Tom Belz: First steps on the path to Kilimanjaro
A dream, a goal, a mountain...
Tom Belz’s journey took him to the highest point of Kilimanjaro, the Uhuru Peak. A trek that took the MAMMUT ambassador seven long days. The 32-year-old showed no sign of exhaustion until the very last phase, despite having never trained for this type of adventure. Using crutches had allowed him to build up a certain level of basic fitness, but his Kilimanjaro trek was just the second real mountain experience of Tom Belz’s life.
He was definitely not short of motivation. As a child, Tom often watched television documentaries about the continent of Africa. "But then the whole amputation thing happened and, for 23 years, it was implied that I couldn’t do anything." And so, as an adult, he decided he would complete an ascent of one of the Seven Summits. His preparatory tour was also his first ever mountain tour, two weeks before he set off for Africa. Accompanied by the MAMMUT Alpine School mountain guide Markus Wey, he scaled the Üsseres Barrhorn in the Swiss canton of Valais. The team also included Doctor Klaus Siegler, who had amputated 8-year-old Tom’s leg. From Turtmann, they made their way to the summit via the Turtmann Hut. However, the training tour was not without its difficulties...
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