The boys had already recovered from extreme chapped lips, chapped noses and weight loss a few weeks since returning from Tanzania, but on Friday, Diego Placido and Theo Ho, both age 14, vividly recounted their 7-day climb of Mt Kiliminjaro as if it were yesterday.
The gently sloping yard outside the Placido family home in mid country Greenwich receded in humble contrast as Diego and Theo brought the experience of their 19,341ft climb into vivid detail.
From the moment they arrived the mountain loomed so large that it was difficult to put in perspective.
“Driving from the airport and seeing the mountain in between the clouds was when it hit me. That’s when things got real,” Diego said.
Theo Ho and Diego Placido with medallions representing their successful climb to the summit of Mt. Kiliminjaro in February 2025. Photo: Leslie Yager March 7, 2025
The middle schoolers shared memorable moments with humor, though they were likely not so funny in the moment. Like the time Theo’s headlamp stopped working in the pitch dark and he followed close behind the next climber to borrow some light.
Diego described constant hunger and the realization the energy waffles in his pocket had frozen, and having to break off pieces and hold pieces of them in his mouth to thaw before swallowing.
And the time they were trying to sleep in their tent but the wind was so powerful they thought it might fly through the air.
There was the image of them sleeping with teddy bear-shaped hot water bottles and making sure to keep batteries and devices warm inside their sleeping bags for fear the cold would drain their batteries.
And, of course, there was the reality of their mortality that sunk in each time a MedEvac helicopter buzzed overhead.
And the flash of a woman’s blue face, deprived of oxygen.
“Getting oxygen didn’t hit us as hard as others because we are athletic, Theo said. “One lady made it to the top and closed her eyes to sleep – they put her on oxygen.”
Always the oxygen.
And as the temperature dropped well below freezing, the urge to cover their mouths and noses was exceeded by the need for oxygen.
In fact, every morning after breakfast there was a medical check-up where everyone’s oxygen levels and heart rates were tested.
“It was extremely stressful because if you fail, you get MedEvac’d out,” Diego said, adding that the final day they saw about a dozen helicopters, each one representing someone needing rescue.
“One guy who didn’t have insurance was taken out in a cart,” Theo said.
“You’d see some people on the side of the trail with five guys around them checking on them, because they couldn’t make it or were falling asleep,” Diego said.
Still, the boys described the sound of helicopters whirring overhead as a motivation.
“I said, ‘That better not be us,’” Diego said.
“I said, ‘Bro, we can not get MedEvac’d after all this,’” Theo said.
Theo recalled a brief moment of joy when he thought the group had reached the summit, followed by the crushing realization they had only reached “Stella Point,” at 18,885 feet above sea level was named after Estella Latham, the first women ever to have reached the mark in 1925.
“At Stella Point we thought we had made it to the summit, but we still had an hour left to Uhuru Peak. The sun was beating down us. There was snow all around. And the trail was so narrow that there was a risk of getting too close to the edge,” Diego said. “At that point, everyone was tired, cranky and cold.”
“It was helpful that me and Diego are very athletic, but the last night – that’s what all the training was for,” Theo said. “Everyone was listening to their music on iPods, and you keep your head looking down.”
“The wind was consistently blowing, and you couldn’t put your mask over your nose or you wouldn’t be able to breathe,” Diego said. “My nose and lips chapped and the temperature at night dropped to negative 10°F.”
The climbing effort took extensive preparation the boys described during their interview back in January, but the day-to-day, hour-by-hour, climbing the narrow serpentine trails required multiple layers of clothing to avoid hypothermia, a pair of hiking poles, microspikes mounted to their boots for traction, and heavy backpacks.
“It’s a very steep climb and you’re going slowly and it’s so steep you’re pretty much leaning completely forward onto your poles and you have about 35lbs of gear on your back for your equipment,” Theo said.
Diego said, “As soon as the sun came out we could shed layers of clothes because the sun is hot near the equator.”
Pascale Sejean, Theo Ho, Rodrigo and Diego Placido at the summit of Mount Kiliminjaro. February 14, 2025 contributed photo
Long stream of climbers on Mt. Kiliminjaro February 2025. Contributed photo
ScreenshotSummit Night
The boys said summit night was the most grueling, involving hiking all night to reach the summit in time for sunrise.
Diego said summit night was both physically and mentally challenging.
“You’ve already climbed 6 hours and then gotten only 5 hours sleep, and then you climb a straight 12 to 14 hours. It’s pitch black and you have a little headlamp on,” he said. “It’s 5 miles horizontally and 3,000 feet vertically.”
“For me, it was more mentally challenging than physical,” Theo said, going on to share the story of his broken headlamp.
