Retire or Climb Mountains? A School Principal Chooses Adventure!

School principal turned mountain climber! Neal Kirby of Centralia has just finished a goal he set for himself for his 70th birthday earlier this year: Climbing all five of Washington’s volcanoes before his NEXT birthday.  He made that pledge to himself in April, and has already completed his list. He’s always been a backpacker, but literally started climbing mountains after he qualified for social security.  He gets to check the Northwest’s big mountains off his list but has also tackled others, including being on top of Mt Kilimanjaro last Thanksgiving.  Kirby says a few years ago he didn’t think he could do even one mountain. He suffered a knee injury years ago, was a tad overweight, but he signed up for mountain climbing classes. He says practically anyone can do it.

Kirby says a few years ago he didn’t think he could do even one mountain. He suffered a knee injury years ago, was a tad overweight, but he signed up for mountain climbing classes. He also got involved with a program called One Step at a Time (OSAT), which teaches people in recovery and their families to climb mountains.  Kirby says they like to show people “other ways to get high.”

He himself has been sober for about four decades.  He says they hold mountain top AA meetings and there’s a lot of support for each other.