GALA SENIOR PROFI LES “Mountaineering is


my primary passion. When I was 3 years old I walked to the Silcox Hut above


Timberline Lodge. I’ve always been


someone who liked to challenge myself so mountaineering is a great way to do that.”


— Cameron Coppock


Cameron perches in a big-leaf maple tree


next to the Drinkward Center on the OES campus.


Cameron’s favorite


tree in his collection is the Siberian Larch, one of the


northernmost species that grows just south of the tundra in Asia.


CAMERON COPPOCK The Climber


desperately wanted to climb a red alder tree near his home, but his mother wouldn’t let him because it was on their neighbor’s property. In that case, he decided, his family needed more trees on their own property, so he dug up some seedlings of big-leaf maple and planted them in places where he wanted to climb. That was the beginning of a tree garden that today numbers more than 200 trees of 180 different species. “We have about every tree


W


that grows natively in the Pacific Northwest—ashes, larches, firs, maple, alders,


16 OES MAGAZINE SUMMER 2010 16


hen Cameron Coppock was about 6 years old, he


redbuds,” Cameron said. The collection also includes many exotic trees, some from warmer and drier climates, requiring coaxing to grow on his family’s 40-acre property in La Center, Washington. Occasionally trees will die during freezes or snowstorms, and in the dry part of summer, he hauls in water to the trees that need year-round moisture. When he takes a break from his work, he can survey the surrounding mountains. “You have to climb a tree


to get a view of the volcanoes but that’s no problem,” he said. “You can see Mt. Hood, but Mt. Baldy is in the way of St. Helens. On a really clear day you can see Mt. Jefferson from the top of the tree.” The tree he climbs for that view is not one of the maples


he planted as a child. He scales a much older Douglas fir, and he also climbs trees without low limbs by using mountaineering gear that his father has taught him to use. Together they climbed Mt. Hood when he was 10 years old and 14,000-foot Mt. Shasta the following year. They have climbed in British Columbia and have done technical climbs up several different faces of Mt. Hood. Cameron says he loves the concentration and physical exertion involved in mountaineering: “When climbing you are focused on maintaining three points of contact; it’s simple but there are real consequences.” He also finds pleasure in the


physical work on his family’s La Center property. He enjoys thinning the wood lot with a chainsaw, chipping the smaller branches, and splitting the larger rounds for firewood. “Lots of people think of


manual labor as unpleasant, but it’s pretty relaxing compared to writing essays or something,” he said. “It’s pretty soothing, and I can inspect all the trees while I am mowing or cutting weeds.” That’s not to say he is not


interested in academic effort. Cameron has been at OES since Kindergarten—a total of 14 years including his year in the Primary class—and says he has appreciated the resources available here. For five years he worked with classmate Sam Obletz on science projects involving hydroelectric dams, suspension bridges, cable- stayed bridges, and analog and digital noise cancellation. He


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