MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter / Spring 2018

46 MLCM WINTER/SPRING 2018 Moment of Clarity FromMount Logan to the Spearhead Traverse, a Local Teen Discovers Her Perfect Place l A D I E S F I R S T words :: Lisa Richardson Name a significant peak in the region—Mount Baker, Mount Currie, Mount Garibaldi, Mount Sloan, Wedge Mountain, Mount Matier, Mount Marriott, Mount Slaylok, Whirlwind Peak, Mount Benvolio, Joffre Peak, Overlord Mountain—Naomi Prohaska, aged 16, has stood on top of it. And on May 23, 2017, after two years of local expeditions to learn the craft of mountaineering, then-15-year-old Prohaska ducked out of a semester of classes at Pemberton High, flew north, and climbed her way into history books by topping out on Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak. The expedition didn’t happen on a whim. Spring break two years previous had seen Naomi binge-watching videos of rock- climbing’s most talented she-phenoms, including Ashima Shiraishi, who at age 14, had climbed the hardest boulder problem of any woman in the world. It was proof to Prohaska that even though she’d never done “any hard stuff,” she wasn’t too young to be shooting high. After watching Will Gadd, Julie Angus, Darcy Turenne and Suz Graham at a Mountain Life Multiplicity adventure talk in Whistler, then 13-year-old Naomi began to conceive her own grand adventure. “All the people who were there were always out in the mountains doing cool stuff.” She set her sights on becoming the youngest person to summit Mount Logan, a 5,959-metre summit in the Saint Elias Mountains and the second highest peak in North America (only Denali looms higher). Mount Logan also happened to be a backyard beat for her dad, ACMG (Association of Canadian Mountain Guides) guide, Rich Prohaska. At the time, however, Naomi had never even ventured out of bounds on her home ski hill. So, the 13-year-old and her father boot-packed into the backcountry off Whistler Mountain. Then they ski-toured Flute, learning and testing out some of the equipment she’d need in the big mountains. Noticing that Naomi grew more enthusiastic with each adventure, Rich took her on the Spearhead Traverse, Whistler’s infamous 35-kilometre high alpine route that’s often called “The Haute Route of the Northwest.” Naomi was totally in her element—she had discovered her perfect place. But she was still a long way from being ready. If she were to attempt Logan with her father as guide, he would treat her the same as any other client. There are no free rides that high above sea level: Naomi would have to get there under her own steam. Her parents sketched out a list of objectives for her to do over the next two years in order to be ready, signed her up for an Avalanche Skills Training Level 1 course, and handed her the book Surviving Logan by Erik Bjarnason; so she’d know how badly things can go wrong. It’s no spoiler to say that nothing went wrong. Prohaska’s summit made headlines across the country, and her name has been added to Wikipedia under Mount Logan’s notable ascents. The bigger revelation is that becoming “the youngest on Canada’s top” didn’t change her “I think differently in the wilderness. I dream more, I smile more, I feel alive." INSET Top of Canada. Naomi (RIGHT) and her dad on the summit of Mt. Logan. HOLLY WALKER BACKGROUND Views of Mt. St. Elias. RICH PROHASKA