2023-12-12 09:12:40
With her agency in Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, a small village in the Aravis massif near La Clusaz (Haute-Savoie), Flora Lambert is familiar with the mountain world. Seduced last year by the intervention of expedition leader Isabelle Mislanghe (Côté Soleil Voyages) during a Cediv Travel network convention, she decided to attack Kilimanjaro. Another challenge following having already climbed Mont Blanc.
Among the thirty tourism professionals who will attempt to reach Africa’s highest peak (5,895 meters in the north-east of Tanzania) at the beginning of February, Flora Lambert is one of the youngest. But probably also the most experienced when it comes to mountains. “I have always lived in a ski resort, near La Clusaz, and the mountains have always been my environment” she recalls.
“Isabelle presented her film, and then I had tears in my eyes”
However, nothing predestined her to climb Kilimanjaro, “it never occurred to me”. The trigger was an intervention last year by Isabelle Mislanghe (Côté Soleil Voyages) specializing in expedition travel during a network convention Cediv Travel on an MSC ship in the Caribbean. “She presented her film, and I had tears in my eyes. I said to myself wow, what a beautiful person, what a beautiful adventurer. It must be grandiose to share something with her, to go on an expedition” summarizes Flora Lambert.
When Cediv, under the leadership of its president Adriana Minchella, decided to set up the project to climb Kilimanjaro, everything began. “It became obvious to me. To be able to do it with Isabelle, with my friend Ericka and above all to do it in a group with people who share the same values” enthuses the founder of Cimes Evasion who has always been attracted to the great outdoors.
Mont Blanc, a successful challenge “in front of itself”
Living in the middle of the mountains but not necessarily keen on mountaineering, Flora Lambert likes challenges. After seeing Mont Blanc almost every day, one day she decided to climb the roof of Europe. “Last year, with the heat, the weather conditions were not suitable, I postponed and so I did it this year in September.” Alone, simply accompanied by a guide. “I didn’t want to spoil someone’s adventure, my partner, a friend, if I mightn’t keep up, and conversely, I didn’t want anyone to stop me from climbing to the top if someone else no one was out of shape”* justifies the young woman. In her quest for freedom and self-improvement, no one will come to thwart her.
Confident in her “very attentive” guide, it is therefore to her greatest joy that she succeeds in this “challenge to herself”. “In terms of breathing and altitude I had no problem, on the other hand technically and physically it was difficult” Flora admits.
The mountain, “a truly rejuvenating daily playground”
An incredible experience which already projects it onto that of Kilimanjaro. “But be careful,” she warns, “one day’s ascent is not necessarily another day’s.” In other words, “It’s not because I have done Mont Blanc that I will succeed in Kilimanjaro. These are two challenges with two completely different terrains. One is assembled in two or three days, the other over a week, we cannot compare.”
Flora, however, has one advantage over her future expedition companions, that of having relief everywhere around her. “It’s true, I can go up or down 1,000 meters of altitude whenever I want” she concedes. For those who cannot see themselves leaving the region, the mountains are “a truly rejuvenating playground on a daily basis”. With » the possibility at lunchtime to put on a pair of sneakers, go for a walk and take your mind off things ». And luxury.
“It will be done mentally”
Generous, Flora Lambert even offered to organize next month, just before the big departure for Tanzania, a “special Cedimandjaro” weekend in La Clusaz. Just to start acclimatizing. “Bad idea” immediately replied the expedition leader Isabelle Mislanghe, “you have to preserve yourself in order to optimize your chances of going to the summit without getting exhausted or catching a cold before the big day”. The idea still holds, but following the ascent of Kili, “history of celebrating our reunion and reliving very strong moments” Flora specifies.
If she is a little apprehensive regarding the cold at the summit of Kilimanjaro, the manager of Cimes Evasion is already imagining the last part of the ascent, “at night with headlamps when we will hardly have slept in the tent”. “It will be done mentally, and then on the atmosphere and the encouragement that there will be in the group, it will be enormous” concludes Flora Lambert.
*In this type of expedition, teams are generally made up of two people accompanied by a guide. It is therefore essential to choose your teammate carefully, and to ensure that everyone is of approximately the same level. Because if one of the two participants is no longer able to keep up with the pace of the race, the entire party will be forced to go back down.
**In the perspective of this expedition, we will regularly provide you with participants’ testimonies concerning their motivations and how to prepare for the ascent of Kilimanjaro.
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