Bio: Denver schoolteacher Mike Haugen, who is climbing Mount Everest with a goal of inspiring kids to get into the outdoors, got hooked on mountaineering as a teenager after his mother gave him a rock-climbing class for Christmas one year. Now 30, he spends summers as a guide on Washington’s Mount Rainier, which he has climbed 50 times. He also has been on expeditions to numerous other high peaks, including three of the seven continental summits – the Vinson Massif in Antarctica, Aconcagua in South America and Mount McKinley in Alaska (four times). A graduate of Ohio State with a master’s degree in evolutionary physiology, he has taught seventh- and eighth-grade science at Kepner Middle School for the past three years.
The Journey: Haugen grew up close to nature in northern Wisconsin but didn’t get his hands on a carabiner until he was in high school in Ohio. That’s when he learned the ropes from Andy Politz, an instructor and explorer who would later gain fame as a member of the 1999 expedition that discovered the body of George Mallory, lost on Everest in 1924. “Andy was my mentor,” Haugen says. “He inspired me to get out and seek adventures.”
At 6-feet-4 and 220 pounds, the young man plunged deeply into the world of outdoor recreation, becoming an avid skier, sailor and mountaineer, traveling to more than 30 countries, and getting certified in wilderness first aid, avalanche rescue and other skills. Eventually, he signed on with Seattle-based International Mountaineering Guides, which has organized the Everest trek with sponsorship from Coleman, the outdoor-gear manufacturer.
The Strategy: Haugen’s trip (he hopes to make a summit bid in May) is being billed as the Coleman Everest 5.5 Challenge, reflecting the exact height of the mountain in miles. Its primary aim, he says, is to address the “nature deficit” among children who spend more time indoors playing video games than outdoors being active. “We’re trying to inspire people, mainly kids, to get outside and do their own adventures,” Haugen says. To that end, he is taking two video cameras and a laptop to chronicle the expedition via daily postings on the website colemaneverest.com, where children and other visitors can submit questions for him to answer about climbing and the mountain environment.
The Details: Haugen, who is testing a new line of “Exponent” technical gear for Coleman, has prepared for the expedition mainly by back-country skiing. “I’ll skin up and hike up to the tops of mountains and ski down,” he says. Among his favorite targets: the 14ers Lincoln and Quandary, Citadel Peak north of Loveland Pass, and the “Dreamweav ers” ice route on Mount Meeker. –Jack Cox
Exercise
One-hour workout in a climbing gym three times a week, focusing on core body strength, supplemented one or two times a week by a 3-mile run around (or sometimes twice around) Denver’s Sloan’s Lake, plus a weekly hike up Bear Mountain south of Boulder – a trek with 3,000 feet of elevation gain, which Haugen typically covers in under an hour. On weekends, ski mountaineering.
Diet
Mostly a “paleolithic” menu of lean meats, vegetables and fruits, as recommended by his personal trainer, Dave Wahl of Golden. Haugen avoids processed sugars and complex carbohydrates. “It’s not that I eat less (of the bad things), but I eat more of the right things,” he says. One exception: “Cookie dough in the tube. It’s the ultimate high-altitude food.”
About the Climb
Mike Haugen and his longtime climbing partner, Casey Grom, plan to follow the traditional route up Everest, from the base camp at 17,300 feet through the Khumbu icefall, up the Western Cwm and the Lhotse Face to the South Col, and then on to the 29,035-foot summit.
They left the United States on March 17 with several large duffel bags of gear, and after a 17-hour flight to Bangkok that Haugen described as “actually not horrible,” arrived in Nepal on March 19. Two days later they hit the trail, accompanied by a throng of porters and other trekkers from around the world, most of whom will only go as far as base camp.
Before leaving Denver, Haugen was presented with hundreds of cards from his students, their parents and other well-wishers. “Hopefully,” he said, “I’ll summit before the last day of school.”
For daily updates on the expedition, go to colemaneverest.com.
