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by Stephen Parezo

Allen Grow, a business advisor in Fiducial’s Newberg, OR, office, takes a breather before continuing his trek up Mount Hood. Despite trying conditions, he and his fellow experienced hikers recently ascended 30 miles up the state’s tallest mountain.

October 9, 2006—Challenges come in many forms. For Fiducial business advisor Allen Grow, it was attempting a 40-mile trek up Mount Hood, the tallest mountain in Oregon with an elevation of 11,237 feet, that’s located 45 miles east-southeast of Portland.

Grow, a native Oregonian who works in Fiducial’s Newberg office, set out on a recent climb with three other experienced hikers but the journey had to be cut short. Despite the consequences, the remaining members of his team made foolish mistakes and came perilously close to freezing.

On the first day of the journey, there was no rain but it was foggy on day two and the temperature started to drop. It continued raining throughout the day which led to problems for the backpackers whom Grow says, “should have known better.”

According to Grow, there’s an axiom among hikers that goes “cotton kills” because if you wear cotton clothing at that altitude “it will kill you.”

“It keeps water close to the body which drops the core temperature,” he said. “Synthetics like rayon or nylon will keep the water away from the body.”

Fortunately, the group was prepared for emergencies. Having brought along Ham Radio equipment and a Global Positioning System satellite navigation device, they were able to contact a search and rescue unit that led them to an emergency shelter where they started a fire and began warming up to prevent hypothermia.

No second chances

 One of his fellow backpackers, he says, “didn’t realize how close he came [to dying].”

Grow, meanwhile, stayed perfectly warm since he had dressed for the conditions by wearing synthetic clothing. After this misadventure, the quartet decided to call it a day after finishing about 30 miles of the climb.

Under these challenging conditions, Grow knows that you usually don’t get second chances. Having the right clothing and equipment can make all the difference between having a successful ascent and averting disaster. Everything starts, however, by putting your kit together just right.

“The trick to backpacking is maintaining center mass as low as possible or you’ll lose your ability to balance as well,” he said. “You need to have most of the pressure at the hip or lower.”

Of course, no mountain trek would be complete without having ample rations to keep them going. Most of the food was of the dehydrated variety such as chicken or beef stew, similar to the Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) served in the U.S. military. They added water to the mix their meals from nearby streams through a portable filtration system.

“The snow water was very pure,” he said.

Powering up

The hikers also brought a supply of gorp, a type of trail mix or snack food commonly used in outdoor recreational activities that usually consists of a mixture of nuts and dried fruits such as raisins or cranberries, even M&Ms, chocolate or yogurt chips.

“We ate a good breakfast and dinner and snacked throughout the day,” Grow said. “The gorp candy bars provided energy.”

Though the foursome did not complete their goal they did make it three-quarters of the distance and, considering the trying conditions, that’s an accomplishment in itself.

“By far and away you have to prepare for every eventually,” he said. “Just don’t think the weather is going to be nice just because it was nice when you left.”

But the accomplishment goes beyond traversing up a mountain. By following through as a team member when the going got rough, Grow further demonstrated to his small business clients that their Fiducial representative is fully capable of helping them deal with all sorts of situations that could come their way.

“Not only is this a great story but you’ve got to be prepared for these kind of things,” he added.

Having trained for the trek by riding his stationary bike, Grow says he’s not sure where his next adventure will take place. As for future journeys, he plans to hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail that stretches from Canada down into Southern California.

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

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