Climb for Hospice

While speaking with my co-worker/teammate and 2009 Kili Conquerer, I asked about what the final ascent day is like. Apparently you are woken up late at night (say, 10pm), given tea and crackers, bundled up in many layers, and by the light of your headlamp, you begin trudging up the mountain (slooooooowly) to the summit. He recalled that aside from being completely exhausted and ready to call it quits, you are also exceedingly hungry, and your mind becomes occupied with thoughts of baked goods, Sunday brunch, and summer BBQs. Being someone who has a low tolerance for hunger, the thought of being really hungry while climbing the ridge of a volcano in the dead of night doesn’t exactly make me too thrilled.

I have fairly low blood sugar, and so need to eat at regular intervals. If I go too long without decent sustenance, I can become quite ill: sweating, turning pale and weak, fainting, and/or vomiting. This rarely happens now, as I have learned to have snacks and water within arm’s reach wherever I am. If someone were to break into my car and rifle through my glove compartment, they could happily feed a family of four on the groceries I keep stashed in there in case of emergencies.

However, I’m going to be glove compartment-less on Kilimanjaro, so I really need to plan well. I was thinking about taking up some of those protein bar things or something. They’re light, easy to open, and ready-to-eat. So, on a recent trip to the grocery store I went to see what kinds of protein bars exist nowadays – there are about 7000 or so. Ok, maybe not that many, but there are a lot. But which one to choose!?

The Protein Bar Taste Test – Exhibit A – Gensoy.

Brand: Gensoy
Flavour: Peanut Butter Fudge
Tag Line: “Delicious Soy Protein Bar”
First Ingredient: Soy protein blend (soy protein
isolate, soy protein nugget [soy protein isolate, tapioca
starch, salt], roasted soybeans)

I like this protein bar a lot, actually. A few years ago I decided that I was going to try and subsist on protein bars (I am NOT advocating this ludicrous idea in any way), and Gensoy are the bars I chose. They do taste really good, but I really cannot endorse them as the “meal replacement”, they say they are. In fact, after eating these dumb things, I tend to get really hungry. However, the upside to this is that they give me enough energy to make a decent meal for myself!