Cutting off a rotten, frostbitten toe with a Swiss army knife was not what senior Sarah Ayscue had in mind when she signed up for a 30-day trek through the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska. However, when one of her 13 fellow hikers succumbed to the cold, she was forced to do so.
Ayscue described the incident as if it was no big deal, saying she had to cut off the part of her companion’s toe that had turned completely black to save him from sepsis.
“You just become desensitized,” she said.
Ayscue isn’t the only Shorecrest student who craves the adventure of mountain climbing. Living in the flattest state in the U.S., where the town of Mount Dora at 184 feet above sea level brags about being a “mountain town,” several Shorecrest students long for higher elevation once they graduate.
While these students had different experiences on their adventures, they all spoke about one particular highlight of their travels: the connections they made with their fellow climbers.
In her gap year, Annabella Rozin ‘24 spent a week in January climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
“For me, hiking Mount Kilimanjaro was never about the adventure…It was about the connections that I was going to build with my fellow gap-year scholars,” said Rozin. “There is nothing more bonding than spending seven days feeling your worst with basically complete strangers, and the only thing you have to occupy yourself is talking.”
She went prepared to face the challenges that would come with climbing the mountain. While Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, it’s not the terrain that is particularly dangerous, but the altitude and weather. Rozin said the only way to prepare to summit Kilimanjaro is to make sure that you can walk 10,000 to 20,000 steps per day.
However, Rozin was unable to prepare for the altitude. On the third day of her hike, she said she felt like she had an air bubble in her head as the altitude sickness kicked in.
Rozin’s main obstacle was sleep deprivation. She got little sleep the first few nights, not just because of the cold coursing through her bones, but also because of the anxiety she felt.
“I was only at 10,000 feet, and I should have been able to breathe, but I was so anxious about the fact that I might not have enough oxygen or might run out in the middle of the night that I [worked] myself into a tizzy,” she said.
After waking up at 11 p.m. on the night of her final summit, Rozin felt depleted. She was tired and light-headed and found help only in the advice she’d been given before starting her journey: don’t wake up.
A guide told Rozin to pretend that she was asleep on a beach somewhere and that it was all a dream. The only way to deal with the altitude and the cold was to pretend that none of it was real.
The journey might’ve been difficult, but it was worth it. Rozin had never felt a strong love for nature, but after her trek, she discovered a new sense of peace. She said she learned to speak up when she needed something and how to be mindful.
“While the highlight of everything was connecting with my peers, I also had a lot of moments of self-discovery that I’ll carry with me forever,” she said.
Ayscue had similar moments of self-discovery, where she learned not only how to survive and care for herself in the mountains, but also how to adjust to her surroundings.
“I wanted to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations, which I think is the biggest thing I’ve taken away from that, and meet new people,” said Ayscue. “I mean, nature is beautiful, so live in it. It’s a really eye-opening thing.”
Aside from food deliveries every 13 days, Ayscue’s trek was entirely secluded, accompanied only by her fellow climbers. She carried 60 pounds on her back every day and came into contact with wild moose and bears.
While she left her trip with many new survival skills, Ayscue said that wasn’t what mattered. Nobody will remember how to build a fire in the end, but “your mind and body, it all adapts to survive in uncomfortable situations, [and] no matter what, you’ll end up being okay,” she said.
In her gap year, Layla Petrovich ’24 has spent the year traveling and working on organic farms with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) where she discovered a love for the outdoors. Petrovich plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in March.
She said that while she spent every day working and living with the same people, they formed a familial bond in the close-knit community.
Petrovich took a three-day motorbike trip through the Ha Giang loop in Vietnam, which she said was a great way to connect with people and get away from her phone: “There wasn’t a lot of service, and most parts of it were really remote, so you were just able to experience the moment.”
US Spanish Teacher Pedro Legra Alonso also shares this fondness towards nature and a passion for mountain climbing, so he plans to head to Canada this summer for his next adventure. However, he has never desired to partake in any climb that would endanger him.
“I’m not interested in that kind of mountain climbing. I admire it, but I don’t want to take that risk,” Alonso said.
The thrill of exploring nature. The glacial cold, the course of adrenaline, the separation from everyday life; it’s no surprise that so many have found comfort in the great outdoors. One can feel like they are part of a greater existence and take in what the universe has to offer.
Alonso said, “I know it sounds cheesy, but I’m a lover of the universe, planets, stars, and [geographical features], and oceans, and lands, and anything that connects me to the planet. To nature.”
