A Clearwater couple has returned home after climbing the highest free-standing mountain in the world, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
- Mt. Kilimajaro 19,341 feet high
- Journey took 6 days, walking several hours each day
- "It proves you can do what you put your mind to."
Vanessa Halasz and her husband David got the idea to climb the mountain from a relative. They spent six days making the journey.
The mountain is 19,341 feet high.
“It was breathtaking,” said David Halasz. “It’s unbelievable. I see it on pictures but it’s not the same.”
But getting to the top of the mountain wasn’t easy. The couple hadn’t done a lot of training for the climb.
“I thought I was training, because I kick box," Vanessa said. "I said, 'David I’ll be fine,' but I underestimated how difficult it could be."
To get to the top, the couple walked several hours each day while carrying water on their backs. They camped in tents at night.
And the higher the couple went up the mountain, the colder it got, and the harder the journey became.
“There was one night I couldn’t breathe as well as I normally do,” said David.
Vanessa, meanwhile, suffered headaches from the altitude and body aches from the climbing.
“You keep thinking its close, and then you pass a curve and you’re like, 'Oh my God, I still have 100 more steps,'” Vanessa said.
She thought about giving up, but she said positive thinking guided them through.
“I think for anyone it proves you can do what you put your mind to,” Vanessa said.
The two spent less than a half an hour at the highest point of the mountain. David took a picture as he touched the glacier there.
Still, they said it was the journey itself that changed their lives.