Wrestling leader Dave Barry and his two wrestler sons summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa
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by Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
There are very few things in life more challenging than the sport of wrestling. Based on the lessons they learn in the sport, wrestlers often are willing to take other tough challenges head on. Wrestlers set high goals and are willing to do the work necessary to achieve them.
Just ask Dave Barry, USA Wrestling’s 2012 Man of the Year and the team leader of the 2012 U.S. Greco-Roman Olympic Team Leader. His sons Jake, 17, and Charley, 14, are also wrestlers, and as a team they decided to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest summit in Africa, at 19,314 feet. It is also the tallest free standing mountain in the world.
“I was just looking for a different kind of trip to take my sons on. We are not experienced mountain climbers. We do a lot of skiing. It seemed like a really neat challenge. It was really impulsive. We thought it would be cool, a neat bucket-list thing. We had that talk in the spring. Even though Kilimanjaro is not technical in terms of climbing skills required, it is still a lot. It is difficult, and the altitude is pretty serious,” said Barry.
The group did not train specifically for the climb, as none of them have done much climbing. They counted on the physical conditioning they had through sports and working out.
“Both of the boys wrestle. Jake had just finished Fargo and he was in great shape. We did a few hikes at Bear Mountain and in upstate New York. We broke in our hiking boots. We did some hikes that were pretty vertical and had rock scrambles. One of the most important preparations was making sure that the boots fit well and were broken in. When you hear about things that set people back and don’t let them achieve their goal, one of the things is blisters and foot issues..I did a little more running and cardio to get into decent shape,” said Barry.
So it was off to Africa in August. Dave, Jake and Charley were joined by two guides who led the expedition up the mountain. There was also a team of about a dozen porters, who were tasked with hiking in the food, the tents and other essential needs. The route that they selected would take six days to get to the summit, and another two days to come back down.
“There are six or eight routes to get up Kilamanjaro. We chose the Machambe route, which is a camping route. There are no structures on it. There are six camps on the way up. They have designated areas where you can pitch tents, because they don’t want people all over the mountain. There was a fair amount of equipment. You have food, tents, clothing, supplies. The water is gathered out of streams,” said Barry.
Although they had done some extensive research, the actual climb was not like they had expected. Every day was a different day with a different set of challenges.
“It is a very long hike, about 120 kilometers up and down. You hike out of the rainforest. It is very wet and chilly. There is plenty of air at 4,500 feet. As you get progressively higher, once you get above 11 or 12 thousand feet, it goes to scrub brush and the trees fall away. As you get really high, it becomes just a moonscape. That was changing as we went. And of course, the altitude was changing as you go up also,” said Barry.
Barry takes us on a day-by-day account of the six days to the summit.
“The first day was really hard. We went from 4,000 feet to camp up at 10,000 feet. Even though altitude played less of a role that day, it was our first day and we didn’t know what to expect. It was a long, vertical hike. After the first day, we looked at each other in camp. You are tired, it’s chilly, the sun is setting. We were like ‘whoa, this is tough. If this is day one, what did we get ourselves into?’ Day one mentally was the second toughest day,” said Barry.
Once Dave and the boys accepted the fact that they were no longer in the hustle-bustle of their New York home environment, and that they should just relax and let the experience happen, things got better.
“On Day Two, I made the adjustment. It clicked that we would be on that mountain for seven days and that it doesn’t matter how fast you walk or slow you walk. It doesn’t matter if it takes six hours or eight hours or 10 hours to get there. That is not relevant. It is a process and you just have to buy into that,” he said.
“It was brisk day two. It got more interesting that day. Day one, the rainforest was interesting visually, but the trail was monotonous. Day two, we got into the rocks, the rock scrambles and more climbing. When we got into the camp day two, the sun was shining and we were above the clouds for the first time. Until then, it was misty or cloudy, and you couldn’t see the mountain. We were above 12,000 feet, and it energized us a lot,” he continued.
After two days, they knew they had gotten 1/3 of the way there, and that by the end of day three, it would be half way to the top. That helped their perspective.
“We were making progress. We felt we got this. Our confidence built. Day Three was really tough. You actually hike up to 15,000 feet, but come back down to 13,000 for camp. You get up into the altitude, you eat lunch up there, you stay for a few hours to get your body acclimated and you come down to sleep so it would not be overwhelming,” he said.
“Day Four was a glorious day. We were above the clouds and it was sunny. It was full of rock scramble, very vertical, which was fun and interesting for the kids. You do more climbing,” he continued.
Barry combines Day Five and Day Six into one long double-day, because the final portion of the climb was different in terms of what they did and when they climbed.
“You wake up at 5:30 a.m. and you are on your way by 6:30 a.m. You are subject to the daylight. You actually hike from 13,500 feet to 15,500 feet which takes five or six hours. Then you eat lunch and relax. Your summit ascent is at 11:00 at night. It is a grueling day because you get up early, you hiked up to 15 ½, you are getting tired, it’s getting brisk. You eat dinner at about 6:00 p.m. and they give you three or four hours to nap,” he said.
