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

The New Boat Arrived!!

The new boat arrived at Beyond Base camp July 22nd, 2011. What a celebration. After several years of fund raising we were able to purchase the new 12 passenger Stanley landing craft water taxi. Production of the boat started at the end of March and it arrived just in time to pick up the week 4 trips from the trail head. After picking up the first trip we knew we had the perfect boat for Beyond. The participants relaxed in the spacious cabin and the backpacks loaded into the open bow with ease. Powered by two 150 horsepower Yamaha outboards the loaded boat cruises comfortably between 27 and 30 knots making our trip pick up and drop off schedule run very smooth. The final test came when we did our first Frankenstein beach landing. The Frankenstein pickup went so well that we also changed the Pearkes pickup to be a beach pick up and drop off as well to avoid the risky dock.

Thank you to those of you who helped us purchase this boat. It is a fantastic addition to the Beyond Malibu ministry.

Sea Kayaking Trip

Last week I headed up to Beyond to guest guide a high school co-ed trip from Midland, Michigan. It was quite a group. There were only two guy campers in the whole bunch so I was thankful for my guide partner, this year’s lone first year, Barb. Within a few hours it became pretty clear to me that these girls had no idea what was in store for them, they had no idea how hard it would be. The leaders were relentlessly positive and kept the group afloat with countless rounds of Taylor Swift songs. But the looming clouds and oppressive wind took its toll and eventually the struggle set in.

The second day down the Sechelt Inlet, we could see the first fish farm a few miles off. As we paddle towards it, the green building seemed to never change size. The wind howled into our face, each paddle stroke moved us only a small push forward. To stop paddling meant to actually move backward, away from our camp site and rest. As this was the groups' first day using a new skill, paddling, they all struggled against the wind and waves. One boat in particular, paddled by two younger girls, was having a challenging day.  We approached the fish farm,  and because of boats, garbage bins, and cables are were forced to move away  from shore; to move toward where the wind was stronger. At some point  before the fish farm, my encouraging words lost their luster. All  that could be done was to ask the Lord for strength to make it around the  next point.  There we would find rest and delicious snacks. 

That day, was harder than any of us had planned, it was  frustrating and exhausting, but God is good and God’s strength  sustains.  In five days time the tide had turned completely. I found  myself needing to go full speed ahead to catch those same girls, who  were no longer struggling. They were so deep in conversation they did  not even realize how effortlessly and quickly they were paddling. As sea  kayaking guides, we frequently say the trip is about our journey, not  our destination. We have no summits, no cruxes, our routes can be seen  for miles, and our view stays at sea level. However, through the journey  each person changes. They learn the small changes to a paddle stroke  that make a large difference, they grow in their relationships with one  another, and most importantly they, we, learn to trust the Lord for  endurance against the wind and the waves. Water can take rough granite  and make it smooth as glass, but it takes time, as does our journey to  become more Christ-like.

Marshall Potter was a second-year sea kayaking guide and assistant to  the operations manager for the 2010 summer.  We’re glad he was able to  join us again for a trip this summer.

Freedom of the Hills

Sabbath- a day at Beyond set aside for staff to be still and seek the Lord, process the past week and prepare for the week to come, to find joy in fellowship and in play. Fourth of July sabbath- a day that included all of the above, plus a rare sustained ability to bask in the sun all day and bellow patriotic songs over a dinner together on the dock. Being part of the 5% minority (yes, this is the exact math) of Canadian staff at Beyond, it was fortunate that the other Canadian and I were well versed in the ways of America and were proudly able to holler the anthem, those “bright stripes and bold stars, through the dangerous night,” declaring the independence and freedom of America.

Freedom was something that had already consumed my thoughts that day, before I had even realized that it was the fourth of July. I had just returned from the mountains. For me, the mountains have been marked by reoccurring encounters with the Lord teaching me what freedom in Him looks like. Last summer, I spent most of the summer in the Wyoming wilderness and it was there that the Lord freed me from lies and bondage that had held me back from confidently coming near to Him. I returned from the summer clinging to two truths that had become real to me, “now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17)... “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16).

