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The way Jessica Biel describes Mount Kilimanjaro remind me of stories of yore when men used to admire women from afar, a bit unlike today. Biel climbed the 19,0000 foot mountain as part of Kenna’s “Summit on the Summit” mission to raise awareness about the global clean-water crisis.

“She was like this mysterious, foreboding, ominous woman,” Biel told MTV. “And she was hidden almost all day long, and just when you were unmotivated, and feeling like crap and uninspired and thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ the clouds would part and she would peek out, and the beauty would strike you, and then you’d be inspired again.” The Valentine’s Day actress went on to elaborate on the female metaphor.

“She was literally, like, this woman who would pull this veil over her face and disappear, and then she’d show a little bit of herself, and then she’d disappear again. It was kind of this running joke, but I really felt that way. I felt like, ‘I respect you. Please let me get up, please.’ ” Ms. Kilimanjaro definitely knows how to play the game.

It sounds like she did well on the hike, but you can check it out for yourself as “Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro” will air on Sunday on MTV (boyfriend Justin TImberlake has crafted an introduction for it). Here’s Biel at the premiere for the show at the Tribeca Grand hotel in New York yesterday, along with fellow climbers, Emile Hirseh, Elizabeth Gore, Kenna, and Lupe Fiasco.

Watch Jessica talk about the experience after the jump.