Two Park County retirees refuse to allow their ages to keep them from adventure in Africa, culminating with an attempt to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the fourth highest mountain and one of the largest volcanoes on the planet.

Called the “roof of Africa” due to it being the highest point on the continent, Kilimanjaro is a large dormant stratovolcano composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, the highest, at 19,341 feet; Mawenzi at 16,893 feet; and Shira, the lowest, at 13,140 feet. Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again — but not likely anytime in the near future according to Kilimanjaro National Park.

If you took the summit of Heart Mountain and moved it to the Top of the World in the Beartooth Range, Kilimanjaro would still be a couple hundred feet higher. Reaching the summit is the end goal of thousands of climbers each year. However, on average, 10 climbers die annually out of 20,000-30,000 yearly attempts.

It will take Deb White, 63, and Cathy Blanchard, 70, nine days to accomplish the round-trip to the summit and back. There are shorter routes, but the route they chose has a higher percentage of those who finish the trip.

White and Blanchard were acquaintances for decades, but only became close friends about three years ago while attending a New Year’s Eve party in 2021.

“Deb and I met in the kitchen,” Blanchard said. “Once we got to know each other, we couldn't understand why [our friendship] never happened before.”

They both love riding horses and hiking, and live near Heart Mountain. Blanchard retired after 25 years as a nurse practitioner and White retired from Cody High School as a science teacher.

Once Blanchard found out White had been to Africa six times — a place Cathy has always wanted to visit — their conversations became endless, leading to travel plans.

White climbed Grand Teton in 2018 and had intended to climb Kilimanjaro in 2020, but Covid put an end to that. Becoming friends with Blanchard put the trip back on the agenda.

“I don't want to climb a lot of mountains, but there's a few iconic mountains I want to climb,” White said. “I discovered Cathy and I arm twisted, conned and cajoled her into joining me.”

Blanchard never had an inclination to climb a mountain before meeting White.

“I never had an interest in climbing at all,” Blanchard said. “I think mountains are there to look at or ride your horse up.”

Yet, she had always been taken with the African continent and was quickly sold on putting the trip on her bucket list. But that was before the training regimen started. That’s when she met Powell High School graduate and former Olympian Jesseca Cross, who is a local physical trainer.

“I had no idea how age had changed [my stamina],” Blanchard said. “You don't really think about it until you start training. Then you go, wow, that was easier 10 years ago.”

White had been training with Cross for nine years prior to lining Blanchard up with her. She might not have mentioned how hard training would be for the trip when she first sold Blanchard on the plan. A year later with the trip about a week away, the friends have made their personal bests with a recent round trip to the summit on Heart Mountain and back in less than four hours, but claim their time with Cross is always a tougher workout.

“We climbed Heart Mountain on Sunday, and then yesterday morning, it was our workout time with Jess. We were like, our legs are tired, and Jess just laughed at us,” White said.

The pain from training has sent Blanchard to a physical therapist.

“During the training process, I've had some muscle strain from overuse and my primary care physician referred me to [physical therapy]. I'm in my second round of PT right now, just to get over some pain from training,” Blanchard said. “Getting ready to do something like this really changed my perspective on healthy living and the time and effort that it takes to do it at my age.”

The women will join five other climbers and several local porters, who will carry the bulk of the food and supplies for the group. The tourist climbers and portering jobs are extremely important to Kilimanjaro’s gateway communities.

The two friends’ trip to the top and back is relatively inexpensive at about $3,000 each. The average cost to climb Kilimanjaro is $2,000-$6,000, depending on the level of luxury expected. However, that doesn’t include transportation to Tanzania or room and board for the rest of their 17-day trip. The flight from Cody to Tanzania takes about 19 hours, not including stops, and can cost more than $2,000.

They’ll also spend a very short time in Ethiopia and a “celebratory” stop in London after the climb, Blanchard said. They have agreed to share their stories and photos, no matter what happens on the mountain, after they return in mid-October.