Climb Every Mountain

Climbers just love Mt. Everest, but Mt. Everest isn’t replying in kind.  At least ten climbers have died so far this season trying to reach the summit of the world’s tallest mountain.  Really, they need to take a hint.  I did.

 

The summer between college and law school, I drove to Colorado—by myself, no less—and spent time in Rocky Mountain National Park.  One day, I decided to go on a hike—by myself, of course—and see what life was like above the tree line.

 

Hiking up to 14,000 feet, give or take a few, I didn’t need oxygen, just the desire to put one foot after another, hour after hour, over the course of thirty miles, fifteen up and fifteen down.  There was an undeniable beauty to it—mountain lakes, the wind giving voice to pine trees, the play of light and shadow across the floor of a distant valley.  Sometimes, I could see the jet passing overhead, other times I could only hear it.  Either way, I’m pretty sure pilot and passengers didn’t see the speck of a young man making his way up the mountain trail.

 

I got above tree line, which I think is about 12,000 feet, by early afternoon and kept going until there was no place higher to go; then I rested.  Starting back down, I thought it would be fun to slide down the snow pack in front of me, and it was, until I realized my body would keep going once the snow gave way to rock.  I did a full Fred Flintstone to come to a stop right at the edge of the snow.

 

The snow slide was not my only dumb decision.  In addition, I failed to tell anyone where I was going, and I failed to realize how long it would take to complete a thirty-mile hike.  Let’s just say hiking down a mountain in darkness isn’t nearly as much fun as it sounds, and, if it doesn’t sound like fun in the first place, well, you’re right; all I had to do was trip over a root or a boulder and it was bye-bye Doug.  But God looked down and took mercy on a fool.

 

After that experience, I’ve pretty much been a contented flatlander ever since.  Who knows, you might bump into me on the stairway to heaven someday, but never, ever, on a climb to the top of the world.