1990 Honorary Member Profile : Chris Kopczynski

It all began when a 16-year-old Lewis and Clark sophomore was with his family in the Canadian Rockies. "The fog cleared and I could see the peaks. I was hooked! I wanted to climb up there!" So recalls Chris Kopczynski as he looks back over Makalu, Everest, Peak Lenin, McKinley, Aconcagua, the Eiger, Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro, Chephron, 51 times up on Rainier, more than 35 times on Chimney Rock.

Back in Spokane, Chris' dad said, "You'd better get instruction from the right people." He phoned Bill Boulton, who recommended a Club slide show. Joe Collins' photos "hooked" Chris even more, and he enrolled in the 1965 Mountain School.

Twenty-five years later, he was on a banquet stage as the Spokane Mountaineers marked its 75th anniversary by giving special honorary memberships for outstanding contributions to international mountaineering to four treasured members and ardent climbing friends: Chris, John Roskelley, Jim States, and, posthumously, Kim Momb.

Another sophomore was in the '65 school: John. After several sessions, they met. "I'm taking this sport seriously and want to do a lot of mountains," Chris said. He had his driver's license, and a long climbing friendship began. A scrapbook is sprinkled with drawings of the KOP-ROSK EXPEDITIONARY FORCES emblem. He placed that emblem, with an added SINCE 1965, on Everest's summit in 1981, after vainly searching for a glimpse of John and Kim's East Face party-there had been an oh-so-faint hope of a summit meeting.

From Chris' "first rappel" (Rocks of Sharon), "first step-kicking" (after a St. Regis Basin "sodden, sleepless night"), and "first summit" (Stevens Peak, in "worse weather"), his scrapbook and past Kinnikinnicks show how "hooked" he was! With the Club, with John, with others, his boot prints were on Valhalla, Hood, Rainier, Baker, Chimney Rock, Index, Shuksan, Whitewater Basin, Ojibway, Liberty Bell, etc., etc. "We signed 20 different summit registers during '67 alone."

Some early adventures. The 1966 KOP-ROSK first ascents: Mt. Thor (9673 feet) in British Columbia's Monashee's with two Kootenay Mountaineers. "We built a 5-foot cairn!" And the Valhallas' Wolves' Ear (9100 feet). Labor Day 1966 when, lost in the fog 200 feet from the summit of Index' north peak, they headed home via the Cockscomb on Baker and Disappointment Cleaver on Rainier. Chopping the snow and ice out of holds in a winter ascent on Chimney Rock. Camping overnight in an early 1967 winter blizzard on Hood's summit ridge. An incredible 18-hour second ascent on Chephron's east face.

Chris set goals early. "In 1966, I carved 'Everest' and 'Eiger" on my ice axe shaft." Today, the 1974 first U.S. team ascent of the Eiger's North Face with John is one of his three most memorable climbs. "Four days on the mountain, and 18-24 inches of new snow." It wasn't even planned. He had 7 days left on his airline ticket after topping Peak Lenin (23,405 feet) in the Pamirs with the first American climbing expedition allowed into the Soviet Union. Five years before, after his Matterhorn ascent, he had climbed up the Eiger's west buttress to look at the north face. "It scared the dickens out of me."

Chris terms the first U.S. ascent of fifth-highest Makalu (27,790 feet) in 1981 "the peak experience of my life!" Chris, John, Jim, and Kim were the first four-man team to do anything like it. They put John on the summit and Chris and Jim within 5,000 feet. "We set a standard for that type of climb: no Sherpa support, no oxygen, a shoestring budget." (Of the less than $30,000 total, including equipment, Chris' wife, Sharon, raised $15,000 in Spokane.)

