Lessons in leadership from an unlikely mountaineer
By the Communications Team
2 June, 2025
You might not guess it from her job title, but off campus, Angela Erickson, Head of Libraries at UWCSEA Dover embraces a spirit of adventure that has led her to accomplish exceptional feats. In this Q&A she shares the inspiration and motivation that propelled her to the summit of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.
What inspired you to take on the challenge of summiting Mount Aconcagua in Argentina?
A couple of things inspired me. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was homesick for the mountains, so I watched a documentary called ‘Cholitas’. It’s about five indigenous Bolivian women who climbed Mount Aconcagua, which I found very inspiring. As a teacher, I am always reminding students that they can do hard things, and I realised that I wasn’t really modelling that in a concrete way. So, I promised myself I would climb a big mountain. Aconcagua was always in my mind because of ‘las cholitas escaladoras’ [the climbing ‘cholitas’].
How long had you been preparing, and what did your training involve? Was there a moment when the idea shifted from a dream to a concrete goal?
The short answer is that I trained hard for four months leading up to the climb. But I had been doing lots of trekking before that–during October breaks in Nepal and Sri Lanka with Susan Edwards (Head of Global Concerns) and Alice Henry (former Instructional Coach and English teacher). In January 2024, I summited Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania which made me think I could attempt Aconcagua. I pre-acclimatised on Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia which is a breathtaking summit that everyone in our community, if they can, should climb while they live so close.
What was the toughest moment during the climb, physically or mentally?
The most challenging part of Aconcagua summit day is the 'Canaleta,' a steep, narrow, and exposed couloir leading to the summit ridge. It goes on forever. It was on this stretch that my tentmate turned back to high camp. Honestly, she was in better shape than I was. She had a hypoxic generator that she was using to train, and my training was mainly putting a load of books into a backpack and walking up and down HDB staircases. So I felt a lot of anxiety and self-doubt at that moment. There were lots of moments that I wanted to turn around on summit day. It is probably the coldest I have ever been and the most tired I have ever been. I just told myself to take ten more steps, and when that was too much, I told myself four more steps. I just kept counting four steps over and over again.
Can you describe what it felt like to reach the summit?
It was really emotional. We were an all women’s team of seven climbers, and we were the first team to make it to the summit before the weather started getting too challenging to summit. Aconcagua is famous for its windy and chaotic weather, so I felt deeply grateful for the weather window that we had, and for Lucia, our wonderful Argentine guide who skillfully read the weather and minded the clock so that we could have a chance at summiting.
I could not have done this without the UWCSEA community. My interest in trekking was renewed due to UWCSEA Outdoor Education trips... As I prepared for Aconcagua, many people supported me in so many ways.
- Angela Erickson, Head of Libraries at UWCSEA Dover
Were there any unexpected moments that stood out or changed your perspective?
I had a lot of time to think when the weather was terrible. Something I realised is how fragile we are as a species. We are not very cold resistant and we don’t last long when we are suffering. We are only successful as a species because we have learned to work together and support each other through difficult situations. That is not a new idea, but it was very clear to me in the mountains.
I am a lot more patient. I had to learn to practice non-attachment. Even though I had worked so hard, it was likely that I wouldn’t summit. I think that this was important because by nature I am such a goal oriented person, so accepting this truth has made me more mentally flexible.
Has this experience changed how you think about the world, your goals, or leadership?
I have always been goal oriented. When I got back in January, I didn’t have anything to work towards and I struggled. If I am honest, I am still struggling with finding the right goal to work towards next. But as I work with my team, I feel like I am better able to help them set goals that feel meaningful to them in ways that I might not have been able to before.
Can you tell us a bit more about your climbing team and how you worked together?
There weren’t many women on the mountain, but I was on an all-women's expedition, which was amazing. All of the women on my team were experienced mountaineers from Pakistan, Egypt, Poland, and the United States. Our guide was Argentinian–there are not many female guides on Aconcagua so she had lots of stories about how hard she had to work to gain the respect of her peers.
What did you learn about yourself during the expedition?
I learned that I am really tough! I was the oldest person on my expedition and I was the first to summit after the guide. I self-carried the whole expedition instead of hiring a porter. The only other person on the expedition to self-carry is a lawyer for the US Marines, so her physical fitness was pretty amazing. I mean, let’s be real, I am a librarian. I am an unlikely mountaineer.
What advice would you give to students or staff thinking about pushing their own boundaries? How do you hope to use this experience to inspire or support others in the UWCSEA community?
I could not have done this without the UWCSEA community. My interest in trekking was renewed due to UWCSEA Outdoor Education trips. I learned to cross rivers with a big pack during a Grade 9 expedition to Ladakh. As I prepared for Aconcagua, many people supported me in so many ways. I had Olie Trotman (Head of High School Sports, Dover Campus), Jess Mermillon (Health and Performance Coach) and the whole Body Blast crew to do my strength training in the mornings. A bunch of them even ran a 10km race with me because I needed to make sure I could run 10km in under an hour. My colleague Kurt Wittig (Teacher Librarian, Dover Campus) and I are in a constant competition over who is the strongest librarian. Silvia Schernthaner-Leitner (High School German Teacher, Dover Campus) would summit Bukit Timah with me almost every weekend. Susan Edwards and Alice Henry put up with me piling everything into my backpack so I could get some extra work during October holiday trekking. Helen Leeming (High School Computer Science Teacher, Dover Campus) even started cooking dinner for me once in a while because she was worried I wasn’t getting enough calories.
So, the advice I would give to students or staff is to set a goal and work towards it, knowing that you have people in your community who will support you. When I spoke at a Grade 10 Assembly, I told them that I know that they can do hard things because I did a hard thing and the same people that cared about me and supported me are the same people who care about them and support them. I value our school community so much and I do my best not to take it for granted.
I also think losing yourself in learning something new is such a wonderful practice, and doing this in an educational community has been great fun.
Mount Aconcagua stands at 6961 metres and is widely accepted as the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere. It is located on the border of Argentina and Chile.
How do you hope to use this experience to inspire or support others in the UWCSEA community?
I have been reading a lot about women and outdoor expeditions. Something I read recently was that we shouldn’t pay attention to who was first before we ask the question, “who was allowed?”
I think that there is still work to be done to get women climbing mountains. Most mountaineering gear is made for men’s bodies. Gear that is made for women is often more expensive and harder to find, so to some extent, this is evidence that there is not as much interest in mountaineering among women. However, for lots of reasons that science has now uncovered, women are actually more physiologically adept at this kind of athletic pursuit.
I seriously dislike public speaking, but after I spoke at a Grade 10 Assembly, several students stopped by to talk to me about it which was heartening. I hope that I am inspiring to them; I wish that my high school librarian was a mountaineer.
I also spoke with a Sports Science class about my training and what I did to prepare for such a high altitude. It was fun to have them explain the science behind what I was experiencing on the mountain. Our students are so fortunate that they get to study Sports Science in High School. I read the sections from their textbook about VO2 max and altitude acclimation when I was planning my training.
Finally, I spoke at a Grade 2 Assembly for their Explorers Unit. I talked about how good explorers know how to share, stay curious, plan ahead, be prepared, and believe in themselves. I told them that thinking like an explorer makes me a happier and nicer person. It’s simple, but like most good wisdom, it’s true.
While Angela is in Asia, she wants to spend more time in the mountains on this continent. She is hoping to visit Mera Peak in Nepal next December, and to also get a crew together to run a multistage trail race in Nepal next spring.