Waddell Summit Update, 9/25

By: Dana Chivvis
Topics: Katie Couric

(Panic Button Media)

Chris Waddell was the subject of a recent CBS Evening News story. He's attempting to become the first paraplegic to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. His blog below was submitted Sept. 25, 2009.

Ouch. Long day. 10.5 hours. Technical from start to finish. Unrelenting. A series of about 1,000 three to four second sprints at 12,000 feet and 3,300 vertical. I didn't use the winch. We're saving it for the upper mountain. The Harken winch is a great mechanism. We're still figuring out the intricacies for our purposes. We'll figure it out. On the other side, the rig ran great. I was constantly surprised at what I climbed. The new pivot is fantastic.

Waddell Summit Update, 9/23
Waddell Summit Update, 9/21 Late
See Karen Brown's profile of Chris Waddell
Read Karen Brown's profile of Chris Waddell

I knew this would be the most difficult day other than the summit day. It took longer than I hoped, but it's behind me now. With each step of this journey, I feel more optimistic - but cautiously optimistic. The first half of tomorrow will be technical. The second half will be on the road. Hopefully, the dust subsides. Sarah Walllis told us before we left that it was "exploding dust" on the mountain. She was right.

The coolest sight of the day: leaving the rain forest and getting our first majestic view of Kili and her glacier-crowned glory. It's a magical draw.

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