Troubled Teen-Agers Weather Inhospitable Climbs : * 3 boys--along with a few carefully chosen adults--take a grueling 10-day trip into the High Sierra, with some of the youths returning with different outlooks.

The struggles faced in life are comparable to climbing a mountain. It’s a simple analogy, but one that wasn’t clearly understood by a trio of young men until they faced off against the granite-topped, 14,494-foot Mt. Whitney, and pushed themselves to the top.

Last month, three teen-age boys guided by a few carefully chosen adults took a grueling 10-day trip into the High Sierra. Some returned with noticeably different outlooks. Pete, a 16-year-old gang member from Anaheim, whose full name--like the other minors--cannot be used, selected such words as beautiful and delicious to describe the scenery on top.

The two other boys said they believed nothing ahead of them could be as difficult as climbing the mountain.

“I didn’t know I could do this,” said Eddie, 17, as he looked up a waterfall toward the mountains he had just mastered. “They pushed us and we did it. I didn’t think we were trained for it, but we learned on the way.”

Although not all of the boys have had run-ins with the law, they were making trouble in school or with their families, said Luis R. Ruan Jr., a probation counselor at the Youth Guidance Center in Santa Ana who conceived the trip.

Ruan, 29, who by the end of the week was called “Woofie” because of the beard he grew on the trail, has worked with troubled youths for the past eight years.

“I’m really hard on some of these kids, but it tears me up that a lot of them are set up in life to fail,” said the Orange resident. “My commitment comes from the fact that I’m tired of seeing these kids wasting their lives. They’re beautiful kids.”

The youths who met the 82-mile “Mt. Whitney Challenge,” as it was called, are students at Horizon continuation high schools in Santa Ana and Anaheim. Toby Larson, director of Horizon’s educational partnership program, said the trip was the first of its kind for the students. He applauded Ruan’s effort for taking the students out of their environment and forcing them to take risks.

“A lot of these kids have never accomplished anything,” he said. “I wish all of our kids could go through an experience like that. They learn a lot about different types of people, they mix with people that they’re not used to. It creates friction, but they learn that this is part of life.”

Ruan raised money and planned the trip for several months while preparing a dozen teen-agers for the climb. But by the start of the hike, there were just three teens who were ready to don the heavy backpacks that held the rented sleeping bags, tents and the seven-day food supply.

“We started out with 12 kids in January,” Ruan said. “Some went back to using drugs, one got his girlfriend pregnant, and one got beaten up by a rival gang. Some are affiliated (with gangs) and some just live in the neighborhoods (where gangs are prevalent), but a lot of them want a way out.”

While Ruan’s goals for the trip were to talk to the teens about their lives and teach them self-discipline, Octavio Gonzalez, who is also a probation counselor, said he simply wanted to get them to climb the mountain.

Gonzalez used humor along the way to “disarm” the tough attitudes taken on by the teens.

“My opinion is, if humor doesn’t do it, the Sierras will,” he said.

Gonzalez, who lives in Anaheim, said there are too many factors, including poverty and cultural disadvantages, that work against the teens for the mountain climb to be a life-changing experience. Nevertheless, he said, the boys can be proud that they climbed the mountain, though at times it took a lot of coaxing--and even threats--to keep them going.

Sore and fatigued by the middle of the week, Eddie lost steam and lagged behind. But after Ruan and Gonzalez threatened to take his food away, he moved along with the group. “I was tired and my feet hurt (but) I just started walking, one step at a time.”

Ruan said: “There were times when we all got mad at each other, even the adults, but we got through it. We worked it out.”

At one point, Pete got so angry at everyone that Gonzalez pulled him aside and said, “Pete, what you need is a hug,” and he held him for a while.

Pete said, “I hated (Luis) for bringing me and I liked him for bringing me.”

The trip was made even more difficult by the cold climate and fast pace, but Pete said the beauty of nature--especially spotting a bear--made it special for him.

“I’ve always been with other people and there were times (during the hike) when I was alone and it was nice not to hear (talking),” Pete said.

The third student, another Eddie, 16, said he and his family have always been too busy working to plan camping trips. The Mt. Whitney hike was the first time he had ever been in the wilderness, and it taught him a valuable lesson: “There were times when I didn’t want to go on, but I knew I couldn’t go back. I knew there was just one way out and that was to the top of the mountain,” he said. “If I can do this, I can do much more at work. That’s hard, but it’s not half as hard as climbing that mountain.”

It took several days on the trail before the teens didn’t have to be reminded to pace themselves, pick up their trash or wash without soap, Gonzalez said. “After the fourth day, they started acting like the kids that they really are, slapping each other around, telling jokes and basically forgetting about the city.”

Ruan, who would like to make the Mt. Whitney climb an annual trip, plans to take these boys on smaller hikes or bicycle races, maybe even a trip to the Grand Canyon next year.

“It’s an influence,” he said of the climb. “I’m not going to say that it will change anybody because they have to decide that for themselves, but it’s a strong reference of something they thought was impossible. What they do is up to them and I’m going to be in there reinforcing it along the way.”