As WA woman Chris Kerr summits the tallest peak in Africa, a celebratory cheer goes up from the team of people who surrounded her for the entire five-day climb.
Taking in the view from 19,000 feet above sea level, Chris tearfully comes to terms with what she has accomplished, and the support she had to make it happen.
"I'm so happy," she says.
"I wouldn't even be able to do it without any of these people here.
"I can't even express how much I'm thankful."
Chris is the CEO of a Geraldton non-profit that increases access and inclusion for people with disabilities, and has used a wheelchair herself since she suffered a spinal chord injury when she was 15.
To do the Kilimanjaro climb, she swapped her usual wheelchair for a newly developed trekker chair, and was pushed, pulled and lifted up the gruelling track by a team of local guides and porters.
Chris Kerr reaches the summit of Africa's tallest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. (Supplied: Samille Mitchell)
"I thought it would feel like I hadn't done anything, because they did all the work, but I'm really proud of myself for pushing through the things I was scared to do," she said at the summit.
The Kilimanjaro climb is a famous adventure up the world's tallest free-standing mountain, and the highest peak in Africa.
It takes most people between five and nine days to reach the summit.
The pace has to be slow and steady, particularly as the air becomes thinner, and the slope steeper, above the clouds.
Chris is one of three people who did the climb using the trekker chairs in August, each of them assisted by a large team of able-bodied people, reaching the top on day five.
Weeks later, back home, she recounts the adventure.
"It starts in like jungle, so it's kind of warmer, just absolutely beautiful rainforest," she says.
"And then you go through several different zones to get to the summit."
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair
"The bit that was probably the most surprising was the Alpine desert. I've obviously never been high enough to experience that, and it was really dry and dusty and kind of beautiful in its own way."
Chris says she faced more challenges than most people who attempt the once-in-a-lifetime feat, but is adamant they were no reason for her not to do it.
“People should be anywhere they want to be and we just need to work on solutions to make that possible," she says.
"The whole experience is about saying: If people want to go mountain climbing, why shouldn’t they go mountain climbing?
"And for people to be less surprised that people with disabilities want to be out and about doing things that everyone else takes for granted.
"I love to travel and I just see myself as a regular person doing what I do."
Tech eliminating barriers
The opportunity to do the Mount Kilimanjaro climb came up earlier this year, after Chris trialled a new all-terrain trekking chair in WA's Kalbarri gorges.
Chris Kerr trials a paratrekking chair at the Kalbarri gorges. (Supplied: Chris Kerr)
She then got an offer from the developer of the chairs, who had been working with porters at Mount Kilimanjaro to make the climb accessible to people who use wheelchairs.
"We got an email from Omer from Paratrek saying, 'Do you want to do this crazy trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro'?," she says.
"We thought, why not?"
Chris' partner, Zane, says the couple knew the task would be a mammoth one.
"We thought, 'That is a big bite to take', but we just solved a problem one thing at a time and we ended up there," he says.
While the trekker chair gave Chris the opportunity to do the climb, she says it brought its own challenges, requiring her to give up her usual independence.
Chris Kerr is assisted by porters to climb Mount Kilimanjaro using a specially designed wheelchair. (Supplied: Chris Kerr)
"I kind of had prepped for some of the physical challenges, maybe being a bit cold and a bit out of my comfort zone with sitting in a trekking chair," Chris says.
"I hadn't thought about the logistics of actually leaving my wheelchair that I use every day behind and being in that trekking chair for seven days at the beck and call of other people.
"That was a really big mental challenge.
"If you want to achieve things sometimes you've got to really step outside your comfort zone."
Having the right support
The five-day journey up the mountain and two days back down were completed to the sound of the guides and porters singing in Swahili.
Chris Kerr says she felt totally supported by the guides and porters who assisted her to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. (Supplied: Samille Mitchell)
"They would sing, I guess to help give themselves a bit of a boost to get through some tough terrain, energise themselves, and just because they're just very joyous people," Chris explains.
"I knew that they totally had my back, that they were totally ready to do whatever it took to keep me safe and get me to the top."
Zane says their support was crucial to the experience.
"When we talk about disability access, we talk about a good attitude first, and that was just the thing they had in spades," he says.
These days, when Chris looks up at the clouds, they remind her of the time she spent far above them.
Chris Kerr says looking at the clouds reminds her of the trek she up Africa's tallest mountain. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Brianna Melville)
"Sometimes we doubt ourselves about what we can do, are we good enough, are we the right person, what will other people think of us?" she said.
"I’m going to be able to say in my own mind, 'Chris, you’ve climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, you can do whatever'."
Source: ABC