In December of 2018 we visit our home country, South Africa, in the Mother city Cape Town.
It was a wonderful time and the weather was magnificent.
My wife and I were also celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary on the 11th of December.
That special morning we reflected on the passed 19 years and each of us had to mention one special moment. My wife, Jacqueline took her time to think about one special moment. With my impatience and impulsive nature, I suggested to help her by creating a new moment that she will never forget. So I got us all out of the bed, into the car and off we went to the iconic table mountain, one of the 7 wonders of the world.
Yes, I decided to climb Table mountain. I Google the route, which is set out to be 2km, maybe as the crow fly, but according to my garmin watch it was 5.2km in the end. A climb of 876m, almost 300 stories.
It is a easy route according to hiking specifications, but define easy if you are not a hiker, not even to mention if you are not fit. With no hiking shoes or any other preparation we all agreed to do it.
So we set out, starting at the foot of the mountain on the "Plattekloof" trail. "It's going to be awesome", I motivated everyone. We have more than enough to get us to the top… We have a great motivator and 500ml of water each.
It was a perfect day… Yeah, maybe for the beach, because climbing table mountain in 30 degrees Celsius is ridiculous in hindsight.
Off we went… "Wow, look how beautiful", I enthusiastically pointed at the scenery. People are already passing us coming at 9am. "Did you go up the mountain", I asked. "Yes, it took me 40min up and 20 min down" she replied.
"Wow, that's brilliant. Did you hear that girls?"
What a breeze, I thought, if this lady could make it up and down in an hour, I am definitely going to reach the top in an hour. Google was wrong, it indicated a beginner will take 2 hours. I am not a beginner, I have done the
Faan Meintjies trail in South Africa, in 3 days, once, some 23 years ago.
We were all so exited. Then we got to the first split. Left or right? We turned right, it is more in the direction of where we need to go, we thought only to realize 10 min later that is was wrong.
First lesson - plan properly. Know where you want to go and ask if you're not sure.
We not even 500m up the mountain and I ended up carrying my daughter's camera. She decided to get to top without capturing the moment.
My middle daughter is taking strain because she has the flu, some minor detail I missed.
Second lesson - focus on the detail.
She is naugious. I record a little video, "grasping" for my breath. It's hot, I am tired. But we have only done 1 hour, half way, according to google, but according to distance things are not reconciling well. It is at that moment my wife decided that it is my stupid idea to climb the mountain and that I will have to deal with our sick daughter…. and off she went with my youngest daughter.
Third lesson - prepare mentally for your big expeditions and most importantly prepare mentally for moments when things start to fall apart.
My middle daughter has a great sense of humor and sums the day up nicely - "It was not that bad dad, I only had two mental breakdowns". Easy to laugh about it afterward but up there she was literally "I can't do dad, I want to go back." "Let's go, we can do it. Let's go, only go to that next turn, you can do it", I motivated her.
Lesson 4 - drink enough water, always. Our normal plastic bottles of water were running low and the water was not cold anymore. It was like drinking your hot tub water. Please treat yourself tonight and have a sip.
Our energy was also running low and we did not have anything to boost our energy levels. Lesson 5 - have an emergency plan.
"How far to the top", I asked a young couple coming down. They are very friendly and helpful. They understand motivation and lying at the same time. "You are halfway now", the girl replied and continued " but now it's the easy part that remains"
I looked up, I decided not to tell my daughter, but I knew this friendly super fit girl was lying. Looking at the gradient there is no way that this is the easy part. And looking at the time I also knew we were in for an incredible difficult walk.
Lesson 6 - don't trust google. Our 1 hour walk is now reaching almost 2 hours.
I was getting more and more tired but had to keep on pushing for my daughter's sake. It was getting so tough that we forgot to enjoy the moment.
I only captured 3 photos. At that stage I was trying to convince myself that we will make it. As fear crept in, I realized I will have to face my wife when I get to the top, that is if I even get to the top at all.
My daughter felt a little at that point as I was starting to really struggle. I had a back operation 8 years ago and my nerves in the left leg was
damaged. My left leg can't carry all the weight and most of the big steps I had to take with my right leg. I really started to feel tired in my right leg.
At that point I was initiated the rests and not my daughter.
The more you stop, the more you struggle to start again. It was getting more and more difficult to get up, to get going and to motivate myself. I knew I had to keep momentum, but it was just not happening. Then a tour guide came passed. I heard him sharing some of his previous experiences climbing the mountain. Stories about baboons and even snakes.
And then the worst thing happened. I felt thing sting, the byte…. I looked at my foot, pulled my shoe away and saw the blood seeping through my sock. My biggest fear… I got bitten by a snake. I tried to hide the fear from my daughter and just kept going. I started to feel light headed. My legs felt like jello. We passed the guide again as they stopped for their educational stories again. I didn't listen, I didn't look back… I just wanted to get to the top. I could not keep it up and had to rest again and as I bent down I lost my balance and fell to the side of the track. The tour guide then scrambled closer, shouting "are you okay?" "I don't know", I said, something bit me.
He saw that I did not have any water left and gave me bit of his.
"How far to the top", I asked, "I am not feeling well", whispered,
"Another 400m", he replied.
What's your name… google? I thought. I was done believing people. I looked up. The kilometers, the time, google and all these friendly people's words did not make sense anymore.
The tour guide then offered his service, "if you don't make it, I will send the rescue team down to come and fetch you" and continue, "you must be careful, 11 people died on this mountain this year alone."
You are going to be number 12 if you keep on talking nonsense to me, I am already busy dying, a snake bit me, my legs can't go anymore and I am out of breath… I only thought that of course… because I didn't have breath to say the words.
"We have to do it Bianca, we are going to make it", I motivated my daughter,
sounding like google myself.
Then I learned something valuable - support and help people whenever you can because you never know when you will need it. My daughter started to motivate me. "We are almost there dad", she kept on saying. "We are going to make it".
And then with only few meters to go, I took some nice photos. "We have made it", I said, as if we were on top already. Seeing the top, having that picture in mind gave us the strength to push a little bit harder. Step by step, that is how you climb the mountain. 1%, 1%, 1% progress, that is what get you there. Lesson 7 - you win every battle physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually by taking that first step and then just one more, each little step in the right direction.
Never fear the worst, rather have faith in the best.
It was not a snake, it was only a thorn.
Your not going to die, your going to learn, get stronger and grow.
Your mountain is your journey, the top is your reward. Your success is your view, the deep breath of relief, the joy in the moment and big picture, one step closer to your destiny. This is the photo from the top. We have made it.
Now I have to face my next mountain… let me find my wife.
Find your mountain, climb it, enjoy it and take a deep breath.
Remember to plan, prepare, always drink lots of water, have an emergency plan, take outside factors into consideration, always enjoy the journey and capture the moments in between. Have faith, belief in yourself, be generous in supporting others and surround yourself with the right people and please don't trust google.