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Montana State University professor’s challenge motivates student to change the world, one peak at a time

When Michael Spencer was a freshman, his professor in a Montana State University honors class asked students what they could do to change the world. Spencer decided he would do it one mountain at a time.

Carol Schmidt, MSU News Service

And that’s exactly what Spencer, now a junior from Willow Creek majoring in architecture, will do beginning Wednesday, Aug. 13, when he and his Alpine Challenges for Charity teammates attempt to raise $10,000 for Bozeman’s homeless shelter and soup kitchen by climbing three of the region’s most challenging peaks in three days.

The team of eight climbers begin the mountain-a-day challenge Wednesday on Granite Peak, Montana’s highest mountain at 12,799 feet. They will follow with Mount Cowen, the highest peak in the Absaroka Range at 11,206 ft. on Thursday, and end on Friday with an assault of Grand Teton in Wyoming, a 13,700 ft. mountain.

Among the climbers are MSU students Logan King, a snow science major from Eagan, Minn., Lena Petersen, a nutrition and biochemistry major from Polson, and Joe Wagner, a physics major from Big Timber. Scott Creel, MSU ecology professor and nationally recognized mountain runner, was also scheduled to participate but had to pull out at the last minute. Brandon Smith, a recent graduate from Kalispell, will also participate. The team will be joined by Ross Lynn, a world-class climber and photographer from Off the Grind.

In all, the group will run more than 70 miles and climb and descend more than 40,000 ft. in three days. Spencer said that each individual peak usually takes two or three days to climb, so participants must run in order to climb and descend each in one day. Then they drive to the next mountain to begin again. It’s a physical challenge so interesting and compelling that outdoor aficionados want to participate. And, in order to participate, they must volunteer to raise $1,000 in pledges for the designated charity. So far pledges and donations total over $4,000.

"When people find out what we’re doing they say, ‘That’s awesome. I want to do it with you,’" Spencer said. "It’s definitely an exciting way to raise money."

It’s not the first time Spencer has raised money by climbing for a cause. Last winter Alpine Challenges for Charity raised $25,000 for World Vision’s work in Sudan by climbing eight peaks in Ecuador.

"Our goal was $15,000, but we ended up raising more," Spencer said recently in a rare resting moment.

Spencer said he doesn’t come by fundraising naturally. "This is the first time I have ever tried anything like this, but I had done high school fundraisers that you were required to do."

However, he took seriously a challenge by Michael Miles, director of MSU’s University Honors Program and the teacher of Spencer’s Text and Critics class asking students how they would make a different world.

"I kept thinking about it for a couple of months and came up with this hare-brained idea," said Spencer, who has long been a runner and climber. "I wasn’t sure it would work."

When the Ecuador challenge benefiting the people of Darfur was successful beyond his dreams, he decided to focus on something to benefit Bozeman. As an architecture student, he had been working with Paul Thomas and his efforts to build a facility for Bozeman’s homeless. He’d volunteered working on such things as drywall and landscaping, so it seemed natural that it would be a good recipient of Alpine Challenges for Charity.

"We are two months from a finished building so hopefully we can open when the weather gets cold," Spencer said.

As if raising money and excelling at the demanding architecture and honor curriculums were not enough, Spencer also recently returned from Mongolia where he worked on a project to stimulate the art and culture of a remote area of the country with BioRegions, a non-profit started by MSU professor Cliff Montagne. Spencer said the experience was amazing for "a ranch kid from Willow Creek." He’s also an EMT(emergency medical technician) on the Gallatin County heli-rescue team and Alpine rescue team.

Spencer said his eventual goal is to work in a humanitarian aspect of architecture. And there’s also the physical thing.

"One year I’d love to do Primal Quest," Spencer said of the 500-mile endurance race that was run this year in Park, Gallatin and Madison Counties. "Now, that would really be a challenge."

To learn more about Alpine Challenges for Charity, and how to contribute, go to: http://alpinechallenges.blogspot.com/

Michael Spencer (406) 580 0890 or email [email protected]

http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=6111

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