2009 Little Tahoma attempt

Photo from Meany Crest from Margot Tsakonas

Ice climbing in Ouray

Lisa was someone who worked at a skill until she got it right - regardless of her knees (see previous blog post). She and two others were our guinea pig students for a learning trip to Ouray, CO for some ice climbing.

We started with basics of anchors and some lower-angle terrain.

It wasn't long before the group headed for the vertical ice climbs, and Lisa was game. One climb was pretty intimidating because the climber is lowered down from the top, past the steep ice curtain, and onto a bulge above the river. Several of us were watching from the nearby gazebo, and we caught these images of her working her way up.

Hallman (see previous post) managed a panty raid on another participant and strung them up like prayer flags from the balcony. She, Lisa, Susan and Mugs got even when they presented a Kiss My Axe thong to Hallman, served on top of a pizza. I'm pretty sure he still has it...

Lisa's ice climbing adventures in Ouray, CO (2006)

One of my fondest memories of Lisa B. was a trip to Ouray Colorado in 2006.  It was her first ice climbing experience after completing all the Intermediate field trips in 2005.

I remember how anxious she was one the first day.  After several hours of chopping ice with her tools, crampons clawing for firm footing and dinner-plate size chunks of ice falling towards her belayer, Lisa asked me for helpful advice.  Suggestion #1; put down your ice tools, using only your hands for balance.  Suggestion #2; trust your crampons.  To my amazement, Lisa started following my advice. Throughout the day, I heard many expletives, usually with my name added mid-sentence.

While we celebrated our first night with grande margaritas, we noticed Lisa hobbling around the condo.  She mentioned that her knees were bruised and swollen from bashing them into the ice, more expletives and again my name being mentioned in vain.  Even though Lisa gained confidence in her footwork, it was at the great expense of her knees.

We sure shared some great times together!  Rest in peace my dear friend… when it’s time for me to visit you, pick out a great “first assent” we can do together.

-- Mark Hallman

Climbing Oregon volcanoes and Garibaldi with Lisa

Scott Rice has shared an album of photos from his adventures with Lisa:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101041524486895613538/OlympicClimbingWithLisaBerntsen?feat=directlink

Climbing with Lisa in the Olympics

Scott Rice has shared several photos from their adventures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101041524486895613538/OlympicClimbingWithLisaBerntsen?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Lisa has beers with Fred Beckey

Fred gave a slideshow at UPS in 2011, and a bunch of us headed to Magoo's afterward (Lisa is 4th from left):

Lisa as intermediate student

Lisa joined the intermediate climbing class in 2005. She was introduced to the wacky shenanigans of intermediate field trips, and fit in quite nicely! Here's the fire at Leavenworth Cinco de Mayo in 2005, with a new cast of characters (see who else you recognize):

Lisa joined the 2005 Ice 1 field trip, where we gathered for appetizers with the whole class:

And here is Lisa at the top of her very first ice climb, on the Flett Glacier at Mt. Rainier National Park in August 2005:

I distinctly remember instructing at this field trip and noting the differences between how women and men communicate about climbing. I'd ask each student "how ya doin'?" to get a read on them as we climbed the Flett Glacier in front of Observation Rock. The men would usually respond with one word "Fine." Often with a little twinge of fear as their voices cracked a little. It happens to all of us on our first ice climb!

But Lisa gave a different response that went something like this:

Mindy - How ya doin'?

Lisa - Pretty good. Well, my left heel is coming up a little inside my boot and my crampon feels a little funky. I guess I should have tightened my laces before I put on my crampons and gaiters. So that's not great. But my right crampon is solid and I know I can stand on one foot just fine. I'm overgripping on my right tool and my hand is getting tired. I can't get my left tool to plant at all. I think I need to work on my grip strength in my left hand when I get back. This is fun! What a view! The pickets are going in quite nicely. What's it like on top where we set up our anchors?

Mindy - :) Lisa, you're doing just fine.

And for those of you who climbed with Lisa, you'll hear her voice pouring out those words in rapid fire succession.

-- Mindy Roberts

Lisa's accident response on Chair Peak

Lisa was an amazing person, and I was fortunate to be with her on a few climbs and several field trips while I was in both the Basic and Intermediate Climbing Courses.  Her love of life was contagious.  She did it all!  But what I will always remember is when I had a fall on Chair Peak, she stayed by me the whole time to make sure I was comfortable and not trying to move.  (I didn’t feel like I could get up if I wanted, so that wasn’t an issue!)  She even called my mom on her cell phone to break the news and kept her posted.  

Last year I saw Lisa and Royce at an event for her work, and both were so excited with plans for hiking and skiing and other outdoor adventures.  Later, I’d get to relive some of those experiences seeing their trip photos on Facebook.  Lisa, thank you for being a wonderful leader, mentor, and friend.

- Jeff Evans

2004 Curtis Gilbert climb

These are photos of Royce and Lisa on a trip to Mt. Curtis Gilbert in 2004. So in love. 

Lisa and Royce were my inspiration to give back to the Mountaineers. We have lost a great, caring Leader. 

