Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 • Local mountaineer hopes her bucket list will inspire others
Debbie Marsino’s displayed her patriotism when she unfurled the American Flag on the summit of the Middle Palisade on the Fourth of July.OK, just for a moment imagine you’re a woman celebrating your 50th birthday. And then to mark the occasion, you decide it’s time to create a phenomenal and spectacular bucket list. What experience would be the very first you’d want to enjoy before your time’s up?
Well, there are probably as many different answers as there are readers, but Susanville dental hygienist Debbie Marsino found an easy answer to that question when her 50th birthday came around last year — the first goal on her bucket list would be to climb each of the 15 peaks higher than 14,000 feet in the state of California.
“When I turned 50, I decided to start a bucket list,” Marsino said. “I would like to inspire others that you are never too old or too young to get out and do things you’ve never done or things you’ve always wanted to do. I have been a technical rock climber since I was 18, but I have never done any alpine climbing. So, I decided the first thing on my bucket list would be to climb all the 14,000-foot peaks in California.”
Alpine climbing — which perhaps has its roots in the Alps and Himalaya — can be defined as climbing mountains in the alpine zone higher than 10,000 feet, Marsino said.
Debbie Marsino, left, and climbing partners Steve Firebaugh, of Gardnerville, and Logan Negherbon, of Weaverville, celebrate the conquest of Mount Shasta, Marsino’s first 14,000-foot peak.“I have done some very intense climbing on some of them with severe exposure,” Marino said. “Last summer, I completed four of the 14,000-foot peaks, and this summer I have climbed eight of the 14,000-foot peaks with only three left to go.”
Marsino began her bucket list with nearby Mount Shasta.
“My first climb was Mount Shasta in a day,” Marsino said. “It was a 12-hour day from the car to summit and back. It involved using my newly purchased ice axe and crampons. I had never used this kind of gear, so it was fun to learn. I also experienced glissading down the mountain after reaching the summit.”
Marsino’s quest then took her from the Cascades to the highest portions of the lofty Sierra mountain range.
“My second climb was up a class 4 route on Middle Palisade, which summited along a knife edge ridge with a 2,000-foot drop on either side,” Marsino said. “I decided to summit on the Fourth of July and hang our American flag on the summit. That was a 14-hour one-day climb from car to summit and back to the car.”
Finishing up last year’s conquests, Marsino knocked off Split Mountain and White Mountain.
This summer, Marsino returned to her bucket list goal with an ambitious first expedition.
Debbie Marsino poses beneath the imposing Palisade Traverse. She said she heard rock falls and shifts in the glacier all night long the night before the climb. She believes she may be the only woman to have ever completed the difficult and dangerous traverse that includes four of the highest peaks in the state of California.“My daughter Andrea Davis and I did a 75-mile backpacking trip up the High Sierra Trail,” Marsino said. “I ended the trip by climbing four 14,000-foot peaks in a day. My daughter and I both climbed Mount Muir (her daughter’s first 14er) and then Mount Whitney. Mount Russell is not far from Mount Whitney, so I decided I could down climb the north face of Whitney, which would be difficult finding and climbing the route, and then climb up the south chute of Mount Russell. After reaching the summit of Mount Russell, I would have to down climb the class 5 route and climb back up the north face of Whitney, where my daughter would be waiting for me.”
Only three of those climbs would count on her bucket list as she climbed Mount Whitney twice in a single day.
As one might imagine, watching one’s mother scamper off alone from the decomposed granite summit of the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states to scale a neighboring mountain might cause a little trepidation.
“She watched nervously as her mom climbed, unsure of how it would go or if I would make it back up Mount Whitney’s north face before dark,” Marsino said. “We had no headlamps and very little food and water because we weren’t planning on this side trip. She gave me all the water we had left, and I headed off. When I reached the summit of Mount Russell I looked over to Mount Whitney happy to see her waving her arms as wide as they could spread at me, and I did the same to her … We were both excited to see each other when I came back into view climbing up the last bit of Whitney. She had been my inspiration the whole way when I wasn’t sure if I could make it. I heard her voice in my head encouraging me saying ‘You got this, momma.’”
Debbie Marsino snaps a selfie just below the summit of Mount Russell (that’s Mount Whitney in the background). Marsino and her daughter climbed Mount Muir and then Mount Whitney — the highest peak in the contiguous 48-states. Marsino then solo climbed down Whitney’s north face, up the south chute to the summit of Mount Russell and back to the summit of Mount Whitney again, knocking off three 14,000-foot peaks in a single day (four assents because she climbed Mount Whitney twice).Arriving back at the top of Mount Whitney about 7:30 p.m., Marsino and her daughter ran down from the summit and picked up their backpacks below Mount Muir just before dark.
But Marsino’s biggest and deadliest bucket list challenge remained in front her.
“Two weeks later, my climbing partner and I climbed the Palisade Traverse, which is extremely difficult and not many complete it,” Marsino said. “It involves climbing five 14,000-foot peaks in one day (Thunderbolt Mountain, Starlight Peak, North Palisade, Polemonium Peak and Mount Sill). Many climbers fail at this traverse due to route finding and the technical skill level for climbing it. It involves glacier travel and class 5 technical rock climbing with more than 2,000 feet of unprotected exposure. We call this the ‘no-fall zone’ because a fall (here) is fatal. The rock fall was a very serious problem, and we could hear the thunder of rocks falling off the mountains we were climbing all day and night.”
But falling rocks, tricky routes and a no-fall zone weren’t the only dangers.
“The glacier was also very unstable while traveling across the many sinkholes and crevasses,” Marsino said. “Thankfully, after 18-1/2 hours my partner and I made it back to base camp alive and well at 1:30 a.m. It was probably the most dangerous climbing I have ever done, and I wasn’t sure if we would make it down and across the glacier in the dark with headlamps. I was praying massively. We were ecstatic to have accomplished such a difficult climbing feat, and as far as I know, from all the summit posts and trip reports, I am the only woman to have ever accomplished it. I am still trying to find out how to confirm this.”
But, believe it or not, this may not be Marino’s only accomplishment as she completes her bucket list.
“I am excited to finish my last three 14ers, and hope to complete them before the end of this year if time (and weather) permits,” Marsino said. “I believe I will be the oldest woman to have climbed all 15 14ers in California.”
Climbing runs in the family, and Marsino’s sons Nick and Zack Davis are featured in the cover story on rock climbing in Lassen County in this year’s Visitor’s Guide published by the Lassen County Times.
There are 15 peaks higher than 14,000 feet in the state of California. Debbie Marsino, a Susanville climber, has scaled 12 of the 15 peaks, and with a little help from the weather, she may conquer the final three before the winter arrives.
In the record book
Mount Whitney — 14,505
White Mountain Peak — 14,279
North Palisade — 14,242
Starlight Peak — 14,200
Mount Shasta — 14,179
Mount Sill — 14,159
Mount Russell — 14,094
Polemonium Peak — 14,080
Mount Muir — 14,019
Middle Palisade — 14,018
Split Mountain — 14,018
Thunderbolt Mountain — 14,003
Yet to be climbed
Mount Williamson — 14,379
Mount Tyndall — 14,025
Mount Langley — 14,027
