Lancer to get look at world’s highest peak on trek to Everest Base Camp

Sarah Hubbard (left) on a training hike at Silverthorne in Colorado with friend Lauren Parker last week.

2000 SM East graduate Sarah Hubbard is a serious outdoors enthusiast. So much so, in fact, that she makes her living doing public relations for outdoor lifestyle brands at Backbone Media in Denver. And her work with a Backbone client has opened the door to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: trekking to the camp from which the world’s top mountain climbers launch their assaults on Mt. Everest, the highest point in the world.

Hubbard leaves for Nepal this Sunday to accompany Melissa Arnot, a mountain guide for Eddie Bauer and the current record holder for female summits of Everest, as she attempts her fifth successful climb.

“[Arnot] decided that she wanted to invite her new husband and some friends to walk her there to experience this other side of her life,” Hubbard said. “[Visiting Everest] has always been on my life list. I used to have a Nepalese national flag in my room as a kid and my brother and I always watched mountaineering and climbing films about Everest and Sir Edmund Hillary.”

The group will spend ten days trekking from Lukla, Nepal, to Everest Base Camp, which sits at a humbling 17,598 feet — 3,093 feet higher than the highest point in the contiguous United States. Hubbard says she’s conquered several 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado, but this trip will represent a series of new challenges. Still, she says she couldn’t be more thrilled by the opportunity.

Her mother, on the other hand, has her worries – though she’s taken some precautions on her daughter’s behalf.

“My strand of Tibetan prayer flags is hanging on our mantel along with some Episcopalian prayer beads so I think we’ve got her safety covered,” said Susan Hubbard, Sarah’s mother, who lives in Prairie Village.

Hubbard said she anticipates being at base camp for three or four days until the sherpas pick an “auspicious day” for Arnot to start her climb. Then the team will head back to Lukla while Arnot makes her ascent. Hubbard is scheduled to return to the United States April 15.