The daughter of Roy and Shirley Mengel, Frackville, Fischer and 13 other women to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in early October to raise funds for the American Foundation for children with AIDS. AFCA is a non-profit organization that helps children AIDS HIV-positive and their guardians in sub-Saharan Africa with critical AIDS and drugs-related, medical equipment and food for the partners.
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is very heavy, and the training required to be able to make it to the 19,340-foot peaks.
Prior to her leave, Fischer was trained for months, including weight training, cardiovascular training, hiking, getting used to wearing shoes and carrying a pack to deal with the rarified air near the top. From base to Summit, hikers who went through five climatic zones. Since Pennsylvania has the mountains are not even close to the Summit of Kilimanjaro, a member of the team did the best they can be prepared.
“We tried to step up our training the last few weeks and do more long walks and hikes,” said Fischer. “Two weekends before we go, some of us climbed to six and seven hours.”