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  Home Page » Features » Outdoors » Climbers Legacy

Climber's legacy

Greg Walker recalled in fundraising effort

by Gregory Moore
Herald Outdoors Editor Over ten years ago, Greg Walker left Durango to climb Mexico's highest mountain.

He didn't come home.

The 24-year old Walker, trailing his climbing partner as they neared the summit of 18,490-foot Pico de Orizaba in late February, 1998, became disoriented and wandered off the established trail. His body was not found until April.

Time provided some answers to the questions posed by family and friends:
Walker's erratic behavior on the mountain indicated he may have been suffering from altitude sickness, which explains why he may have become disoriented and incapable of returning to camp.

When recovered, his body showed signs of trauma consistent with a fall.

But for most who knew him, a decade has not dimmed the memory of his unique spirit in the least.

"Greg was special. He bridged every group; he made friends in every circle," said Shane Nelson, who has returned to Durango with a mission inspired by his lost friend. "I don't know quite how to say it, but he was a bright light. And you were better when he was around."

Nelson, a former Outward Bound instructor who currently works with Bay Area Wilderness Training in California, has organized a "Climbing for Kids" fundraising event in Walker's memory. The event will be held on Sunday at Lady Falconburgh's Barley Exchange, where Walker worked as a kitchen manager before his trip to Mexico.

"This community has been incredible," said Nelson, who has been taking fundraising pledges and seeking donations for the silent auction component of the event.

"All up and down Main Street, everyone is just yes, yes, yes, we want to help with dollars or donations."

Nelson is trying to raise at least $18,490 - a dollar for each foot of Orizaba's altitude above sea level - and will use the money for a memorial scholarship to benefit wilderness programs for at-risk students in inner-city urban environments.

"Previously, I guided these trips for high school students in Southern California, in Compton and in Beverly Hills," he said. "On the same day, I could go from a high school that looked like a beautiful small college campus to a lock-down facility where I was getting checked for weapons at the door. And it was obvious that those kids in Compton were getting the shaft. But when we would get those kids out in the wilderness, they would just shine."

Nelson has more than 10 years experience in leading trips for underprivileged youth. And he says the changes wrought by three days out in nature "are almost beyond comprehension."

"The violence these children are subjected to - the peril of simply walking to school, the mandatory gang alliances, the complete lack of resources in their schools - creates an almost insurmountable challenge for them to ever feel safe enough to reach for their potential," he said. "But these programs work. The kids are so grateful; they're getting three meals a day and they're not getting shot at. I've seen the toughest boys and girls, crying at the end of a weekend in the forest or covered in sand from their first ocean experience, saying this is the happiest they have ever felt."

After the Durango fundraiser, and a similar event to be held in San Francisco, Nelson will head to Mexico with his climbing partner Kristy Graves to climb Orizaba and repair a memorial to Walker that was erected at the summit after his death.

The memorial on the mountain is a lasting link to another fundraising effort, one held in Durango after Walker's disappearance. That effort, also held at Lady Falconburgh's, raised over $16,000 to help defray costs of the search effort and other expenses incurred by Walker's family. In turn, the Walkers donated the majority of the money to improve search and rescue efforts in the Orizaba region, and to educate climbers on the mountain about the risks of acute altitude sickness.

"We always felt that the money wasn't raised for us," said Glen Walker of Ignacio, Greg's father. "We spent part of it building a sign in the (base camp) hut warning of altitude sickness, and we heard from one person who read that sign and decided not to climb."

As for small-town local residents making the link between far-flung Pico de Orizaba, the San Francisco Bay Area and Durango, Nelson points out that his project in the embodiment of the "think globally, act locally" mantra.

"In Durango, we live in a bubble, a beautiful bubble. And we choose to live here," he said. "But here is a local boy that everyone remembers, and a chance for the community to rally around him to give somebody else a chance to get outdoors and experience the same things in nature he loved so much.

"Wilderness, places like we have all around Durango, they make for good people. And that's why I've dedicated myself to getting these inner-city kids out there."

Glen Walker says Nelson's efforts have his family's approval.

"If Shane is able to raise any money to help the kids, then we're all for that," he said, adding that he will attend the fundraiser on Sunday. "For us, it's been quite a long experience, and I guess it's one that's never really finished. We're going to attend. It's good to know that so many people remember Greg."

The Climbing for Kids fundraiser will run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m Sunday at Lady Falconburgh's in Durango.The event will feature $2 beer from Ska Brewing and Carver's, live music, gifts and a silent auction. The event is free, but donations are suggested at
the door.