Wounded veterans train near Vail before expedition to climb Kilimanjaro
Group gets advice from a Vail orthodondist, who climbed Africa's highest peak at 88 years old

Dan Harris/Courtesy photo
If you’re going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, which sits at 19,431 feet above sea level, Vail makes for a pretty good training ground. That’s what Dan Harris thought when he invited three wounded veterans out to train this summer in advance of their climb in January.
Harris came up with the idea, or challenge, and presented it to retired Marine Sgt. Adam Kisielewski, the president and CEO of No Person Left Behind Outdoors. Harris’ family has hosted a fishing tournament in Mexico for veterans over the past several years and during that time Kisielewski and Harris have become close friends.
“Since Adam is part of an organization that takes veterans fishing, hiking and hunting, I thought climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro would be just another one of their adventures,” Harris said.

Dan Harris/Courtesy photo
Harris let Kisielewski pick the other veterans who would join them on the trek. Kisielewski selected retired Army Sgt. Steven Curry and retired Marine Capt. Cameron West. All three are Purple Heart recipients.
Climbing the highest peak on the African continent can be a physical challenge for anyone, but it can be more of a challenge for vets with the type of wounds these three have. Kisielewski was injured in 2005, when a booby-trapped door was opened while he was clearing a schoolhouse near Fallujah, Iraq, that reportedly was housing insurgents. Kisielewski lost his left arm at the shoulder and his right leg below the knee.

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In 2006, a vehicle Curry was riding in was struck by four explosively formed penetrators. Curry sustained a traumatic brain injury and eventually his left leg was amputated below the knee.
West was leading a platoon in 2010 toward suspected Taliban fighters in Afghanistan when an IED was triggered. The blast took his right leg and severely damaged his left leg. He also sustained damage to his right hand and lost vision in his right eye.
“I think Adam called me for something else and then he changed the subject and said, ‘Hey, have you ever wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro?’ and I said, ‘No, not particularly” and he said, “Well, how do you feel about it? I’m thinking about doing it in January of next year,” Curry said. “So I told Adam, ‘Hey, let me talk to my wife” and I was kind of hoping my wife would say, ‘Absolutely not, that is the worst idea you’ve ever had,’ but instead she said, ‘I’ll support whatever you want,’ and I was like, “ … I guess I’m training for Kilimanjaro!”
When Kisielewski called West about the mission, West didn’t have an excuse, either.
“All I remember is Adam asked me to do it and my iPhone calendar didn’t go all the way out to January at the time, so I couldn’t really make up any quick excuse, so I just said ‘yes,’” West said.

Dan Harris/Courtesy photo
Kisielewski picked these two because he thought they’d have the physicality to do it, despite their injuries, and the mental fortitude. He also selected them for the type of people they are.
“The important thing for me and my NPLB Outdoors board of directors was that we picked veterans that were doing things actively to try to help other veterans and doing something, not just take, take, take, but doing something that actively pays it forward. Both these guys have done more than most to help other veterans,” Kisielewski said.
“We’re all part of a wonderful organization that builds houses for the severely injured veterans from combat wounds since 9/11 called Homes for Our Troops,” West said. “Being part of the program, we’ve volunteered throughout the years to be on a small team of veterans that check up on veterans that are in the program.”
“We like to stay in the loop and see how they are doing, how their families are doing, what they are doing career-wise, education-wise, what they are doing just to move forward with life in their next chapter and see if they are exceeding and thriving,” West said.
To get them ready for the hike, Harris, a Cordillera resident, invited the three vets to get some training at altitude in early August. The group did some hikes around Cordillera to get acclimated for the climb up Mount Elbert, which is 14,440 feet above sea level.
“The hikes were good distances and with the elevation gains, it was really helpful as these guys are all coming from nearly sea level. Hiking here was a good experience to recognize how different it is from hiking at sea level, and how to prepare mentally for the challenges that will come with Mount Kilimanjaro,” Harris said.
In addition to the hiking, the group also met with a Vail resident who made the climb up Kilimanjaro — at 88 years old.
Dr. Fred Distelhorst climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2017 with his granddaughter, Ellen. The retired orthodontist lives in East Vail and he and Ellen invited them over to talk about their experience and share how Distelhorst is recognized as one of the oldest people to climb that peak. They talked about routes, sleeping in the tents, the food, weather, clothing and gear, and how skilled and kind the porters and guides were.

Fred Distelhorst/Courtesy photo
“They called me “babu,” which means ‘grandpa’ in Swahli,” Distelhorst recalls. “They looked after me because I was the oldest person on the trip.”
Fred and Ellen had a good time reminiscing about various points of the adventure.
“My doctor here told me to use the oxygen once the climb got a bit higher, and I tell you what, there must have been more than oxygen in that tank because I felt like I could’ve hiked to the moon,” Distelhorst said.
“What was your favorite moment that you two shared together?” West asked them.
“One night after dinner they were playing music and there was a song that had a fast tempo, like a jitterbug song, and I had taught Ellen how to jitterbug, and they just loved that and then I’d dance with the porters. I started spinning around the porters,” Distelhorst said.
They talked about the views from the top and the difficulty going down.
“That was the hardest part,” Distelhorst said. “Those were long days.”

Tricia Swenson/Vail Daily
The visiting vets enjoyed meeting Fred and Ellen and hearing about their adventures and felt there was a lot of value in learning from their experiences. The fact that Fred was able to climb Kilimanjaro at the age of 88 was great motivation for the guys, too, and got them pumped up to climb Elbert, the highest 14er in Colorado, the next day.
They met their guides from Top Out Adventures of Leadville at 5:15 a.m. at the trailhead and they made the summit, which took over six hours to reach. The weather was dry and mostly clear, which had been a concern earlier in the week.
“The way down was definitely the biggest challenge, due to the nature of walking with prosthetic legs, compounded by the effort made in ascending the mountain,” Harris said.

Dan Harris/Courtesy photo
“The downhill took about six hours but was more difficult. It was a confidence booster and they were able to rule out some concerns about altitude sickness at least for the first part of the climb, as Kilimanjaro is over 19,000 feet,” Harris said. “It was among the most physically challenging things they have done since being injured.”
The three vets returned to their homes in Maryland, Virginia and Georgia and plan to do high-intensity interval training and as many hikes as possible before the trip in January. But physical efforts aside, they will also draw upon the inspiration Distelhorst gave them.