“Everything was tiring and very cumulative,” Diego said. “And that one day was 14 hours of hiking because you need to get up and down when it’s still light out, so if something goes wrong you can get MedEvac’d out.”
“The helicopters can’t come up at night,” Theo explained.
The final climb started at about 11:00pm, continued all night so the group could reach the summit at about 7:00 am, and stay for about one hour.
At that moment, Diego recalled, “You could see the earth’s curve because you’re so high up. Watching the sunrise was most fulfilling thing in my life.”
The boys described a bit of chaos once they had summited, given about 40 people were jockeying to take photos of Uhuru Peak.
“When I first got there I collapsed on the ground and got a bit emotional because of the buildup over the months and especially over the seven days of climbing,” Diego said. “To get here and be able to hug Theo, my dad, Pascale and my godfather and friend was amazing.”
All 16 people in the boys’ group made it to the summit on Feb 14. The group was open to the public but at its core was Diego, Theo, Theo’s mother, Pascale, Diego’s father Rodrigo, and two of his friends who included Diego’s godfather.
Over the course of the week, the climbers they met represented many nationalities and spoke multiple languages, though most of the guides could speak some English. Climbers were both men and women, and the people nearest Diego’s and Theo’s age were in their 20s.
All along the way Diego and Theo said the porters and guides – local men and women who live at the base of the mountain – were vital to the climbers’ success and safety. From cooking for the group, to cheering them on in Swahili, these men and women who appeared to scamper effortlessly along separate narrower paths, also carried gear for them, often balancing heavy equipment on their heads.
“The guides had no microspikes and no poles. They’d be screaming chants and singing and having a good time,” Diego said. “Some of them do it four times a month.”
Theo said that for their group of 16 there were a total of 78 helpers, including guides, porters and chefs.
“Their support was enormous. They were the deciding factor of whether you could make it up successfully,” Diego said.
Diego described the food as “mountain food,” featuring soup at every meal.
“We would stop every three hours to eat a protein bar or energy waffle, but on a regular day you would eat rice, steak or other meat, salad and fruit. It was great food.”
“The guides and everyone working were so sweet to us, sometimes giving us a little extra food,” Theo said.
Diego lost eight pounds over the course of the week despite eating about 4,000 calories a day.
The boys learned some phrases in Swahili to show their appreciation, but they went further.
Successful Fundraiser
It was with these critical staff in mind that Diego and Theo did a fundraiser prior to departing the US for Tanzania. Having learned these critical workers live in a poverty-stricken village at the base of the mountain and send their children to a school in need of repairs and supplies, they started a GoFundMe.
The boys were able to deliver items to the school in person. They said they were thrilled to raise so much for the school prior to departing. In fact they said, the final $200 donation brought them to their goal of $14,000, arriving just as the group was at the airport, minutes before closing their GoFundMe.
They said the poverty in the community that was visible from the moment arrived.
“Just driving around the main streets and looking out the window you see a noticeable difference,” Diego said. “There are no paved roads and it’s extremely bumpy, so the car is shaking.”
As for housing, he said, “It’s just a bunch of shacks along the road and there are vendors trying to make a living,” he added. “People dressed in rags came up to our car asking for something to eat or drink. It’s crazy how some countries have so much poverty and we live in such a bubble.”
The boys said the school was in better condition than the photos had revealed, as it recently had its roof rebuilt and windows reconstructed. Nevertheless, the school had only three rooms, with only one being used as a classroom as the other two were undergoing renovations funded by the government.
The boys said the school had no air conditioning, the desks were all uneven and wobbly, and all the books were damaged.
And the boys were were surprised the “kitchen” was just three stonewalls and no ceiling, with an open fire on the ground over which they cooked porridge. The rural facility can only accommodate maybe 20 students at a time, so children attend in shifts the younger children attending in the morning and older students in the afternoon.
Of the $14,000, the money they did not end up spending on P.E. equipment or school supplies was put toward a water station, a gas cooking stove, hand railings, and bookshelves.
“We tried to help as many people as we could, and handed out boxes of snacks, drinks and meals,” Theo said, adding that he had been surprised seeing children as young as maybe 7 walking to school by themselves.
At the school Diego and Theo were invited to play with the students, though there was no gymnasium.
“We played in the dirt – we’d pass the ball around,” Diego said. “It was fulfilling to make someone’s day – maybe their entire year.”
What’s Next?
Asked what’s next after climbing Mt. Kiliminjaro, the boys said they’d been talking about climbing the “7 Summits,” which refers to the tallest mountain in each continent. They said Aconcagua in Argentina would require 14 days of climbing compared to 7, as well as both a higher altitude and more adverse weather conditions compared to Kiliminjaro.
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