DENVER — A group of Denver-area women are preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
Fourteen women will take on the bucket list challenge in Africa next week. Planning this adventure started last year. It was a joint effort between Women's Wilderness and Life's 2 Short Fitness. Women’s Wildnerness is a nonprofit organization committed to creating space for girls, women, and non-binary people of all ages and backgrounds to find their place, their voice, and their power in the outdoors, according to its website.
Life’s 2 Short Fitness organizes courses, clinics, events and community focusing on skills and fitness-based curriculum to help educate, encourage and empower women to experience outdoor adventures and sports like trail running, snowshoeing, mountain biking, hiking and more, according to their website.
“I feel super lucky this is my work, and it doesn't always feel like work,” said Kriste Peoples, the executive director for Women’s Wilderness and lead coach at Life’s 2 Short Fitness. “I thought there was a wonderful synergy there between the two groups, so we created a series called Peak Ready to help those women get ready for the climb of Kilimanjaro and open it up to the general public.”
Peoples has been leading the group of 14 women through training in Colorado.
“We started our training back in the spring, so as early as March or April, with hikes all over the Front Range,” Peoples said. “It has been a gradual series of more and more intense hikes and training for the group.”
Peoples said she hopes people can enjoy the journey, rather than just focus on the destination.
“I feel like this year I have had the first true Colorado summer because of the opportunity to get out and do some 14ers and these long hikes and camping,” said Colleen Maldonado, who’s a part of the group climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. “I am feeling pumped. I had been really nervous, I'm not even kidding you, I've been really nervous but as we are getting closer and seeing Kriste pack and thinking of the gear list and stuff, it's starting to feel like, a little more like there are aspects of it that are in my control.”
Colleen decided to join in because of the great opportunity to get in shape outdoors, and to create a core memory in her life. Gaining like-minded friends along the way has been a bonus.
“It’s been great, I think I have started some friendships out of it so that’s been really cool and also, you kind of want to find your tribe of people who are interested in doing similar things,” Maldonado said. “So obviously this is a group of women that want to be outside doing positive things for themselves. So it’s been a good tribe to be a part of.”
At more than 19,000 feet in elevation, Mount Kilimanjaro will be a challenge, but these women will be equipped for any mountain they may face in their lives.
“Doing something like this is huge for building confidence and bringing that sense of accomplishment back home,” Peoples said. “I think the more people can accept that and really appreciate this is about the journey and not the destination, then the more successful we will be.”
