Adventure

Summit 4: Heart of a Lion

Laurie Kelley August 3, 2014
Chris Bombardier has a soft-spoken demeanor, but has the heart of a lion. He just bagged his fourth summit, in his attempt to be the first person with hemophilia to conquer the Seven Summits—the highest summits on each continent.It was a tough, grueling climb, the hardest one he has done to date, he confided, and that’s saying a lot.  But the outcome was worth it!

Three more to go, the last being the breathtaking Mt. Everest. Congratulations, Chris!

Chris’s climbs benefit Save One Life, the nonprofit I founded to help children with hemophilia in developing countries. So he not only climbs for personal challenge, but to advance hemophilia care for those who have none. Heart of a Lion!

Please read this excerpt from his blog, and visit “Adventures of a Hemophiliac” to read the rest of the story, and about his upcoming climbs! (Thanks SO much to ASD Healthcare, Reliance Factor of America and BDI Pharma for supporting Chris’s climb!) Visit www.SaveOneLife.net to learn more.

Denali/Mt. McKinley Part 2: Lower Glacier to 14,000ft

Submitted by Chris Bombardier on Thu, 2014-07-31 09:09This year, Denali lived up to the hype of brutal weather.   Summit rates plummeted from the typical 50% to the low 30% when we   arrived in Talkeetna, and having a HUGE snow day so early into the trip   made us all a bit concerned. After our snowshoe fun we discussed our   plan of action. Our amazing guide Melis decided we needed to wait for   the snow to settle before heading up the mountain. Not only would this   lessen the danger of avalanches, but also make travel over the feet of   new snow easier. Another group had different plans and wanted to move as   soon as the snow stopped and the clouds cleared. We saw them struggle   past our camp and begin the ascent of Ski Hill. Hours later they were   still in sight. It took them 6 hours to reach a point that only took us 2   hours a few days before. I was so glad our guide made the decision to   leave bright and early the next morning.

We woke up at 3 A.M. the following day and the weather looked great. We packed up camp, organized all our gear, and headed out. Luckily, the team that left the night before broke trail up Ski Hill and we moved quite easily. We found the other group camped not far from where we last saw them. They must’ve been exhausted and had to camp there. Another AMS team left a few hours before us so the trail was also broken most of the way. About 3/4 of the way to 11,000 camp we passed the other AMS team descending back to Camp 1. They cached their gear and were heading back for the night. From there on out it looked like we would be breaking trail. Melis lead to the cache and when we arrived we decided to pick up ALL of our gear and head up the final hill. I was feeling good until this point. Then things changed quickly.

From the cache we only had a few hundred feet of untracked snow to make it to the rest of the trail. These few hundred feet were the worst of the entire trip. I was second on the rope team following our guide Mike. He charged into the fresh snow and was moving quickly. I was trying to step opposite of him so that the snow would be packed down evenly for the others. It was brutal! We were sinking knee deep in snow on snowshoes! I think I would’ve been able to handle it but the pace was too fast for me. Instead of asking Mike to slow down I tried to tough it out. I failed. By the time I said something my legs were dead and we still had the entire hill left. The next 2 hours were brutal. I asked for more breaks and my legs finally came back. We made it to camp and I hoped that was the worst day I would have on the mountain. I knew from then on I would be more vocal about how I was feeling. There is no shame in asking for a break or slowing down the pace a bit.

We had a much needed rest day after our move to 11,000ft camp, at least much needed for me. It was an infusion day and I really wanted to do it outside with the amazing views around. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and I was restricted to my tent. The infusion went well and I was ready to roll for our next trip up the mountain. If you want to see the video of my tent infusion check out my Facebook page.

With my body restored I was ready to tackle our next goal, caching gear near Windy Corner on the trail towards 14,000ft camp. We ditched the sleds for this part of the climb which was amazing! I would much rather have a heavier backpack than pull a sled. At this point of the trip we really started climbing the mountain and weren’t just making the approach. Distances between the camps weren’t as great but the elevation gain was pretty much the same. Our first obstacle was Motorcycle Hill. This is where I really felt like I was climbing a mountain. The terrain started getting steep and strangely I started to feel stronger. We knocked out Motorcycle Hill quite nicely and turned up Squirrel Hill. As we were climbing Squirrel Hill our guide informed us of the massive cliff just out of site. That definitely heightened my senses and made me focus even more on every step. A massive avalanche slid over a cliff on the other side of the valley. I have never been so close to a slide and you could really feel the power of it. It was a great reminder that the mountain is always in control.

The weather kept improving throughout the day and when we cached we had an amazing view. It’s always an amazing feeling being on a mountain above the clouds. After we buried our cache we headed down. As we descended Squirrel and Motorcycle Hill I was in the lead of our group. The view was absolutely breathtaking and up to that point, it was my favorite day on a mountain. I felt strong again and confident that this was going to be a great trip. That night we got word that another storm may roll in. We built up wind walls around our tents and prepared to be there for awhile.

