Spring Break
Grad student to scale mountain, help others
Profile
Diana Storch
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: News
When she started training in December for a three-day, 14,410 foot hike up Mt. Rainier, UA graduate student Elizabeth "Liz" Cornish barely could run one mile without stopping.
"Now I'm up to five miles," she said.
Cornish, 26, will move to Washington after she graduates this May with a master's degree in recreation management. The tall blonde will live in Ashford, Wash., two hours from Seattle and only minutes from Mt. Rainier.
Although Cornish has never before scaled a "fourteener" - a mountain more than 14,000 feet tall - or attempted any other alpine climb, she knew she would be making the trek up Mt. Rainier when last December she accepted a job with Whittaker Mountaineering.
Whittaker Mountaineering is an outdoor retail company based in Ashford, and all of its employees have climbed Mt. Rainier, according to the company Web site.
However, it was at the biannual Salt Lake City Outdoor Retailer Show that Cornish encountered the group Summit for Someone, which takes single-gender groups of at-risk youth into the wilderness for a week with enough adult leaders to make a 1:1 ratio.
"I just visited a table," she said.
Cornish previously had read about the group in magazines, but she was unsure at that point how it worked. After e-mailing SFS about getting involved, she made the commitment in February to raise $3,800 for the trip.
Those who make the grueling hike up Mt. Rainier - logging 5,000 vertical feet in four miles on the first day while carrying a 50-pound pack - only get to spend a few minutes at the summit. They watch the sun rise, take a few pictures and head back down.
But Cornish used an SFS tagline to explain why she is taking the trip: "The challenge of a lifetime awaits you - help overcome a lifetime of challenge for others."
Cornish's involvement in SFS has been more about fundraising than mountain climbing. She also recently gave to charity, making a donation to National Public Radio earlier this year.
"Now I'm up to five miles," she said.
Cornish, 26, will move to Washington after she graduates this May with a master's degree in recreation management. The tall blonde will live in Ashford, Wash., two hours from Seattle and only minutes from Mt. Rainier.
Although Cornish has never before scaled a "fourteener" - a mountain more than 14,000 feet tall - or attempted any other alpine climb, she knew she would be making the trek up Mt. Rainier when last December she accepted a job with Whittaker Mountaineering.
Whittaker Mountaineering is an outdoor retail company based in Ashford, and all of its employees have climbed Mt. Rainier, according to the company Web site.
However, it was at the biannual Salt Lake City Outdoor Retailer Show that Cornish encountered the group Summit for Someone, which takes single-gender groups of at-risk youth into the wilderness for a week with enough adult leaders to make a 1:1 ratio.
"I just visited a table," she said.
Cornish previously had read about the group in magazines, but she was unsure at that point how it worked. After e-mailing SFS about getting involved, she made the commitment in February to raise $3,800 for the trip.
Those who make the grueling hike up Mt. Rainier - logging 5,000 vertical feet in four miles on the first day while carrying a 50-pound pack - only get to spend a few minutes at the summit. They watch the sun rise, take a few pictures and head back down.
But Cornish used an SFS tagline to explain why she is taking the trip: "The challenge of a lifetime awaits you - help overcome a lifetime of challenge for others."
Cornish's involvement in SFS has been more about fundraising than mountain climbing. She also recently gave to charity, making a donation to National Public Radio earlier this year.
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