Kings of the Mountain

Photo By Spc. Alisha Hauk | Capt. Graham Ward, recon platoon leader, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st...... read more read more

Photo By Spc. Alisha Hauk | Capt. Graham Ward, recon platoon leader, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, buries a brigade coin at the summit of Mount McKinley, right next to the mile marker, after climbing it shortly before deploying to Iraq.  see less | View Image Page

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.29.2008

Story by Pfc. Alisha Hauk 

14th Public Affairs Detachment

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By Pfc. Alisha Nye
14th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq - He didn't climb Mount McKinley for the thrilling rush of adrenaline through his veins when there was nothing but a 5,000 foot drop on either side of him, or for the sheer adventure of climbing a 20,320 foot mountain, or even to just to have the ability to say that he did it. Capt. Graham Ward climbed the tallest mountain in North America simply to help his best friend, Capt. Keelan McNulty, fulfill a life-long dream.

"I had no desire to climb it before then," said Ward, the recon platoon leader for 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. "I was always envious that he, at least, had the desire to climb it. I never knew where he got that desire from."

The whole thing started while the two were driving around in a car one day.

"He was telling me all his friends canned him," Ward said. "Things came up and they wouldn't be able to do it before we deployed."

That was when Ward started thinking about climbing a mountain for the very first time in his life.

"I told him, 'You know what? It sounds like an awesome challenge and, if you want, I'll be your partner,'" Ward said. "He didn't really believe me at first."

To prove that he was 100 percent committed to training and subsequently climbing the mountain, Ward bought all of the equipment necessary make the ascent.

After three months of strenuous training, the pair started their 17 day, 16,000 foot climb to the summit, but not before getting special permission from their respective battalion commanders as well as the brigade commander.

"The battalion commander thought it'd be cool, I guess, to tell the brigade commander," Ward said. "Keelan went in and saw him and Colonel Thompson said, 'Hey, best of luck and here's a bag of coins,' He gave us 10 brigade coins and told us to take them to the top."

This was just part of the deal.

"The deal was, I had the battalion flag and Keelan had the coins," Ward said. "We brought them all the way to the summit. One of the things people do is leave something at the top. We got the idea because one our buddy's good friends died so he left a laminated picture of her up at the top. So, we brought the coins all the way to the top and took one out and buried it right next to the elevation marker."

Making it to summit is much easier said than done, however.

"I wouldn't say luck has [anything] to do with making the summit," Ward said. "I would say persistence does."

Of about 1,300 people who registered to climb Mount McKinley this year, only about 400 made it to the top.

"It gets pretty mental when you're up there," Ward said. "You have to be really mentally driven."

Of the 400 who did make it, Ward and McNulty were in the top 20 who made it there first.

The numbers aren't important to Ward, however. What is important to him is the mile-marking adventure he had with a good friend.

"If you're at Fort Wainwright, you know Captain Keelan McNulty," Ward said. "The kid's famous. He's the most energetic, free spirited, happy guy you'll ever meet."

These are personality characteristics McNulty chose to share with other climbers on the mountain through the sweet sound of cowbells.

"It ended up being pretty funny," Ward said. "We were just those guys that, everywhere we went, just had cowbells."

Of the groups mirroring Ward and McNulty as the climbed, it was Ward and McNulty themselves that usually woke up first and made the climb to the next elevation goal.

"As we climbed the mountain, we'd beat everybody else up there and, as they'd come up, we'd be there ringing cowbells and cheering," Ward said.

Despite the fact that some of these climbers were from different countries and didn't speak a word of English, Ward said they all seemed to understand. The cowbells and the cheering got everybody involved with one another and motivating one another.

"From the get-go, as we climbed, we were like a big family," Ward said. "Always climbing, always pushing each other up. It also helps because when you're that high and it's that cold, screaming doesn't do anything. But you can hear that cowbell."

After sleeping in one day, Ward and McNulty woke to find that they were the only group left to climb to the next elevation goal and it was everyone else waiting with the motivational cheering.

"Now the whole camp was cheering us on, welcoming us in," Ward said. "It was one of the best feelings."

The feeling from the familial atmosphere Ward and McNulty helped to create with a simple cowbell was one topped only by the feeling of finally making it to the top.

"I was speechless," Ward said. "It ended up being an awesome adventure. From start to finish, it was definitely a mile-marker in my life."

Even though climbing Mount McKinley was the first time Ward has ever seriously climbed, he can't wait to have that kind of adventure again.

"That's the thing about mountaineering," Ward said. "It's your own adventure. No two climbs are ever the same. Just like no two days are ever the same."