The October Trip - NL #4
October 27, 2024
Hey Everyone,
We're back!
So let’s start by answering questions:
Did we make it?
Yes! We skied the Stanley Glacier on Mt. Rwenzori. Check out this picture…
Was it hard?
Yes! It pushed us to the limit. On day six, the summit day, we started at 2am, scaling wet cliffs in the dark, weak and delirious from the altitude. The weather was bad, and we decided to leave our skis below the summit.
Is everyone alright?
Yes! No injuries, no major illnesses.
What was it like?
Every day was different. The vegetation was always changing, but there was one constant:
The Rwenzoris are so FULL OF LIFE. It’s true. They are a natural treasure.
Now, if you remember, you asked us to do a couple things:
Leave gear (Uli, Brody, Sarah)
Take pictures of the glaciers (Jim, Richard)
Take pictures of certain plants and animals (Dr. Ivory, Caleb)
Go with female porters (Nicole)
Get the story of the ladders (Brody)
Here’s how we did them:
1. We left a pair of skis, poles, skins, gloves, a jacket, poncho, shirt, harness, and a sleeping bag, as well as ski boots and shoes (not pictured).
The goal? If we leave enough gear, we might realize the dream of having a Ugandan ski their own glacier!
Now it’s possible.
2. Unfortunately every day we had viewpoints of the glacier, we also had bad weather… :(
3. We got nearly everything off Caleb Norville & Dr. Ivory’s list! Pauli recorded the altitude and coordinates of each finding, so we have data to share! Bentique, our guide and photographer, took great pictures.
4. We had three female porters on our trip! Jaqueline, the eldest, was a beast. She carried our heaviest bag (and made it look it easy).
5. The ladders were gone! They had taken them down. Eddison, our head guide, mentioned they were already there before he started 14 years ago.
We took pictures of where they were, but with the bad weather I’m not sure how useful they will be.
The first night of the hike, we told shared the vision of Ski Club Uganda with the guiding team:
1. Spread the story of skiing the Rwenzoris with the world
2. Plant a tree nursery in the area & send students to help out.
Amazingly, as we hiked, the guides came up to me individually saying how much they loved this vision.
Turns out, they had their own tree planting project which ran out of steam during Covid. With the drop in tourism, they've fallen on harder times.
Through their project, they've been spreading the word about conservation and sustainable farming, shared seeds and planted over 20,000 trees.
Lucas had a great idea: That we interview our guides!
We interviewed three of our guides, Eddison, Musabe, and Hunnington, and a porter, Benon. And it was powerful.
In the interviews, we got to hear their perspectives on the role Ugandan’s feel they can play to combat global climate change.
Benon, the porter, gave us goosebumps.
They are way ahead of the world. They are taking action, planting trees.
Their issues are fighting the annual floods of the Nyamwamba river, which rip away houses. They’re also planting imported trees like Eucalyptus which are drying up the soil and climate.
Hearing this, talking with the guides and the porters, and John from RTS, and later with Mike Keigwin from UCF and Dr. Bob from Makerere (see the picture from our dinner)…
We’re nailing down the scope of our project:
We’re going to start with a specific school and church on a hill above Kilembe.
What are we going to do there?
We’ll try to send students there next summer - from Middlebury, Makerere, and maybe other universities, for 3 weeks.
They’d learn sustainable farming techniques from John and the RTS team, help teach the importance of conservation, and also get involved with some planting!
Though the existing project there has stalled somewhat, we’ve heard from many voices that bringing in outsiders would show the community that this project is real, and help convince them to make it their own.
Amazing, fantastic.. but before we explain how we’ll get there - there’s more:
We met with Ganzi and his wife Batenga from the Ugandan Olympic Committee, and…
It’s possible to get Klemen into the 2026 Winter Olympics for Uganda!
Now, it won’t be easy. It will involve getting the Ugandan President’s approval for Klemen’s citizenship.
But we have a plan to get it:
There’s a new initiative for sustainability in Ugandan sports, which this could be a great poster child for. Also Klemen representing Uganda and telling our story would do wonders to market the Rwenzoris, and bring pride to Ugandans.
See, nobody knows about skiing in Uganda. They’ve hardly ever had somebody compete in the Winter Olympics. This would be a national event.
They would see that outsiders care enough about their treasures to represent them on the world stage.
We’ll need to get the right messaging to the right people to reach the President, and luckily Batenga and Ganzi have done this before. So, we’ll figure it out.
(Meet Ganzi, Batenga, and myself!)
Now, we’ve skied the glacier, we’ve joined Ski Club Uganda… what comes next?
Are we going to quit here? No.
Lukka Wolff (student parter at Middlebury college) has scored us a conversation with a Middlebury professor in Environmental science, and we’ll discuss if it’s possible to send students!
Morgan Long has been working on our 501c3 application the last two weeks, so we can submit it soon and get the ball rolling!
We’ve got conversations to have with John and Dr. Bob, to color in the specifics for our project. (Which trees, where to plant, what costs, etc)
We’ve got to put together a proposal for Ganzi and Batenga to bring the Ugandan administration.
We’ve got tons of footage to sort through, see if we can make a short film about this story.
We’ve got a great story proposal (which now needs another update!) to send to every outdoorsy magazine.
We’ve got to follow up with Brody about connecting with the American NGO “Protect Our Winters” (POW).
We’ve got to work on our website, get it looking professional. Create an organization on LinkedIn.
We’ve got to find more existing members of Ski Club Uganda, and let them know they’re a part of something really special.
Phew.
Thanks for reading this far.
Lummi commented yesterday, “everywhere we look, people are loving this idea”.
And he’s right.
We’ve stumbled across an amazing opportunity to do some good here. Let’s make the most of it!
Thanks for being with us,
Florian & Ski Club Uganda
P.S. We got T-shirts! Yours will be available soon.
Meet Lummi rocking the merch Lucas designed.
