Two World Records Broke on Mt. Kilimanjaro - June 29, 2009
25 climbers,
8 blind and 17 sighted guides, left Phoenix, AZ on June 20 for an attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. On the morning of June 29, 2009 all 25 climbers from the Foundation for Blind Children, Phoenix, AZ stood on the summit together at 8:30 am.
My assistant guide for this trip was Kirsti Samson from the UK. In 2007, Kirsti and I made the summit of Mt. Everest on the same day, June 5. She was a great addition to this team and our team nurse! The following are all 25 members of our team:
Kevin Cherilla - expedition leader
Kirsti Samson - asst. guide/nurse
Mike Armstrong
Marc Ashton
Max Ashton
Ben Cane
Greg DePinto
Tom Edwards
Barbara Edwards
Soon Flynn
Tom Hicks
AJ Hovatt
Kristy Kevitt
Tom Lewis
Patrick McFarlan
Adam Messler
Grahame Richards
Tanner Robinson
Kristen Sandquist
John Scheibe
Jim Stelzer
Pam Stelzer
Ryan Stelzer
Eric Stelzer
Cindy Wilhelmi
When all 25 of us stood on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,340, we broke two world records. Max Ashton, at the age of 13, became the youngest blind person to summit and when all 8 of the blind climbers stood on the summit together. Eric Stelzer was only 11 years old making him one of the youngest, ever, to summit Kili.
This is a great example of what the power of positive thinking, teamwork, sacrifice, and having fun can bring. Not many people outside of our team or families believed in what we were doing. They could not understand why we would try something that the sighted world fails at more then 50% of the time and there are over 20,000 attempts a year.
Everyone on this team had an equal part at our success. I was extremely proud and honored to lead such a wonderful group of people.
Click on and Enjoy the following news clips!
Kevin
Arriving Home at Sky Harbor Airport to 100+ Family and Friends
Article in Backpacker Magazine
MSNBC and CNN Interview
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
