3.20.11: Tribute to U2

Last night my husband and I had a great time seeing A Beautiful Day, which is a New York-based U2 tribute band.... I thought it was due time that I give my own tribute to U2, especially to frontman Bono.

I had used hiking as my path to wellness for many years. I started with flat trails, then moved to molehills, mountains that once left me winded and even down (and thankfully up) the Grand Canyon. However, after conquering the Grand Canyon, my I started to feel a little lost in my training.

I started going to the gym and do a 28-minute fat burning cycle on the elliptical trainer (without breaking a sweat), or skip my strength training sessions for yummy yoga. I decided I needed a new challenge and it had to be Mount Kilimanjaro.

Mount Kilimanjaro is the epitome of hiking challenges. It is Africa's highest peak and it is the largest mountain that you can hike to the top of. In other words no ice axes, ropes or supplemental oxygen are required. However, it is still an arduous task -- a grueling 5 and a half journey to the top, as you are stripped away from most of you comforts (your warm bed, your loved ones -- and a shower!)

I decided if I was going to take on this challenge, I was going to do it for a cause bigger than myself. It was because of Bono's use of his voice -- for not only his music -- that I learned about the AIDS crisis in Africa.

I was particularly taken by the plight of AIDS orphans in subsaharan Africa -- healthy children who have had a generation of parents, leaders and teachers stripped away from them by the deadly disease. To give you an idea about how many AIDS orphans there are in sub-Saharan Africa, prior to my first Kilimanjaro hike in 2007 there were 13 million. As I am about to take on my third hike, there are 18 million.

I found Global Alliance for Africa, a Chicago-based organization devoted to helping AIDS orphans through empowering programs such as education and microfinance. I signed up to date have raised more than $15,000 for their programs. I will raise $1 per foot of the mountain -- $19,343 -- through my next trip up Kilimanjaro. Click here to learn how to make a donation.

Now, as I gain some spotlight for my endeavors, I try to use it for good as well. Here is my latest live television interview and essay in Self magazine talking about my journey to wellness, hoping to inspire others to be active with their bodies and in their communities.

So thank you Bono for making me aware, inspiring me to do better and teaching me to use my voice in a positive way.

I'll be speaking 7 p.m. Tuesday (March 22) at Interweave in Summit, NJ about how to take Action Steps.

You can find my book on Amazon or on my website.

Remembering Denise Cramsey

Sometimes the most power gift you can give another person is to believe in them. That's what Denise Cramsey did for me.

Denise died suddenly Nov. 23 after suffering a brain aneurysm. She was 41.

It is hard for me to put into words how much I appreciated her integrity and commitment to help others in every project she did from Extreme Makeover Home Edition to School Pride.

Denise and I were in the midst of developing my celebrity weight loss trek up Kilimanjaro into a television docu-series. Denise was kind, funny and a delight to know. Our last conversation, which was a week before she died, was laughing about one network's rejection because the project was "too earnest" for them. We took it as a compliment.

I attended Denise's wake on Dec. 1 in Allentown, Pa. It was an opportunity to thank her for all she did, for believing in me and my vision. That meant the world to me. There were so many people touched by her life. I feel blessed for having been one of them. The world is a better place because of her.

I decided to continue the Kilimanjaro project in Denise's memory -- to help others who feel stuck in their weight loss journey. My fellow hikers and I decided to postpone our trek from February to July 30-Aug. 14, 2011 so we can do it the right way.

Another memorial for Denise will be held 3:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Academy of Television Arts and Science in Los Angeles, CA.

Scott Farquharson, Denise’s fiance, is collecting notes to Denise that will ultimately buried in a place that she would love -- near the summit of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states at over 14,490 feet.
It is a fitting tribute for a woman who moved mountains.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Denise Cramsey Memorial fund, through Wells Fargo acct. # 6708486094. Contributions will help pay for the memorial and will be donated to Expedition Inspiration fund for breast cancer research. Checks for the memorial fund or notes may be sent to Scott Farquharson at 686 Camino Manzanas, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.

Hiking Confession

I have a confession to make. Two weeks I posted on Facebook that I had bagged Mount Frissell, Connecticut's highest point. When my husband and daughter got up to where we thought was the summit, we ate snacks, snapped photos and headed home.

That night, when Chris was reading more about the mountain, he discovered we made a mistake that many do -- stopping on the top of Round Mountain, instead of continuing on to the south slope of Mount Frissell. Oops.

We had unfinished high pointing business in Connecticut.

So when we had to cancel our Mount Hunger Mountain hike due to snow up there, we decided to head back to Salsbury, CT to reach the true high point -- and then some.

Chris found an 11-mile trail that would take us to Bear Mountain, the highest peak in the state, back up to Round Mountain and on to the south slope of Mount Frissell. Because really, why do one mountain when you can do three.

We left our house at 6:30 a.m. to meet Chris's cousin Stacey (and fellow Kili hiker http://www.climbing4health.com/) and her friend Shannon at the Under Mountain trail head.

The first trek up Bear Mountain felt easy. We reached the top within two hours... the harder part was heading down the steep sections of the mountain. We had to be patient and scoot down a number of the more treacherous rocks.

Then on to Round Mountain (again!) where we had lunch to celebrate being five miles into the journey. I didn't bother to snap photos there...

From there, Chris thought it would take another hour and a half to the high point at Mount Frissell and then back down again. Tired legs and leaf-covered slope made this part of the journey even more difficult but I soldiered on -- because I really ddin't want to have to come back yet another time!

I was glad I did because I found the marker on the southern slope next to a large cairn. It was a bit anticlimatic as far as markers go -- but I was so grateful to see it because that meant I could head back.

We did soon as Chris signed the log book: "We came, we saw, we conquered three mountains and a high point."

We didn't make it down until 3:30 p.m. The sun was sinking so we had to hurry through our last three miles of the hike back to our vehicles. Thankfully, after heading up and down three mountains, the last part was pretty flat. That allowed us to zoom through the last bit. We actually had to switch on our headlamps for the last little bit.

It was a long day on the trail, but it really was a high point in my hiking history.

Fat Woman on the Mountain is available on www.fatwomanonthemountain.com and Amazon.com.