Throw Back

Here is a sweet account of one of the earliest Beyond trips. A lot of things have changed at Beyond over the last 35 years but the adventures and the memories still last a lifetime.

Beyond Malibu 1975!

Awesome trip!

Incredible weather--sun the entire time! One Eye ascent...spent the night of the Fourth of July on the summit and watched the fireworks of the campers down below at Malibu. We signaled the campers with some lights. Our friends down below at camp saw us and all screamed! Their voices were carried up the inlet and canyon and we could hear them!

The day before, we had spent the night on the snow, just above tree line. We were very fortunate to see a copper-colored wolverine drinking water in a pool of ice-blue water just above the tree line after we climbed up out of the mud and rain in the rainforest on the first day!--the only wolverine in the wild I've ever seen!

The next day we summited One Eye and spent the night there.

In the morning we then hiked across a knife ridge, then down onto the BonBon Glacier! Incredible views!!! And that glacier was amazing--so flat!! Spent the night on a sun-warmed slab of granite.

Our last day we traversed the stream above the waterfall at the end of the Princess Louisa Inlet and spent our last night in the cabin next to the stream. It was so powerful and so beautiful.

When we got down to the inlet the next day, we all jumped in for an ice-cold but refreshing swim & bath! And ate a steak dinner! I think the best steak I've ever tasted!

Awesome trip with great people, enjoying the great outdoors made by a Great God. Thanks Young Life and counselor Steve Murray from Willow Glen High School in San Jose, California!

--Dana Schilperoort

Vertical Limit

I don’t know if any of you have ever seen the movie Vertical Limit. A few months ago after a day of first-aid training a bunch of us Beyond Guides watched the movie again. It was hilarious. A lot of the stunts they pull are so outrageously unrealistic that we all burst out laughing at some of the most intense moments of the film. We felt kind of bad for our instructor who hasn’t spent a lot of time in the mountains and who had never seen the film before. Apparently a lot of our campers have seen the film. It is not uncommon for a group of high school boys to start off snow school by throwing themselves onto the snow clinging to their ice axe screaming for their buddy to help them up. We take snow school pretty seriously so this behavior can get a little frustrating. One guide had a particularly infamous outburst in response to this, shouting, “You will not fall, you will not trip, if you do fall, this is how you will arrest. I don’t want to see any of that bush-league Vertical Limit crap.” I don’t know if all of this means you should watch the movie, but I’m pretty sure it means you should book a Beyond trip. Our mountain adventures are not as intense or ridiculously dangerous as the shenanigans in Vertical Limit, but you do get to use an ice axe. We’ve already started booking for 2012 so give us a call (206.525.0791) or check out our website to reserve your own mountain experience- wicked explosions not included.

Jessica Goes Beyond

For the past four years we have had the privilege hosting a Young Life Capernaum group from the Sammamish area. For those of you who don't know Capernaum is Young Life for kids with exceptionalities. One of the stars of this year's Capernaum trip was Jessica

Kitz. We recently received an update from YL Sammamish with this note in it and we wanted to pass it along. The following is what Jessica's mom says about her Beyond experience.

Jessica went to Beyond Malibu the first week in August with the Issaquah Capernaum group. Her leaders, Stacy and Scotty, were fantastic. I wanted to tell you one story that was the highlight of Jessica’s trip and I believe has changed her forever! Jessica always has to have two feet on the ground; very insecure on unlevel ground and going up or down hills. One day they were going on a hike to the waterfalls. My understanding was that the walk was over trees, rocks, hills, and not just a nature walk on a nicely groomed trail. Jessica was really scared. With the support of Stacy and Scotty and the other leaders, she made it to the waterfalls and back!! The leaders noticed the increase in her confidence after this little adventure and the first thing she told me when I picked her up was about this hike and that she made it! She kept saying that the hike was the best part of her trip. She is still showing an increase in confidence – nothing is stopping Jessica. Thank you Stacy, Scotty and Young Life!

- Becky Kitz