by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Charles Sorenson used to think trial preparation was a grind. Then he trained to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
Kilimanjaro is the near-20,000-foot-high African volcano made famous by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway described the peak in a 1938 short story as a snowy widow maker. Little has happened in the subsequent seven decades to improve its demeanor, said Sorenson, a partner at Coker, Schickel and Sorenson.
Hemingway’s tale ended with a climber dying of gangrene. Hoping for a happier ending to his story, Sorenson trained for months in the mountains of North Georgia and the buildings of Downtown Jacksonville. He spent weekends with his son, Chase, hiking mountain trails and spent his weekday lunch hours climbing the stairs of the Riverplace Tower.
“It was pure fear that motivated me,” said Sorenson. “But the training was really rewarding.”
The payoff for the hard work came 20,000 feet over the East African plains as Sorenson, Chase and family friends watched the sun rise from the summit.
“We’re watching the sun rise and the light is reflecting off the glaciers and you can see for literally hundreds of miles,” said Sorenson. “It’s hard to explain the experience.”
Because those experiences are hard to describe, Sorenson makes it a point to witness them firsthand. An avid traveler, Sorenson has hiked with his wife to the lost Peruvian city of Machu Pichu and is planning a trip to Mount Everest’s base camp.
The trip to Everest may still prove too adventurous even for Sorenson. While he’s willing to contend with the extreme cold and stark landscape, the hordes of Maoist rebels roaming the Nepalese countryside give him pause.
The threat of Marxist guerrillas is one of the few things that might make Sorenson reconsider a trip. Typically, he’s willing to endure a few risks as a tradeoff for a memorable experience. Sorenson had never climbed a mountain when a family friend first extended the invitation to climb Kilimanjaro, but his response was telling.
“I told him, ‘You’re nuts. I’ll think about it,’” he said.
Other can’t-miss opportunities include a round of golf against doctor’s orders at Augusta National Golf Club. Weighing his neurologist’s advice against a chance to play one of the world’s top tracks, Sorenson grabbed his sticks. He kept his score below triple figures by shooting a front-nine 40.
As his two children have grown up, Sorenson said his family’s travels have translated to shared experiences. The trips help expose son, Chase, and daughter, Connor, to new cultures as well as natural wonders, he said.
“My philosophy on vacations is you want to get out of your familiar element,” said Sorenson. “A lot of these countries are third-world. When you see some of the conditions it makes you appreciate what you have and aware that there’s more going on than just what we see in our day-to-day lives. You can’t be aware by picking up a magazine.”