Climber raises money for breast cancer research
July 30, 2008
By Emily Keller
To prepare for her second climb up Mount Rainier, Melinda Gage carried her 17-month old son, Marko Gage-Fugate, up Tiger Mountain in Issaquah.
“Really the best thing is to put weight in a pack and head uphill,” the Sammamish resident said. Gage was in training for the annual Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, which requires participants to carry backpacks weighing 30-40 pounds. The packs held climbers’ food and water, boot spikes called crampons, ice axes, sleeping bags and down jackets for the summit.
Gage also climbed Mount Olympus, on the Olympic Peninsula, to warm up for the Rainier climb, which took place from July 24 to 26.
The climb benefits the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where researchers are studying early detection methods that look for proteins in the blood indicating the onset of breast cancer.
Participants were required to raise $5,000 each, which Gage did with the help of friends and family.
Climbers have raised $3 million for the research center in the 11 years since the event began, said Christi Ball Loso, media relations manager for the center.
This summer, fundraisers for the center will climb Mount Adams, Mount Rainier and Mount Baker in Washington, Mount Elbrus in Russia, Mount Hood in Oregon and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
The fundraising effort will also allow climbers to take on two volcanoes in Mexico for the first time in October. Professional climbers lead all of the expeditions.
Loso said the variety of climbs attracts a wide range of climbers.
“Some of the mountains are considered easier and others are more technical and for climbers that are in better shape,” she said. The Mount Rainier climb is one of the more technical ones.
This was Gage’s first climb to benefit the fund. She climbed in honor of several people, including her grandmother, who survived breast cancer, and her cousin, who is undergoing cancer treatment.
Gage, 31, said her catalyst for the climb was the death of her mother-in-law, Clara Creitzke, who died at the age of 59, just three months after being diagnosed with cancer.
“It was in November Clara passed away and I saw the ad, and so I just made up my mind to climb it,” Gage said.
Gage climbed Mount Rainier for the first time in 2005 with friends after taking a climbing class with the Boeing Alpine Climbing Society. Gage also helped teach that training class for the second time.
On her first Rainier climb, Gage remembers being cold and nauseous at the top and having a slight headache from the 14,411-foot elevation. She said she was unable to relax until the trip was over.
“As you descend, it starts getting better and better,” Gage said about her altitude sickness. “Usually people are very excited, but that’s only half the trip because most of the accidents happen on the way back down.”
This time Gage became only slightly nauseous but was able to combat the feeling with a pressure breathing exercise.
Gage’s team of seven climbers and four guides took the Disappointment Cleaver route. On the first night they stayed at Camp Muir, where they practiced glacial travel techniques to prevent calf muscle fatigue and to dig their ice axes into the snow if they fall. In the morning they ate blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon, and washed it down with French press coffee prepared by guides.
On the second night, the group stayed at the 11,000-foot Ingram Flats, where they went to sleep as early as possible. Two climbers turned back before the group reached the summit.
“You wake up in the middle of the night and you head up in the dark, and usually you summit a couple of hours after sunrise,” Gage said. Climbers start early in the morning to avoid melting ice later in the day.
Gage said the summit was obscured by clouds during the earlier part of the climb but that the clouds cleared as they went to sleep on the second night, giving them a wonderful view of the stars.
As they approached the summit the team’s view got even better. “We had views of Yakima. We could see Mount Saint Helens and even Mount Jefferson,” Gage said.
Gage said climbing Mount Rainier was the most challenging physical experience of her life.
“It’s both an individual and a kind of a team effort and you get to see some breathtaking, amazing places,” she said. “It’s always so amazing to look at it and think I’ve been to the top of it.”
For more information on the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer call 206-667-1398 or visit www.fhcrc.org/climb.
Reporter Emily Keller can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or ekeller@isspress.com.
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