b'CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAINAyers Rock is a giant monolith in the Australian Outback.Obviously, as the years progress, I search out easier, less strenuous summits, but I want to share one, which I consider to be, one of the most spectacular vistas that I have visited. De nitely, the most stressful climb was Uluruor Ayers JONATHANRockin Australias Northern Territory. A six-houright from VAN BILSEN Cairns to Alice Springs, and abus ride, broughtve-hour me to the base of the famous monolith, located deep in the This planet is covered with some spectacular mountainOutback.ranges and some very high peaks. I want to be clear, whenI arrived at 4 a.m., just before sunrise and was greeted by I say I am not a mountain climber, rock climber or laddermy guide. The rock surface is quite smooth and I was delight-climber. In fact, my fear of heights has kept me from puttinged when I saw a low, chain-link fence leading up the slippery Christmas lights on my eavestrough, pruning anything higherslope. I began my climb and after 15 minutes, I realized the than two metres on trees and standing on a chair to changefence ended. This part is called chicken hill and was for those a light bulb (thank goodness for long-lasting energy savingadventurers who wanted to tell the world they climbed the bulbs). It may therefore come as a surprise to you, when Irock, but never made it to the top. That was certainly not I. nally tell you I have scaled some of the worlds highest peaksI continued about another hour andmade it to sort of. the top where the rockwinds are extremelyattened. The strong, and nearly 40 people have died trying to scale this megalith. Of course, as I panted in an effort to catch my breath, two elderly ladies with walking poles, marching at full speed, passed me. Not to be outdone, I continued (Ayers Rock is equivalent to 95 stories tall). The top appearsat, and I was disheart-ened tond it to be a series of valleys and hills, averaging two to three metres (six-nine feet) deep. I had to run down a hill so I could achieve momentum to make it up the next one. It seemed there was no end in sight, travelling across the top. My goal was to reach the kiosk where you sign the book and receive a certi cate. I did not realize the climb up the rock was one third of the way, and the trek across the top was two thirds.Kangaroos watch as people make their way to the base of Uluru. Please turn to page 32FOCUS - FEBRUARY 202231'