85-Year-Old Great-Grandmother Climbs Kilimanjaro, Possibly Sets World Record

[news]

[news]

At 85 years young, an Arizona great-grandmother has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.

Anne Lorimore completed the climb with her niece and nephew despite contracting the flu on day four of the eight-day trip in Tanzania, Phoenix's KTVK reports.   

"I've wanted to do it for a long time," Lorimore told Arizona's ABC 15 before the climb. "My niece and nephew were doing it, and I said, 'Please, I want to go,' and they said yes. So I put it down on my bucket list that by 2015, I was climbing Kilimanjaro."





Lorimore told ABC 15 that she was hiking to raise money for the Challenge Youth Fund, a charity she started for underprivileged children. 

The great-grandmother said she understood the risks of climbing Kilimanjaro, including altitude sickness. That's nothing for Lorimore, who said she hiked Ayers Rock in Australia after beating lymphoma and undergoing chemotherapy. On the Kilimanjaro hike, Lormiore carried on despite her flu -- and possibly set a world record in the process. 

"We are just waiting word from Guinness to make it official that she's the oldest woman to reach the summit," spokeswoman Tess Dumlao said in a KTVK interview. "Her mountain guide has no doubt they will confirm that Anne is the oldest woman to summit M. Kilimanjaro as she has met all the requirements and got to the top unassisted and strong to her last step!"

H/T Jezebel

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