Mt. Rainier Climb - Part VI - Carolyn Power Tells All

Carolyn Power: Tough is not a word to describe Mt. Rainier. The mountain holds a sense of grace and beauty; it's the climbers who have to be tough and a wee bit nuts.

The mountain represents a sense of awe to all of us and something that's always there. Even on cloudy days you know she's there just waiting to show off her beauty.

However, yes to the question it's a very tough climb. One has to be 150 percent ready for it.

Some of my most memorable experiences while training on Mt. Rainier was when it was snowing and your could not see the mountain. You knew you were on it; however, you couldn't see it and then all of a sudden the wind is blowing clouds past you and you look up and there she is - almost as if she were a young mother watching out for her babes in the play yard...times like that made me love that mountain more than I ever did before. Everyone waited for her to make a presence just to get a peep - the first one that saw the summit yelled, "There she is," and everyone would stop for one moment just to look and smile.

JB: Do you have anything to say to your sponsors and contributors?

CP: It would take a book to write what I have to say to our sponsors and contributors. To our sponsors: it was because of you we were able to spread our message for support...Kelly and Jim Dugan,...Dugan, Incorporated, gave us our first 150 t-shirts to sell...we sold over 600 shirts...They made us special unforms and beautiful jackets with our logo...and hats to match...This man believed in our dream and he backed us with all the energy he had.

His mother had breast cancer and he was touched by how this got started. His mother, who was there at the conclusion of our summit attempt, said to me, "Kelly didn't stop talking and believing in what we were doing from the beginning." She had never seen him so committed as he was. Her eyes were filled with tears as she told me this and about her cancer and how Kelly had been by her side since she discovered it. Her tears were not for sadness, but life. She saw it in her son and each of us and that gave her even more will to live.