Late last year, reporter Kirby Adams joined us for a climb on Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa–alongside her husband and two daughters.

Recently, Kirby wrote for the Louisville Courier Journal about the trek–and how it brought her family closer together:

A national champion collegiate triathlete, Jordan is by far the fittest member of our family. But on that day, hiking to 15,000 feet, she started to feel the effects of the lessening oxygen. To keep going she told us she forced herself to focus on each step in front of her — rather than the hours it would take to get to our campsite.

It was a lesson we would all use at some point on the mountain. After plenty of water and a better night’s sleep, Jordan rallied, and we pushed on the next morning,

That was the day the four of us went from functioning as individual family members on an adventure to becoming a team looking out for one another in our common quest.

Read all about Kirby’s experience–the highs, the lows, and everything in between–on the Courier Journal website.