Close your eyes and picture the person who has become the youngest in history to conquer “The Seven Summits” –the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, and the youngest American to stand atop Mount Everest.
Did an image of a 20-year-old girl with ADD come to mind? Most likely not. The fact is, Danielle Fisher does not look or seem the part of a mountain climber who has scaled the renowned Seven Summits—the awesome alliance of peaks that includes 29,035 ft. Mt. Everest.
At 5 feet 7 inches and 130 pounds, there is nothing remarkable about Danielle's physical stature.
But she is truly a remarkable young woman.
She has defied the premature judgments of her fellow mountain climbers whom, after seeing her petit stature, would often write her off as the weak one who wouldn't make it up the mountain. She is now commonly known as the first one up, and down the mountain.Prevailing over ADD:
Not only is Danielle a bit smaller than the traditional mountain climber, she has also spent her life struggling with the challenges of Attention Deficit Disorder. Neither of these stopped her from attempting this incredible goal.
Before being diagnosed with ADD in the sixth grade, Danielle recalls that “I was never really great at school. I was smart, but easily distracted and had a hard time turning in assignments.” She has tackled this disability as just another mountain; going at it with determination, strength, and a good support team, including friends, family and counselor.
Danielle says of her diagnosis and treatment, “You have to find a balance between knowing that you need help, and making an effort to push through yourself. I realize that medication helps me. It certainly makes it easier to focus, but I also have to make the personal effort to make my dreams possible.”
When asked what advice she has to offer others who suffer from ADD, Danielle says, “Discover what your passions are, because when you are enjoying what you are doing, or working towards something you are excited about, you will be able to focus on that goal. I don't enjoy every moment I am on the mountain, but the energy and excitement of getting to the top keeps me moving.”Growing up in the Cascade Mountains :
As a young girl, Danielle spent countless hours of play in a gully adjacent to the family home, which overlooks farmland and nearby Samish Island . “The gully and stream have been my playground my whole life.”
“I got into mountain climbing through my dad, who's been in the mountains since he could walk,” she says. Her father, Jerome Fisher, is a Skagit County native whose childhood included hunting and fishing trips with his family. Jerome and his wife Karen continued the family tradition, taking their daughters Bobbi and Danielle into the mountains from an early age.
“We have horses,” notes Danielle. “We would go up to the mountains on horseback in the summer for a week or more. We went to places where there was no one around. You could let the horses run free.” she recalls. “It set me free, too. I'd run around the hills and explore. I guess that's where my love of the mountains originated".
How it all began:
It wasn't until the summer prior to her sophomore year of high school that Danielle started climbing.
“My dad started talking about climbing Mt Baker. When I heard him talking I thought ‘I want to do that!' so that summer I went on my first trip with my dad and climbing mentor, Mike Woodmansee. We climbed two peaks in one day…I hated it!”
It wasn't until the summer prior to her sophomore year of high school that Danielle started climbing.
“My dad started talking about climbing Mt Baker. When I heard him talking I thought ‘I want to do that!' so that summer I went on my first trip with my dad and climbing mentor, Mike Woodmansee. We climbed two peaks in one day…I hated it!”
Never-the-less Danielle continued going on trips with them that summer climbing mountains such as Mt. Baker , Mt. Adams , and Mt. Rainier .
“It wasn't until I climbed Mt. Rainier that I really started to love climbing. Now, every time I go climbing, I love it more.”
“While climbing, I've found myself to be a very different person.” says Danielle, “I become very focused and determined. I forget about the pains of blisters, scrapes, bruises and the fact that I have ADD. I just keep on going. Since I started climbing, the person I am on the mountain has increasingly become who I am in all aspects of my life including school and work.”
When asked if she has ever whispered to herself “I can't” in the middle of a climb, Danielle immediately replies: “Never.”
This young role model's impressive strength, both physical and mental, has seen her through an incredible mountain climbing career that dates back to the year 2000. Her first glacier climb was Mt. Baker, a 10,778-foot mountain visible from her home in the tiny town of Bow, Washington. She has since climbed numerous peaks in the Cascades and around the world including the Seven Summits.
What now:
Today, a 2003 graduate of Burlington-Edison High School, with one year of undergraduate studies at Washington State University, Danielle is considering a major in material sciences or engineering.
Danielle has plenty to be proud of. She has shown that with enough resolve, determination, and support a person can do just about anything. As she says “I'm doing this because I want to prove to the world what I've always believed: that I can take the lead and get to wherever I want to go in life; that ADD will never be able to stop me from living my dream. But I'm also doing this for the pure enjoyment of climbing. And what better way to see the world? As Isaac Newton once said, ‘If I have seen further than certain other men, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.'”
Danielle's future plans include climbing Pakistan's 26,470 foot Gasherbrum 1 and 26,360 foot Gasherbrum 2 during the summer of 2006.
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