In the Arena

Snapshot of the May 2008 Shasta Expedition

• The mountaineers: Kris Sundberg, Rhett Boyakin, Brad Reeves, and Jared Smith
• The photographers: Kris Sundberg and Jared Smith
• The narrator and videographer: Rhett Boyakin
• The paranoid wife and blogger: Cathy Sundberg

The trek started in pinewood forest- green and beautiful.

But it wasn't long before the snow hit.

And got progressively more difficult and cold.Thankfully they were well-equipped with crampons and ice axes to conquer the snow.
The night before the summit attempt...watch the video below to see how they were feeling.


But despite the declining weather they did their best and tried to summit.
Until it got worse and worse and they got lost. Here is what Rhett had to say about that...

After hours of trying to find base camp the clouds parted for a brief moment and they found their way back down.

And although they didn't make the summit, they gave it their best shot - and more importantly, came out alive. Congrats team.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt