LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 32 All of life is made up of a series of moments. Most of these moments pass without remark as we move through our days but certain moments lock them- selves into memory and shape both how we view ourselves and how others view us. This past January, a group of seventeen local residents traveled 7,400 miles away to create one of those life-defining mo- ments together; the group set out to summit the highest free-standing peak in the world. Mt. Kilimanjaro, standing at 19,341 ft, has been the prize of adventure-seeking mountaineers for 150 years. Located only three degrees north of the equa- tor, the landscape covered by this mountain encom- passes five climatic zones. The sight of its towering snow-capped peak elicited respect from the original inhabitants of East Africa and disbelief in the minds of European explorers who later came to the land. So, how did a group of individuals from the North Country end up together on such an adventure? The impetus for the trip stemmed initially from the per- sonal connection of the Northwood Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs, Noël Carmichael. Carmichael had lived in Tanzania for nine years prior to moving to Lake Placid in 2017 and had even married her hus- band Chisondi at Uhuru Peak, the highest point on Kilimanjaro. Carmichael's desire to share her love for the country with the Northwood community would be realized through a program Northwood had initiated just the year prior to her arrival. Referred to as the LEAP program (Learn. Engage. Apply. Perform.), this program provides experiential learning opportunities to students on an annual basis. LEAP is the brainchild of longtime Northwood faculty member Marcy Fagan, who herself fell in love with the Adirondacks at fifteen years old when she experienced her first real hike to the top of Algonquin. In 2021, the Northwood Outing Club (NOC) was giv- en new life with the hiring of director Bobby O'Con- nor, a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh who spent the previous six years as Outdoor Recreation Coordinator at Paul Smith's College. Under his leadership, the pro- gram has taken kids skiing, climbing, hiking and pad- dling all over the Adirondacks and as far away as Utah and Colorado. The Kilimanjaro excursion, however, would be the first international trip for NOC. Carmichael, Fagan, and O'Connor set their sights on this ambitious adventure but had no idea if they could get enough students interested (and, of greater con- cern, if they could get enough parents willing to send their children on such an adventure). However, soon after announcing their plans, the trio had ten students signed up and were eager to go! The ten teenagers, all of whom are Northwood stu- dents and about half of whom are from the local com- munity, had varying levels of experience with hiking, camping, and traveling. One was already a 46er and others had just recently been introduced to hiking. Most had been on at least one NOC excursion in the last year. They needed to prepare both physically and mentally for this 7-day, 42-mile hike with 15,000 feet of elevation gain. O'Connor modeled the training for this trek on guidance from Uphill Athlete. "This train- ing primarily focused on longer days — 4-8 hrs with 4k-5k in elevation gain," O'Connor said. "I was doing my best to average 8-10k of elevation gain each week. These hiking/ski touring days were primarily focused in a 'zone 2' area, otherwise known as around 75-80% of max heart rate." As training began, the trip gained further momen- tum with the addition of three enthusiastic North Country residents: Bill O'Connor, Eric Adsit, and Tait Wardlaw. Bill O'Connor — Bobby's uncle and an or- thopedic surgeon from Saratoga Springs — joined the expedition as a medical advisor. Bill is a lifetime lover of the Adirondacks. (In a sweet parallel to Chisondi and Noël's wedding atop Kilimanjaro, Bill proposed to his own wife on top of Pharaoh Mountain.) Eric Adsit, who grew up visiting the Adirondacks and became a full-time resident in 2019 after accepting a filmmak- ing position with ROOST, joined the expedition as the team's photographer and videographer. Tait Wardlaw, an experienced mountaineer and co-founder of the NOC Flow State Lecture Series, was invited by O'Con- nor to support and complement the team.

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