Interview - Samantha Lamontagne

Why are you climbing Kilimanjaro?

To prove to myself and anyone I know that doubts I can do this, that I can do anything I put my mind to. Also, reaching the summit beside my dad and sharing that with him will probably be the greatest moment in my entire life.

What are your personal goals related to the climb?

To get to the top of that mountain and to really challenge myself and test my limits because this is really above and beyond my comfort zone.

What’s the funniest/strangest thing that’s ever happened to you?

Not the strangest or funniest, but definitely the clumsiest: I managed to flip over my mountain bike because I used only the front wheel brakes while still in fast motion going around a corner. The end result was my arm in a cast for 6 weeks. In a foreign country.

Tell us about an accomplishment that you’re proud of.

I worked on a local housing project in Hungary with Habitat for Humanity, during my senior year at Neuchatel Junior College.

Is there something significant in your life that you’ve overcome?

For my grade 12 year, I moved to Switzerland and finished my high school diploma at Neuchatel Junior College. I was 16 years old when I left home to travel half way across the world, to live with a family that I didn’t know, and to speak a foreign language for a whole year. Not to mention, I only knew one other person that was going to be in my class; the other 94 kids were all strangers to me. By the end of the year at graduation, we had formed an incredible bond that will forever be with us – we grew together that entire year, going on trips all around Europe, seeing and experiencing things that most people don’t get to do in a lifetime.

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