The final portion of the climb was memorable for a variety of reasons.
“They get you up at 10:00 at night. You put on your packs and headlamps on. We left at 11. For the next eight hours, in the pitch black, we hiked up this mountain with headlamps, following our guides. That was mentally challenging, one of the tougher things I’ve done in my life. Your body is tired. All of the oxygen, I learned, is going to brain function. Your muscles feel tired. You feel like you have the flu. Your body compensates for the fact that there is not much oxygen up there. It is an uncomfortable place to be, and you just have to keep going,” he said.
It was when the sun began to rise and the group was near the top that the magnitude of their quest became apparent.
“The summit is called Uhuru Point. Right before you get there, when you break through the back of the mountain, it is called Stella Point, which is at about 18.7. Stella Point was really incredible. It’s still dark, but we could see the tinge of the sun breaking through. For eight hours you are on a mountain that just keeps going up. You don’t have a sense where it will stop. At Stella Point, you realize you are at the top of this thing because you can see through. The walk from Stella to Uhuru is a ridge. It is about an hour walk. You can see 360 degrees around. The clouds are below you. The only thing you see popping up in the distance is another mountain which is at about 17,000 feet. That was the best part of the hike. You know you are going to summit and you can see it in the distance. The sun is coming up. Everybody is giddy and happy. You push through the hour. We were in great spirits, took a bunch of pictures,” he said.
The team only stayed at the peak for about an hour, because they were uncomfortable with the high altitude and they still had a full day of hiking ahead of them. The goal was to be back down at 10,000 feet before Day Six was done.
“Our company believes if you are going to get any adverse affects from the altitude, you have to get down low. There was an opportunity to camp at 13,500, but our guy said that if you can do it, it’s much better to go down to 10 because you are out of the danger zone at that point. That was another eight hours. It was a long day. The whole thing took about 36 hours, from five in the morning to five the next night. You are spent, but feeling really good,” he said.
It took two more days for the Barry men to descend from the mountain and complete their tremendous adventure. When it was over, it really began to sink in what they had just done.
“The process was a great experience, and it was even more rewarding than we anticipated. We really worked hard for it. None of the three of us really thought it would be as hard as it was going to be. Jake and I were talking that the first three days would be easy, like hiking in the Tetons. What we took away was that it was a really neat challenge and we rose to the occasion and conquered that,” said Barry.
Barry credits his guides for helping set expectations and monitoring the group, to give them the best chance to achieve their goals.
“We had a great guide, he managed our every contingency. The important things are that you are hydrated, that you have calories and that you practice this deep breathing technique. You have to communicate, keep your pace steady and not get ahead of yourself. He was very vocal, very smart and got into the kids’ heads real well,” he said.
Charley, at 14, was the youngest age that is allowed to attempt a summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The guides and porters on the trip were very complimentary that such a young person did so well on the ascent. Although Charley had some rough points on the journey, he came through like a true wrestler.
“It was an amazing experience for him. Charley surprised himself. I don’t know if he thought he’d fail, but I don’t know if he thought he’d succeed. He took it as it went. He had that moment where he needed to be pepped up, but once he reached it, he realized the magnitude and was proud of himself. He was so glad he pushed through it. I don’t think he felt that until he got to the summit, saw it, and saw other people’s reactions and how ecstatic everybody was. Now he is really jazzed about it. He gets it now,” said his father.
All three were tested to the extreme, and had to use many of the physical and mental skills taught by wrestling to achieve their goal.
“Wrestling puts you in an uncomfortable position and has many of these same qualities. Outside of wrestling, it is hard to find situations where you are challenging yourself that same way. Our wrestling backgrounds were immensely important to that. With minimal training, we could dig into a place that is not comfortable, a long process and exhausting at times. Jake described the summit as like the half-hour before weigh-in when you are trying to lose a pound. It was like that for eight hours. All of us used that experience of wrestling, training, dropping weight, things that got us through the hikes and uncomfortable zones. We would not quit, or lose our focus,” said Barry.
The experience helped bring Barry and his sons even closer in their relationship together.
“It was a real bonding experience for us all. It can be compared to wrestling. When you have a common goal, everyone has that common experience, and makes for a common bond. We were close and we got along really well. It was great to have that uninterrupted time with them. It was two straight weeks with just the three of us,” he said.
When it was done, Dave and the boys took a few days on a safari, then headed back to the United States to return to work and school. The challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro will be with them for the rest of their lives.
“Africa is a special place. You feel incredibly connected to the earth and nature and the heavens. You felt completely connected. The summit was incomparable. It was such an achievement. Being on the top was like being at the top of the world. You were above the clouds. You could see 360 degrees. It was clear, crisp and gorgeous, and you had this feeling of accomplishment. It was amazing,” said Barry.
