Ashland, Ore. — A local man is going to great heights to help save the environment. He’s raising money by attempting to summit Mount McLoughlin four times in the same day.
“A couple years ago, a buddy and I climbed Mt. McLoughlin three times in one day as a lark. It was a really hard day. Then we always joked about doing a quad,” said local climber Michael Biggs.
When Biggs says ‘quad’ – he means climbing Mount McLoughlin four times in one day.
“I’m 50 years old and want to test and see where my fitness is,” Biggs said.
Testing his fitness, and raising money for friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
“It’s a organization that does education,” Biggs said.
A monument Biggs is concerned about in today’s political climate.
“I don’t know what else to do. I know how to climb the mountain, I thought I could bring some awareness and show that our region is beautiful and needs to be protected and saved,” Biggs said.
He started a fundraiser on Facebook – picking the goal amount of $999 at random.
“I didn’t know if anybody would donate. It’s such a silly, fun idea to climb it four times,” Biggs said.
Biggs said the entire trek will take 20 to 24 hours to complete.
“It will test my fitness to the apex. I will have nothing left at the end of it. That’s for sure,” Biggs said.
But the climb is no stranger to the avid climber.
“I get off work sometimes and I go and I climb Mount McLoughlin in the dark. My love for fitness and my love for the mountains coincide each other and they’re one and the same really,” Biggs said.
That love, however, didn’t happen overnight.
“My 20’s and 30’s very out of shape. Fat, for lack of better word,” Biggs said.
Then Biggs took up climbing.
“I love the mountains. I’m an avid mountaineer. Whenever I’m not at work, I am on the mountains,” Biggs said.
He knows the pain.
“My IT bands totally froze up and I felt every mile towards the end of it and it was hard,” Biggs said.
But he also knows the beauty and said the 44-mile trek is all worth it to raise awareness for something he cares deeply about.
“We all find a cause that we care about and do what we can to help each other and help the environment,” Biggs said.
The hike comes after word that the Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke would like to see the boundary reduced.
Biggs’ Facebook fundraiser will be open until next week. You can find the link to his page here.
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