GBS assistant principal reaching new heights

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Assistant Principal Jim Shellard, in his Glenbrook South High School office, holds an ice ax he uses for mountain climbing. | Todd Shields~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 20, 2012 8:42AM

In climbing glacier-covered Mount Rainier near Seattle, Jim Shellard and his party twice did not reach the summit.

“There was an altitude issue and we didn’t have much time to acclimatize. I was gassed and still had eight hours of climbing.

“Then a weather front came and visibility dropped in the snowstorm. We were done,” said Shellard, recalling his first try in 1999.

A still-active volcano created the 14,411-foot Mount Rainier, so it rises abruptly from the earth’s floor, explained Shellard, assistant principal of Student Activities at Glenbrook South High School.

“Oh my God, it just comes out of nowhere. With cloud cover, we never even saw the top,” he said.

His second attempt in 2000 ended due to climbing boots that bruised his shins, but the next year all went well.

“The training, equipment and team were right. We reached the summit and I wept. It was so elusive and we had worked so hard getting there,” he said.

“I was euphoric in achieving that goal. You’re exhausted, you’re emotions are raw and I was with people I cared very much about.”

In 2004, after 18 days Shellard reached the summit of Mount McKinley, North America’s highest peak at 20,320 feet in the Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

“It was my biggest accomplishment ever in climbing because it was so high. From this rewarding experience, I learned how hard I could physically push myself.”

His climbing team usually included Mark Ferguson, a broadcasting and television teacher at Glenbrook South, and Leo Morton, a dentist and owner of Children’s & Adolescent Dentistry in Glenview.

In preparing for mountaineering, Shellard has slept in tents during winters in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin.

Before taking on Mount McKinley, which is 200 miles south of Antarctica, like all climbers Shellard was required to participate in a winter camping class.

“We stayed up there practicing for seven days in first aid and the proper way of falling down a mountain.

“You slide on your belly or back and head or feet first, using your ice ax to stop yourself,” said Shellard, on faculty at Glenbrook South for 23 years.

Last summer, Shellard successfully scaled mounts Adams in Washington and Shasta in California, but pulled back halfway up Mount Baker, Wash.

“We couldn’t get three on a rope. It wasn’t safe in a heavily crevassed area. I didn’t want to take the chance. I have a family,” he said.

As a boy growing up in Rochester, N.Y., Shellard watched the manned Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

“I always wanted to walk on the moon, and mountain landscapes are close,” he said.

In summer, he may return to Mount Baker, which is part of the Cascade Range Cascade Range Volcano Mountains.

“My wife, Debby, may have thoughts on that,” he said laughing, something Shellard frequently does.

“I love getting to the top, just being in the space among the sun, snow and camaraderie. You’re stripped of all technology and for 10 to 12 hours you’re walking a slow, monotonous pace.

“It’s really refreshing and clearing for the mind. I think about important things, like my family and my life. I come back with a much greater appreciation of what I have,” he said.

Shellard has participated in the Chicago Triathlon and the River to River Relay run in far Southern Illinois.

In 1999, Shellard started team-climbing glaciated peaks in North America with friends:

1999 — Mount Rainier, Wash., Mark Ferguson and Steve Beck

2000 — Mount Rainier, Wash., Ferguson, Beck, Paul Herzog and David Herzog

2001 — * Mount Rainier, Wash., 14, 411 feet, Ferguson, Beck, Ellen Rowe, Rob Weinstein, Steve Gall and Leo Morton

2003 — Mount Shuksan, Wash., Denali training class with Alpine Ascents Guide Service and *Eldorado Peak, Wash., 8,876 feet, Beck

2004 — * Denali, Alaska, 20,320 feet, Alpine Ascents Guide Service, Rowe

2005 Mount Rainier, Wash., Morton, Reed Snyder and Bill Stetson

2006 * Mount Hood, Oregon, 11,249 feet, Rowe and Ferguson and * Mount Rainier, Wash., Rowe and Ferguson

2007 * Mount Adams, Wash., 12,277 feet, Morton, Randy Tiller

2008 Mount Shasta, Cali., Morton

2009 Mount Baker, Wash., Rowe

2011 * Mount Adams, Wash., 12,277 feet; * Mount Shasta, Cali., 14,163 feet and Mount Baker, Wash., all with Ferguson and Beck

* Reached the summits