- Tom Bates

Lisa's life balance

I met Lisa through work – we were working on a project together. The coworker that introduced us said that Lisa was in the Tacoma Mountaineers. At the time I had recently moved to the Tacoma area, and was once an Everett Mountaineer. I had a new job, new house, and was a new dad. I hadn’t done any climbing in a year and wanted to get back into it, but wasn’t sure how I would find the time, or how to get reengaged with the Mountaineers. Lisa told me about the Tacoma branch, the people, and what the organization has done for her. Through working with Lisa, I came to find out just how active she was with the outdoors – including the Mountaineers. I was inspired by how she found balance between having a very successful career, being a mom, a wife, and being active in the outdoors. I continuously struggle with finding that “balance” in life, and Lisa’s encouragement for me to check out the Tacoma Mountaineers has helped bring my life back into balance. And for me, the way Lisa lived her life is the model for living life to the fullest.

 -Brian Johnston

Vicque and Dean take Lisa and Royce on their honeymoon...

Dean and I enjoyed Lisa and Royce's company so much that we invited them not only to our wedding, but to accompany us on our honeymoon. :) The link below is to a video I created using photos Lisa took.

A couple weeks after we got married I was so happy to open the mail and see CD from Lisa with all of her photos on it. She was a class act and will be greatly missed.

http://youtu.be/nJxrb2SOFKI

--Vicque Ebentheuer and Dean Meer 

Tab's photos from adventures with Lisa

Here's a set of pictures you could add to the blog.
 
The first was a trip years ago to Plummer with Julie Meyers and Kevin, I think the first time we met Kevin.  

The second picture is with Chuck, we climbed Thompson with Mark Hallman and instead of camping in our tents we ended up camping on the route back because we took so long summiting, we were sleeping tied into the rope on a small grassy ledge under some trees. 

The third picture is of her and Royce atop Mt. Olympus which included Chuck, Mark H and myself a couple of years ago. 

 Through thick and thin she was a good friend and will be missed greatly.

-- Tab Wilkins

Climbing with Lisa

Lisa’s enthusiasm was priceless.  Any time I would ask whether she was interested in a particular trip I was planning, her usual response was “Yes!!”.  She didn’t need any prodding, and looked forward to being outside with good friends and nice weather.  Throughout each of the outings we shared, her attitude was consistently upbeat.

One year, a small group of us planned an ascent of the Kautz Icefall on Mt. Rainier.  Our approach day turned out to be the hottest day of the summer.  That evening, I realized I had become too dehydrated for the ascent the next day, having made a bone-headed choice for my hydration system.  The next morning, Lisa “mothered” me throughout our retreat back to the car.  “Have some water.”  “Have a bite to eat.”  “Are you feeling OK?”  “Did you have that water yet?”  I resented it just a little, but knew I had no choice but to put up with it, since I surely deserved worse.  In spite of that experience, Lisa continued to be a ready and willing climbing partner. 

My last trip with her was a scramble of Mt. Roosevelt this past July.  We talked about many things beyond “climbing”, including homes and remodeling, how our attitudes towards work/career have changed over the years, and some day no longer working, so we could be in the mountains more often.  We took summit photos of each other; something I nearly never do any more.  I’m glad we did.  While I am so saddened that I won’t get to see her smile and enthusiasm any more, I’m happy to have had one last day together with incredible weather.

-- Steve Kleine

Climbing with Lisa (from Dan)

Lisa was my climbing buddy in the Olympics.  We did several multi day trips to climb the remote Olympic peaks.  Here’s a picture from our 5 day trip that included Christie, Queets, & Seattle.  This is celebrating her birthday on the hike out.  Lisa was a strong climber, not real fast, but very steady; the day we climbed Queets was 17 miles and 7,000’ gain.
  

We did another big cross country trip over 4 days and climbed Diamond, LaCross, Steel & Hopper.  This is one of my favorite pictures, Lisa is really tired, and mentally crushed on our ascent of Diamond, as we still had 1,000’ of elevation to go with the sun going down!  We summated at dusk and hiked back down in the dark, getting to camp at 11pm.  She was a trooper.

On our trips, Lisa and I would talk about our teenage kids and the difficult time we were going through with them, would they amount to anything, and were we good parents?!  What a difference a few years makes, getting over that teenage year bubble!  We couldn’t be prouder of our kids!

-- Dan Lauren

NatureMaven.com

Lisa was *so* excited about Nepal. I know this because I can't think of a single time we talked this year when the Nepal trip *didn't* come up. "I am sooooo excited," in her characteristic trill. She sent me/us the email below on September 28 - definitely look through her posts there.


At the Tacoma Mountaineers branch banquet on October 18, several of us were worried after the recent avalanches that her group was impacted, and she hadn't posted anything for several days. We were relieved to find out she was ok and enjoyed her final posts.


I particularly like her October 7 post that begins...


"It is the afternoon before I begin my journey to Nepal and I am reflecting on the steps that lead me here. At first I started my reflection my timeline began about a year ago, when I committed to go on this trip. Then I realized that decision was just a point in time in the continuum of a lifelong adventure."


I will miss that huge irrepressible smile.


Mindy


===


From: Lisa Berntsen <lisaberntsen@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 6:14 PM
Subject: Lisa B's Blog - Naturemaven.com
To: Lisa Berntsen lisaberntsen@hotmail.com

Hey friends...

Not all of you are on FB, or you might have missed my message there, but I am going to try to blog about my trip. I will likely have some level of service for several weeks and hope to tell some stories. Due to the cost of uploading photos I think I will have to add those after I get back. I hope to add one or two more entries before I leave on OCT 8 to NEPAL!!!

naturemaven.com

thanks,

Lisa 

This blog is for the friends and family of Lisa Berntsen to share stories and pictures. Please email your words and a photo of Lisa to jefacita@gmail.com.