Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe. For more
information, e-mail Ehrke at g_ehrke@hotmail.com,
or check out www.alpineascents.com.

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