Appreciate All Of Your Senses

Here is a bit of inspiration to get this work week started. Jesse Smith and his wife Shirley climbed LeConte to spend the night. The inspiration is the fact that Jesse is completely blind. I had a great chat with him about what it takes to do something like this. He said he has climbed other mountains. He created a solution so he could run by himself. He uses two canes. He was telling me about running road races and how he holds his cane to the side and the other person grabs ahold and guides him through the course. I was really impressed when he told me he likes to trail run. I understand how difficult this is. He said you take high steps and your other senses are heightened. We asked Shirley if he held on to her while hiking up the trail, she said "No, he would be stepping on my heels the whole time." She also said that she never tells him he can not do something, "that would make him want to do it even more." One thing I did note was Jesse was telling how amazing this mountain is. Without seeing the views we all love and admire, his other senses were used to achieve the understanding of just how special this mountain is.  I believe I will take this lesson of determination to Africa  with me and remember Jesse as I am struggling to summit Kilimanjaro. A "can do" attitude is sometimes all you need.

The weather is still amazing up top. The high yesterday was 67 with a low of 45.