Durango resident Kelsy Woodson plans to summit 14,163-foot Mount Shasta in Northern California to help raise $6,000 in the Breast Cancer Fund’s Climb Against the Odds expedition from June 16 to 21.

“Most of the (29) participants in this climb are cancer survivors or individuals who have been directly affected by losing a loved one (usually a parent) to the disease,” Woodson said in an email interview.

The Breast Cancer Fund website said the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization is working “to prevent breast cancer by eliminating our exposures to toxic chemicals. The Breast Cancer Fund analyzes the science, works for passage of landmark public health legislation, and convinces industry giants to make safer, less toxic products.”

Mount Shasta is a dormant volcano in the Cascade Range. It’s one of just six peaks outside of Colorado in the Lower 48 that rise above 14,000 feet and about 250 feet shorter than its cousin to the north, Mount Rainier in Washington State. Only about a third of the 15,000 annual attempts to summit Mount Shasta are successful, according to an organization called SummitPost.

Woodson got involved because the company she works for, Osprey Packs in Cortez, “is a huge supporter of Climb Against the Odds and donates the packs to the climbs each year,” Woodson said.

Osprey donates about 40 packs worth about $250 retail each, she said. More importantly, Osprey has been represented before: Durangoan Shannon Hahn made the climb last year, Woodson said.

The Breast Cancer Fund “embraces mountain climbing as a metaphor for the critical work we are doing to prevent the environmental causes of this devastating disease,” Woodson said.

Previous Climb Against the Odds ascensions were on Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, Alaska’s Mount McKinley, Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Rainier and a number of previous climbs on Shasta.

“I personally am climbing for my grandma, who is a survivor of breast cancer, and for many individuals who have donated to my cause as a memoir of the loved ones they lost to the disease,” Woodson said. “I will be carrying (prayer) flags up to the top in memory of these individuals.”

Woodson was born in Farmington, graduated from Fort Lewis College and lives in Durango. She is Osprey’s social media/event coordinator and explained that the privately owned company has global partnerships with organizations, mostly nonprofits, that address various social and environmental issues.

“So when the BCF contacted Osprey about supplying the packs for the climb, Osprey loved the idea and has been doing it ever since,” she said.

“I am a homegrown Four Corners native and am proud to represent our region in this journey,” she added.

Mount Shasta also has developed a reputation for being a spiritual place.

“I believe that Shasta was chosen as it does have a background in spirituality and healing,” Woodson said, adding that, on the practical side, “It’s a fairly moderate summit, and for the variety of people climbing, it’s a great challenge for both advanced and occasional mountaineers.”

Woodson said she “will be participating in a three-day, West Face climb of Mount Shasta, guided by the outstanding professionals at Shasta Mountain Guides. The team will be accompanied by a medical doctor who is an experienced mountaineer.”

She also said, “Not everyone on the Climb Against the Odds team will summit Mount Shasta. Many factors will influence this, including climber fitness, sensitivity to altitude, physical limitations, weather and other conditions on the mountain.

“We are going to summit! (Our) goal is to summit, and although everyone may not make it, we are a team and going to support each other the whole way up,” she said.

“It may be a slow climb because of the age range, 18 to 65 years old, but we all have been training and look forward to meeting each other in person and supporting each other in this epic journey.”

The hike should take “around 3 days, as we will camp at the Hidden Valley base camp, and then get an alpine start the next morning in hopes of summiting that day,” Woodson said.

Woodson’s training has taken a slightly different path than some mountain climbers.

“My training consists mostly of cross training,” she said. “I am on the road most of the summer attending all of the (industry) events, so climbing the actual mountains that will simulate the Mount Shasta climb is sometimes unattainable because of my schedule.”

Woodson said her cross-training includes “mountain-bike riding, sport/traditional climbing, trail running and running hills to prepare.”

“Closer to the date,” she said, “I will climb some Fourteeners so that I know what it will be like.”

Because the climb is about raising money, “my main focus prior to the climb,” she said, “will be meeting my goal of $6,000, which I have been doing by reaching out to local businesses, co-workers, family and friends.”

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Shasta: A tough climb, spiritual place

Mount Shasta is known as a tough climb, even for experienced climbers, and it’s not just because the 14,000-foot dormant volcano is an earthquake zone. But the mountain’s other side is spiritual, with some people believing it is the site of an ancient civilization or even alien visitors.
On the scientific side, Shasta last erupted about 200 years ago, and it tends to erupt about every 600 to 800 years, says William Hirt, a geology instructor at College of the Siskiyous.
“Right now, Mount Shasta is dormant,” Hirt said in an email. “The approximate site of the eruption, and the base of the current summit dome, are still marked by small hot springs and fumaroles.”
Probably more disconcerting for some are the “occasional earthquake swarms that typically play out over a few months,” Hirt said. That activity suggests “that magma still rises from time to time through fractures in the crust beneath the volcano.”
“It’s only a matter of time till one of these fractures reaches the surface and releases magma that will trigger an eruption,” Hirt said.
He said the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that in any given year, the odds of Mount Shasta erupting are low, “but they still add up to about a 1 in 10 chance of witnessing an eruption during your lifetime.”
For climbers, Hirt said they face rockfall, ice that’s “bulletproof,” crevasses hidden by snow, high winds and rapidly changing weather.
“Even the ‘standard’ route, Avalanche Gulch, has steep spots where rockfall is a real problem,” Hirt said.
“Most people ascend early (in the day) when rocks that the ice has pried loose during the night are still frozen in place,” he said.
“On the way down, however, there’s always a chance that big one will cut loose and catch you while you’re glissading down that steep stretch above Helen Lake.”
Hirt also noted that Shasta is an isolated peak that makes its own weather.
“Anyone caught up in that cloud bank could become disoriented and get off route; it seems that situation claims one or two lives every few years,” Hirt said.
“I’ve also had friends reach 13,000 feet and then turn back because they can’t even stand in the wind that whips across the summit plateau,” he said.
“Based on my experiences, these are the situations that make climbing Shasta tough,” Hirt said. “To be fair, however, lots of people do climb the mountain successfully every year.”
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To contribute

To contribute to Kelsy Woodson’s Mount Shasta climb to benefit the Breast Cancer Fund:
Visit http://prevention.breastcancerfund.org/goto/climbkelsyclimb.
Attend a fundraising event called Breast Beers Beats from 5 to 8 p.m. May 31 at Ska Brewery, 225 Girard St. in Bodo Industrial Park. The event includes a raffle and silent auction.