Programs mentor at-risk teenagers on backpacking, canoeing trips

Article published Jul 1, 2007
BY KELLI LACKETT

When Greg Christensen's father took him on his first backpacking trip in Utah when he was 8 years old, it was the beginning of a lifetime love for the outdoors.
"It gave me an appreciation for the wilderness and mountains and helped bring the world into perspective. It instilled self-confidence," the 33-year-old Fort Collins resident said.
Christensen would like to give lower-income youth the chance to build their confidence through similar outdoor experiences. In August, he'll climb the 13,770-foot Grand Teton peak near Jackson Hole, Wyo., in order to raise $3,500 for a nonprofit organization Big City Mountaineers.
Big City Mountaineers is a Denver-based program that mentors at-risk teenagers through multiday backpacking and canoeing trips.
"I think it did have an impact on my life," Christensen said about hiking and backpacking as a boy.
"To be able to have kids do that and also be able to do a climb at the same time is a great opportunity."
Summit for Someone organizes benefit climbs
Christensen's brother, Mitch, who lives in Phoenix, found out about the benefit climb last year through Backpacker Magazine, who is the title sponsor of Big City Mountaineer's fundraising arm, Summit for Someone.
Summit for Someone's 350 volunteer climbers pledge to raise $3,500 each for BCM for the chance to climb one of North America's famous peaks with experienced guides. Fourteen climbs feature iconic peaks such as Mount Rainier, Mount Whitney, Mount Shasta, Mt. Hood, Longs Peak and the Grand Teton.
"The climbs are accessible to a lot of people," said Mark Godley, executive director of Big City Mountaineers. "It's open to new participants in mountaineering.
This year, the climbs sold out in three weeks, Godley said. Next year, Summit for Someone is expanding to include 800 participants.
Christensen and his brother are two of the nine people, plus guides, who will climb the Grand Teton during the August trip. The trip demands 7,000 feet of elevation gain and class 5.6 climbing.
"For an accomplished climber, it would not be challenging. But for the novice to intermediate climber like myself and my brother, it will be a challenge," said Christensen, who is a program manager for Intel.
He's raised $675 so far by hitting up friends, family members and businesses.
"Fundraising is ten times harder than the climb will be."
Denver nonprofit mentors teens through wilderness trips
Marcus Matthews was 16 last July when he set off with four other boys and five adult male leaders on his first backpacking trip with Big City Mountaineers.
"To be honest, I hated it. I was carrying a 50-pound backpack and walking for three miles straight," Matthews said. "When we made it to the top of the mountain to the lake, that's when we went fishing and started having fun."
The Denver teenager surprised himself by signing up for a BCM backpack this summer.
"I thought, 'Man, I am doing this again,' " Matthews said.
Existing youth organizations - such as after-school programs, foster care and Boys & Girls Clubs - recommend youth for BCM trips. The trips are same-gender and provide a one-to-one ratio between youths and adult volunteers and leaders.
"What I think is critical is the extended (eight) day trip and the large number of adults that go out with the kids," Godley said.
Over the eight days, the teenagers naturally go through a cycle of building trust, building endurance, achieving goals and making meaning out of the experience, Godley said.
"It is intended to be jarring emotionally. The youth go through self-doubt, loneliness, fear. Seeing a team of adults and peers react to them in a comforting fashion, they begin to relate to themselves differently."
"You could not create the same magic by chopping it up into weekends," Godley said. "It puts them by design in positions where they have to rely on others.
BCM has followed past participants to see whether the trips have a lasting effect on their development. Surveys show that there is a lasting improvement in positive identity and social competencies, Godley said.
Matthews was surprised at how his attitude changed once the boys on his BCM trip finished the climb to the Avalanche Lake in White River National Forest.
He knows what he's going to say to BCM participants who get discouraged or whiny on the trail.
"I'd say, 'I know how my experience went last year. ...Once you get to the end of the trail, it might change your opinion.' "