BOISE, Idaho — Shilo Borja had an African expedition on her bucket list to celebrate her 40th birthday.
The goal was to climb the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, but just before she was about to venture off, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed her climbing journey.
The delayed trip, though disappointing, opened the door for another person to join the attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. "I didn't really know how tall it was. I also wanted to do it with her because it sounded really fun. Just going to Africa sounded fun," said Ben Tolan, Borja's 14-year-old son.
The Boise duo set off for the African continent in August of 2023 and were stunned at the uphill challenge to which they were about to commit.
"It looked like an insurmountable goal," said Borja.
"Yeah, never going to happen," said Tolan.
"We thought we must have underestimated it for sure," said Borja.
Despite preliminary doubts, they began the ascent. The journey lasted over eight days, with temperatures reaching as low as 15 degrees Celsius. The two slept in tents as they climbed up over 19,000 feet in elevation.
"I got a touch of altitude sickness a little bit up, so I had to power through that, and it was just a matter of taking one more step at a time. Watching the sun come up and hoping that it would bring some motivation. Watching him take a step, you and being like ... being like 'I'm not going to quit. There's no quit no matter how bad I feel,'" said Borja.
The final day was the toughest with a three-mile trek that took eight hours. But after dealing with frigid temperatures and other tough weather conditions, the two finally reached the summit.
"It's hard to put into words because words just don't describe it. But to be on top of the world's largest free-standing mountain was wild," said Borja.
Getting back to the bottom only took the duo two hours. Both returned to the Boise airport on Septemebr 5 and were very excited to return to Idaho and be back home with family.
