With her ice pic in hand and heavy mountaineering boots on, Melissa Schulze isn’t just taking on a mountain this August.
She’s also taking on Alzheimer’s disease.
The 30 year-old Blackfalds woman is training three hours a day to climb Mount Rainier in support of the Alzheimer Society.
Mount Rainier is actually a volcano and the highest peak in Washington state. Located about 80 km southeast of Seattle, it’s also one of the country’s most heaviest glaciated.
According to the most recent data from the National Park Service at Mount Rainier, 9,251 climbers set out to reach the mountain’s summit in 2004 but only 4,951 were successful.
That trend is common but it’s a challenge that Schulze said she’s more than willing to take on for a cause close to her heart.
“Three of my grandparents had Alzheimer’s. . . .
“Many more members of my family will probably suffer from it, including me. My dad has this fear that he’s next,” said Schulze, a mother of one and a day home care provider.
“I wanted to do something.”
It’s a healthy, positive way for her to process her own fear of Alzheimer’s as well as support her family and others suffering from it, she said.
While Schulze has climbed the 3,350-metre (11,000-foot) Mount Temple in Alberta’s Bow River Valley twice, she’s never taken on something like the size of Rainer — 4,390 metres (14,410 feet) tall.
It’s known to be a long and treacherous climb, she said.
In 1981, 11 people perished after a fall on Mount Rainier’s dangerous Ingraham Glacier.
But even that doesn’t deter Schulze.
“I am scared and nervous but I’m in love with that mountain,” said Schulze, who first laid eyes on Rainier in 2006 during a camping trip.
There was something about it and she vowed she’d be back to conquer it.
Schulze has been hiking since she was 15 but climbing with a serious passion is still a fairly new hobby for her.
She began running and cardio workouts a year ago to achieve a more healthy lifestyle but that became too much of a comfort zone, she said.
After climbing Mount Temple last August, she decided to push herself even further. The guided Mount Rainier climb begins on Aug. 20 and will take three days.
The climb does cost over US$1,000, all of which is coming out of Schulze’s own pocket.
None of the donation money is being used to pay for the trip, she noted.
To prepare, Schulze wakes up every day at 5:30 a.m. for a five-km run, followed by weight training.
In the evenings, she heads to Heritage Ranch in Red Deer to run up the steps leading down to the river.
She runs these multiple times with two year-old daughter Makaila strapped onto her back with water bottles for an extra 18 kg (40 pounds) of weight.
“My husband Peter and Makaila have been my biggest supporters . . . Makaila will pat my shoulders as I’m running and yell ‘Go, mommy! Go!’ ”
She also tries to slide in some daily training on her bike if she can.
Schulze hopes to raise a dollar for every foot she climbs, striving for a grand total of $14,410. So far, she’s raised $1,000.
“If I even raise $5,000 I’ll be happy; every dollar counts.”
Schulze will be out for her door-to-door bottle drive on July 14 throughout Blackfalds. She will also drive to anyone’s house to pick up bottles they wish to donate.
To make a contribution, visit Schulze’s blog at www.climbing-to-remember.com.
You can also track her climbing journey at www.rockieschick.com.
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com