The distance is done. Powerful winds roll to the southeast, brushing past and enveloping you at once. Despite this, you remain steady and firmly planted to the point you’ve attained. The rocky and icy ground at your booted feet, terrain once rugged as it is treacherous, now feels almost smooth underneath, welcoming in a way, as if you’ve been expected for some time. A sundry of feelings lightly settles over you, like a warm blanket to counteract the unusually cold air. It is here that intense exhilaration is met with unprecedented calm and more, all tirelessly earned over the course of many days. A notion forms too, saying that rarely has anyone been so utterly alive, felt so human. As you take in the astounding expanse in every direction, you’re not alone, accompanied by friends, porters, guides, and strangers the world over. Yet somehow it does seem, for a few moments anyway, that yours is the only breath for miles.

The summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, also known as “the roof of Africa”, both implores ample description and defies it. The sort of place that leaves us in awe and thoroughly challenges the imagination of what’s possible on earth. Though ascending to over 19,000 feet above sea level can’t be fully known until it’s experienced in person, as Todd Tippets, President of Standard Life and Casualty, can testify. Prepared and entirely committed, he successfully climbed the mountain in March 2024. But like all major and complex achievements, it began with a simple plan.

Back in the 1990s, Todd and a good buddy of his were conversing away one night, and they veered into the subject of bucket lists. The idea was not one Todd had considered much before, but as he and his friend spoke about the big swings they might consider taking and the heights they really wanted to reach, the more thrilling such prospects became. A certain, imposing mountain in Africa emerged as one of the potential items on Todd’s bucket list of personal events to seek. This discussion was the innocent impetus that would eventually lead to big adventures later.

Cut to the year 2023. Acknowledging the growing importance of his bucket list, Todd decided it was now or never. So, he began taking the necessary steps to get himself to Tanzania and to the mountain he had wanted to climb for decades. Ever the academic, he researched Mount Kilimanjaro intensely, learning how to gain its summit, while discovering the country of Tanzania, its people, and their history. About his preparation, Todd commented, “This climb made me more specific about my goals and what I was doing and how to allocate my time to meet those goals. It was fun and fascinating but required considerable focus even leading up to it.” Already a fan of fitness and appreciative of its lifelong value, Todd exercised steadily with additional running, hiking, and climbing the mountains in his home state of Utah. As if the song “Gonna Fly Now” were booming in the background, Todd trained extensively and arduously for months to help ensure his success.

But even the most demanding preparation holds some enjoyment. For Todd, some of that enjoyment came from the friends joining him on this thrilling quest. He supported them as much as they did him. Once each of them arrived at the base of the mountain in Africa’s 2024 summer season, geared up with boots, jackets, clothes to match various climates, provisions, and more, they were primed to put all their groundwork to the test.

This adventurous group of fellows was in excellent company. They and other campers were joined by 45 porters, 3 chefs, and 7 guides. It was a veritable community of folks, collectively ascending the intricate landscape of a massive mountainside. Over the course of 8 days and 7 nights, the group traversed over 30 miles toward Kilimanjaro’s summit, enduring a variety of weather and temperatures. At the base of the mountain, temperatures hovered near 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and eventually at the top, dipped to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and lower. Imagine enduring this many climates in about a week’s time, much of it involving nonstop forward movement, for several consecutive hours, trying to expend your energy efficiently and acclimatize to an ever-changing environment. “It was like being in a conga line,” Todd remembers. “For long stretches of climbing during our summit push, all you would see is the ground and the feet of the person in front of you.” Still, with determination fully intact and doubts cast aside, he continued, as peripheral worries faded from view and his immediate objective began to look even clearer. He even kept the steady refrain of "Pole pole" in his mind, which means “Slowly slowly” in Swahili. The idea behind the saying is that we should appreciate all it takes to get to wherever we’re headed, making sure to relish what’s there, right in front of us, as it happens.

Days afterward, having hiked, eaten, and slept in a place as dissimilar from their home as could be, Todd and the group took their final few steps onto the summit of Kilimanjaro. There they were greeted with surreal beauty and a surge of great accomplishment, each of them taking a profound pause to absorb the surroundings. Extreme cold and even labored breathing from the very high altitude couldn’t challenge the making of unforgettable memories. As Todd stated, “It was a life-changing experience for me. And while I may have originally begun this undertaking on my own, I’m so glad I got to finish it with some great people around me.”

Much of living is about what happens to us or the world’s reaction to our presence. It’s our individual collection of experiences, grandiose or otherwise, that builds a rewarding existence from scratch. Crafting such specific experiences means being intentional about what we want to happen, when, and how. Though drawing some satisfaction from any of it and supporting our continued wellness in the process is important too. Then there’s the concern of supporting the wellness of those that matter to us. Most of it isn’t easy to do or as straightforward as we wish. Sometimes it feels like we must move mountains to shape how everything unfolds, with personal commitment as a great throughline to guide us ahead, a flashlight for the dark. The fact is that promises are wonderful to make. But as Todd proved to himself, they are even better when kept, with results that are nothing shy of resplendent.

By Jaymes R., Communications Specialist                                                                                                                                                           

About the Author                                                                                                                                       

As though he were using a feather quill pen, Jaymes has written several blog articles for our website, exploring annuities, voluntary benefits, and basic finance tips, among other topics. You can check out some of those articles on our main ManhattanLife Blog page.