JULY | AUGUST 2017
Almond Facts
23
Almond Facts
caught up with Kent Stenderup and his son, John, after returning from Everest Base Camp. They
share their own thoughts about this experience and what it meant to witness each other’s accomplishments.
A Father/Son
Camping Trip
of a Lifetime
It was the father/son camping trip of
a lifetime. I was honored to trek with
John’s expedition team to Everest Base
Camp, 38 miles. During the time on the
trail the guides and climbers shared
their successes, failures and fears. Their
humility was impressive.
My prep for the trip was minimal
compared to John’s regime. John
mentioned that he wanted to be
physically conditioned to the point
that if the guides or Sherpas needed
assistance, they would call on him. This
later proved true on Everest summit day.
During my 3-day descent of the Khumbu
valley on my way to Lukla airport and
Kathmandu, I recalled my selfish desire
for John to play college football had now
been overwhelmed by an accomplishment
so very few have attained. Summitting
both Everest and Lhotse in 48 hours has
been done by only 400 climbers. This
would not have been possible without
the support and love of John’s mother
Patty and sister Julie. Along with all other
family members and friends.
- Kent
We Did
It Together
While sharing this experience with him
was truly the adventure of a lifetime, the
journey began seven years ago when
he first invited me on one of his long
hikes. As time passed, the peaks became
taller and I found my passion for the
mountains, one that we shared. We had
success and we had failures but even in
the times of defeat, we had one another.
We learned from our mistakes and never
finished a hike without already having
our next objective in mind. Everest
was one of those objectives that was
mentioned more frequently as the years
and mountains flew by.
My father cheered me on through
each climb and when the time came
to climb Mount Everest, we knew that
we would be going together. It was
an exclamation point on what we had
achieved together but neither of us
could have ever assumed that it would
be so profound. Every day that we hiked
higher, we found more appreciation for
the effort that we had put into reaching
this point, but more importantly, the
relationship that we had built. Each
hike brought my dad to a new personal
elevation record and each time, I felt
the pride that a father would have for a
son, as if the roles had been reversed.
The afternoon that we reached the
summit of Kala Pattar, just outside
of Everest Basecamp, I was able to
witness the grit and determination that
he had instilled in me as he reached
18,600’. It was one of the proudest
moments of my life.
I have trouble finding the words that
would do justice to the experience of a
son having the opportunity to share in
the adventure of climbing Mount Everest
with his father. Make no mistake, my
father was with me every step of the
way, whether it be physically or in spirit.
Every challenge that I faced high on the
mountain, I remembered the obstacles
that we had overcome and knew that he
had prepared me to face them on this
mountain. I couldn’t and wouldn’t have
done it without him.
We did it together.
- John
