The MountainWorld™ Blog

Thursday Thought: Gaston Rébuffat On Guiding

Q: What's the difference between a large pizza and a mountain guide?

A: A large pizza can feed a family of four...

Mountain guide jokes...they've been around as long as, well, as long as mountain guides, I guess. (Check out a collection of them here...but know that some are a bit on the lewd side...but all are pretty darn funny, I must admit, and may even be a bit true!)

Along with the jokes, we mountain guides have often been the subject of some degree of scorn from fellow climbers. Some climbers accuse guides of not being "real" climbers. (Not sure how "real" is defined.) Others despise us for bringing novices into the mountains. (Weren't we all novices once upon a time?)

I chose to become a mountain guide early in my climbing career. In fact, I remember exactly when it was: February, 1986, climbing Standard Route on Frankenstein Cliff in New Hampshire with our guide, Nick Yardley. Nick was - and still is - the consummate guide: skilled, strong, compassionate, empathetic, and passionate about his chosen field. He taught me the fundamentals of climbing - not just where to put my foot or swing my axe, but how to climb, how to respect the mountains, the mountain environment, and how to get into - and out of - the mountains safely, efficiently, and with at least some degree of fun.

As my climbing progressed, other great guides would inspire me as well: Phil Ershler in 1986, Bernard Prudhomme in 1987, Dave Hahn in 1988, Dave Colke in 1989, and more. All of them were great climbers, but also, like Nick, great teachers. And, most importantly, they loved to share the mountains and the mountain spirit with others. They had a deep desire to see others realize the seemingly impossible, to gain the perspective many of us find in the high, remote realms, and to learn to apply that perspective on our daily lives on terra firma.

In that way guides are, I guess, no different than teachers. The medium of course is different: mountains are our books, ropes and carabiners our pencils and calculators (or iPads). Like teachers, we guides have chosen deliberately to devote ourselves not as much to the pursuit of our personal climbing goals and dreams, but rather to the development of new climbers and in assisting them in pursuing their dreams, their craft, their passion.

So, today's Thursday Thought comes from one of the best guides ever - and, I should note, one of the best climbers ever - the late, great Gaston Rébuffat:

We were two men in a land of stone and we walked toward the same star.  I was happy to be on the drus, but here as elsewhere, my happiness was to lead a companion.  What would a guide be without someone to lead? Good weather, bad weather, easy, difficult, I need to sing the same tune as he.  That was the gift of our mountains.  Climbing to the summit, one man does his job, another is on vacation and the luxury of their efforts is friendship.

For those who are interested, here's a great video of Gaston climbing in the Alps from the documentary Between Heaven and Earth:

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Palindromic Inspiration

Many of you have probably already seen this...In fact, by last count on YouTube, nearly 9.2 million people have enjoyed it thus far!

But, it was new to me, arriving in my inbox this morning from a friend.

Take a moment to watch the whole video; it's only 1:44 long, so time is not an issue. The video, created by a 20 year old for the AARP U@50 contest, is poignant and inspiring.

Enjoy!

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: Haiti, Giving, and Carpe Diem

As I was ice climbing today, I couldn't help but think about the incomprehensible suffering of millions in Haiti, the tragedy of their plight, and how trivial my everyday struggles are in comparison.

So, today's Thursday Thought will be simple, short, yet hopefully profound in some way.

First, seize the day. Carpe diem. Our lives are short, and our time precious. We shouldn't need horrors like earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, death and destruction to remind of this reality, but often we do.

Remember what Sogyal Rinpoche said:

Living with the immediacy of death helps us sort out our priorities in life. 

And, of course, Marcus Aurelius in Meditations:

Live as on a mountain.

In other words, again, seize the day. Let the trivialities of life be just that...trivial. Focus on family, on passion, on living every day with purpose and meaning. For, like it or not, tomorrow you, me, any of us might be gone.

And, finally, if you have the ability, give. Give to Haiti, whether financially, physically, or simply mentally by sending positive thoughts however you do it. But, please, give, give as much as you can, and remember these encouraging thoughts:

The love of one's country is a natural thing. But why should love stop at the border?
- Pablo Casals

Help your neighbor's boat across, and lo! your own has reached the shore.
- Hindu proverb

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
- John Wesley 

Even in the absence of mutual gains, even without indirect advantages to offset tangible costs, some decisions require a transcending of self-interest, whether personal or organizational.
- Roy Vagelos

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Mitakuye oyasin...
- Lakota Sioux prayer meaning "We are all related, we are all one."

