FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Fort Collins climber Alan Arnette has been in the Death Zone four times and escaped with his life each time. His mother entered the death zone once and didn’t make it out. While climbing can be perilous, Alzheimer’s disease is always fatal. And that’s the reason for Arnette’s attempt at summiting the world’s Seven Summits.
After watching his beloved mother Ida waste away for eight years from the disease until she finally succumbed in 2009 at age 82, Arnette hatched an ambitious and inspiring plan this year. He launched his 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer’s: Memories are Everything fundraising campaign to summit the highest peaks on all seven continents in one year and in the process hopefully raise $1 million for Alzheimer’s research.
At 5 a.m. May 21, Arnette stood on the summit of 29,035-foot Mount Everest, a mountain he failed to summit three previous times, in 2002, 2003 and 2008. It was a humbling moment born of past failures, the fragility of life and the thrill of living.
“I made a call to my wife, Cathy, took pictures and sat and looked around at the vastness of the mountains around me, and then the emotions hit,” said Arnette back at his Fort Collins home. “There was a sense of relief and accomplishment but equal or greater was the gratitude that I had. People with Alzheimer’s don’t have a lot to live for. Their life as they know it is over.
“There are a lot of people who have been following me and donating money to this cause. They were counting on me to carry the message of Alzheimer’s to the top of the world, which was critical to my success because I was drawing on that.”
Arnette said he believes that emotional push was the main reason why he summitted Everest this time. His climb times were all cut in half from his previous attempts despite the 54-year-old being nine years older than when he first attempted Everest.
“The previous climbs really taught me a lot about my preparation and about the balance between my physical strength and mental strength,” he said. “This time, when I was throwing up and having difficulties, I thought about my mom and aunt and others with Alzheimer’s and that helped me keep going. People had donated a penny for every foot so my mantra was one step, two steps and three steps, knowing that every step I took I was generating pennies. I was totally shocked and pleasantly surprised with my times.”
When he called Cathy, his wife of 17 years, from the top, his first words were, “I’m here.” The surprising answer from Cathy was, “I know.” He was packing a SPOT satellite GPS tracker and she was able to follow his ascent.
“I don’t think when Hillary (Sir Edmund, the first to summit Everest on May 29, 1953) made the summit that he was able to call his wife and hear ‘Yeah, I know, now get down.'”
With such an ambitious timeline, Arnette has had little time to rest on his latest accomplishment. He arrived back in Fort Collins on May 29 and leaves June 25 to climb dangerous Denali, Alaska’s 20,320-foot peak. Four climbers already have lost their lives on North America’s largest peak, and only about half of those who attempt the summit actually make it.
The dangers of climbing are not lost on Arnette. One of the people in his group died while attempting Everest this year.
“Safety is always No.1,” said Arnette, who will climb the traditional West Buttress Route on Denali. “I’m in process right now of shifting gears to get my mind focused on Denali. There will be no sherpas, no yaks, no mules there, just me with a 50-pound pack and pulling a 50-pound sled for three weeks.
He summitted Antarctica’s Vinson Massif in December 2010 and South America’s Cerro Aconcagua in January of this year. He plans to summit Russia’s Mount Elbrus in August, Africa’s Kilimanjaro in November and finish with Australia’s Kosciusko and New Guinea’s Carstensz Pyramid, which is considered the eighth of the world’s summits, in December.
To fund his quest, Arnette, who took early retirement from Hewlett Packard to care for his ailing mother, is sponsored by Janssen, Pfizer, Kay Land, Mountain Hard Wear and International Mountain Guides. The donations will go to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, which he said uses 100 percent of donations for research.
With Everest summitted, Denali is the next most dangerous on the list. If he succeeds with his quest to reach the Seven Summits, he will be in rare climbing company. According to . 7summits.com, 275 people have climbed the Seven Summits and 104 have added the eighth summit. Arnette admits the accomplishment would be a milestone but said the main focus is bringing attention to a disease that ranks as the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.
“My measure of success is not standing on the top of a mountain but raising awareness of this dreaded disease,” he said. “I was ignorant about this disease until it affected me. It’s thought of as an old person’s disease, there’s not much you can do about it and the people will die anyway. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund has been doing some groundbreaking research. My goal is to help them.”
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
