Lynn Lippert

When good weather and good people come together on a mountain — it is a wonderful happening. The hike into base camp on Friday was pleasant with good views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. Saturday was spent practicing on the snow and glaciers. A family of mountain goats checked out our snow technique and, no doubt, giggled. Saturday evening at dinner I shared my favorite quote about climbing. This prompted many others in the group to talk about how they felt about this climb. Many of us had started with the idea of raising some money for a good cause and climbing a mountain that evolved into a much greater and meaningful experience. Breast cancer was no longer a faceless, nameless diagnosis.

We started climbing around 1:00am. It was a little windy though not particularly cold. There was only a sliver of a moon and the sky was filled with stars. We were treated to a real show of color as the sun came up. The snow was firm and the climbing was good. We all reached the summit around 9 am. The views were spectacular and lots of photographs were taken.

The group gathered for the group photo with the Fred Hutch banner. There were two people with individual banners with the names of people diagnosed with cancer — both in memory and in celebration of their lives. The three breast cancer survivors on our climb gathered behind one of the banners for a photo and an emotional moment of celebration.

Starting down about a half hour later, we were happy that the snow was beginning to soften for our descent. We reached base camp, packed up in about an hour, and started hiking out around 3 pm. Our arrival back at Trout Lake around 8:30 was greeted with slices of cold delicious watermelon and lemonade.

Perhaps our climb wasn't the fastest, but it was one of the greatest. We all reached the summit and returned safely. We worked as a team and got to know each other as very wonderful people. In addition, our guides did a great job.

Hard work, but a great way to spend three days!