Climb Against the Odds 2008... Just 5 Weeks to Mt. Shasta

From June 15-21, a team of 33 breast cancer survivors and supporters from across the country will come together at Northern California's Mt. Shasta in a collective effort to prevent breast cancer and to overcome their personal experiences with the disease.  Our extraordinary Climb Against the Odds team of women and men, ranging in age from 15 to 65, have all been touch by this disease and have committed to six months of intensive training and fundraising.

As the expedition approaches, we wanted to introduce the Breast Cancer Fund community to the experiences of a climber.  Connie Bates of San Jose, Calif., a breast cancer survivor, will be blogging on Not My Breasts once a week to give everyone the inside story on her experiences with training and eventually climbing a 14,000-foot mountain for breast cancer prevention.

Connie Bates - May 9, 2008, 5 weeks to Mt. Shasta

When I was asked to blog about my Mt. Shasta training and climbing experience, I said sure, no problem. I never imagined that surviving breast cancer would lead me to climb a 14,000 foot mountain, but it did and I’m looking forward to sharing my experience with you.  For me it all started with a diagnosis of breast cancer when I was 43.  Suddenly, I could no longer check off “NO” for all the medical questions on those countless doctor and insurance forms. My diagnosis of breast cancer seemed to define who I was, and I didn’t like it. When I heard about the BCF’s Climb against the Odds, I was immediately drawn to the extreme challenge of scaling an ice and snow-covered mountain.

Training is intense, and has gotten tougher over the past month. Last weekend, we did our ice training up at Shasta. Had to learn how to self arrest if we fell on a slope and started sliding downhill. No problem. Fall on your butt, slide, use your ice axe to self arrest, and stop. Ok, so my first time I slid almost to the bottom, but I did stop. After mastering the basics, we graduated to falling on our faces and sliding down the slope on our stomachs. Not a very natural-feeling position. Nine other members of our Climb against the Odds climbing team did the training as well. It was pretty cool to actually be on Shasta.  Realizing we were going to be back in just six weeks made the whole thing real for me. And wow did Shasta look larger in person than I’d imagined!

That night, we went to a local restaurant for some home-cooked Mexican food and margaritas. Yum! That’s one of the great things about training, you burn a lot of calories. Kind of allows you to eat and drink whatever you want.  On Sunday, we headed up to Castle Crag for a hike. Our pace was brisk as we climbed from 4,000 to 6,500 ft, carefully making our way up boulders and rock falls as we got closer to the top.  The panoramic views at the top were both amazing and humbling. All in all, a pretty good weekend!

View photos from Climb Against the Odds 2008 training hikes and watch YouTube interviews with the Climb Against the Odds team.