USANA’s Dr. John Cuomo: From the Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro

Good morning, everyone. Here’s a note I received from USANA’s Dr. John Cuomo yesterday afternoon. From all of us at the Home Office, congratulations to John, his wife Helene, and the others who reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro! What an accomplishment! Once Team Africa returns, we’ll be sure to post photos and additional information.

Here’s John…

I think I ran out of batteries on my Blackberry at the start of Day 3. We began the trip with 23 people. The first two days were the killers for most. Three turned back after Day 1. They were all quite sick from the food. The lack of sanitation in the food prep got to all of us at some time in the trip. Helene and I hardly ate any of the prepared food after about Day 3 of the climb. I think nearly everyone had diarrhea for some time on the trip. And we were no exception. So for the remainder of the trip we ate little except for the bars and some food we brought with us. Nothing like climbing all day with no real food.

After Day 2, Heshie Segal, and six others had to turn back from exhaustion or altitude sickness leaving 14 to make the rest of the trip. On Day 3 we climbed to 15,000 feet and then dropped back to 13,000 to sleep after 9 to 10 hours of hiking. Day 4 was shorter, only 5 to 6 hours but it started with a 1,000 foot climb up a cliff called the Barranco Wall. Then hike up and down and up again to camp at 14,000 feet.

Day 5 was an easy 5 hours to the high camp at about 15,000 feet. We arrived around 2 p.m., ate lunch and tried to sleep. We woke about 10 p.m. and started for the top a little after 11 p.m. The temp was about 15 and dropped as we climbed the 4,000 feet to the top. It was a cold, slow climb through the night. At about 5 p.m. we reached Stella point on the crater rim. The sky started to turn pink.

We kept climbing to the peak and as the sun rose on 1/1/11 we stood 19,385 feet up on the top of Kili.

10 others on our trip made it to the top. Two who started the midnight climb turned back part way.

It was so cold at the top that we only stayed for about 45 minutes. Then down. We reached high camp before noon. We had about an hour to lay down. Then a quick lunch and another 4 to 5 hours down to camp at 10,000 feet. We got there some 18 hours after starting for the top.

Day 7. We got up at 5:30, ate a quick breakfast and walked down to the gate. On the bus and back to the hotel in Moshe. A shower and a cold beer never felt so good.

Oh, and one last thing. The wedding of Heshie and Werner. Under a kuppah at the hotel a real Jewish wedding. Monica Penrod sang the entrance song and Helene played recorder as Heshie and Werner walked up. We opened with a blessing from father Alisha from the orphanage that Heshie has been working to support. Then I had the honor of presiding over a very simple ceremony. And after nearly a 7-year wait, they were married.

Now on the plane. Home