Matt Wells didn't want this story to be about him. But how does a writer ignore a guy who had hip replacement surgery last March, still walks with a limp and climbed Mount Rainier in August?
Wells, who teaches English as a second language at Wood River High School, doesn't think it's that big of a deal.
"The surgery is pretty common place now," Wells said. "A lot of people are doing things like this after getting a hip replaced."
Wells said the story should be about the Rainier expedition itself, which involved him and seven climbing buddies, all of whom are somehow affiliated with the Blaine County School District.
Invited to participate in the adventure, Wells got clearance from his doctors and decided to give it a try.
"It was a confidence builder," he said. "Some people thought I was an idiot, some people said 'go for it' and some people said 'we'll see'."
Joining the expedition was consistent with the active life Wells has lived. At age 60, he's only been a teacher for six years.
Before that, he was a Sun Valley ski patrolmen, worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, helped make outdoor film documentaries and was a mountain guide in South America and Mongolia.
Wells said he climbed Mount Rainier when he was younger, so it was hard to pass up a chance to do it again, hip replacement or not.
"I've been doing things like this all my life—so form kind of follows function," he said.
Rainier is not an easy mountain to tackle. Some 10,000 climbers try it each year and only about half of them make it to the summit.
At 14,410 feet, the mountain towers nearly three miles high above the nearby Puget Sound and the Seattle-Tacoma, Wash. area.
"It's massive ice flows and violent winds are so similar to the biggest mountains that it is often considered a training ground for McKinley and Everest itself," says America's Roof, an Internet web site dedicated to mountain climbing.
A sleeping volcano, Rainier last erupted in 1882.
Wells and his climbing buddies started up the side of Mount Rainier on Aug. 9.
Other members of the expedition were Joel Zellers, a special education teacher and cross-country coach at WRHS; James Foster, a social studies teacher and cross-country coach at WRHS; and Matt Gervase, a nutritionist at Blaine Manor and the husband of school district Assistant Superintendent Mary Gervase.
Also, Teri McKenna, a school district social worker; Ed Cannady, a U.S. Forest Service supervisor and the husband of McKenna; Tod Gunter, a social worker at Wood River Middle School; and Stefan Verchinski, a friend of Gervase from Albuquerque, N.M.
"The trip meant to me a chance to be with this active teaching staff," said Wells. "That's one of the most important things about this school district—you can work with a lot of active people. I went because I fully enjoy the people here."
The group started the ascent of Rainier from the White River Campground and hiked up the Emmons Glacier on the northeast side of the mountain.
Hiking over snow, ice and rock, the expedition reached the summit and returned to the campground on Aug. 11.
Wells said the trip was uneventful, except for the "vertical ascent and some nasty weather."
"It was a perfect situation, that's why it was so fun," Wells said.
Foster said Wells led the group on the way down and he had trouble keeping up with him.
"It wasn't a slow pace by any means," said Zellers.
"We kept a pretty steady pace," said Wells. "It was an effort and I always reserved the right to sit down and wait for them on the return—but I didn't have to exercise it."
Members of expedition posed for a group photo at White River Campground before starting their trip to the summit of Mount Rainier. From left are Tod Gunter, Joel Zellers, Ed Cannady, Teri McKenna, Matt Wells, Matt Gervase and James Foster.