Namaste...The spirit in my salutes the spirit which dwells within each and every one of you.

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: Worth a Little Risk

[This Thursday Thought is both written and video...the reason being the video version didn't come out the way I had hoped, so I decided to write it as well. Hope you enjoy!]

As you all know, I've been absent for a bit. Well, more than a bit - a few weeks, actually. I was in Ecuador climbing Cotopaxi and shooting images for First Ascent, and then returned for the holidays which were busy to say the least.

But, I'm back now and trying to get caught up.

And, first on my list is posting another Thursday Thought.

A couple of days ago, I got out for a few hours alone to climb some local ice. Nothing huge, nothing epic, but it was a great break from the chaos of the holidays. Just me and my tools and some good, plastic ice...always a good order for a head clearing and a return to the essentials in life.

And, as always, as I climbed, immersed in the simplicity of placing tools, placing feet, and not falling, the words and thoughts of A. Alvarez milled through my brain.

So, today's Thursday Thought is from Alvarez on the recurring topic of why we climb, and of why we seek risk in our lives:

"Life loses interest," wrote Freud, "when the highest stake in the game, life itself, may not be risked." Those who cultivate risk for its own sake, however, are probably emphasizing only their own inner torpor, just as the people who talk most fervently about the beautiful emotions induced by drugs are those who have most difficulty in feeling anything at all. The pleasure in risk is in the control needed to ride it with assurance so that what appears dangerous to the outsider is, to the participant, simply a matter of intelligence, skill, intuition, coordination - in a word, experience. Climbing, in particular, is a paradoxically intellectual pastime, but with this difference: you have to think with your body. Each pitch becomes a series of specific local problems: which holds to use, and in which combinations, in order to get up safely and with the least expense of energy. Every move has to be worked out by a kind of physical strategy, in terms of effort, balance, and consequences. It is like playing chess with your body.

And, that, for me, is the final satisfaction...On a climb...I am thinking with my body rather than my weary, addled head, and if I make a mistake, the consequences are immediate, obvious, embarrassing, and possibly painful. For a brief period and on a small scale, I have to be directly responsible for my actions, without evasions, without excuses. In that beautiful, silent, useless world of mountains, you can achieve at least a certain clarity, even seriousness of a wayward kind. It seems to me worth a little risk. 

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: The Mountaineer as Artist

Climbers approach the Hillary Step on Mount Everest.

George Mallory is known for his climbing, or, more specifically, for his disappearance climbing.

And, of course, he's known for his famous quip in 1923: Because it's there.

But, rarely written about are Mallory's more philosophical works and thoughts, of which there are many. And, one of my favorites is the subject of today's Thursday Thought.

In 1914, ten years before his death on Everest, Mallory wrote a piece in The Climbers' Club Journal entitled "The Mountaineer as Artist". Mallory perhaps overstretches at times while trying to tie mountaineering to a symphony. But, at its core, "The Mountaineer as Artist" strikes a chord (no pun intended) with the sublime experience of mountaineering.

I will only share a portion of his thoughts here. If you want to read the full piece, visit the GORP website, or, better yet, pick up a copy of The Armchair Mountaineer for this an many other great writings on climbing.

But, back to our Thursday Thought...What is the essence of climbing? What makes it valid...and valid enough for many to risk life and limb pursuing it? And, why is it so difficult for climbers to describe the sublime rewards of the mountain environment?

Here are some of Mallory's thoughts:

Climbers...like myself...have much to explain, and it is time they set about it. Notoriously they endanger their lives. With what object? If only for some physical pleasure, to enjoy certain movements of the body and to experience the zest of emulation, then it is not worthwhile. Climbers are only a particularly foolish set of desperadoes...The only defense for mountaineering puts it on a higher plane than mere physical sensation. It is asserted that the climber experiences higher emotions; he gets some good for his soul. His opponent may well feel skeptical about this argument. He, too, may claim to consider his soul's good when he can take a holiday. Probably it is true of anyone who spends a well-earned fortnight in healthy enjoyment at the seaside that he comes back a better, that is to say, a more virtuous man than he went. How are the climber's joys worth more than the seaside? What are these higher emotions to which he refers so elusively? And if they really are so valuable, is there no safer way of reaching them? Do mountaineers consider these questions and answer them again and again from fresh experience, or are they content with some magic certainty born of comparative ignorance long ago?

We do not think that our aesthetic experiences of sunrises and sunsets and clouds and thunder are supremely important facts in mountaineering, but rather that they cannot thus be separated and cataloged and described individually as experiences at all. They are not incidental in mountaineering but a vital and inseparable part of it; they are not ornamental but structural; they are not various items causing emotion but parts of an emotional whole; they are the crystal pools perhaps, but they owe their life to a continuous stream...

