We all love inspirational people, and even more so when we actually get to spend climbing a mountain with them! I'm one of the lucky ones - Robby Kojetin will be our guide on our climb on Mount Elbrus in Russia on 22 June 2012. Robby forms part of the Adventure Dynamics International company who we booked our trip through.
Me being me, when I first heard that some guy called 'Robby' was to be our guide and not Sean Disney who I was expecting, I had to immediately get onto the interweb and airwaves and do some investigating on this chap...well let me tell you something! This guy called Robby has a cv of note...and once I had been to his website www.robby.co.za I knew that we were in for an awesome experience in more than capable hands!
Robby Kojetin became the 17th South African in history to summit Mount Everest on 23 May 2009 in scouring winds and -40˚C below zero.
But there is more to his story than that. In April 2006, Robby took a fall at an indoor climbing facility, breaking nearly every bone in both ankles.
As an established climber, having summited 3 of the 7 Summits, not even eight months in a wheelchair nor the five painful surgeries could deter him from achieving his life goal. The summit of Mount Everest and returning safely.
Robby’s high-altitude career started over a few cups of coffee which led to the idea of climbing Africa’s 3 highest peaks. After summiting Mount Kilimanjaro at 22, he set his sights on the highest peak in the Andes, Aconcagua, a monster mountain at 6962m high.
In 2004, Robby stood atop of Mount Elbrus, the highest point on the European continent. Since then he has climbed in Peru, Kenya and the Himalaya.
Now Robby enjoys the privilege of speaking to corporate and school groups alike with his uplifting and inspiring story. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, he is available to speak to your group and reignite the passion and inspiration that makes them who they are.
I had the privilege of meeting Robby a couple of weeks back as he had arranged some gear for us, and I was quite nervous at first...I shouldn't have even worried....he is just the easiest person to get along with and he has a great sense of humour! I have asked him pages and pages of questions over email, Facebook you name it and not once has he gotten annoyed with this girl! I've learnt so much from him already and I cannot wait to learn much more on our trip!
Watch this space as I will be asking Robby to guest blog on my page as soon as he can!
You can follow his blog via his homepage and follow him on Twitter: @EverestRob
Very cool.
ReplyDelete