Climbers Help At-Risk Teens Reach New Heights

By WES SMALLING
Star-Tribune staff writer

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Like many visitors to Grand Teton National Park, Alex Wolf gazed up at the majestic chiseled summits of the Grand Teton Range last spring and couldn't help but wonder what it's like to climb them.

The 31-year-old New Yorker is a recovering alcoholic. He had quit drinking months earlier and that spring the outdoors became a sanctuary for him, an escape from the pressures of city life and the temptations that every alcoholic battles each day.

After his Wyoming trip he returned home to New York and began rock climbing, ice climbing and backpacking every chance he got. Those activities, his love of the outdoors and support from friends are helping him overcome his addiction and get the most out of life.

This summer he's returning to Wyoming to climb the 13,760-foot summit of Grand Teton. But the adventure isn't just for himself. It's also for someone else, someone he's never met.

Wolf is one of more than 300 mountain climbers participating in Backpacker Magazine's Summit for Someone program this year. The annual series of climbs is a fundraiser for Big City Mountaineers, a nonprofit organization that provides wilderness mentoring trips for at-risk urban youths.

"Living in Manhattan I'm in this fast-paced life every day," Wolf said. "Climbing and backpacking are a way to get out of that and to get away from all the drinking and partying and get into nature. It's had a tremendous impact on me both physically and spiritually. So when I learned about the Summit for Someone program I started thinking about these kids who had underprivileged backgrounds, who don't have a chance to do these things. The outdoors has had an amazing impact on my life and I saw how it could have an amazing impact on someone else's life."

To go on a Summit for Someone trip each climber raises $2,900 to $7,500 in pledges, depending on the type of expedition. Each climb raises enough funds to fully sponsor five teens and a youth agency leader for a summer outdoor youth mentoring program with Denver-based Big City Mountaineers.

Big City Mountaineers takes urban teens on challenging but safe guided wilderness expeditions. They are city kids who may otherwise never have the opportunity to experience the outdoors. On each trip, teens are matched with mentoring adults who teach them about nature and provide them opportunities to achieve success by drawing on resources they might never know they had.

For many of the teens, it's a life-changing event, said Big City Mountaineers spokeswoman Hillary Harding.

"Some of them fall in love with the wilderness. Some of them say, 'I never want to pee in the woods again.' But they almost all find something out about themselves, something inspiring," she said.

Summit for Someone climbs can also be life-changing, inspiring events for the climbers who raise money for the youth program.

Dennis Pinto, a retired police officer from New Jersey, is climbing in the Summit for Someone program this summer for his third year in a row. Previously he's climbed Washington's Mount Rainier and California's Mount Whitney. This year he'll be tackling the summit of the Grand Teton. He said the trips are a way for him to reach out and help kids in need, which is something he felt compelled to do during his many years as a police officer.

"I've definitely experienced more than my fair share of seeing troubled kids and wanting to help them and sometimes not being able to," he said. "I've been involved in some charities over the years -- Special Olympics, helping kids and adults with alcoholism. With the passion I have for climbing and the outdoors, naturally I read Backpacker magazine and they had a story about (Summit for Someone). I said to myself, 'What a great cause. I can actually help kids who are at-risk and do something I love.' So the combination draws me every year."

All the Wyoming climbs and one in Montana are being led by Jackson Hole Mountain Guides -- trips to the summits of Grand Teton, Middle Teton, Mount Moran and Buck Mountain in the Teton Range, Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range, and Granite Peak in Montana.

Other climbs around the West include Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and Mount Olympus in Washington, Long's Peak in Colorado, Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount Shasta in California and a five-day expedition on Alaska's Denali (Mount McKinley).

Slots are still available on many trips for climbers who want to participate in the Summit for Someone program. And many climbers, including Pinto and Wolf, are still working on raising pledges.

"To be honest, the fundraising is tougher than the climb itself," Pinto said.