From left to right, Yosuke Sano, Acacia Edmiston, Sammy Becker, Freddie Muñoz, Kevin Krein, Forest Wagner, Adam Martinez, Shea Mack and Travis Haskin pose in the climbing room at the University of Alaska Southeast Student Recreation Center. The students and faculty members plan to climb Mount McKinley this May.
Story last updated at 3/10/2010 - 11:52 am
JUNEAU - Most people wouldn't willingly pursue a trip that involves the potential of contact frostbite, oral sunburn and the need to packing one's own excrement. But that's exactly what Travis Haskin, Sammy Becker, Acacia Edmiston, Freddie Muñoz, Adam Martinez and Yosuke Sano are signing up for.
The six University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) students plan to summit Denali National Park's Mount McKinley this May. The climb will serve as a final graduation requirement for the students in the Outdoor Skills and Leadership (ODS) program.
The ten-month ODS certificate program, which has been offered since 2000, covers a range of topics including outdoor leadership and environmental ethics with a focus on experiential learning.
The McKinley trip will be an opportunity for students to put into practice the skills they have developed over the span of the course. Previous class groups have embarked on expeditions in the Brooks Range, the Wrangell-Saint Elias ranges and remote areas of Southeast Alaska. McKinley is the most ambitious capstone climb to date, said program director and instructor Forest Wagner.
"There really aren't a lot of outdoor programs that can do this, or that would even be willing to try," Wagner said.
This is Wagner's fourth academic year as an instructor in the program, in which he was once a student himself. He will join academic director and instructor Kevin Krein and recreation center assistant manager and instructor Shea Mack in accompanying students on the 20-day trek.
Wagner, who has attempted McKinley three times and reached the summit twice, said the greatest challenge for climbers is maintaining mental energy.
"There's some point of being able to transcend suffering that makes the repeat Denali climber unique," Wagner said.
The expedition's discomforts and length can potentially overcome climbers, said Krein, who summited the peak in 2000.
For Wagner and Krein, who were raised in Fairbanks and Anchorage, respectively, the thrill of actually being atop the peak that they have long seen from afar keeps them going back, despite the trip's challenges.
"On trips like this in big mountain ranges, the size of it is mentally overwhelming," Krein said. "Some people just start to shut down because they become overwhelmed at the scale of what they're looking at."
The May trip will be Mack's first on McKinley, though his independent expeditions have provided experience that he will utilize on the mountain.
"In my role, I want to be a support for these guys, who I've gotten to know pretty well," Mack said. "It's a challenge I'm looking forward to."
GEARING UP
A large part of the preparation process includes gear gathering, which is a challenge for a college student's budget.
"We're getting there-slowly," Haskin said. "The majority of the gear is high mountain specific and it's very expensive. We've been piecing it together and most of us have the majority of things that we need."
Class members are physically preparing themselves through a series of training programs both in the classroom and in the field, including mountaineering, glacier travel, camping and other skills that will be critical to fulfilling their McKinley mission.
"When we designed the program, we really set it up to be intensive," Krein said. "These guys spend a lot of time together. That's one of the valuable aspects of the program, coming in and being a part of this group that has to do everything together all the time in really different environments and settings."
No amount of training in Southeast Alaska can prepare students for the extreme altitude and degree of coldness that they will meet on the mountain.
"On the coast range of Southeast Alaska, which is where we practice and learn, we don't really deal with either of those factors," Wagner said. "There is an element of going into something entirely new."
Before ODS student Acacia Edmiston came to UAS from Tennessee, she had never walked in more than three inches of snow. But her passion for the outdoors and education led her to pursue ODS. She and her classmates said they are up for the challenge of McKinley despite its many unknowns.
"Everything is going to be a completely new experience, which I'm excited about," she said. "We don't get negative 40 degrees in Tennessee."
Freddie Muñoz of Texas, whose love for nature spurred his decision to pursue a career in the outdoor industry, is thankful for the ample time given to prepare for the climb.
"I've never actually had such a huge challenge put before me," he said. "I'm just excited to see how I will do personally and see how mentally strong I can be. It's one of those things where you can prepare physically, but once you get to altitude, that could just get ya."
Amid the distractions of the ascent and descent, hydration, nutrition and rest must be prioritized.
"Once you start dropping off and losing ground on any one of those and you're not sustainable, that's where things start to go downhill," Haskin said.
Wagner's hope for students is that their training will provide them with a good base for making decisions and using good judgment when difficult situations arise.
"There are certain aspects of the trip in which we won't really know how individuals will do until we're there," Wagner said. "And I think that's part of the attraction of it. It's a pretty ambitious goal. With that said, with the right group-and this is the right group-we're going to have a successful trip regardless of if we summit."
Libby Sterling may be reached at libby.sterling@capweek.com.