Chris applied for Everest via hospital bed phone while recovering from intestinal parasites after Makalu. He started the 175-mile trek to base with the American Medical Research Expedition on August 7th. His diary reads:

"October 21, 1981. Climbed Mt. Everest with Sundare Sherpa...I have never had such a glorious and dramatic summit day. The extreme cold and chilling wind only seemed to enhance my feeling. Looking west rose the most spectacular summit of them all-Makalu...emotions were cast aside. My only thoughts were, 'Thank god. The job's done.'"

Using the southeast ridge, Chris was the first Spokanite and 9th American to top the world at 29,028 feet. He had survived 51 days above 18,000 feet, near-misses from avalanches, crushed tents, storms, wind, precarious snow on the Hillary Step, and the shock of coming upon the body of a dead climber from 1979.

Chris' training log shows meticulous determination. Studies of previous climbers' times, weight calculations, and time records on runs up Tower Mountain, Mt. Spokane, and other peaks convinced Chris he needed a speed of 278 feet per hour on the final push. The reality? "I was so psyched up, I ended up going twice as fast."

After Everest, Chris read about two men doing the seven highest peaks on the seven continents. "It seemed like a realistic goal." He'd done McKinley twice (20,300 feet) and Everest. Five remained.

Mt. Vinson (16,800 feet), Antarctica, 1988. "By far the riskiest...most logistically challenging...and costly." The 13-hour, 2,500-mile flight from South America cost $15,000 and was in an unpressurized DC-4 with huge tires for the ice landing. A big question was whether "some of the world's worst weather" would clear. "We were lucky," Chris says, noting the plane has crashed since. "I teamed up with two Chinese...and climbed the wrong peak. I couldn't convince them until we got the altimeter out. The only reason I made the top was that I had cookies and they had tea." It took 22 hours and the temperatures were never warmer than -32.

Aconcagua (22,834 feet), Argentina, 1989. The second try. "I hit the wall 300 feet from the summit. It took 3 more hours....I practically crawled...an emotional highlight."

Elbrus (18,465 feet), Europe, 1989.

Kosiesko (Kosciusko) (7,316 feet), Australia, 1991. With son Jon, he summited on January 1st. "It was neat. Like climbing Mt. Spokane."

Kilimanjaro (19,321 feet), Africa, 1991. There he first experienced the surreal "Specter of the Brocken" on the summit. "Dave [Coombs] screamed, and there was our shadow cast with a rainbow."

President in 1973-74 and Trustee both before then and now, Chris has never been far from the Club. Kinnikinnicks are scattered with his trip write-ups and photos. He has found co-chairing and instructing in Mountain School exciting and rewarding. He's been presenting slides and introductions and led last year's Graduation Climb of Athabasca. "I want to try to pay back to the Club what its done for my life," he explains. "I've met a lot of great people, people who guided me through the early years."

Chris received his bachelor's degree from Washington State University studying architectural engineering and construction management. He squeezed in championship varsity wrestling, too. After a brief insulation crew stint, he spent 2 years drafting for a local architect. Then it was back to his dad's construction company. Now head of Kop Construction, Chris doesn't hesitate about his 5- to 10-year focus: To build an excellent company. "I have a good team. I want to provide them with a healthy lifestyle." He enjoys construction. "I think of myself as aggressive, a people person who loves to compete."

A strong note of family runs concurrent with his exploits. "Raising two kids is the most challenging thing I've ever done," he says. Daughter Jae is 25, son Jon 18 (he led Jon's Boy Scout troop up Mt. Rainier last year).

He loves skiing. And, "Those thousands of slides need work." He's aiming for a seven summits show at the Met, excited by the successes of shows following Everest in 1981 and his East Face attempt in 1983. "I want to travel to the ancient cities," he says. Chris is a history buff, as well as an ardent student of the lives and thoughts of great explorers.

What next in the mountains? "I'm keeping my cards close to my chest. I'd like to get back to China." Mountaineering is a huge part of his life. "It's a big deal, what's it's done for me, the horizons it's opened up. I got off on the right foot- with the Spokane Mountaineers."

Lorna Ream