Mission Project

By Roy Miller

Several months ago a really good friend of mine laid out this plan to take his then 12-year-old son through a year of mentoring to help bring him into adulthood. He asked several of his friends from Roseville to join in the journey and then he also wanted me to be apart. The idea was to take his son through a "Rite of Passage." I was honored to be apart and a bit humbled, what could I possibly offer from Boise, Idaho.

My idea was to take Greg and Clint on a climbing trip to spearhead the year and then I would talk with Clint once a month give him stuff to chew on and then we would cap the year with a big trip, something that would really push Clint. We came up with Castle Crags to kick the year off. I climbed the Cosmic Wall several years ago with my brother and I thought it would offer a do-able challenge. The whole Shasta area is very special to Greg's family. Their family has hunted there for generations and they still spend a ton of time up there, so we thought it would be cool for Clint to be able to point out the climb he did to his whole family on the next hunting trip.

The plan was hatched and I left for Castle Crags on a Thursday after work. I was so excited to see old friends the 9-hour drive flew by. I rolled into the campground at 3:30 on Friday morning threw down a pad and got a couple hours of sleep. I was set to meet the guys at 8:00 AM.

Friday was great we spent the day hanging out watching Clint fish and just reconnected after almost a year of not seeing each other. The day was filled with conversations on what it truly meant to be a man, and Clint's current perspective on man-hood and what he hoped to get out of the year of mentoring. I wonder what would happen if more fathers would take a serious as Greg is their responsibility to help shape their sons out look on man-hood. I just wonder. Friday night was filled with great food and prepping for the next days climb. Clint was excited and ready to go. Up until this point he had only be to the gym and a couple of days of top roping. Greg is a solid climber, but this was going to be his longest multi-pitch, so he was equally excited.

Saturday was perfect the weather was great, temps were cool ad we got an early start. The hike in is pretty mellow maybe 3.2 miles and we dispatched that in just over and hour. The climb was great. 6 pitches of great rock and some really good belay stations. There was a party in front us, which really worked out. It kept us from rushing and we hung out and each station and just enjoyed being on the rock. The climbing went quick not a lot of pro on the climb but it is only 5.6 so no problem. The summit was perfect we had it to our selves and spent maybe an hour just taking it all in and listen to Clint talk about how much he loved this and if we could do another climb on the way back to camp. We created a monster and he was loving it. The decent involves two raps off of the back. Clint had never rapped before so I rapped down first and had another line set up so I could lower him from below. On the Second rap Clint wanted to rap and not be lowered so his dad rapped o ff and gave him a fireman's belay.

The weekend was great; Clint's year is in full swing and is now dreaming of his next adventure, he's leaning towards the Tetons or maybe Shasta.

As always your gear and the innovation behind it allow ordinary people to accomplish the amazing. Keep up the great work!