Mt. St Helens Blog by Tye and Ann Rustrum

DOMINATED BY MT ST HELENS

BY: TYE RUSTRUM

Ding…Ding…Ding!!! The green numbers of the alarm on my phone glared 2:25AM at my squinted eyes. As early as it was, I was relieved it had finally gone off. It had been a tossing and turning type of night – the kind where I didn’t actually know if I had ever fallen asleep because I was so excited, anxious, and scared all at the same time. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes, the clarity of what stood before me today caused me to jump out of bed. The view from the summit of Mt. St. Helens was in my future today. The volcanic mountain that had erupted the year I was born would be both my nemesis and my friend all in the same day. All of our gear was laid out the night before. I grabbed my backpack, a cup of coffee, a couple of pieces of toast with my favorite jam, a couple of bananas and Ann and I were off. The nerves started to sink in as we played uplifting and positive music during the 2-hour drive to Mt. St. Helens National Park near Cougar, WA. This was my “just in case I die” music list that I play when I think my plane is going to crash because who knew what could happen – we were climbing a mountain! This hike is 9.7 miles with a 5,577 elevation gain (yes – I Googled it) and even though it’s considered a beginner’s mountain, I had never done anything close to this before.

We lost cell phone reception about 30 minutes out and I realized things were about to get real. It was us, the snow, the mountain, the freezing temperatures and nature itself. We crept through the windy roads, which were surprisingly very well plowed, until we reached the parking lot at 5AM. The lot was nearly empty as it was a Tuesday in February and most attempt the climb when it’s not the dead of winter. Four other cars were in the parking lot. They had probably decided to sleep over night in the parking lot versus getting up early in the morning to drive – not a bad idea. By 5:20AM we were headed to the trail with all of our gear on. I put my headlamp on, upside down at first, and took 10 minutes to strap on my snowshoes. No joke, Ann and I had never used a headlamp or snowshoes before. I don’t even know if I had the snowshoes on the correct feet!

Within the first 10 steps, I realized 2 things: (1) My back pack was way, way too heavy and (2) these snow shoes felt like lead weight in quick sand. Obviously, it would have been worse if I was just wearing hiking boots as the snow was several feet deep, but this was unexpected. I can easily run 10 miles with no notice, but half a mile into this hike, I was exhausted. As a visual, we were a team of 3, our friend Richard, my gorgeous wife, and myself. I was the rear caboose because as beautiful as nature is, nothing beats my wife’s cute butt!  She is going to hate me for saying this. Lol.

Another problem soon sauntered in like a swarm of wasps in solitary confinement. My right quad muscle started screaming at me with every step. I had pulled the muscle about a week ago while playing soccer with the kids, but inaccurately thought it was all healed up. To make matters worse, I started sweating like a pig. I mean, I felt like I was carrying a dead person on my back (and started imagining that would be Richard carrying me in a few hours). It was a couple of miles into the hike, and I was totally drained. I was lagging behind and Richard came back to check on me. He looked like a gazelle on an easy run through the African countryside. He realized I was not doing the greatest and was falling behind. He watched several of my huge steps in my snowshoes and said, “You’re doing it all wrong man. You have to almost shuffle your feet across the snow so you can conserve your energy. This is a great warm up for the real climb!” Multiple thoughts raced through my mind, including a barrage of not so nice words.

Tye and Ann Rustrum snowshoeing Mt. St. Helens

By the time the sun started to come up, we were almost to Chocolate Falls and about 3 miles into the hike. I was drained, mentally and physically. I paused and my head started to spin. I sat down in the snow and Richard asked me what I had consumed so far. Apparently downing only two huge bottles of water had thrown my electrolytes way off. He gave me 2 salt tablets and some miracle drink that ultra marathon runners use. After about 15 minutes, I had my composure back, but the combination of sweaty, soaked through clothes and sub-freezing temperatures had my body quickly cooling. I slowly realized, “I’m done.”

I didn’t want to let Richard and Ann down. I could see them up ahead of me and shockingly I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was Ann… I could see her wave but she was too far away to be heard. I knew this was going to be her attempt at a pep talk. She tried to encourage me to keep going, but I knew my body too well from playing competitive sports and running marathons. I was officially done, defeated. There was no way I could complete this hike to the summit. The problem with being “done” on a mountain is that I still had to hike the 3 miles back to the car!

I’m sharing what most would consider failure, because it’s only failure if you don’t learn from it. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn,” as leadership author John Maxwell puts it. There are countless things in life that try to bring you down. This is especially true when you attempt something new for the first time like starting a new job, starting a new business, or trying a new sport or hobby. I learned that I was way under prepared. I overestimated my other fitness since I can easily run 5 to 6 miles a day and crank out a half marathon if I want to. This was different, you use different muscles, different movements with the hike poles, different elements that I hadn’t experience before.

I also learned:

My 40-pound backpack was way too heavy
I shouldn’t have had so many layers of clothes on in the beginning.
I should have done several other hikes to build up my muscles for this type of fitness.
Practicing ahead of time in snowshoes would have been smart.
Body temperature and pace are incredibly important.

The overall experience was crazy but amazing at the same time. I have chosen to use it as a learning experience and go back to the drawing board. I’m now excited to train for something new in my life and mix it up.

The moral of this story is don’t quit when things get tough. Failure is part of the process of success, not in the way of success. Be excited about the times you fail. The more failures you have, the more chances you have to learn and improve. We live in a culture where if you fail you think you won’t be successful. It’s like the student who has gotten D’s and F’s and has been told they are a failure. In reality they just have an opportunity to grow and learn. What determines your success is your drive, your will to want to win, your motivation, your hunger to want to grow, your integrity, your morals and your values. You have to have the spirit to never quit and keep pushing forward, even when things get tough. It’s just like when we failed at our business early on. I’m so glad we didn’t quit because the options we have today are incredible. For me… it’s time to go back to the drawing board, to train and study how to conquer Mt. St. Helens. Beast mode, here we come!