As I prepared for another summer in the mountains, I began to pore through the technical mountaineering book “Freedom of the Hills” that we had been assigned to read. I think that the title of the book points to one aspect of the freedom that is encountered in the mountains, a removal from distractions of everyday life that consume- the cell phone, the internet, the seemingly never ending list of things to accomplish. The mountains are free of these things that bind. The hills stretch out before you, inviting you to explore their vast expanses. Yet, I have come to realize that there are other things that bind- thoughts, conceptions, and feelings that can't be left behind like a cell phone can be; the towering peaks and expanses of land point to something much more than the idea of freedom. It isn't the wilderness by itself that has brought healing and freedom in my life, it is God who has used the mountains as a space that I've been able to come away from the busyness of life, come to the quiet and seek Him. It is here that He has renewed my focus, softened my heart, stirred my affections for Him, renewed my desire to pursue Him, and brought freedom from the lies and burdens that keep me from approaching His throne with confidence.

God has been so faithful in reminding me of His goodness, His provision, and His sovereignty. As guides, before each trip we are given a sheet that fills us in on what each group wants the framework of their trip to look like. Skimming over the folder of what would be my first trip guiding at Beyond, the leader had written her desires for spiritual content: Freedom in Christ. That week we grappled with what it really means to have freedom in Christ through the trials and challenges of the trip. Our girls were able to recognize the lies that they were enslaved to, surrender them in a new way, and claim the truth of who they are in Christ. It was through this week in the mountains these girls were able to see a glimpse of their strength and beauty as they overcame challenges, redefining over and over what is possible through Christ who lives in them.

Now that we are back from the mountains, I want more than ever to continue to claim those truths for myself and those around me. Truth: it is only through Christ that full and complete freedom can come. Truth: because of Him, the power of sin over us is broken. Truth: because of these truths, we can freely come into the presence of the Lord with confidence. Truth: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

-Rebecca Chin, first year mountain guide,
never without her stellar and smokin guide partners Taylor Rice, and Whitney Agassiz.

Mid Summer Update and Poll

Wow, the Beyond summer is flying by.  Our third week of mountain trips is already hiking into the heights and our first sea-kayaking trip is completing its final paddles.  It’s only Week 3 and our summer has already been chock-full of adventure and growth. We've already had WAFA for 1^st Year Guide Staff; Sea Kayaking, Mountain, and Base Camp 10-day training; and two weeks of crazy mountain epic-ness, and we're just getting started.

Surprises abound this summer.  First off, so much snow!  For those that are familiar with Chatterbox, the guides on 10 Day began kicking steps before Log Cabin Pass.  Base Camp wildlife expanded from the usual otters, rats, squirrels, and birds to include two fawns, Phil and Bill, that have made Base Camp their home.  Our fearless leadership staff—GTL’s, base camp and food service coordinators, and Rob-- are working hard to keep up with the changes and surprises of life in the Princess Louisa; they're doing a great job.  

We have trips out this week on Frankenstein, Pearkes, Long Pearkes, One Eye, Zion, Albert, JJ, and Sun Peak. You counted correctly, that's EIGHT trips, and we have seven coming up next week.  We are so excited about everyone that's coming up.  Our guide staff is not as big as it could be so if you are an ex-guide with current first aid certification, and a week to spend in the inlet, you should give Mike and Alissa a call.  If not, we'd love it if you would lift up and celebrate all of these folks in prayer-- guides, participants, base camp, and leadership.

That's all from Beyond for now.  Hopefully we'll have our first round of Base Camp blogs within the next few days.  Until then, please keep us in your prayers.

We want to share everything that's going on in and around Base Camp, but so much is happening we hardly know where to begin.  So...

What do you want to know about Beyond this summer?

• What did the cooks whip up this weekend for Celebration Breakfast?
• What was Rob’s favorite thing about Week 2?
• How do the sea kayakers make pizza on a trip?
• A tour from the current White House residents, the Sawayas (yes the White House is still standing)?
• How many scruffy men we can fit inside the new Long House?
• What we will be naming the new boat?
• Why is there so much snow this year?

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I'm sure you have things you're dying to know.  Choose your favorite question and look forward to a detailed, juicy explanation next week.  We certainly appreciate the help.