TV star Mandy Moore has completed the challenge of conquering Mt. Kilimanjaro with her Fiancé, Taylor Goldsmith.
Nowadays stars mostly share photos of kicking back in tropical paradises or hitting the slopes – but that's not what this couple did between shooting of their hit show.
The "This Is Us" star, 33, peaked the highest mountain in Africa in March, along with a crew of her close friends — Taylor there too, of course.
And Moore revealed that this big outing was in the making for 15 years.
"I have dreamed the dream of climbing Mt Kilimanjaro since the age of 18," Moore wrote on her Instagram. "Thanks to @eddiebauer, my partner in this adventure, this past week saw #1 on my bucket list come to fruition and I lived out one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life with a few of my best friends. There was no reception on the mountain so I'm going to dole out some pics of our trip over the next few days. Stay tuned-it's worth it! #liveyouradventure #ebcontributer #whyihike #sponsered"
The star had posted prior an image of the travelers on March 23, when the adventure began.
It takes about a week to finish the climb to the top of the mountain, which, at 19,341 feet, is the highest unconnected mountain in the world. Climbers will experience various climates on the way up, temperatures will go from ice cold to burning hot, and the paths will change from wet forests to arid deserts.
Moore charted the trip well on Instagram, saying that the day hikes went for as long as nine hours between camps. She appeared to be all smiles despite the difficult task.
This was a bucket list item for Moore, something that she planned to do for their honeymoon.
"I do want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro," Moore told Shape magazine last year. "That's a bucket list item, maybe on the next hiatus; I've already told Taylor that I may incorporate it into the honeymoon."
Moore and Goldsmith have been dating for over two years now, and are now set to make it official, however there is now doubt that sharing an experience like this not only brought them closer, but will garner memories that last a lifetime.
In her most recent post, Moore writes:
"On the night of our ascent to the summit, we woke up at 11pm (after a few hours of napping) to enjoy a couple of nervous minutes together with a cup of coffee before it was time to gear up in my our warmest layers and start the nearly 8 hour trek to highest point in Africa- 19,341 ft. In total darkness, we took it pole pole (slow slow) and trudged through rain, sleet and snow, where seemingly everything on our person managed to freeze (water bottles, backpacks, our eyelashes, hair, fingers, toes, etc…) Oddly, I've never felt more determined to tackle such a physical challenge before and yet the combined elements of exhaustion and extremely cold weather made it much trickier than any of us were prepared for."
Moore continued, "All of that aside, ultimately reaching the threshold of the true summit was more emotional and overwhelming than I had thought possible," she said. "Kilimanjaro demands a lot from those who traverse her trails. You have no choice but to show up. And we did. There's nothing more empowering than realizing that we are all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for."
A truly majestic experience for Moore, as even Ernest Hemingway wrote about the sanctity of the location in his short masterpiece, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."
