John’s Climb for Conservation

Ascending 19,341 feet of treacherous mountainside is no small feat. Add to that raising nearly $10,000 for conservation projects in the wild, and we can safely say John Mina rocked 2018 as a world-class adventurer and a Conservation Nation all-star.

This past fall, John, 54, conquered no less a mountain than Mount Kilimanjaro—plus he used his epic trek to fundraise for endangered animals, enlisting as many friends, family and fellow conservation enthusiasts as he could to give to his Conservation Nation page. When it was all said and done, he had raised about fifty cents for each foot climbed.

And those steps sure weren’t easy. There was rain—six days of rain to be exact, and almost white-out conditions near the summit.

“You start at midnight and hike for about six or seven hours to the top, just following the person in front of you on the trail, and visibility got down to maybe 15 feet at some points,” John says. “It was rough going, and that’s where people start dropping out. You’re so close, just a few hours from the summit, and people are just too cold, too tired, or getting sick from altitude. It becomes very real.”

But John, president for an insurance broker and risk management company, knew the risks and forged ahead—ultimately reaching both the peak and his fundraising goal.

“I don’t think any of us really know what we’re able to accomplish until we set out,” John says. “We’re often surprised at the result.”

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