On Feb. 9, Starla Hilliard-Barnes, of Lakeside, became the first twice-paralyzed person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

She was part of a team that included four other paraplegics, multiple amputees and veterans who braved the six-day club to the 19,341 foot summit. The expedition was the brainchild of New York-based disability advocacy group Friends of Access Israel, which recruited participants and furnished them with specialized trekking wheelchairs for the climb.

Hilliard-Barnes was paralyzed from the chest down in 2009 after a driver ran a red light in downtown Kalispell and struck her while she was riding a motorcycle. Just as she was learning to walk again, Hilliard-Barnes was re-paralyzed at a higher level in 2015 when a driver rear-ended her and her family at 70 mph.

Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world and has a reputation for challenging climbers with its high altitude and varying terrain.

And on her journey, Hilliard-Barnes encountered its many faces.

She was wowed by its stunning lowlands, blanketed by rainforest, and challenged by unrelenting 70 mph winds that struck her group in the midst of sub-zero temps.

“They keep pushing forward no matter what type of weather it is,” Hilliard-Barnes said. “You don’t stop because there’s no way to stop — you’re out in the middle of the wilderness — you keep pushing forward to the next camp.”

The 27-person delegation passed through five ecosystems along the Marangu route, in the company of three cooks, 21 guides and a staggering 70 porters, covering as little as 3.1 miles to as many as 14 in a single day. In the mornings before the group set foot or wheel on the trail, the porters would kick the day’s trek off with a joyful song.

“They sang every time they felt like it was getting hard or right before we left. It gets you going,” said Starla’s husband, Shannon, who accompanied her on the climb. “It was a big part of our success for sure.”

In addition to weather and uneven terrain, varying from massive boulders to flat, desert expanses, Hilliard-Barnes also had to overcome a significant technical difficulty. A couple of days into the trip, during heavy rains, her trekking chair broke. The chair was specially designed for the venture — fitted with a rickshaw-style bar in the front that fit around an able-bodied hiker’s waist with handlebars on the back, that a second person used to push Hilliard-Barnes as-needed.

But instead of calling the adventure off, Hilliard-Barnes decided to find another way up the mountain. She knew another chair was waiting at the next camp, some six hours away. If she could get there, she’d still have a chance to make it all the way to the summit. Another participant carried Hilliard-Barnes for three hours, and she alternated with another paraplegic participant for the second three-hour block.

“Things are going to go wrong — it’s about how you overcome those obstacles and keep moving forward,” she said.

“She was a rock for everyone there,” Shannon said of her positive attitude.

In addition to the songs, and the company of two close friends and her husband, Hilliard-Barnes found the porters to be a great source of inspiration along the way. They carried 40 pounds of gear on their heads and another 50 on their backs in tattered clothes without a single complaint.

“They taught me so much gratitude to bring back home,” she said. “While in Tanzania and Kilimanjaro I was taught love, determination, humility and sheer willpower.”

During her climb she also focused on being present — turning off technology and focusing on the beauty and people around her. It’s a state of mind she hopes to integrate in her life back home in Lakeside.

“I love being unplugged … It lets you soak in the beauty surrounding us. It lets you see that admiring glance from your husband you might normally miss, but most of all it allows you to listen. I quickly found out everyone has a story,” Hilliard-Barnes said. “Although my physical journey had ended, my real journey and lessons from this trip are just beginning. … The true test is now to implement what we have learned in our daily lives.”

On the final push of her ascent up Kilimanjaro, Hilliard-Barnes set out at 10 p.m. on Feb. 8. It would be over 10 hours before she reached the summit after covering a daunting 14 miles.

“I was feeling very emotional,” she said, “It was a childhood dream and just being able to push forward, it was such a powerful feeling knowing that all these people helped us get there.”

“I don’t think it’s about me,” she added, “It’s about breaking down that barrier. I hope they know that anything is possible if they set their minds to it with the right organization and the right equipment.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at (406) 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.