PHOENIX, Ariz. (WFLA/CNN Newsource) – A Phoenix woman is back home after setting a world record as the oldest woman to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
89-year-old Anne Lorimor got a big homecoming at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport this week, where she arrived on her flight back from Tanzania.
Lorimor used to be a university instructor and says she’s always loved hiking, but she’s never been a professional climber.
Still, the trip up and back down the tallest freestanding mountain in the world took her just nine days.
Experts say you don’t need a lot of technical skills to climb Kilimanjaro saying the biggest challenge is getting used to the high altitude, where oxygen is thinner.
That was a worry for Lorimor.
“There was a point when I really was concerned, because I fell before I started up the mountain and I had great pain in my side and I couldn’t take deep breaths. And I was afraid that if I couldn’t keep oxygenated enough I couldn’t go.” Lorimor said.
This isn’t the first time Lorimor has climbed Kilimanjaro.
She also climbed it four years ago, when she was 85 years old.
