“So what do you make of all this and what’s next?” said Bernard Ramanantsoa, Dean of HEC School of Management on Saturday 12 September 2009.

When was the last time you experienced something for the first time? I guess the obvious answer is TRIUM, of course. But what to do when you’ve just coalesced with more than 60 brilliant people and been on the roller coaster journey of your life: easy, meet again as soon as you can so that you can face the next challenge and to have some fun.

Four cohorts from the Class of 2009 – Fabio, Matjaz, Nadir, Sean together with Matjaz’s cousin Vali - got together to aim for Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters. But just as with the TRIUM experience, we did not really know what they were getting into.

As with most modules, the unsuspecting cohorts arrive and are full of enthusiasm. Then, part way through the module, they all start to realize that perhaps they should have put in a few more hours of preparation. And then comes the realization that there is no turning back, they just have to push on. So they turn to each other for support and build on each other’s strengths to climb the mountain.

This expedition was no different. It started on a bright sunny day in Moshi, Tanzania, which turned into a downpour not 5 minutes into the ascent, a downpour which did not stop until we emerged from the jungle at about 3000 meters.

Then the realization that we should have trained more set in. From Sunday the 7th to Saturday the 13th of February we cumulatively hiked and climbed some 83 kilometers, burnt more than 16,000 calories and spent a full 48 hours in pursuit of this challenge.

It all came to a head on summit night. We started out at 12 a.m. in pitch darkness toward the peak after a light snack of biscuits and tea. A snake of headlamps lit the way up the mountain and we thought that surely this could not be that difficult. Fortunately, we could not see the summit.

About 3 hours into the 10 hour journey, the wind chill brought temperatures down to minus 30 along with sleet and snow. Our water froze, leaving some of us with only chalky energy bars to get through. Some of us were freezing, others exhausted and we all felt the effects of extreme altitude - pole, pole or slowly slowly in Swahili.

But in true TRIUM spirit, the team found itself. Someone had extra clothes, someone else extra food, someone brought a thermos of hot water that they shared with all and someone else even sang Swahili songs to cheer the others on. Hakuna Matata!

The net result – everyone reached the summit by 8 a.m. and we experienced one of the best sunrises of our lives from atop a glacier in Africa. As Matt Mulford has said, “we must gather together the forces of light to overcome darkness.”

For all of us, it was like seeing the sun rise for the first time!

Fabio Fagundes, Sean Paavo Krepp, Nadir Patel and Matjaz Satler – TRIUM Class of 2009

For a photo journal of the trip visit http://www.kilimanjaro-challenge.blogspot.com/

Picture of TRIUM team at the summit