Ali Kostick Alaska Mountain Course

My name is Aleksandra (commonly known as Ali) and I am currently a Freshman in college with hopes of getting a degree that takes me outside the classroom and into the mountains. I want to travel and I want to learn. With a primary focus on guide training, outdoor leadership training, wilderness education and technical instruction, this Alaska Mountaineering Course is 20 days long, and is a part of a program called International Outdoor Leadership School (IWLS). It speaks to many of my interests - from my craving to explore and travel to my eagerness to learn more about this field and all of it's intricacies. I see this opportunity as a chance to expand my horizons and see, smell, taste and touch this incredible part of the world, and as something that can help me in the long-run, to make choices about my future as I head into my next few years at college.

I am an adventurer and always have been. My first hiking boots were bought and quickly worn-out at six years old, and with the support of my dad I was able to attend many trips and climb many peeks for which I am, and will forever be, greatful. For those of you who are not big hikers, I want to express to you the "craving": For every struggle and every push, there is a reward that compares to no other. No climb is entirely easy but the excitement and gradification comes from the climbs that grasp your soul and push you to achieve. It is this hikers "high" that I fall in love with everytime I see the peek over the horizon, or am offered a challenge I aim to meet, or a task to focus all my energy into.

This trip is unique by the fact that it is different in climate, techinique, and training than anything I have yet done. Ice climbing, new summits, leadership through crevassed icefalls, ascending ridges with the clouds beneath, learning how to assess avalanche danger, how to rescue your partner out of a crevasse, and navigation techniques when in extreme situations are all new and exciting centers of learning to me. It is with this knowlege, that I hope to be a step closer to attaining my goal of becoming a leader in the mountains, and why I would be so thankful to have an opportunity to attend.

I am raising this money to pay for my trip with the help of my parents and previous jobs, which as a college student is a bit of a struggle, and I would need the funds by the middle of February if possible.

Anything helps - thank you so much!
-Ali

Here is the link to check out more information on the course!
http://iwls.com/locations/north-america/alaska/208-2/