ClimbMountKilimanjaro.com is reporting that Bern Goosen has set a new wheel chair record on Kilimanjaro, smashing his own previous record. The new record is officially 6 days, 3 hours, and 20 minutes. The old record was 9 days.
Goosen is also the only man to ever top out on the mountain in a wheel chair, now having gone up twice. He climbs along the Rongai Route. Along the way, he covered 16.8 miles, and had an elevation gain of 12,746 feet. Goosen is a native of South Africa, and following the climb, he had to be immediately evacuated to a nearby hospital to be treated for exhaustion.
In all, there were 46 members of the climb, including 33 guides and porters. There were also official steps made to ensure that the climb met all the requirements for a record this time around, since on his first Kili climb there was no way of confirming Goosen's claims. Now it's official, and it's a very impressive feat.
When I read that 4 Wheel Bob, the man who recently climbed Mount White in a wheel chair, was setting his sights on Kilimanjaro next, I thought he was crazy. Apparently I had no idea what the heck I was talking about. Having been on Kilimanjaro, I can't believe someone could go up the mountain in a wheel chair, let alone do it in a relatively fast time.
This story comes courtesy of the GoBlog!
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