Just ask Dave Barry, USA Wrestling’s 2012 Man of the Year and the team leader of the 2012 U.S. Greco-Roman Olympic Team Leader. His sons Jake, 17, and Charley, 14, are also wrestlers, and as a team they decided to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest summit in Africa, at 19,314 feet. It is also the tallest free standing mountain in the world.
“I was just looking for a different kind of trip to take my sons on. We are not experienced mountain climbers. We do a lot of skiing. It seemed like a really neat challenge. It was really impulsive. We thought it would be cool, a neat bucket-list thing. We had that talk in the spring. Even though Kilimanjaro is not technical in terms of climbing skills required, it is still a lot. It is difficult, and the altitude is pretty serious,” said Barry.
The group did not train specifically for the climb, as none of them have done much climbing. They counted on the physical conditioning they had through sports and working out.
“Both of the boys wrestle. Jake had just finished Fargo and he was in great shape. We did a few hikes at Bear Mountain and in upstate New York. We broke in our hiking boots. We did some hikes that were pretty vertical and had rock scrambles. One of the most important preparations was making sure that the boots fit well and were broken in. When you hear about things that set people back and don’t let them achieve their goal, one of the things is blisters and foot issues..I did a little more running and cardio to get into decent shape,” said Barry.
So it was off to Africa in August. Dave, Jake and Charley were joined by two guides who led the expedition up the mountain. There was also a team of about a dozen porters, who were tasked with hiking in the food, the tents and other essential needs. The route that they selected would take six days to get to the summit, and another two days to come back down.
“There are six or eight routes to get up Kilamanjaro. We chose the Machambe route, which is a camping route. There are no structures on it. There are six camps on the way up. They have designated areas where you can pitch tents, because they don’t want people all over the mountain. There was a fair amount of equipment. You have food, tents, clothing, supplies. The water is gathered out of streams,” said Barry.
Although they had done some extensive research, the actual climb was not like they had expected. Every day was a different day with a different set of challenges.
“It is a very long hike, about 120 kilometers up and down. You hike out of the rainforest. It is very wet and chilly. There is plenty of air at 4,500 feet. As you get progressively higher, once you get above 11 or 12 thousand feet, it goes to scrub brush and the trees fall away. As you get really high, it becomes just a moonscape. That was changing as we went. And of course, the altitude was changing as you go up also,” said Barry.
Barry takes us on a day-by-day account of the six days to the summit.
“The first day was really hard. We went from 4,000 feet to camp up at 10,000 feet. Even though altitude played less of a role that day, it was our first day and we didn’t know what to expect. It was a long, vertical hike. After the first day, we looked at each other in camp. You are tired, it’s chilly, the sun is setting. We were like ‘whoa, this is tough. If this is day one, what did we get ourselves into?’ Day one mentally was the second toughest day,” said Barry.
Once Dave and the boys accepted the fact that they were no longer in the hustle-bustle of their New York home environment, and that they should just relax and let the experience happen, things got better.
“On Day Two, I made the adjustment. It clicked that we would be on that mountain for seven days and that it doesn’t matter how fast you walk or slow you walk. It doesn’t matter if it takes six hours or eight hours or 10 hours to get there. That is not relevant. It is a process and you just have to buy into that,” he said.
“It was brisk day two. It got more interesting that day. Day one, the rainforest was interesting visually, but the trail was monotonous. Day two, we got into the rocks, the rock scrambles and more climbing. When we got into the camp day two, the sun was shining and we were above the clouds for the first time. Until then, it was misty or cloudy, and you couldn’t see the mountain. We were above 12,000 feet, and it energized us a lot,” he continued.
After two days, they knew they had gotten 1/3 of the way there, and that by the end of day three, it would be half way to the top. That helped their perspective.
“We were making progress. We felt we got this. Our confidence built. Day Three was really tough. You actually hike up to 15,000 feet, but come back down to 13,000 for camp. You get up into the altitude, you eat lunch up there, you stay for a few hours to get your body acclimated and you come down to sleep so it would not be overwhelming,” he said.
“Day Four was a glorious day. We were above the clouds and it was sunny. It was full of rock scramble, very vertical, which was fun and interesting for the kids. You do more climbing,” he continued.
Barry combines Day Five and Day Six into one long double-day, because the final portion of the climb was different in terms of what they did and when they climbed.
“You wake up at 5:30 a.m. and you are on your way by 6:30 a.m. You are subject to the daylight. You actually hike from 13,500 feet to 15,500 feet which takes five or six hours. Then you eat lunch and relax. Your summit ascent is at 11:00 at night. It is a grueling day because you get up early, you hiked up to 15 ½, you are getting tired, it’s getting brisk. You eat dinner at about 6:00 p.m. and they give you three or four hours to nap,” he said.
