Ric Tesan and Mike Hirata lead lives many would envy.
The Coquitlam men are healthy, retired and travelling the world with their friends, ticking items off their bucket lists.
Last summer, the globetrotters headed to Whitehorse for a two-week canoe voyage to Dawson City.
And future expeditions to the Everest base camp in Nepal and the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, in northern Spain, are also planned.
The seniors challenge their daily routines because they often get reminders they're getting older.
"You never know what's around the corner," said Tesan, 63, "so you do what you can while you can."
Earlier this year, they took on a trip of a lifetime and accompanied 12 other seniors - eight of them members of Dogwood Pavilion's Nothin' Dragon dragon boat club - on a climb to Africa's tallest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Ranging in age between 60 and 72 years, the climbers took on heavy training about two months prior to leaving, hiking the Grouse Grind and up to SFU as well as taking a 70 km bike ride.
"We did all the preparations necessary to go up," Hirata said.
Once in Africa, they also did everything they were told to make the physically demanding journey a success, Tesan said. They took an easier route (Marangu trail) and trekked for six days rather than the usual five. They packed for freezing weather, hiked with good boots and poles, and took altitude sickness pills.
Still, Tesan said, "I was anxious the entire time.
"You think about what other people tell you: You're going to get sick from the food or water. You're going to pass out. Whatever. You're worried you're not going to make it to the top even though you've come this whole way."
The dusty trek to the 5,895 m peak - or 19,341 feet above sea level - is not so much of a climb as a slog, especially the last stretch.
"We didn't crawl but dragged ourselves to the summit," Tesan said shaking his head, with Hirata adding, "It was the longest day of my entire life... I was falling asleep while I was walking."
The team - minus two, who dropped out due to sickness - rose at 11 p.m. with the full moon beaming and made it to the top at sunrise.
"It was the most beautiful orange you will ever see," said Hirata, 70, a retired camera shop owner who raised $1,000 for the Canadian Red Cross for Japanese tsunami victims and displaced Somalians before the adventure.
They also had good luck with the weather, which Tesan and Hirata attribute to their "guardian angels:" climber Ron Whittaker's wife, Susan, who died of cancer last year and urged him to go to Mt. Kilimanjaro; and the late mother of climbing sisters Shelly English and Marie De La Ronde. Whittaker and the sisters each had vials of ashes they scattered at the peak in memory of their loved ones.
"We always thought about them," Tesan said. "We think they were looking down on us, giving us not just good but outstanding weather: Clear skies the whole way. We had no scarves on, no mitts and open jackets. And that was at 12,000 m."
Coming down, though, Tesan said he got blisters on his feet and sore knees. Another climber had to be carried down by two of the 29 porters.
But all 14 trekkers were strong enough to make it to their next destination: a six-day safari that included a hot-air balloon ride over the Serengeti (Tesan and three other team members who are retired teachers also visited an orphanage to deliver school supplies).
Now, Hirata, who had previously climbed Mt. Fuji in his native Japan, is sharing his story and pictures of the trip with hiking clubs. Last month, he gave a presentation before Coquitlam council, where Mayor Richard Stewart named the Nothin' Dragon team travel ambassadors for the city.
"Because of this trip, I feel like my dreams have expanded," Hirata said.
To view the Nothin' Dragon climbers' photos, visit: kilimanjaroclimbers.wordpress.com.
