Moments Worth Capturing: A Three Generation Adventure on Mt. Whitney

For those of us who truly love the outdoors we chase those special moments in our lives that only exist for fleeting instants in time. Those experiences that more often than not, are once in a lifetime, and which we will likely never have the opportunity to experience again. I have been thinking a lot about these moments lately as I explore Backcountry's #GOATworthy moments movement. 

These moments are our "Greatest Of All Time" experiences that inspire us, motivate us and so much more. They are the instances we devote much of our lives to chasing, because they come to mean so much to us. More often than not, these moments encompass our passion, our purpose, who we are and why we adventure.

My #GOATworthy moment is one that I strived for, fought tirelessly for and that has come to mean far more as I look back on it than I could have imagined when it happened. While I understood that it was one of the greatest moments of my life at the time, now it just means so much more. I suppose that’s why hindsight is 20-20. This instance was a culmination of why I love the outdoors, exploring in it and going on adventures every chance I get with those I love. It’s moments like these that I think are worth capturing and that we value for a lifetime.

This greatest of all time moment of mine occurred at the highest point in the continental United States on Mt. Whitney. After hiking the summit, on the way down my companions and I stopped on a granite overlook that looks down across the valleys that rise upward toward Whitney’s summit. There, we decided to take a group picture to commemorate this grand adventure. This picture would come to represent not only the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life, but so much more.

I fought for every step on the way up to Mt. Whitney, as we all did. Many times I thought I should just turn back and save myself the physical terror - though I know I was not alone in this sentiment. We all kept fighting, kept putting one foot in front of the other and made it by sheer will. "Fight. Grind. Repeat." became my mantra after that trip, because I knew that after doing that, I could accomplish anything if I persevered and kept moving forward.

While this picture immortalized that struggle, which we all had overcome, it also illustrated that this was a grand adventure like none other. I was able to share this experience with not one, not two, but three generations of my family. Accompanying me on this trip was my father, my Aunt on my father’s side, her husband and my grandfather on my dad’s side. Three generations of Algeyers embarked on this ambitious and magnificent exploit as a family. We shared every moment of this awesome journey with one another through the joy, pain and much more. That opportunity to all be together came to mean more to all of us than I think we could put into words. As we looked at each other in that moment, before my grandfather took this picture, only the looks on our faces and the glints in our eyes could express toward one another how special this moment was. It was an experience and feeling that words do not do justice to. This was my #GOATworthy moment. One that I will always treasure, never forget and was worth capturing.

What is your #GOATworthy moment? Don't have one? Grab your gear, it's adventure time.