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: On Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a great, albeit somewhat contradictory, holiday.

As I write, I can't help but think of Jerome Davis, once the host of NPR in Colorado Springs, talking about a similar holiday, Columbus Day, which was going to be celebrated "the Native American way" in Pueblo, Colorado. Always a quick wit, Jerome quipped:

What does that mean? I guess it means buy a big boat and send Whitey back to Europe.

John Stewart had a similar observation about Thanksgiving:

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.

Its contradictions aside, I do love what Thanksgiving represents: a day to remember and acknowledge all that we have in our lives. A day to recognize our blessings - mental, physical, emotional - and also think of those less fortunate than us.

Sadly, though, the principle of Thanksgiving sometimes gets buried beneath the mountain of turkey and gravy, cranberry and beer, football games and La-Z-Boys. E.P. Powell put it well when he wrote:

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.

Thanksgiving has always been, for me, a day of reflection, a day of perspective, a day which serves to remind me that, in the grand scheme of things, my daily frustrations and the events or happenings which give me angst are small...That, rather than dwelling on them, I should instead focus on the positive things in my life and always remember that my situation could be far worse...and for many it is.

On this Thanksgiving Day Thursday Thought, I want to focus on the simple-yet-profound meaning of "thanks". As I watch my daughter, Lila, learn the importance of uttering that simple word, I realize being thankful is not necessarily something ingrained in the human spirit. It is something we need to learn; we need to teach ourselves to recognize our blessings and to truly appreciate them.

And, once we learn to embrace thanks, to accept gratitude, we realize its importance in giving perspective. As Melody Beattie wrote:

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

So, today's Thursday Thought is simple, but profound. (Isn't it often true that the things that are most profound tend to be simple?) It comes from the words of Eckhart von Hochheim, AKA Meister Eckhart, a Fourteenth Century theologian and philosopher from Germany:

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.

And, what am I thankful for? Too many things to count, but here's a start. I am thankful for:

• My family - alive and dead, close and far
• The opportunities I've had throughout my life to explore my passions, and to share them with others
• This remarkable home called earth, with all its intricacies and surprises
• The mountains which give me energy, and constantly remind me of the small cog I am in a massive machine
• The people I encounter on my journeys who share their lives with me, and teach me more about the world than all my schooling ever did
• The smile on my daughter's face
• The love of my wife, and her unending support of my endeavors, as well as her criticisms when needed
• And the list goes on and on...

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: Ken Wilber on Religion, Philosophy, Science, and a lot more...

I'm sitting in the Gaylord National Hotel, preparing for a presentation tomorrow afternoon, I'm thinking about religion, spirituality, philosophy...about the old question, what does it all mean???

As I mentioned in last week's Thursday Thought, religion and philosophy have always held a deep fascination for me.

I am not religious, but I am spiritual.

What does that mean? A cop out, many would argue. But, to me, quite the opposite. I do deeply believe there is something unknown – perhaps even unknowable – out there. I do believe there are certain ethical and moral certainties out there, and that we all, at some level or other, are innately aware of them.

What has always bothered me about most traditional religious strains – from Buddhism to Baptism, Zoroastrianism to New Age – is the divisiveness they tend to engender. This stems from, I feel, the egotistical belief that “I am right, my god is true, and you are wrong.” And, this divisiveness transcends the religious sphere into the realm of science, with some non-religious or non-spiritual scientists denying the relevance of any aspects of religion. And the cycle goes on and on...

Thus, I was thrilled in the mid-1990's when I discovered the writings of Ken Wilber.  The author of many, many books, Wilber is a captivating author and thinker. And, his ideas, while criticized by many, have always struck a deep chord with me, for they are, at their most basic, integral and inclusive. Wilber never says the great religious thinkers were wrong...but rather that they were partially right. And, likewise, he bestows well-deserved accolades on modern science and all the understanding it has brought us...but still maintains it misses something deep, profound, and essential to our knowledge.

(Sure, Wilber might at times seem a bit narcissistic, perhaps a bit too New-Agey for some, but, given time, he's a pretty powerful, insightful, and down-to-earth-while-still-Kantlike-in style author! Read a great article and interview with him on Salon.com.)

