About 2 months ago I was approached by a friend at church with plans that the stake had for all of the priest age young men (16-18yrs) to climb Mt. Baker, somewhere in the vicinity of 60 people had expressed interest. My response, "I want nothing to do with it". Over the next few weeks a few phone calls about the trip came trickling in until it was established that I knew something about climbing. I was asked to be the leader of the group coming out of our building, about 12-15 folks. I was confident that number would come down and I agreed.
At 10,781' Baker is the northernmost stratovolcanoes of the Cascade range, due to the high annual precipitation the mountain is almost completely covered in glaciers. Our route traversing the Coleman and Demming glaciers is not a technical climb but required solid rope and rescue skills in addition to the basic crampon/ice axe business.
In my mind the climb was fraught with uncertainty. Would the group (down to 3 boys and 2 adults) physically be capable of the climb? Would they be able to acquire the skills to do the route safely? Would they have adequate clothing and shelter? Would the weather cooperate? While we did a lot to prepare by climbing the North Twin Sister and doing rope and rescue scenarios my doubts lingered. My uncertainty escalated as we arrived at our base camp at 7,000' in 50mph gusting winds, snow, sleet, freezing climbers, and collapsing shelters. As every one was going to bed I told them I was pulling the plug they were all freezing, hungry and wiped out... though after eating, and thawing in a warm dry sleeping bag my thoughts began to open again to the idea of climbing.
I woke at 4am to clear skies, later than I had hoped, but not to late to make and attempt. I wondered how the group would react to the call to climb after a difficult approach and 5 hours of sleep. Not a single complaint. We left our camp at 6:30, 6 hours later all of us were standing on top. For me the best part of the climb was not the summit, but a specific moment during the climb, it was when we attained the West ridge leading to the summit. We were still hours from our destination, but at that moment looking up I knew that we were going to make it, that was something to feel good about. For these green climbers it was "an experience of a lifetime" for me it was an opportunity to share something that I love, adventure, camaraderie, and the freedom of the hills.
