Beyond Malibu: Stratford Student Trip

Each group took a water taxi from Malibu Landing to Beyond Malibu Base Camp. The ride was about an hour and a half long and the jaw-dropping scenery was the first clue that the trip was going to be unlike anything they had experienced.

The water taxi took the group through the Jervis Inlet in British Colombia, specifically in the section of the inlet known as Princess Royal Reach. The area is surrounded by mountains that are a part of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains.

About seven minutes out from Beyond Malibu Base Camp is Malibu Club, Young Life’s second oldest summer camp. At the end of the trip, the students were able to spend about an hour at Malibu Club walking around at the gift shop, coffee shop, and ice cream parlor.  

Davis Beasley poses for a picture as the water taxi passes Malibu Club and approaches Beyond Malibu Base Camp.

Stratford’s large group made for the most campers in a session in Beyond Malibu history, and the guys from Stratford arrived at Base Camp a few hours early to give the water taxis time to go back and pick up the rest of the large group. While waiting for everyone else to arrive, the guys swam out to a small island, took turns jumping off, spotted seals they named “Leroy, Leopold, and Jimmy,” and said “Aloha” to a man in a canoe that seemed to come out of nowhere. Some also claimed to have spotted an Orca. Days later this small island would be visible from thousands of feet up, serving as a striking reminder of just how far they had come.

Groups spent the rest of the day at Base Camp. First they had Club, which included a welcome, skits, singing, and matching groups with their mountains and guides. After that, groups spent time preparing for the first day of hiking the next day. (Photo: Davis Beasley) 

The group circles up at the first campsite after a long first day of hiking up a mountain bike trail on Mt. Helena. The first day and a half of hiking were spent on Mt. Helena on the way to Mt. Albert, and the group slept on a helipad that was made for users of the mountain bike trail to be dropped off on before going down the trail. (From left) Guide Lucas Onan, Chris Hachtman, Will Odom, Charlie Howell.

(From left) Andrew Kelly, Cole Papageorge, Fischer Robinson, Chris Hachtman, and Bryce Hooper pose for a picture atop the helipad that made for their first campsite before setting up their tents for the night. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

Cole Papageorge looks out at One Eye Mountain before going to set up the American flag. The other group of Stratford guys climbed One Eye, which is 7,200 feet tall. The American flag was given to Cole by someone at Base Camp, and was flown frequently and proudly at the group’s campsites. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The group enjoys the view of the first campsite and the feeling of having their boots off for the first time in hours. (Photo: Charlie Howell)

The helipad and mountain bike trail were commissioned by the owner of Mt. Helena, who owns the patent for the red solo cup. He rents the mountain out for people to use the mountain bike trail, which starts at the helipad after being dropped off by a helicopter. The helipads hadn’t been active for around three years, but while the group was eating breakfast, a helicopter came in to try to land. The helipad wasn’t fully cleared, so the helicopter circled around for about 30 minutes before finally coming in to land, which created quite the commotion. (Photo: Charlie Howell)

Andrew Kelly proudly represents both America and "Stratford America" while standing on the edge of campsite two. The second day of hiking was easier than the first, but included a difficult bushwhacking section that was steep and had much less of a defined path. The group  crossed multiple waterfalls and boulder-fields on the way to this campsite, named Peanut Rock. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

C.J. Kight, Ben Sullivan, Chris Hachtman, Andrew Kelly, Tanner Jones and Bryce Hooper celebrate a hard day of hiking and reaching the Peanut Rock campsite. At campsites, the group set up tents, had quiet time to read a passage of the Bible and reflect on the day, eat dinner and tell life stories. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The group together before spending the night at Peanut Rock. That night was the groups “Overnight Solo,” where they each went their separate ways and slept on their own under the stars. (Top row, from left): Andrew Kelly, Tanner Jones, Davis Beasley, Charlie Howell, Will Odom, Ben Sullivan, C.J. Kight, Chris Hachtman, Cole Papageorge. (Bottom row, from left) Bryce Hooper, Fischer Robinson, Scott Kennedy. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The third day of hiking started off with a long, steep section of nothing but rocks. Everyone had to wear helmets and alert everyone below them whenever a rock became dislodged. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The group takes a break on the rocks as the guides prepare to lead “Snow School.” The next few days would be spent on a glacier, and everyone needed to learn a few key skills about life in the snow. “Snow school was hard in the moment, but I’m super glad that we did it because I think that it saved our lives,” Fischer Robinson said. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The third campsite, known as the “High Ridge,” was located on a glacier, and was home for the hikers for two consecutive nights. A deep crevasse lay in front of the camp (a “do not cross” line had to be drawn for safety purposes) and a large wind bowl stood behind the camp. During a meal at camp one night, one of C.J. Kight’s sleeping pads got blown by the wind into the giant crevasse. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The summit of Mt. Albert lays beyond the ridge behind camp, which bordered the large wind bowl. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The view from the High Ridge was amazing when it wasn’t blocked by clouds. (Photo: Davis Beasley) 

Day four was Summit Day, and only the guides had to carry packs. For extra safety, everyone was strapped together in one of three rope teams, led by the guides and Will Odom. The group had to learn to follow and relay commands like “linear,” “echelon,” “pinwheel,” and “falling,” which someone would yell to let the rest of their rope team know to get in a position to help catch a falling teammate. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

On the way up to the summit, it was the worst whiteout that Lucas Onan had ever seen in his two years of guiding. With only about 30 feet of visibility, he had to navigate the whole group based almost entirely on compass bearings. “On the way to the summit it was hard because you couldn’t see anything and I was hungry and I actually got into a little bit of a trance on the way up there,” Bryce Hooper said. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

Chris Hachtman, Cole Papageorge and Bryce Hooper celebrate upon reaching the summit. At 8,303 feet high, Mt. Albert is the highest of the mountains that campers at Beyond Malibu can climb. Because of the whiteout, getting to the summit took longer than expected. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

Fischer Robinson, Scott Kennedy, Bryce Hooper and C.J. Kight jump in a selfie with Davis Beasley on the summit. “I liked how on the summit we were kind of off on our own, you couldn’t see anything," Charlie Howell said. "It was kind of an island in the clouds, and it was cool to be with all of our friends and be up there and feel like there was no one else in the world." (Photo: Davis Beasley)

The area cleared up dramatically on the way down from the summit. “It was really cool to see what we went across, because we had no idea what we were seeing on the way up,” Andrew Kelly said. “It gave us a good perspective of everything at the top.” (Photo: Davis Beasley)

While taking in perhaps the best view of the whole trip, the group paused to prepare for a snowball fight. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

Chris Hachtman poses for a picture on the way back to camp. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

Will Odom, with ice axe in hand, poses for a picture, as the very crevasses the group navigated around in the whiteout loom in the background. (Photo: Davis Beasley)

After two days of downhill hiking, the group reached Base Camp. While almost everyone said that the downhill section was the hardest, it ended on a good note, as the trail ended with a boat picking the group up at the dock of Bob Goff’s summer house. Goff is a bestselling author, noted lawyer and international dignitary with ties to Young Life, and he and his wife Maria greeted the group at the bottom of the trail with popsicles. Everyone said the trip was exhausting, but incredibly worthwhile. (Photo: Beyond Malibu Young Life Camp)

This Beyond Malibu map shows the hiking trails of many of the groups. The highlighted trail shows the path that the group climbing Mt. Albert followed.