A former Becker resident and his son last month had an experience that few people on the planet can top. Literally. Nathan France and his son, Tyler (former Becker graduate) participated in the Heroes Climb event over the Fourth of July and scaled mountains in the Himalayas no man has set foot upon.
The ambitious mountain climbing attempt was spearheaded by New York times best selling author, Vince Poscente (Dallas, TX) and included 15 volunteer climbers and around 70 support staff. The idea was to climb these never-attempted-peaks and consequently name the peaks after two heroes nominated by people from all around the nation.
Of the nominations, two emerged as the top vote getters and they included David Maish and Hana France (Nathan’s sister’s adopted daughter). Maish, a Kentucky resident who suffered a sports injury at the age of 17 that left him a quadriplegic, diagnosed with untreatable liver cancer and has ALS.
Hana is partially deaf, and her hands and arms are deformed. She was adopted from South Korea at the age of three and is diminutive in size. In spite of all of this Hana has thrived.
Nathan, 40, and Tyler , 21, began their training for the climb 18 months prior to the trip. They spent two hours a day, seven days a week at the gym or in an outdoor setting where they could physically build up their bodies and stamina. They also had to build up callouses both on their feet and their hands to be able to endure the skin torture they were about to face.
“Vince (Poscente) was instructing us and we had specialty training in the Boundary Waters are and in the Rockies,”
said Nathan. “Poscente, 52, was a downhill speed skiing Olympic athlete.”
The actual trip out to Nepal was for four weeks with one week at the beginning allowed for adjustment to the time and altitude changes. They flew into Dullu and took a Jeep into the wilderness until the road ended. From there, they set out on foot.
“This was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said Nathan. “There was risk of injury every single day and what we carried in, we carried out.”
Of the 15 climbers signed up, only three finished the climb and those included Nathan, Tyler and Vince. The others had to be disqualified medically or physically.
“Once we went in, there was no ‘getting rescued’ part of the plan,” Nathan said. “There was no helicopter rescue or four-wheel drive to come and get you. If you were unable to continue, you had to turn around and head out on your own.”
Not really on your own, Nathan later described. Some of the support staff would accompany the departers as they had to toil over the same terrain that got them there — only in a less than healthier situation.
Two of the mountain peaks Nathan, Tyler and Vince scaled had never had human hands touch them before. One of the peaks, at 14,800 feet was named Hana Peak (pronounced Hahna) after the runner up to the Heroes Climb nomination, Hana France. Tyler Nathan and Vince made the summit at 10 a.m. July 4.
The other peak they ascended was nearly 17,000 feet above sea level and the threesome named it Mount Maish in honor of the man who captured the most votes on the Heroes Climb website.
One of the main reasons the France father-and-son team took on this challenge was their prodigious passion for feeding the world’s children. Nathan and his family are involved with MannaRelief.org, an organization that has to date fed around 1.2 million malnourished children worldwide.
“The idea behind the heroes climb trek is to honor people who do good when no one is looking,” said Nathan. “Those are the kinds of people you’ll find in David and Hana.”
It took Nathan “about three weeks” to start feeling better after he and his son returned to the United States after the climb.
“Tyler suffered from altitude sickness,” said Nathan. “But it was all worth it. We would turn around and do this again for this worthy cause.”
Nathan, a self-titled social entrepreneur and his wife, Jennifer have two other children in Matt (20) and Rose (17). Today, they live in Wayzata.
