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Cornwall Old-Boy scales Mt Everest
Scaling Mount Everest For Charity
Rohan Freeman, Engineer
08/10/09
Congratulations on being the first African-American male/Jamaican-born climber to summit Mount Everest. What’s it like to climb to the top of the world? What was your first thought when you reached the summit?
Climbing to the top of the world requires patience, inner strength, confidence and off-the-chart gusto! My first thought was, “Wow, I made it! Pretty cool! Everything else seems so small — the other mountains around.” I could see the curvature in the earth, but I had to focus on it for awhile to realize what I was looking at.
Death is a part of the experience for people attempting to summit Mount Everest. How much does that affect your psyche when you’re climbing the mountain?
I don’t think that you can think about Everest and forget that death is a real possibility. For me I understood the risk and became comfortable with it. This is an important first step in climbing Everest because after this point you can’t think that you’ll die. It’s just too much of a mental burden to carry around on the mountain. You really need to be mentally tuned-in to your surroundings and what you’re doing to have a shot. Understanding my mortality and limitations helped me to succeed because it prevented me from taking unnecessary risks that I might otherwise have taken.
People talk about quitting their jobs to accomplish something. You did that by quitting your position as an engineer for BL Cos. What made you take the final plunge?
Great question! Climbers usually try to stay away from the term, “final plunge,” because on a mountain it means sure death. As a matter of fact, the term “final plunge” in any association conjures up all kinds of morbid and negative thoughts. In a positive situation, I’m certain that we could find a much more optimistic reference. I quit my job because they basically said that I couldn’t take time off to go to Everest. I was very unsettled about Everest and I didn’t want to deny myself the opportunity to get a shot at climbing it. Although I liked my job, the company was going through a lot of changes and felt like it was the right time to move on and do something else.
What made you make your climb about the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford? Did you have personal experience with the Boys Club when you were growing up?
I grew up in Jamaica and had no personal experience with the B&GCH. My motivation in climbing for the clubs was two-fold. I like that the club worked directly with kids and that’s exactly what I was looking for. Most inner city kids don’t know about alternative sports outside of the mainstream arena. If they do, it’s usually associated with being white and my goal is to change that stereotype to prove that anybody can do anything they put their minds to. I really liked the club and what they represent.
You’ve reached five of the Seven Summits of the World. What’s next amongst your physical challenges?
My next challenge is hopefully to head down to Antarctica and climb the highest peak on that continent — 16,067 feet Mount Vinson. After tagging the seventh summit I plan to focus on growing my newly formed engineering company with mountaineering vigor. In terms of physical challenges, I haven’t yet decided, but hiking the Appalachian Trail, ride my bike across Europe or America, do an Ironman, etc… I have a very long list of things that I’d like to do — it’s the never-ending bucket list.
Freeman chronicled his journey via his blog http://www.peakpromotionnepal.com/ev..._2009_main.htm.
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Rohan Freeman, Engineer
08/10/09
Congratulations on being the first African-American male/Jamaican-born climber to summit Mount Everest. What’s it like to climb to the top of the world? What was your first thought when you reached the summit?
Climbing to the top of the world requires patience, inner strength, confidence and off-the-chart gusto! My first thought was, “Wow, I made it! Pretty cool! Everything else seems so small — the other mountains around.” I could see the curvature in the earth, but I had to focus on it for awhile to realize what I was looking at.
Death is a part of the experience for people attempting to summit Mount Everest. How much does that affect your psyche when you’re climbing the mountain?
I don’t think that you can think about Everest and forget that death is a real possibility. For me I understood the risk and became comfortable with it. This is an important first step in climbing Everest because after this point you can’t think that you’ll die. It’s just too much of a mental burden to carry around on the mountain. You really need to be mentally tuned-in to your surroundings and what you’re doing to have a shot. Understanding my mortality and limitations helped me to succeed because it prevented me from taking unnecessary risks that I might otherwise have taken.
People talk about quitting their jobs to accomplish something. You did that by quitting your position as an engineer for BL Cos. What made you take the final plunge?
Great question! Climbers usually try to stay away from the term, “final plunge,” because on a mountain it means sure death. As a matter of fact, the term “final plunge” in any association conjures up all kinds of morbid and negative thoughts. In a positive situation, I’m certain that we could find a much more optimistic reference. I quit my job because they basically said that I couldn’t take time off to go to Everest. I was very unsettled about Everest and I didn’t want to deny myself the opportunity to get a shot at climbing it. Although I liked my job, the company was going through a lot of changes and felt like it was the right time to move on and do something else.
What made you make your climb about the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford? Did you have personal experience with the Boys Club when you were growing up?
I grew up in Jamaica and had no personal experience with the B&GCH. My motivation in climbing for the clubs was two-fold. I like that the club worked directly with kids and that’s exactly what I was looking for. Most inner city kids don’t know about alternative sports outside of the mainstream arena. If they do, it’s usually associated with being white and my goal is to change that stereotype to prove that anybody can do anything they put their minds to. I really liked the club and what they represent.
You’ve reached five of the Seven Summits of the World. What’s next amongst your physical challenges?
My next challenge is hopefully to head down to Antarctica and climb the highest peak on that continent — 16,067 feet Mount Vinson. After tagging the seventh summit I plan to focus on growing my newly formed engineering company with mountaineering vigor. In terms of physical challenges, I haven’t yet decided, but hiking the Appalachian Trail, ride my bike across Europe or America, do an Ironman, etc… I have a very long list of things that I’d like to do — it’s the never-ending bucket list.
Freeman chronicled his journey via his blog http://www.peakpromotionnepal.com/ev..._2009_main.htm.
Send A Comment to the Hartford Business Journal
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