The wind picked up overnight and some snow fell but it wasn’t as bad as we thought, but still not great to move in. Melis thought we were going to be stuck for the day until the clouds suddenly started to break. Our guide made a few satellite phone calls to make sure this break would last and decided we needed to pack up and go for it. We took down the tents in the late morning and were on our way to 14,000ft camp just after noon. The trail was harder due to the new snow but we still made great progress. As we reached the top of Squirrel Hill the wind started to pick up and we knew we needed to get around Windy Corner as quickly as possible. Lets just say I get why they call it Windy Corner. We didn’t pick up the rest of our cache this time but we did stop and grab our helmets off the top as we passed the corner. The wind was howling. I grabbed my helmet, continued walking, and then waited for my teammate behind me to put his helmet on. It seemed like it was taking forever. As I glanced back to see what was going on, a freezing gust of wind and blowing snow slammed against my face. I could barely make out my teammate and just turned my back to the wind. The next 10-15 minutes of climbing around Windy Corner were brutal. Then as we crossed onto the 14,000ft side of the corner, the mountain turned peaceful. It was an amazing transformation. We continued on to camp which was still a few hours away. We pulled in around midnight, set up camp, cooked some food, and crashed hard. Another tough, tough day on the mountain. We were now in a fantastic position to get up the mountain and I really felt great at this point.

The Hemophiliac Who Got High

Laurie Kelley September 7, 2009

Not that kind of high, but really high, like Mt. Ranier high. Jeff Salantai, who has hemophilia, and Eric Hill, president and founder of BioRx, a home care company, undertook the grueling challenge of climbing Mt. Rainier, in order to raise funds for two nonprofits—one of them mine!

Mt. Rainier is the tallest glaciated mountain in the lower 49 states–only Alaska has one higher. It is located just outside of Ashford, Washington. Jeff is an account manager for BioRx and lives in Austin, Texas. Eric writes, “After more than 7 months of training and preparation, we attempted to summit the mountain the second week of August. We received tons of thoughts and prayers from many of you and we just wanted to say thank you to everyone who called or wrote wishing us luck. We summited the mountain at 7:20 am on Saturday, August 15, at 14,410 feet….so wiped out we could barely function (only to realize we had about 7 more hours of continuous trekking to get back down) but we did it.”

Most amazingly, is that Eric has pledged to match funds with anyone who wants to donate for their climb, for Save One Life, my nonprofit that sponsors over 500 children with hemophilia in developing countries.

Jeff Salantai

Both men agreed that this is was the hardest thing they’ve ever done. Eric writes, “I’ve run a marathon, done 4 more 23 mile runs, completed 5 Olympic length triathlons, climbed 2 other 14,000 ft mountains (no glaciers) and raced in 100k road bike races. Jeff likewise has done some pretty spectacular physical challenges like climbing the second and third largest mountains in the US, rock climbed some amazing cliffs, and has competed in 100 mile bike races on a routine basis. We both agreed that they all paled in comparison to the effort and mental trial of this experience.”

Incredibly, they are “99% sure” that Jeff is the first person living with hemophilia to summit Mt. Rainier. Jeff may now hold the record for the highest summit in the world by someone with hemophilia.

Their donations are so needed. I am visiting countries that no one in the hemophilia community has visited before and we are hoping to do outreach to find the people with hemophilia, who are as yet unidentified and suffering in silence. Please help, and show your support for the tremendous and risky fundraiser that Eric and Jeff undertook. I have never heard of any fundraiser quite like theirs!

Jeff and Eric write, “Thanks to everyone for everything you’ve done and the support you’ve provided to both of us.”

Congratulations to Jeff and Eric, two courageous and determined men with hearts of gold.


Risk vs Reward

Laurie Kelley July 13, 2009

It was a perfect day in Massachusetts– for skydiving! Today I  jumped out, as they say, of a “perfectly good airplane” at 14,000 feet. On the way up, one of my friends couldn’t buckle up in the car as one of the seat belts was broken. This got me thinking about risk, our perception of risk, and reward. Most people would never go skydiving. They consider it dangerous, although your chances of dying in a car crash (from not wearing your seat belt) are much higher. Most people are shocked that I love to skydive, and not only that, that I encourage others as well.

For me, the rewards outweighed any perceived risk. Our perception of risk often determines our decisions. And things seem riskier 1) if we are not familiar personally with it–most people don’t ever skydive, 2) if it is sensational– and one skydive death makes the news, even while several car accidents will be overlooked, 3) if there is feeling of lack of control. We often “feel” more in control of our cars, and feel less likely to die in them.

This is my fourth jump.

There are about 3 million jumps in a typical year in the US, and about 30 deaths. This is about one person per 100,000 jumps. One website says “You would have to jump 17 times per year for your risk of dying in a skydiving accident to equal your risk of dying in a car accident if you drive 10,000 miles per year.” So odds are good you’ll be fine!

So what’s all this got to do with hemophilia? Some people are still very insecure about infusing factor concentrate. We are writing up a big article for the August issue of PEN about recombinant and plasma-derived factor concentrates. There are risks with any medication, and of course we had sensational deaths with hemophilia many years ago. This has made many fearful of products. But all US products are considered safe by the US FDA. These are among the most scrutinized drugs on earth, and we run a higher health risk eating at a fast food restaurant than infusing factor.

Sometimes it all has to do with perception. My perception of skydiving? The rewards far outweigh the risks. I feel the same about factor concentrate, too. Read the August issue of PEN to learn more about safety of our products, and if you ever want to shake up your world, get on the edge, have an adventure, try skydiving!

“Life is a daring adventure, or is is nothing at all.” Helen Keller

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