Alpinism 1: Intro to Mountaineering on Mt. Baker

The Intro to Mountaineering Course through the American Alpine institute is a six day course that provides an introduction to mountain climbing, including one day of rock climbing, with the other five days on Mt. Baker for a "thorough introduction to glacier travel, crevasse rescue, self-arrest, and movement on snow and ice." The first day was spent rock climbing at Mt. Erie, learning specific knots, and belaying and climbing techniques. The second day we drove to the mountain and backpacked up to Sandy Camp, which was our basecamp for the rest of the course. From there, we ventured out each day to learn self arrest (dropping yourself down a steep slope to learn how to stop the fall), techniques for crossing and climbing up steep snow and ice slopes, and crevasse rescue. For the crevasse rescue, each of us had the opportunity to fall into a crevasse to be rescued (which goes against every instinct!) and to practice prusiking, as well as be the person on the other end setting up a pulley system to pull someone else out of a crevasse. We summited the 10,781 ft mountain on the forth night due to a weather window. We left at about 2:00 AM and summited a little after 8:00 AM. Those six hours, and the four hours it took to get back down, were the most physically demanding and mentally strenuous hours of my life. The entire way up I repeated a text my mother had sent me previously, "You can do this Honey, I believe in you." If I wasn't thinking that, I was singing the song "Put one foot in front of the other..." or thinking, "one more step, one more step." Earlier in the week, my mother had been declared cancer-free after battling Breast Cancer and getting a double mastectomy. I climbed for myself; for the satisfaction, for the pride. I climbed because never in my life would I have ever thought I would be brave enough to do something like that. It was never a dream growing up because I simply believed it to be out of my capabilities. I climbed to prove myself wrong. I climbed to prove that I could grow in ways that I previously believed to be unimaginable. I climbed because I have a deep love for mountains and because my soul is drawn to them. But this one climb, this particular climb, I climbed for my mother. I summited Mount Baker in her honor. An act of love; an act of celebration. To remind her, and others battling cancer, that no matter how tough things get, there are moments, and people, worth fighting and living for. There were times when I thought, "leave me here in the snow and fetch me on your way back down," but then I thought of how strong my mother is, and I thought, "you can do this honey, I believe in you." Her words, said in her voice, with a smile on her tender and warm face. That is what got me through the times when I wanted to give up. I would like to say that it was my willpower, my perseverance, and that definitely was a big part of it, but her voice in my head is the reason I never gave up. When we reached the summit and were finally walking on flat ground again, I was beyond overwhelmed. I almost couldn't believe that I had made it. I cried to myself, knowing all that I accomplished, reflecting on all the reasons why I was climbing. I said to myself, "this is for you mom," as I looked out across the world and smiled wider than I have ever smiled. The feeling of standing up there, seeing for miles and miles, looking upon Glacier Peak and Mount Rainier in the distance, is indescribable. While we didn't stay for long, I managed to quickly jot a note in the book at the top saying "My mom is cancer-free. Today I climbed for her."On the way back down, I was terrified. I heard that the majority of mountaineering accidents happen on the way down. You are already starting to think about wanting to be back at camp, sleeping, eating, getting warm, but you have to stay in the moment so you don't make any mistakes. The entire way down, I repeated to myself "left foot...right foot...left foot...right foot..." as I planted every step, making sure they were good placements. Those were the longest for hours of my life. We spent the afternoon sleeping and then the evening going over different belaying techniques off of different improvised anchors. We spent our last morning ice climbing, with what little energy we had at that point, and then packed up camp and backpacked back down to our cars. That week was one of the best of my, at the time, 21 years. I miss it and think about it almost every day and have certainly caught the mountain fever. Baker was my first summit and the Alpinism 1 crew is reuniting to summit Mt. Rainier in Summer 2016!