by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Father and son outings have been known to include a variety of activities such as attending sporting events, going camping or participating in recreational sports like hunting or fishing.
Attorney Charlie Sorenson of Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay had another idea in mind: mountain climbing.
And not just any mountains.
Six years ago Charlie and his son, Chase, summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, to celebrate Chase’s 21st birthday and raise money for cancer research as they participated in “Climb for a Cure.”
“That trip introduced us to mountain climbing,” said Charlie. “I wanted to do something like that with my son-in-law Bo, so we decided on Mt. Rainier.”
The dormant volcano in Washington presented more than just a physical challenge for the body. The glaciated peak holds snow and ice fields year-round to present additional difficulties for hikers trying to reach the 14,410-foot summit
The tallest building in Jacksonville is the Bank of America Tower at 617 feet. Climbing Mt. Ranier would equate to stacking about 24 of the buildings on top of each other to reach the mountain’s height.
“It felt like we were breathing through straws at times,” said Chase Sorenson, 27, describing the affects of the altitude.
The trio climbed with five other climbers and five guides. Two climbers from the group succumbed to altitude sickness and did not make it to the summit.
“We were quite proud of ourselves, being flatlanders and making it to the top and back,” said Charlie.
He was also proud that the three were able to enjoy the adventure together.
“There were a lot of lessons learned during the trip,” said Charlie. “Life lessons like perseverance, trust and working through discomfort to achieve goals.”
They credited preparation for being able to achieve their goals. They started training six months before the trip. Charlie and Chase donned full packs and gear and climbed up and down the 28 floors of the Wachovia Tower on the Southbank. They also took trips to Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia.
“You can get yourself in aerobic shape for the trip, but you can’t prepare for the environment, the altitude or putting on the gear until you get there,” said Charlie.
The Mt. Rainier climb took three days and required traversing several crevasses with ladders set up for this purpose. All this was done while roped to all the members of his team.
“You just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. It would have been real easy to freak out if you focused on how deep the crevasses were that we crossed,” said Chase.
Though the climb didn’t reach the height of 19,500-foot Kilimanjaro, both Sorensons felt it was more difficult due to the varied conditions.
“We learned that you can’t judge difficulty by altitude,” said Charlie. “The snow and ice added to the difficulty.”
Their thoughts differed, though, when they reached the summit.
“I thought, ‘I don’t want to ever do this again,’” said Chase.
They both agreed, though, that the downhill was more difficult than the uphill.
“It was more exhausting going up and more painful going down because you are using muscles that you don’t normally use on a regular basis,” said Chase.
“My legs were like noodles on the way down,” said Charlie.
He was able to bring his tired noodles to the bottom of the mountain and was met by his sons about 100 yards from the bottom. They grabbed his back and helped lighten his load for the home stretch.
“I was really proud of them on this trip,” said Sorenson.
The next adventure has not been planned as the trio is still suffering through some of the after-effects of the excursion.
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