Amina Hasan: Standing Tall on Kulshan

By Amina Hasan, Summit Scholarship Class of 2025

On Finding Strength, Sisterhood, and Self on a First Mountaineering Expedition

Writing this blog post has surprisingly been a struggle for me, which is funny because in the almost 2 months since I’ve returned from successfully summiting Komo Kulshan (Mount Baker) I still find any and every opportunity to talk about it with others. But I struggle to convey the precise feelings of standing on Kulshan or what it meant for me. I can sum it up as an absolute privilege of an experience – I had never felt so small in comparison to the grand, beautiful landscape that surrounded me, with nothing but miles of wilderness. No cars or roads or anything else man-made, just slopes of snow and mountain ridges and the vast horizon. This experience was full of so many first for me – from my first mountaineering expedition to the first time being on a glacier using things like crampons and ice axes to the first time having to use a Wag Bag.

Growing up, I had several hobbies and passions ranging from soccer to reading to photography. But nothing has ever quite stuck with me or made me feel as alive as the outdoors has. People often ask me where I get it from because nobody in my family or amongst my friends really shares it – and to be honest, I’m not quite sure myself. I’ve realized it’s a combination of things – from the wonder that I feel when I see the beauty of God’s creation to my habit of pushing myself outside of my comfort zone to the belief that motion can be medicine. In any case, I’ve only begun exploring the outdoors in the past 2-3 years and have struggled to find spaces and resources for people like me. Being a young, Indian, Muslim, and hijabi woman felt like it came with so many more obstacles compared to those around me, but I was determined to live authentically and proudly true to who I was, not compromising on my values or morals. Over the past few years, I’ve been able to go on several adventures including backpacking trips to further explore this newfound passion. Each of the groups that I was a part of were filled with unique and wonderful people. But somehow, I always found myself feeling like the minority in some aspect, feeling disconnected or not fully understood. 

I was struggling with those feelings when I came across the Summit Scholarship Foundation. One of the first thoughts that I had was that this organization was putting into action everything that I had ever longed for and thought that outdoor spaces needed. Mountaineering was something that I was only just beginning to learn about at the time, so when I applied I had so many hopes but no real expectation of being selected. That’s why when I got the call that changed everything a couple of months later, I had never been so stunned. It was only in the months afterwards – months of planning and training and connecting with other women – that I realized it was actually happening.

While we were on Kulshan, my mind only was filled with thoughts of what was happening around us – the roar of the wind, the steady crunch of my rope team trekking through the snow, and the internal mantra to just keep one foot moving in front of another even when my muscles ached and my lungs struggled. But once we stopped moving, once I saw that plaque signifying that we had reached the summit, I was hit with so many realizations of what this meant for me. That hours of hard work of training in the gym and on the trails had finally paid off. That all the feelings of insecurity and self-doubt had not won. That I had succeeded in doing something that so few women like me had done before – while preparing for this trip, I was constantly confronted with this fact. It’s one of the reasons why for a long time I didn’t even consider that adventures like these could be a real possibility for someone like me or why I didn’t seek out outdoor experiences earlier in life.

I never thought that I would join the ranks of the women who climbed big mountains or embarked on crazy adventures. I had always idolized them and placed them on a pedestal far above me. Getting to meet some of these women over the course of this expedition made me feel like a kid getting to meet their role models. Because that’s who these women are to me and so many other people out there – they pave the path forward for us, constantly breaking barriers and limits and records, and showing us what’s possible. 

Each of the women on our expedition – Sierra, Rose, Carly, Sunny, Rushita, and I – may have all be at different points in our lives and come from different backgrounds, but I felt such a strong connection with each one of them. I saw parts of who I am reflected back at me and found a sense of sisterhood in our shared values of resiliency, courage, determination, and love for the outdoors. Each one of them inspired me in so many ways and showed me that it’s okay to continue dreaming big and that your vision for your future doesn’t have to be the same as others around you. I had never been a part of a group that felt so diverse yet similar to me, one that I felt so accepted and supported in. This experience didn’t just give me mountaineering skills — it gave me mental strength, personal growth, and skills that I’ve seen translate into every area of my life. It gave me community, connecting me with incredible women and all sorts of resources for the future. I’ve felt this trip impact my life in so many different ways, from how I carry myself to how I face challenges to my dreams for the future.

Without this scholarship, I know that it would have taken me years to work up the courage and find the resources to embark on a mountaineering expedition like this. Being the first person in your family and in your community to do something new and unfamiliar can be a daunting experience. But the Summit Scholarship Foundation supported me and my fellow recipients from the moment we received the news and I know they will for years to come. I know that I can always reach out to these women, whether it’s to send them a funny reel about an experience that we had or to ask questions about a future expedition that I want to plan or even to find someone to go on another adventure with. I feel so incredibly thankful for all the sponsors of this scholarship – without them, so much of this would not have been possible. This scholarship has truly given me resources to overcome or has entirely eliminated so many of the barriers that women can face in mountaineering and I will forever cherish it for that.

Returning home has truly been so bittersweet as I’ve had to accept that this major adventure of my life has ended – but I’ve realized that it does not have to be the only one. The skills, gear, experiences, and community that I gained from this experience will support me in life and on many more adventures to come. I hope to be able to share them with many other women along the way. Being selected as a Summit Scholar has been one of the biggest honors of my life and I hope that I can go on to inspire and uphold the incredible legacy of this Foundation.