A peak personal goal realised after 20 years
His summit of Ama Dablam was the conclusion of a 10-day climb.
Local adventurer and motivational speaker Sibusiso Vilane recently summitted the famed Ama Dablam, a Himalayan mountain he had wanted to conquer for two decades.
Vilane reached the summit of Ama Dablam on October 24, bringing to an end 22 years of dreaming and planning for this Lowvelder. The climb took 10 days to complete, and it was by no means a simple quest. “The climb was really technically hard. It’s a tough mountain to summit,” Vilane told Lowvelder.
His dream of climbing Ama Dablam started all the way back in 2002, during a preparatory expedition to prepare for his first Mt Everest climb that he ultimately completed in 2003. It was during the preparatory expedition that Vilane laid his eyes on Ama Dablam for the first time.
“It’s called the Mountaineer’s Mountain and I knew immediately I wanted to climb it one day.”
Upon completing his first Everest summit in 2003, Vilane was reminded of this. “I looked back from the top of Everest at Ama Dablam and said to myself, ‘One day’,” Vilane recalled.
Since then he has been on many an adventure and has even summited Everest again, but he had one thing he refused to let go of. “It was a personal mission I set for myself, a goal I would never lose. Even if I climbed no other mountains again, I had to summit Ama Dablam.”
His dream of summitting it was revived last year, and courtesy of First Ascent SA, it ultimately came to fruition in October this year. “Dreams will never die, they will never disappear; it’s simply about how long you take to make them a reality,” Vilane said.
“My hope is to motivate and inspire others to continue chasing their dreams and ambitions.”
Vilane, who originally hails from Nkomazi, spent 25 years growing up in eSwatini. He lived there until he was 29, when he moved to Mbombela, which has been his home for the past 26 years. While he is 54 now, Vilane turns 55 this Sunday, making the Ama Dablam summit “the best gift and reward” to himself.
“I feel very fulfilled and satisfied to have done it,” he said. One driving force behind Vilane all these years were the words from the late Nelson Mandela. “I remember when I had the opportunity to meet him. He told me I need to help inspire other Africans to achieve their goals and dreams, and I’ve carried that with me all this time.”
