So the fact that the founder of Alpine Challenges for Charity plans to hike 70 miles in three days while climbing and descending more than 40,000 feet on three peaks is not surprising. Oh yeah, and the whole excursion will raise money for a Bozeman homeless shelter.
So far, a dozen people have committed to join the trip. Spencer envisions three teams of three climbers, each with a support crew of two people to do the driving, cooking and set up camp.
The three peaks the group plans to climb are Granite, the highest peak in Montana at 12,799 feet with a 35-mile roundtrip; Mount Cowen, the highest peak in Montana’s Absaroka range at 11,206 feet with a 26-mile roundtrip; and Wyoming’s 13,700-foot Grand Teton, a 20-mile roundtrip. The dates set for the adventure are Aug. 13-15.
Spencer has dubbed the climb The Alpine Triple Crown, comparing it to horse racing’s three big races.
“They’re three of the harder classic climbs in the Greater Yellowstone,” Spencer said. “Cowen is not as well known, but it’s still considered a classic climb. They’re also the three best-known and most difficult climbs that could be pieced together easily.”
According to Wyoming climber Thomas Turiano, author of “Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone, A Mountaineering History and Guide,” no one has scaled the three peaks in three days.
“I think it’s pretty awesome,” Turiano said. “I think they picked some of the nicest peaks, that’s for sure.”
Spencer said the group will tackle Granite first. The plan is to start hiking at 2:30 a.m. Aug. 13 from the East Rosebud to the Phantom Creek trail and then across the Froze-to-Death Plateau before summiting Granite. The crew plans to be back to the bottom in 14 to 16 hours.
“Granite will definitely be the hardest one, so we’ll get it out of the way early,” Spencer said. “We’ll be moving at a pretty fast pace, but not an all-out run.”
After descending, the group will travel to Mill Creek in the Paradise Valley to camp out before setting out for Cowen at 4 a.m. Aug. 14. Spencer is hoping the group can get four-and-a-half to five hours of sleep each night. He’s estimating that Cowen will take 10 to 12 hours, provided everyone is still healthy.
“I’ve done it in nine hours, but you have to factor in the fatigue,” he said.
Once they return from Cowen, the group will drive through Yellowstone National Park to reach the Tetons in Wyoming. On Aug. 15, Spencer estimates,Grand Teton will take 10 to 12 hours to climb and descend.
“But it’s tough to say after 24 hours of trail running,” he admitted.
Dan Jackson, 19, of Bozeman is one of the crew who has committed to the climb. Although the cross-country competitor for Montana State University has done trail running and backpacking, he’s never done anything like three peaks in three days.
“It kind of seems like a mental challenge,” he said. “I’m a little nervous because it’s a lot of miles.”
Spencer is hoping the efforts will raise $9,000 to $10,000 to benefit HIS Soup Rescue Mission in Bozeman, which is run by Paul Thomas.
For the past eight years, Thomas has run a mobile soup kitchen, serving 50 to 80 meals a day in the summer to the homeless in Bozeman from his converted van. The money to fund the kitchen is entirely from donations; Thomas doesn’t solicit.
Thomas said Spencer approached him about the fundraiser after praying one night.
“Well, I think it sounds pretty hard to me,” Thomas said of the excursion. “But they’re young.”
The money would go toward the 1,000-square-foot mission that is being erected on the corner of Fifth and Hemlock streets in Bozeman, near Kmart. Spencer, an architecture student at Montana State University, has also volunteered to design an addition for the building - the first homeless mission in Bozeman. The Southwest Montana Building Association has donated materials and time to erect the structure.
“We’re hoping to be done in the fall,” Thomas said. “We feel we pretty much have to open by the fall, when the cold weather sets in.”
Even after the shelter is finished, the soup kitchen will still go out for two hours a day, he added.
The benefit climb for HIS Soup Rescue Mission will be the second fundraising climb for Spencer and his friend Travis Swanson. The two, along with buddy Jeremy Sinnema, summited seven peaks of more than 15,000 feet this winter in Ecuador to raise almost $25,000 for World Vision’s relief efforts in Darfur, Sudan.
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