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American Morning

Disabled Athletes Conquer Mount Kilimanjaro

Aired September 07, 2001 - 09:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And mission accomplished. These athletes, just days ago, conquered one of the highest mountains in the world, Mount Kilimanjaro. Now that is an enormous feat for anyone, but this achievement was even more special, as the climbers live with various disabilities. I even hesitate to use the word for these people.

Now you might recall the story of the Achilles Track Club. We talked to them on August 14th, just days before they started out on their Mount Kilimanjaro in Northern Tanzania. Seven climbers and their volunteer began their trek on August 28th. The group kept an online diary of their climb. And on the following Sunday, they accomplished their goal, and in the process, became the largest group of physically challenged athletes ever to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Now we are joined this morning by five of the members of the Achilles Track Club: We have four. Tom Cobb on the left, Eddie Montanez, Ivonne Mosquera and Kaitlyn Kenney from New York. Thanks for coming in. How are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not too bad, thank you.

HARRIS: Tom, let's start with you, since you're on the left here.

What is exactly what you thought it would be, or what?

TOM COBB, DISABLED CLIMBER: To be honest, it was a lot more difficult than I had expected. It's difficult climb. And the altitude really did effect a lot of us, but we persevered, and the majority of the athletes were able to make it.

HARRIS: You guys had altitude sickness?

COBBS: Definitely, at 19,300 feet had one heck of headache.

HARRIS: How was it for you, Eddie? We were talking on the telephone with Julius, who held the phone we heard. You were screaming in the background yelling and laughing all the time. How was it for you?

EDDIE MONTANEZ, DISABLED CLIMBER: It was awesome. The last day, when we were climbing to the summit, it was really difficult, like Tom said was 100 percent correct. I thought -- I heard it would be hard. Didn't imagine it would be so tough. And to be honest, I'm glad that I was -- I did it, and I'm back here thanks to British Airways, who flew us over there and brought us back safe and sound.

HARRIS: Let me ask you this. As we show some video now to give people an idea of what it is you went through in the climb. This video is provided to us by National Geographic. Eddie, you said you didn't realize how hard it was. If you new how hard it was going to be before you went in, would you still have gone through with this?

MONTANEZ: I would have done it. I think I would have probably taken it little easier in the beginning and rested a little bit more. I was ready. I just -- when it was getting to the end there, between the altitude, and climbing over the rocks and just the long hall, I think about five hours into the hike, you know, it gets to you.

HARRIS: Ivonne, let me ask you the same question. Was there any point where you thought, now this is it, I will not go through this, I will just sit down someplace and relax?

IVONNE MOSQUDERA, DISABLED CLIMBER: Oh no, not at all. I just wanted to reach deep down and you know grab all the energy I had and keep on going, because behind accomplishing this physical challenge for myself, I knew there was a greater message we were all carrying. And we just had so many people to thank for getting us that far. We had wonderful clothing from Everlast and Big Dog keeping us dry and warm, and just tons of people that were behind us supporting us that there was no way we couldn't keep on going. Wherever you could, you would grab the energy and keep on going.

HARRIS: Ivonne, I have to ask you this, because you can't see, you're blind. What did you -- what did you visualize in your head when you got to the top?

MOSQUDERA: You know, we had great descriptions from our wonderful guides, from Parkes (ph), who I actually hiked with quite a bit to the summit. So not only were we getting visual feedback, but You're experiencing wide-open space, winds and sunshine, the strength of the sun like you've never felt before, it's intensity, and just the height. As your rock scrambling, and just hiking and persevering on, it was amazing what you could feel and sense from the environment.

HARRIS: Let me ask you, Kaitlyn, we're going to try to get you in here. We don't want to leave you out, because you're story's just as fantastic as theirs. How was it for you? Did you feel like you couldn't make it at any point? Did you know inside the entire time that you were going to make it?

MOSQUDERA: How was it for you. Did you feel at any point that you wouldn't make it?

KAITLYN KENNEY, DISABLED CLIMBER: Definitely. I thought a few times going up that I wouldn't make it. I almost turned back around twice. But the trainer from New York Sports Club that came with us dragged my butt halfway up the mountain. So I made to the top, thanks to him. But I nearly turned around a few times.

HARRIS: So what was the best part for you, Kaitlyn? Can you ask her that? What was the best part for her?

MOSQUDERA: What was the best part for you, Kaitlyn?

KENNEY: The best part for me was finally getting to where I could see the summit, because it seemed so hopeless for like five hours of climbing, and then one of my guides told me that these guides told me that these guys summited and where yelling at the top, and I was like where is the rock? Where is the rock? And so I kept going after they made it to the top. And getting to the top was definitely the high point.

HARRIS: Boy, I tell you one thing. You all as far as we're concerned you are all at the top. Listen, thanks for coming in. Congratulations for pulling this off. Tom Cobb, Eddie Montanez, Ivonne Mosqudera, and Kaitlyn Kenney, congratulations. And you know what, I want to know what it is you guys do to top this. So we're going to have to stay in touch with you guys. Take care and keep on trucking all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, thank you, America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.

HARRIS: What a great group of people.

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