L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet resident Martin Bertrand is now one of an estimated few hundred thousand people who can claim to have summited Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro.

Located in Tanzania, Uhuru Peak in Kilimanjaro National Park is the tallest peak in Africa and one of the tallest free-standing mountains in the world (5,895 metres above sea level). Bertrand reached the summit after a grueling seven days of climbing in often soaked or snowy conditions. THE EQUITY reached him last week after the trek. 

Bertrand said his desire to climb Kilimanjaro goes back over 30 years. He had plans a few years ago to climb the mountain, but they were foiled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, he took a sabbatical from his teaching job at École secondaire Sieur-de-Coulonge (ESSC) to finally make it happen. 

“I find myself very lucky to have employers that understand that certain things in life are worth pursuing, and this was one of them,” he said. 

According to Tanzanian park regulations, all hikers must hire local guides and porters to guide their ascent up the mountain. This helps many hikers become acclimated to the high altitudes, which if reached too quickly can cause headache, loss of appetite and even nausea. 

Bertrand said his group hiked Mount Meru, a smaller mountain, to get acclimated to the altitude before tackling the big, Kilimanjaro-sized task ahead of them. But he said the practice allowed them to breeze past the first few camps with ease. 

“When we got on to Kilimanjaro, we were already acclimatized for 4,000 metres, so we were able to do the three first camps easily,” he said. 

From there, Bertrand and his groupmates battled wet weather conditions. An experienced climber, having summited Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua, he said Kilimanjaro was not a technically challenging climb, but he said the weather made the trip tough. 

“The rainy season had already started a month early, so we got swamped,” he said. “There was so much water, which means a whole lot more snow on Kilimanjaro. At one of the camps it was a total whiteout.” 

He said the final day’s climb to the top ended up being longer due to the snowy conditions. When he got to the top of the mountain, he couldn’t even see the view due to the sheets of snow.

His final moment of triumph at the top was brief – each climber had only a few minutes so the next one could have their chance to take photos – but he said the emotions were running strong. 

“I’ll tell you now, I just started crying. I had a big ball in my throat,” he said. “The first thing I did was make a video to send to my daughter, who was in labour. And then I made a very sentimental video to send to my students.”  

Bertrand’s triumphant moment at the summit was soon followed by another one a bit closer to home. Later that day, he found out that his daughter Alix had given birth to a baby boy – Bertrand’s grandson, aptly named Martin Junior. 

He said the new grandson, as well as his students back home, gave him the energy to keep going when the climbing got tough. In December, a contingent of ESSC students led by Bertrand attempted a 24-walk across the Pontiac in support of Bouffe Pontiac – a group he said inspired him to push harder. 

“When they choose to challenge themselves, in their own lives or on crazy projects with me like the 24-hour walk, it also gives me more energy and more inspiration,” he said. 

Bertrand said the feat that impressed him was the porters from the various outfitting companies that carry bags for the mountain climbers. His group’s porter, for example, had completed around 400 successful summits of the mountain, while other more experienced porters had 700 or 800 summits under their belt. 

“They’re wearing the worst footwear on their feet [ . . . ] These guys are going around with mesh running shoes in water and mud, with two to three times the load we had,” he said. 

While Bertrand acknowledged that the climb was not demanding from a technical point of view, he said that he was lucky to have made it to the top as not everybody who attempted can say the same. 

“There are some people that don’t make it up. Even on this trip, I saw people coming down on oxygen, we saw helicopters evacuating people. One member of our team did not make the summit. So it has its risks,” he said. 

Bertrand has now completed two of the world’s “Seven Summits” – the tallest peak on each continent. At 50 years old, he said he’s not sure how many more he’ll be able to complete, but said he would like to strive for at least a few more. 

“I don’t plan on doing all seven, but maybe three or four of the seven.”