Bridger Root
Bridger grew up on Whiteman campus. His parents both teach here and so Bridger has been born and raised the “Whiteman Way.” He has been hiking, biking and climbing since he could walk. On top of that, he is a good student. He plans to spend his senior year abroad.
Imagine saying you are going to climb all 55 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado before you are 14. Imagine succeeding at that! He was written up in all the papers and was somewhat bewildered that anyone was interested in this feat.
In 2005, Bridger has reached yet another milestone, by completing the 71 mountains of the lower US. He is considered to be the youngest to have climbed them all, but we are waiting for confirmation on this. He and his father, Brick, have lost and gained over 568,000 feet in elevation.
Bridger’s next goal was to climb all the mountains (15 of them) over 14,000 in California by the time he was 15. After that, his next goal was to climb Rainier (the only remaining 14,000 mountain left to climb in lower US) by the time he was 16. In June, 2005, summitted Rainier at 11 a.m. on a clear blue sky day. They had an approximate 36 hour window of sunshine in between snowstorms. See photo at right, Bridger and his dad, Brick, celebrate!
Weather and snow conditions forced them to go up Glacier Basin rather than going on the famed Liberty Ridge. They ascended both Inter Glacier and Emmons Winthrop Glacier, which made this the most extreme mountaineering experience that Bridger has encountered. Climbing Rainier at this age was his goal, and meant to help prepare him to climb Denali in 2007. He wants to reach that summit before his 18th birthday. Bridger will continue his preparation for Denali by attempting a technical climb on the Grand Teton this August, and pursue more technical climbing next summer in Canada with climbing mentor, John Culberson.
Bridger will tell you that Whiteman is about learning to overcome obstacles and learning to achieve your goals. Determination plays no small part, we know, and having a family who plays in the outdoors 24-7 if they can, skis from hut to hut for fun, in any kind of weather also helps. Margi Missling-Root, Bridger’s mom, runs the Experiential Program at Whiteman; she is the one who teaches kids that camping and hiking are fun. I would say she succeeded with her son!
We wonder what he’ll want to climb after Denali. It probably starts with an E……