A perfect example of how he thinks is this from The Collected Works of Ken Wilber:

The real intent of my writing is not to say, you must think in this way. The real intent is: here are some of the many important facets of this extraordinary Kosmos; have you thought about including them in your own worldview? My work is an attempt to make room in the Kosmos for all of the dimensions, levels, domains, waves, memes, modes, individuals, cultures, and so on ad infinitum. I have one major rule: Everybody is right. More specifically, everybody — including me — has some important pieces of truth, and all of those pieces need to be honored, cherished, and included in a more gracious, spacious, and compassionate embrace. To Freudians I say, Have you looked at Buddhism? To Buddhists I say, Have you studied Freud? To liberals I say, Have you thought about how important some conservative ideas are? To conservatives I say, Can you perhaps include a more liberal perspective? And so on, and so on, and so on...

Another great example comes the first paragraph of his essay on BeliefNet titled An Integral Spirituality:

What's my philosophy? In a word, integral. And what on earth — or in heaven — do I mean by "integral"? The dictionary meaning is fairly simple: "comprehensive, balanced, inclusive, essential for completeness." Short definition, tall order.

At any rate, Ken Wilber is a great...well, a great mind. It would be tough to put another label on him, for he is not a philosopher, not a scientist, not a theologian. If you'd like to read more, I'd suggest starting with The Essential Ken Wilber , or, if you have time, brain power, and a willingness to read and reread before comprehending, grab A Brief History of Everything or Sex, Ecology, Spirituality . And, while tough, his book Grace and Grit: Spirituality and Healing in the Life and Death of Treya Killam Wilber is amazing.

But, today's Thursday Thought, to get to the point, is about inclusiveness. It's about inclusiveness not to the point of absurdity or moral relativism, but rather inclusiveness that works to bridge the deep divide between one religion and another, between religion and science, and between all the increasingly polarized elements of our world today.

There is arguably no more important and pressing topic than the relation of science and religion in the modern world.

Science is clearly one of the most profound methods that humans have yet devised for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning. Truth and meaning, science and religion; but we still cannot figure out how to get the two of them together in a fashion that both find acceptable...

Within the scientific skeleton of truth, religious meaning attempts to flourish, often by denying the scientific framework itself — rather like sawing off the branch where you cheerily perch. The disgust is mutual because modern science gleefully denies virtually all the basic tenets of religion in general. According to the typical view of modern science, religion is not much more than a holdover from the childhood of humanity, with about as much reality as, say, Santa Claus. Whether the religious claims are more literal (Moses parting the Red Sea) or more mystical (religion involves direct spiritual experience) modern science denies them all, simply because there is no credible empirical evidence for any of them...

This is a massive and violent schism and rupture in the internal organs of today's global culture and this is exactly why many social analysts believe that if some sort of reconciliation between science and religion is not forthcoming, the future of humanity is, at best, precarious.

- from The Marriage of Sense and Soul

'What's my philosophy? In a word, integral. And what on earth — or in heaven — do I mean by "integral"? The dictionary meaning is fairly simple: "comprehensive, balanced, inclusive, essential for completeness." Short definition, tall order.

- from An Integral Spirituality

Let me start with a short and simple list. This is not the last word on the topic, but the first word, a simple list of suggestions to get the conversation going.

Most of the great wisdom traditions agree that:

1. Spirit, by whatever name, exists.

2. Spirit, although existing "out there," is found "in here," or revealed within to the open heart and mind.

3. Most of us don't realize this Spirit within, however, because we are living in a world of sin, separation, or duality — that is, we are living in a fallen, illusory, or fragmented state.

4. There is a way out of this fallen state (of sin or illusion or disharmony), there is a Path to our liberation.

5. If we follow this Path to its conclusion, the result is a Rebirth or Enlightenment, a direct experience of Spirit within and without, a Supreme Liberation, which

6. marks the end of sin and suffering, and

7. manifests in social action of mercy and compassion on behalf of all sentient beings.

Does a list something like that make sense to you? Because if there are these general spiritual patterns in the cosmos, at least wherever human beings appear, then this changes everything. You can be a practicing Christian and still agree with that list; you can be a practicing Neopagan and still agree with that list. We can argue the fine details...but the simple existence of those types of currents profoundly changes the nature of belief itself.

- from An Integral Spirituality

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: David Rhodes Sparks on Belief

I love religions. The philosophies underlying the great faiths of our world never cease to amaze and intrigue me. In college, at Colorado College, I was a dual major in History and Philosophy, with a special emphasis on South Asia. This meant that most of my philosophy was, by default, more on the theological side of the fence.

