Laura Evans giving a thumb's up. Photo: Dave Hahn

Thinking that people have way too many reasons to climb as it is, I've never really been all that big on climbing for a cause. Mountains don't care about causes. Why raise the stakes and the danger by upping the emotional ante for tagging the top? What will dying do for your cause? How will the mere failure that climbers deal with so regularly be handled by those also seeking hope, inspiration, cures and answers from mountains. Climb it because your Grandpa did? Climb for the poor? For the sick? What's wrong with climbing just for the hell of it?!?

But I come at it all from a guiding angle, which, I have to remember, involves more paranoia and cynicism than is generally socially acceptable. Most people, and even a fair number of guides, leave a little room in their lives for inspiration. I should. But you would need to remember that over the years I've seen about a gazillion scams and schemes in high and weird places designed to gain publicity, money, a partner's lunch, a piggyback ride... you name it.

So when, back in 1996, I met Laura Evans with the rest of the team I hoped to guide up Denali, I was a little suspicious. Hadn't Laura just done that massively publicized Expedition Inspiration down on Aconcagua? Well, yes, she said, that had been the point... raise money and awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Which I know is a good thing, but back in my twisted little brain stem, I was thinking "Cancer killed my mom when I was a kid... I don't want to think about that... why do we have to be any more aware of something so bad?"

Harboring my little concerns and suspicions, I looked around for cameras and reporters intruding on our little band of McKinley-bound climbers... not one to be seen. Laura seemed to be just climbing for the hell of it, which I liked — so much that during that climb I forgot all about her being a cancer survivor. She was strong, she had a good sense of humor, she got along well with everybody. All I really needed to know about her was right there.