Kilimanjaro: Bernard Freamon mountain climber

This all started on Friday with some chitchat before we began the weekly editorial board meeting of the NJ Law Journal.  Prompted by an obit on the agenda we started trading stories - I pitched in about Aleksander Doba the Polish adventurer who whose death on Kilimanjaro had just been reported.  I mentioned that Bernard Freamon - my Rutgers classmate, friend, historian, and fellow NJ Law Journal Editorial Board member - had climbed Kilimanjaro.  When he logged on it was not possible to tell the story.  So now, with his weekend work behind him he was able to share the story.  It is below.

There has been a delightful exchange as members of the board shared reminiscences of their own greatest adventures in Alaska and Africa, and did some kvelling about their kids who climbed El Capitan, summited Kilimanjaro, or rode a motorcycle to Tierra del Fuego.  But of them all the best tale told is Bernard's. - GWC

Kilimanjaro: Bernard Freamon mountain climber - georgeconk@gmail.com - Gmail

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bernard K Freamon <Bernard.Freamon@shu.edu>
Date: Sat, Mar 13, 2021 at 12:27 AM
Subject: Re: Voyages>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>: Aleksander Doba, Who Kayaked Across the Atlantic, Dies at 74 - The New York Times
To: George Conk <georgeconk@gmail.com>

Yes, I climbed it. With 3 of my best friends. I got to the last hut but the cold and wind and ice were too much to permit me to continue. It was the experience of a lifetime. A Japanese woman who was in our cohort died at the top. She just dropped dead. There was also a Norwegian newlywed couple in our cohort who did their honeymoon by climbing the mountain. They had the best brand-new mountain climbing gear, but the husband got altitude sickness and had to take a three-wheeled ambulance down. Even Norwegians get altitude sickness. Only one of my group made it to the top and he was motivated as his purpose was to scatter his brother's ashes on top, which was his brother's wish. 

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OK Folks. I am done with my law practice work for today and I can turn to providing answers to the questions posed by Ed and others on our Kilimanjaro adventure. 

In the 8th grade, at Broadway Junior High School in Newark, we had a teacher named Reuben Johnson. He taught earth science and he was an extraordinary teacher and mentor, taking us on many field trips and engaging in unforgettable demonstrations of science in class. He kept in touch with us (about 5 of us) as we progressed through high school and college or the military, dubbing us the "Broadway Brothers." He eventually left teaching and moved to Africa, first as a member of the Peace Corps in Botswana and later as deputy director of a charity in Kenya. He was a great influence on me and the other "Broadway Brothers" and several of us traveled to East Africa to visit with him or pursue careers in the region. He is the reason I ended up living in Kenya for two years and teaching at the University of Nairobi.

After he returned to the United States, Mr. Johnson got the idea that we should all climb Mount Kilimanjaro together. We began organizing it and 3 of the 5 "Broadway Brothers" were able to sign on for the trip. We arranged to meet in Tanzania, hired an organizer for the climb, and joined a larger group of about 9 people who planned to jointly do the climb using porters and guides supplied by the organizer. I think that the people in the "cohort," as I call it, did not know each other but were brought together by the organizer, who was an experienced mountain trekker. 

We had about 20 or so porters, carried the equipment we needed on the backs of the porters, including cooking equipment and food, and we ascended the mountain using what was called the "Coca-Cola Route." This was a route popular with tourists because it does not require great mountain-climbing skill but, as it turns out, it was not the best route because it is exhausting and a great strain on the body and mind. I practiced by climbing stairs in Morningside Park in New York for 4 weeks but this did not help that much. 

As John Connell points out, the difficulty with Kilimanjaro is not the mountain-climbing skill needed but the altitude and climate and the need to carefully adjust to the altitude and climate as you ascend mountain. It is a formidable undertaking and not for the faint of heart. John says he collapsed at Kibo Hut, which is at about 17,000 feet, and this happened to us as well. I think all of the routes converge at Kibo Hut and it serves as a base camp to prepare for the final assault on the summit.

 The vistas that one observes while climbing the mountain are spectacular and I cannot put into words the exhilaration that I experienced in doing that. The last part of the climb to Kibo Hut is particularly memorable because you leave the forest and pass through rapid changes in environment, going from alpine meadows to open tree-less desert to tundra and ending in a God-forsaken, cold-as-hell ice field where there is no life except the climbers. I was never so glad to reach that hut as I have ever been in reaching anyplace in all my life. The Japanese lady I spoke about was with us all the way up and there was never any indication that she was sick or in danger of death. She seems to have been a very hearty but older woman who thoroughly enjoyed climbing. 

Our Norwegian compatriots were also good climbing partners. I stayed in the room with them at Kibo Hut and during the night before the final climb his wife notified the medical people at the hut that he was beginning to have altitude sickness symptoms, which includes disorientation, dizziness, nausea, exhaustion and terrible body pain and cramps. There is no cure other than to take the person back down as rapidly as possible to a place where there is more oxygen. They did not have oxygen tanks and similar equipment at the hut. I will never forget watching the ambulance drivers carrying him out of our room and placing him in a three-wheeled rickshaw style ambulance for a mad rush down the mountain. His wife was in tears. I think they thought that being Norwegian gave them an immunity but it did not. All the brand-new equipment did not do him any good. 

Mr. Johnson and two of us determined that we simply did not have the physical strength to get to the top and so we stayed in the hut, sleeping and resting, until it was time to go down. Steve, who is a practicing medical doctor, determined he would try to reach the summit to spread his brother's ashes and he made it. We learned from him that the Japanese lady had died at the top. After we returned to bottom, we took a few days for a safari in the Serengeti and we had a great time recuperating. I would not try it again but I am glad I did it. 

I am not sure what else you want to know but don't hesitate to ask questions if you have follow-up. Mr. Johnson is still alive. On Saturday we celebrated his 85th birthday (I think--he lies about his age). Our trek was written up by a reporter for a New Brunswick newspaper. I have long since forgotten what newspaper that was. I think that Mount Kilimanjaro deserves to be included as one of the wonders of the world. One of the things that I will never forget is the silence of the high-altitude environment. You get a chance to really really really be with yourself. If you are going to die, it is not a bad place to meet your maker. It certainly reconfirmed for me that there is a God and I am blessed to have come up close and personal to one of the wonders of nature and its creator.          

 Peace,

Bernard 

Bernard K. Freamon

Professor of Law Emeritus

Seton Hall Law School