The final portion of the climb was memorable for a variety of reasons.
“They get you up at 10:00 at night. You put on your packs and headlamps on. We left at 11. For the next eight hours, in the pitch black, we hiked up this mountain with headlamps, following our guides. That was mentally challenging, one of the tougher things I’ve done in my life. Your body is tired. All of the oxygen, I learned, is going to brain function. Your muscles feel tired. You feel like you have the flu. Your body compensates for the fact that there is not much oxygen up there. It is an uncomfortable place to be, and you just have to keep going,” he said.
It was when the sun began to rise and the group was near the top that the magnitude of their quest became apparent.
“The summit is called Uhuru Point. Right before you get there, when you break through the back of the mountain, it is called Stella Point, which is at about 18.7. Stella Point was really incredible. It’s still dark, but we could see the tinge of the sun breaking through. For eight hours you are on a mountain that just keeps going up. You don’t have a sense where it will stop. At Stella Point, you realize you are at the top of this thing because you can see through. The walk from Stella to Uhuru is a ridge. It is about an hour walk. You can see 360 degrees around. The clouds are below you. The only thing you see popping up in the distance is another mountain which is at about 17,000 feet. That was the best part of the hike. You know you are going to summit and you can see it in the distance. The sun is coming up. Everybody is giddy and happy. You push through the hour. We were in great spirits, took a bunch of pictures,” he said.
The team only stayed at the peak for about an hour, because they were uncomfortable with the high altitude and they still had a full day of hiking ahead of them. The goal was to be back down at 10,000 feet before Day Six was done.
“Our company believes if you are going to get any adverse affects from the altitude, you have to get down low. There was an opportunity to camp at 13,500, but our guy said that if you can do it, it’s much better to go down to 10 because you are out of the danger zone at that point. That was another eight hours. It was a long day. The whole thing took about 36 hours, from five in the morning to five the next night. You are spent, but feeling really good,” he said.
It took two more days for the Barry men to descend from the mountain and complete their tremendous adventure. When it was over, it really began to sink in what they had just done.
“The process was a great experience, and it was even more rewarding than we anticipated. We really worked hard for it. None of the three of us really thought it would be as hard as it was going to be. Jake and I were talking that the first three days would be easy, like hiking in the Tetons. What we took away was that it was a really neat challenge and we rose to the occasion and conquered that,” said Barry.
Barry credits his guides for helping set expectations and monitoring the group, to give them the best chance to achieve their goals.
“We had a great guide, he managed our every contingency. The important things are that you are hydrated, that you have calories and that you practice this deep breathing technique. You have to communicate, keep your pace steady and not get ahead of yourself. He was very vocal, very smart and got into the kids’ heads real well,” he said.
Charley, at 14, was the youngest age that is allowed to attempt a summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The guides and porters on the trip were very complimentary that such a young person did so well on the ascent. Although Charley had some rough points on the journey, he came through like a true wrestler.
“It was an amazing experience for him. Charley surprised himself. I don’t know if he thought he’d fail, but I don’t know if he thought he’d succeed. He took it as it went. He had that moment where he needed to be pepped up, but once he reached it, he realized the magnitude and was proud of himself. He was so glad he pushed through it. I don’t think he felt that until he got to the summit, saw it, and saw other people’s reactions and how ecstatic everybody was. Now he is really jazzed about it. He gets it now,” said his father.
All three were tested to the extreme, and had to use many of the physical and mental skills taught by wrestling to achieve their goal.
“Wrestling puts you in an uncomfortable position and has many of these same qualities. Outside of wrestling, it is hard to find situations where you are challenging yourself that same way. Our wrestling backgrounds were immensely important to that. With minimal training, we could dig into a place that is not comfortable, a long process and exhausting at times. Jake described the summit as like the half-hour before weigh-in when you are trying to lose a pound. It was like that for eight hours. All of us used that experience of wrestling, training, dropping weight, things that got us through the hikes and uncomfortable zones. We would not quit, or lose our focus,” said Barry.
The experience helped bring Barry and his sons even closer in their relationship together.
“It was a real bonding experience for us all. It can be compared to wrestling. When you have a common goal, everyone has that common experience, and makes for a common bond. We were close and we got along really well. It was great to have that uninterrupted time with them. It was two straight weeks with just the three of us,” he said.
When it was done, Dave and the boys took a few days on a safari, then headed back to the United States to return to work and school. The challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro will be with them for the rest of their lives.
“Africa is a special place. You feel incredibly connected to the earth and nature and the heavens. You felt completely connected. The summit was incomparable. It was such an achievement. Being on the top was like being at the top of the world. You were above the clouds. You could see 360 degrees. It was clear, crisp and gorgeous, and you had this feeling of accomplishment. It was amazing,” said Barry.
