Emory & Henry Cross Country Runner Completes Famed Mountain Climb

BY ALLEN GREGORY
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
EMORY, Va. – The summer months offer a time for exploration, adventure and fun for college students. Some head to the beach, some seek employment and some just decompress.
Keran Billaud took another route – he went straight up.

The Emory & Henry sophomore, and cross country runner, joined a group of 10 experienced climbers on an expedition to famed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. From July 24 to Aug. 2, the 20-year-old Billaud endured pain, sickness, sub-zero temperatures, bone-chilling wind and bouts of self-doubt en route to the clouds.

“People always say that life is all about the journey, and it really is,” Billaud said. “I learned a lot about myself and on this trip. I thought I knew my limits, but this trip showed me something more.”

The first step of the ambitious quest began last spring when Billaud was reading through a list of upcoming trips in National Geographic with his father, Jean-Paul Billaud. One trip was especially enticing.

“My father thought the Kilimanjaro expedition would be a wonderful thing,” said Billaud, who was born in France and has also lived in Alaska. “I sent in an application to the folks at National Geographic and got approved.”

Vision quest

Billaud has been a distance runner since the age of 9. He craves physical challenges, but this was an entirely different kind of cross country meet. The challenge was as much mental as physical.
“I’ve always had an interest before in simple rock climbing, but I had never done anything like this before,” Billaud said. 

Peter Hillary, son of the late adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary and an international celebrity in his own right, served as the leader of the Kilimanjaro expedition. From sunrise to sundown, the diverse group battled the elements of the fearsome and storied mountain featuring three volcanic cones.

The goal was Uhuru peak, which has an altitude of 19,340 feet, Billaud’s group did not rely on harnesses or ropes. The drops were nearly 1,000 feet at times. The list of Kilimanjaro victims is long.

“The theory with climbing at high altitude is to never go more than 1,000 feet a day because you need to give your body an extra time to catch up,” Billaud said. “We followed that norm, but our summit climb was an increase of 4,000 feet from the base camp.”

Iron will

Nearly every climber or thrill seeker experiences a moment when things go wrong. For Billaud, that moments came shortly his group reached lava tower camp at an elevation of 15,000 feet.

“We had gone up close to 2,000 feet in altitude that one day because we wanted to get used to the altitude, but we ended up getting altitude sickness as soon as we got to camp,” he said.
Billaud soon experienced waves of nausea, dizziness and dehydration. In extreme conditions, altitude sickness can be fatal.

“I couldn’t keep any food down for over a day and a half,” Billaud said. “On the mountain, that’s not a good thing.“

Despite being in excellent physical condition, Billaud could not help but feel worried.

“I didn’t know whether I was going to make it to the top because I had lost a lot of fluids and felt so weak,” Billaud said.  “I could barely walk the next morning, and we were facing the hardest part of our ascent.”

The group was facing hours of technical work where each person had to rely on their hands, feet and ingenuity.

“It was kind of scary because was I semi dizzy and here I was going straight up on this really high ascent,” Billaud said.  “I remember just looking down to the valley floor. It was practically right beneath us.”
Billaud had one thought, and it centered on the most basic of instincts.

“I was just hoping that I didn’t fall back,” Billaud said. “I’ve never quit on anything but I thought I had reached my breaking point. Then everyone just kind of rallied me and I was able to get on with it.
“I learned a lot about teamwork. Our lives were on the line on that mountain, so we had to watch each others backs.”

Mountain man

With the charismatic and Hillary setting a relentless pace, Billaud and his partners finally reached their destination at sunrise following a climatic seven-hour grind.

There was nothing but puffy clouds in every direction. Billaud described the moment as transcendent.

“To be honest, I was on the verge of crying several times. There was such a release of emotion.”

No words, celebratory whoops or macho posturing was needed. The panorama was much better than a splashy video game or motion picture.

“I stood up there for a while looking at the ground and the clouds underneath me and thinking that I have actually conquered the mountain,” Billaud said. “There was just an ocean of whiteness and clouds. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“It makes you feel that this is real world and nothing else could compare.”

Go-getter

Emory & Henry cross country coach Mike Abramson has come to expect big things from Billaud. He watched as the Pulaski County High School graduate spent six months training to recover from a bone injury in his right foot.

“Keran spent last year in the pool and weight room, and gained about 30 pounds of muscle,” Abramson said. “That kid can do anything he wants, and he’s been a big plus to our team.”

Abramson wasn’t surprised to learn of the latest conquest by Billaud, who carries a triple major at E&H.

“Nothing is out of the realm of possibility for Keran,” Abramson said. “He’s constantly challenging himself.”

In retrospect, Billaud admits climbing to the top of the world’s highest stand-alone peak was daunting ,but going to extremes is nothing new. Billaud once had to be rushed to the hospital during a half-marathon where the temperature soared above 100 degrees.

“You always hear the saying that anything beautiful can be dangerous,” Billaud said. “Well, Kilimanjaro is very beautiful but it’s also very dangerous.
“That mountain taught me so much about myself. It was like the mountain had a spirit of its own, and it combined with mine.”

Billaud said the memory of his unique summer vacation remains vivid. At some point, he would like to compile a book on his travails and eventual triumph.

“It was such a profound and priceless adventure,” Billaud said. “Once you do something like this, you are trapped and have no choice but to fall in love with the experience.”

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