Alumni, Arches

Endless Beauty

For Sarah Strattan ’11, life revolves around mountains—climbing them, skiing them, and photographing them.

Sarah Strattan ’11 grew up in Evergreen, Colo., fascinated by the “Fourteeners”—the Colorado peaks that exceed 14,000 feet. In college, Puget Sound Outdoors introduced her to backpacking, and an outdoor leadership experience in Alaska taught her about mountaineering. She climbed Rainier, then Denali. Then she set her sights on the Himalayas. Strattan, who taught middle school science for a time and now works on the ski patrol at Aspen Highlands Ski Area, spends part of each summer challenging herself on Asia’s tallest peaks. Last year she summited K2, the world’s second highest mountain; this June she’ll head to Pakistan to climb Nanga Parbat. Here are a few of our favorite images from her travels.

Strattan photographed this glacial pool in summer 2022 while summiting K2, the world’s second tallest peak. This photo is on the cover of the Spring 2023 issue of Arches.

Self-portrait of Sarah Strattan ’11 on K2.

A self-portrait at more than 28,000 feet on K2 in summer 2022.

An image from the K2 trek in 2022.

Tent buried in snow on the slopes of Manaslu.

Base camp at Manaslu, a 26,781-foot peak in Nepal. Strattan’s trip there in fall 2022 was plagued by heavy rain and snow, and she didn’t reach the summit. But, she said later, “There was more beauty than negativity, more good times than bad, lots of lessons learned, and memories that will be with me forever.”

The summit of Mount Rainier towers over wildflowers.

Strattan learned about backpacking and mountaineering while a student at Puget Sound. She spent summer 2015 guiding on Mount Rainier, and took this photo—on the south side of Rainier, near Paradise—on a guided climb that July.

Mount Rainier in the distance, with tall evergreens in the foreground.

A photo from the Emmons side of Mount Rainier, July 2015.

Two climbers ascend a snowy embankment with the rising sun behind them.

The Landry Line, a descent from Pyramid Peak in Colorado, is popular with ski mountaineers. Pyramid Peak is one of Colorado’s Fourteeners—peaks of 14,000 feet or more.

A brown and white dog on snow overlooking a mountain range below.

Strattan’s dog, Chandler, often accompanied her on Colorado climbs. After Chandler died in 2021, Strattan scattered his ashes atop the Gore Range.

A very good dog high on a mountain peak in the distance.

Chandler in Colorado’s Gore Range in 2014.

Snowy mountain as seen in the glow of the rising sun.

Strattan took this photo of Alaska’s Mount Foraker during a Denali climb in 2013.

Rugged peaks and glaciers as seen from above.

In 2021, Strattan climbed Broad Peak in the Karakoram Range, a Himalayan sub-range that she calls “steeper, harsher, more imposing and incredible than any place I had ever been.” She didn’t reach the summit, but gained a new insight: “If I can recognize and appreciate the beauty in places like these, every expedition will be a success.”

Wildflowers grow on the slopes of a mountain in the Karakoram Range.

The rugged Karakoram Mountains, which straddle the borders of India, Pakistan, and China, are a region of “incredible beauty,” Strattan says.

A mountain lake near the base camp at Manaslu, the world’s eighth tallest peak, located in the Nepalese Himalayas.

A man sits on a barren hillside overlooking a range of steep mountains.

Strattan photographed this Nepalese man on a trek on Putha Hiunchuli, a 23,773-foot peak in the Dhaulagiri Range, in 2017.

Trekking trips in the Himalayas often involve a stop in Kathmandu, where Strattan photographed this Nepalese man.

Two young girls in boldly patterned dresses and head scarves kneel on a red rug. One appears to be eating something.

Strattan photographed these two girls in a Pakistani village on her way back from K2 base camp in 2022.

A woman in climbing gear, the lower half of her face covered and her reflective goggles pulled up onto her forehead.

Strattan took this selfie on one of Colorado’s “Fourteeners”—Quandary Peak, at 14,271 feet.

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