A Richmond alum climbs Kilimanjaro on Christmas Day
Alumni
Arlen Schweiger, a 1996 UR graduate, reached new heights on a journey that proved to be both a literal and symbolic high point.
Last Christmas, Arlen Schweiger walked in a line of hikers, his headlamp cutting the dark. The snow began to fall, and he was grateful for his six layers of clothes. As the group moved steadily forward, Schweiger heard Christmas carols and Celine Dion playing from a small speaker attached to the guide’s backpack. “It wasn’t great music, but it was fun,” he said with a laugh.
Each step brought the group of hikers closer to their goal — the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point on the continent of Africa.
Climbing up that mountain
Schweiger, a 1996 alum of the University of Richmond, is a lifelong adventurer. He says his time as a history major at Richmond opened his eyes to different people, places, and cultures outside of his hometown of Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
“The history department was really great,” Schweiger said. “I had some excellent professors and learned about European, South African, British, and Russian history. That gave me the travel bug — the desire to see the world. I wish I had the confidence to travel back then. It’s something that I encourage all students to do now.”
Schweiger said he took an eye-opening journalism class with Mike Spear. While journalism wasn’t his major or minor, documenting events in real time blended perfectly with the curiosity that history classes had sparked in him.
“That was one of my favorite classes,” Schweiger said. Classes with Spear helped Schweiger realize that journalism wasn’t just a fun hobby. His junior year he became the assistant sports editor for The Collegian.
“Working on The Collegian as the sports editor also made me want to branch out and meet new people from all over the world. That became a launching point for me in my professional career.”
After graduation, Schweiger went on to work as a sports journalist and editor for eight years before moving into trade publications and then public relations. Today, he is the director of content at RISE Media Strategy, where he oversees blogs, press releases, case studies, and SEO-driven efforts like Answer Engine Optimization and Generative Engine Optimization.
The reality of the trek hits home
Soon after leaving Richmond, Schweiger and his wife, Sara, whom he met in Springfield at his newspaper job with the Republican, hiked Mount Greylock, Massachusetts’ highest point. Over the years, he has hiked 20 state high points — from “climbing” 448 feet at Ebright Azimuth in Delaware to trekking 13,161 feet up Wheeler Peak in New Mexico.
“Some hikes were grueling, like in New York’s Adirondacks. Others were less dramatic. Delaware’s high point was a random neighborhood spot in front of a trailer park,” Schweiger said.
A few years ago, he received a call from his close friend, Chet Fagin, who had a suggestion on how to celebrate their upcoming 50th birthdays. “Chet knew I was into hiking, and he had this crazy idea to climb Mount Kilimanjaro,” Schweiger said. “And I was all in immediately. I had never done anything like that, and I had always wanted to travel internationally. One of my few regrets from my college years was that I had not studied abroad.”
The two planned for months, signing with a trekking company and training regularly. When they arrived in Tanzania, everything became very real. “It was wild. It was a seven-day trek, with a group of 10 of us. I was the oldest,” Schweiger said. “We hiked with people from around the world. It was a great group, and the trekking company took amazing care of us.”
While the trek started pleasantly enough, much of the first day and all of the second day were rain-logged hikes, requiring seven to eight hours of steep hiking. By the third day, the weather cleared. Soon, the group arrived at the Barranco Wall, where dozens of routes converge at a lava field.
“That was the most challenging part of the hike,” he said. “It was wet and slippery, and most of the trail was rock. You’re just going straight up, hanging on for dear life.”
Schweiger said that during this difficult portion of the hike, the guides were a constant source of encouragement and help.
A holiday to remember
On Christmas Eve, the group was awakened at 11 p.m. to begin the last leg under a brilliant starry sky. As the team neared 19,000 feet, the temperature plummeted. A mile from the summit, snow began to swirl around them. They pressed on slowly, covered head to toe with only their watering eyes visible.
At the top of the mountain, the sun slowly rose in the east, casting a brilliant orange and yellow glow over the morning sky. The last eight-hour push was over. Each hiker breathlessly celebrated in the thin air, and the sky had finally cleared.
Looking back, Schweiger sees Kilimanjaro not just as a hike, but as a reminder of what’s possible when embracing challenge and curiosity. “I’d never done anything like that before,” he said.
For Schweiger, the summit stands as both a literal and symbolic high point — a celebration of friendship, perseverance, and the Richmond spirit of curiosity that keeps driving him toward new horizons.