ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Earlier this year, New Mexican speech pathologist Robert Nevada marked an item off his bucket when he climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a group expedition.
Nevada had a long history of enjoying the outdoors with rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, camping, and mountain biking. Then Nevada got married and had kids and everything stopped. It’s been about seven years since he did any real camping or hiking. He mentioned to his wife early in their relationship that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was a bucket list. This past Christmas, his wife surprised him with the expedition as a gift. The trip was scheduled for shortly after his 50th birthday, he had a solid seven months to prepare. He started off in the gym and was hiking the La Luz.
Nearly everyone in their nine-person expedition was able to reach the top. Only one of their group ended up with altitude sickness and had multiple falls earlier in the climb, so the team turned him back. “Our group came to the consensus that this was extremely challenging, but the most rewarding experience of our lives. Upon arriving back at the hotel in Moshi, we attended debriefing where we each received a certificate of summiting,” said Nevada.
