An Inspiring Rainier Story

June 23, 2016

Our ultimate goal at IMG is to ensure that our clients have the best (and safest) experience possible, regardless of who they are, how long they’ve been climbing, or whether or not they reach the summit. So, we were thrilled to receive an email on Tuesday from one of our clients, Dawn Tanner, to tell us how impressed she was with IMG. About two weeks ago, Dawn and her husband, Jordan, climbed with us on Rainier. Although she didn’t make it to the summit, she was an exceptional client with an amazing story, which she graciously allowed us to share here on our blog. Here’s Dawn:

It’s been a couple weeks since Jordan and my Mt. Rainier climb and I continue to reflect on just how great of an experience we had, how amazing our group (specifically our guides) was and how very glad we are that we chose to climb with IMG.

I wanted to share with you a little more about why this climb was so special to me.  I was 9 years old when I was diagnosed with leukemia. I completed a 2 1/2 year long protocol of chemotherapy successfully and was off treatment for aprox. 10 months when the cancer returned.  My relapse was much harder to treat, I developed secondary infections and fractures that landed me in the ICU for months with dismal hope of survival.  I was very sick and was unable to walk for a little less than a year.  Around this time St. Jude had just started performing bone marrow transplants and I was very blessed that my youngest brother was a perfect bone marrow match, so in 1993 I had a bone marrow transplant (at that time a very new, risky treatment) and by the grace of God have been cancer free since that time.

While I was in the hospital a close friend of my family decided to climb Mt. Rainier and he ended up climbing in my honor.  He told me that he climbed the mountain for me and that one day he knew I would be healthy and strong enough to climb Mt. Rainier myself.  I’ve been dreaming about climbing Mt. Rainier since that time.

I have been blessed with good health and the ability to maintain an active, healthy life for the last 20+ years and I’ve successfully completed many different events, but climbing Mt. Rainier was always a huge goal.  I trained hard for our climb and was without a doubt in the best shape that I’ve ever been prior to our climb – but I would not have made it far at all without the amazing guides that lead our climb.

Max, Dan, Betsy, Rob and Eric went above and beyond what anyone could ever hope for from their guides (and Angie was great, too)!  From the very start of the climb throughout the entire 3 days they were fun, encouraging and it was very clear that they did everything that they possibly could to make our climb the best that it possibly could be.  Each of them in different ways helped to make my climb a successful one that I thoroughly enjoyed.  From the great meals, to the fun stories along the way, to the constant help and encouragement every single time that I needed it … they truly made the experience better than I ever could have hoped for.

At the meeting on Monday following our return back to IMG we were told “IMG is only as good as our guides.” Well, your guides are not only exceptional mountaineers, but they are also really great people – and they make IMG exceptional!  I am so very glad that we chose to climb with IMG. I’m sure that we will climb again and we will certainly always climb with IMG from now on (and advise everyone that we know to do the same) – it couldn’t possibly get any better!

I cannot thank everyone (specifically our guides) enough for an experience better than we ever could have hoped for!

Thank you.

Thank you again, Dawn, for climbing with IMG and for letting us share your story. We hope to see you again soon.