It was a hard season on Mount Everest, with nine climbers dying around her, but Laurie Bagley fulfilled a lifelong dream and stood on top of the world last May.

"It was very steep, technical and scary. I was in shock that I made it. It was a windy, clear, beautiful day and you could see the Himalayas going onforever,' " remembers the 45-year-old Mount Shasta, Calif., resident."

"Looking down, I got scared at how icy and steep it was. Ninety percent of fatalities happen on descent," says Bagley.

She was only the 19th American woman to scale the 29,028-foot peak, a feat that just won her nomination to the California Outdoor Hall of Fame. Passing through base camps on descent, Bagley saw the frozen bodies of climbers who had just tangled with Everest and lost. Some of them she had met and talked to at base camps just before their ascent.

"It was terrible, absolutely frightening. We knew they crawled in their tents and died. They were exhausted — and when you push your body that hard, you can't recover," says Bagley, who gives motivational talks called, "Journey of Hope, One Step at a Time."

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Bagley, who gives her presentation Saturday night in Medford, focuses not so much about her May, 2006 ascent as about "tools and attitudes that helped me succeed" and "guidance that benefits people in career and personal life plans."

The ascent, with a mountaineering guide and Sherpa, cost $45,000 and took a year-and-a-half of rugged training. Bagley wanted it to be for a good cause, something bigger than herself, so she promoted and collected funds for the work of Diane Kirwin of Mount Shasta, who helps the "untouchable" children of Bihan, India.

Bagley talks to corporations, nonprofit organizations and middle and high school students — and there are always questions about what kept her going in an endeavor so arduous, dangerous and unpredictable that it kills 10 percent of people who try.

"It was a big risk, no question, and it was a challenge for my family, my mother in particular, but they were as supportive as they could be," says Bagley, the mother of a 9-year old daughter, Avriel.

"What kept me going? I like the word 'spirit.' Some may call it God or other words. I had incredible guidance and that kept me safe," she says. "I just kept thinking of my daughter and saying 'I've got to keep going.' We all had our little carrot — friends and family who expected us back."

To climb to the planet's high spot, you have to do a lot of homework, have a good guide and Sherpa, plenty of oxygen (she used it above 25,500 feet) — and you have to listen to your intuition, especially about weather, which "is just a killer up there."

Bagley says climbing Everest put real meaning in the Nike motto, "Just Do It," because you don't really feel the wind, cold and exhaustion — you just put one foot in front of the other, taking rest-steps (five seconds rest between each step).

"Every day on the summit attempt, I gave myself permission to decide if I would go up or down. I would check out any problems and my health and everything kept coming up positive," she says. "That's one of those things that kill people — that they are driven and don't descend when they see the signs."

Her motto, posted at the top of her Web site, www.laurabagley.com, is "Accomplishing a big goal is all about breaking it down into small, one-step-at-a-time pieces. This will take you to the highest potential."

A competitive mountain biker, triathelete and marathon runner, Bagley placed eighth in Discovery Channel's World Championship adventure race, finished twice in the top 20 in Discovery's Eco Challenge and set the women's ascent record for Mount Shasta of 7,000 feet in 133 minutes.

She's a personal coach, whitewater guide and, earlier this month, led a team to the summit of 22-841-foot Aconcagua, South America's highest peak. She summitted 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak, in training for Everest.

She also founded Fit Maternity and Beyond, a fitness wear company for mothers and mothers-to-be.

Bagley confesses she's been criticized for placing herself in danger while being single parent of a grade-school aged child, but it casts light on one of her main motives — courage.

"All I can say is if I threaten people or bring out their fears about risking my not coming back, well, it was a risk," she says. "For me, I felt strongly that I wanted to model what was possible, that she (Avriel) can do whatever she wants in life."

Her daughter has hiked and climbed with her mother, observing, "It's not that much fun." She acknowledges she was "a little bit worried" during her mother's climb and is "a lot happier" now that she's back.

As to whether she would follow in her mom's lofty footsteps, Avriel says, "I don't think so. I want to be a singer and dancer."

Asked if she would ever climb Everest again, Bagley shouted, "No! I've been asked to do it again and I thought about it, but Mother Nature has been very kind and I wouldn't want to tempt fate."

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.