Tuesday, August 29, 2006
An evening without TV? Well, I'll have to think about that. I finished my 17th year at Pikes Peak Ascent/Marathon a week ago. Someone asked me if you could climb the 14ers without ropes or not. I thought about and said that it simply depends on the person. Reading about a climb and being there are 2 different things. When you are there by yourself, with a big pack on, and hiking boots, and you know that people have died in this spot even though it is class 4 - well, it makes you think. The Crestone Needle really isn't bad - the main issue to me is one of finding you way back so you don't turn an 8 or 10 day into a 2 day affair.
I'm fairly sure that BBob was kidding, as was I, except for the islands part. My Crestone Needles, when I was a kid much younger than Colin, was Rib Mountain - at the time reputed to be the highest peak in Wisconsin. (I wrote about this once before on the old site) I and two friends rode our bikes along the back way to Wausau, which takes you to the base of Rib. We stashed the bikes in a farmer's yard and found our route as we went. The beauty of small mountains is that you may have enough time and energy to go over the top and down the other side, then back up and over again to your starting point, which we did. Double pilgrimage, if you will. A heifer that chased us across the field at the bottom was our avalanche, which narrowly missed us. For mountains like Rib, it's what you don't know that makes it an adventure. For those with more obvious hazard, what you don't know, but think you know, will make all the difference.
And hazards can lurk where you least expect them, like at the Blues Festival I attended Sunday evening. A lady friend (not Jill) had climbed a mountain of a picnic table, then decided to include me as part of her route down the damn thing - all premeditated, but in an alcohol clouded mind. The sudden load atop me sent us both sprawling to the pavement, but when I got up I had three broken and dislocated bones in my left foot. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday. They'll screw me back together and I will have found new understanding regarding the realms of what I don't know. From my new found perspective, the scariest part of what you don't know often exists in someone else's head.
And hazards can lurk where you least expect them, like at the Blues Festival I attended Sunday evening. A lady friend (not Jill) had climbed a mountain of a picnic table, then decided to include me as part of her route down the damn thing - all premeditated, but in an alcohol clouded mind. The sudden load atop me sent us both sprawling to the pavement, but when I got up I had three broken and dislocated bones in my left foot. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday. They'll screw me back together and I will have found new understanding regarding the realms of what I don't know. From my new found perspective, the scariest part of what you don't know often exists in someone else's head.
Monday, August 28, 2006
BBob, In defense of my pal PBob I know that his attitude toward his son's climbing is abundant with caution. During our recent visit, he mentioned several times how he cautions Colin that with respect to his climbing it isn't what he knows but what he doesn't know that is dangerous. I don't know if Colin shared his dream of climbing Creston Needle with PBob, however, having just googled the peak myself, I don't believe that PBob would encourage him to do so at this stage in his climbing career.
PBob, world travellers that we have become, Ginnu and I are off to Ottawa in the morning. Great TR. The pictures are a new inovation. PBob, you have raised the bar and established a new template for TR's in the future. Ginnu is particularly pleased to have the picture of her shoes on the internet.
PBob, world travellers that we have become, Ginnu and I are off to Ottawa in the morning. Great TR. The pictures are a new inovation. PBob, you have raised the bar and established a new template for TR's in the future. Ginnu is particularly pleased to have the picture of her shoes on the internet.
RE: Dave email - yes. mention of award - no.
You could say that sending your mostly grown up kid off to climb the Crestone Needle is akin to letting a toddler play in traffic. Sounds bad enough, but if rush hour hasn't yet been invented and the traffic is mostly horse drawn, then it's a fairly calculated risk. In the hectic world of six lane highways, most of us will, sooner or later, go missing while we look for an island. Tahiti might qualify, but then so would the summit of most any mountain, or even your bedroom closet, with the light turned off. And then there are the islands of time...an evening without T.V., or the inconvenience of having the car in the shop, which leads you to walk or ride a bike. Even a train whistle at night (Calgary has its share) can pull you into an island of reverie and reflection...those dusty memory shelves that we seem to stumble into in our dreams. May be that it's less important what we do than what we don't do. If you ever find yourself screaming "Stop the world. I want to get off." you just might find yourself next in line to climb the Crestone Needle.
You could say that sending your mostly grown up kid off to climb the Crestone Needle is akin to letting a toddler play in traffic. Sounds bad enough, but if rush hour hasn't yet been invented and the traffic is mostly horse drawn, then it's a fairly calculated risk. In the hectic world of six lane highways, most of us will, sooner or later, go missing while we look for an island. Tahiti might qualify, but then so would the summit of most any mountain, or even your bedroom closet, with the light turned off. And then there are the islands of time...an evening without T.V., or the inconvenience of having the car in the shop, which leads you to walk or ride a bike. Even a train whistle at night (Calgary has its share) can pull you into an island of reverie and reflection...those dusty memory shelves that we seem to stumble into in our dreams. May be that it's less important what we do than what we don't do. If you ever find yourself screaming "Stop the world. I want to get off." you just might find yourself next in line to climb the Crestone Needle.
By the way, did anyone else get an E-mail from Dave Lim (he is a candidate for a Business Award)? I voted for him.
Do I know you guys? Someone named magoo sent me an E-mail. And, the guy named PBob has a kid who likes climbing. I exchanged some E-mails with him about climbing 14ers but we couldn't get our act together this summer (too late for our schedules) so we will try next year. The crazy kid wants to climb the Crestone Needle - what kind of parent would let him do that?