All this said, however, I do not consider myself a "religious" person per se. I am deeply spiritual, but have always disliked the concept of worshiping this or that deity, and having to do so in this or that place. Perhaps I take the more Monist approach to spirit, i.e. that god, the divine, the spirit within us all, is indeed within us all. It is the ephemeral ether, it is all around us all the time, although we may struggle to put a name, shape, or place on it. Simply put, I believe "it" is.

Many years ago, I was given a book by my grandfather entitled simply Memoirs and Letters of David Rhodes Sparks.

Born in Indiana in 1823, D.R. Sparks was my great-great-great grandfather, and quite a man. From walking to the California Gold Rush and the Colorado Gold Rush, fighting in the Civil War, and founding a milling company on the banks of the Mississippi River in Alton, Illinois, David Rhodes Sparks lived a full and interesting life.

Recently, I was given by my mother a copy of D.R. Sparks' Statement of Belief from the mid-1800's. It is this I thought I would share with you, as well as another similar quote from Reverend Charles Andrew Farley, minister of the Alton, Illinois, Unitarian Church which Sparks attended.

I share these because I feel that, in the world we now live where people seem to be increasingly polarized along political and religious lines, we can all stand to be reminded that the divine - whatever we might see it to be - is within us all, around us all, and a part of us all, regardless of race, nationality, politics, etc.

But now I have rather given my objections to the religions of the past and present without giving my own views on the subject. It is not for me nor any thinking man to explain his thoughts on this subject unless he has concluded to adopt faith without thought; in fact, faith without thought is consistent. With the power of thought brought into play, faith vanishes and the mind goes out unfettered to fields yet unexplored. I might simply adopt the words of the immortal Paine and say, "The world is my country and to do good is my religion." These words have no equal for grandeur of thought in either old or new testament but I'll attempt a further view of my thoughts on this subject...God to me is everything, is everywhere; he is the universe, the stars, the sun, the earth; he is the human soul, he is the wood and is in the rocks; he is in the air, in the storm and sunshine alike. In part, everything we see about us or in us is the infinite God.

And, from Reverend Farley:

Do you now ask, "Which is the true church?". I answer, not the Episcopal church, not the Presbyterian church, not the Baptist church, not the Methodist church, not the Unitarian church, but the good in all these churches. All who live under the light of nature or under the more blessed light of revelation. The child of the Ganges, who worships the glorious river, and finds healing in its waters, he who adores the Sun in its Majesty, he who cries out for the help of the great father and whose dying eyes are lit up with the hope of hunting again in the spirit land, all, all are the children of god. All are members of the Church Universal, of that vast temple which the broad skies cover and the broad earth sustains and whose doors are open to the illimitable heaven.

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: The Oft-Forgotten H. W. "Bill" Tilman

I've long been an admirer of Harold William "Bill" Tilman (1898-1977).

I first encountered his name - and his legend - on my first trip to Nepal in 1992. My trip leader, Nick Yardley, and our sirdar, Urgen Sherpa, pointed out a distant, rugged pass leading from the Langtang Valley into the Jugal Himal and on to Paanch Pokhari (Five Lakes) called Tilman's Col. Nick explained that it was first explored by Bill Tilman back in 1949.

Since then, I've come to "know" Tilman as the ardent explorer he was. A true pioneer and often labeled "the 20th Century's last true explorer" - a label he would no doubt scoff at - Tilman logged countless miles in the remotest corners of the globe. He relished climbing peaks that were proverbially "off the map", and made every effort to break new ground in all that he did.

Like many of his generation, Tilman was also a war veteran, and was decorated for his service in both World Wars. When he decided many of the more popular ranges were getting too crowded, Tilman bought a sailboat, taught himself to sail, and began 25 plus years of exploration in the Arctic and Antarctic waters looking for new peaks to climb.

In his career, Tilman achieved great things. Some of his accomplishments are:

• 1930: First ascent of West Ridge of Batian (Mount Kenya), and traverses to  Nelion, with Eric Shipton
• 1932: Tilman ascends Mounts Speke, Baker, and Stanley in the Ruwenzori Mountains of Uganda, with Eric Shipton
• 1933: Solo ascent of Kilimanjaro
• 1934: Tilman and Shipton penetrate the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, the first to do so
• 1935: Tilman is a member of the Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition
• 1936: First ascent of Nanda Devi, reaching the summit with Noel Odell
• 1937: Karakoram Reconnaissance with Eric Shipton
• 1938: Climbs with others to 27,200 feet on Everest without oxygen
• 1949: Exploration of Langtang and Ganesh Himal, and first ascent of Paldor
• 1950: Leads British Annapurna Expedition, nearly summits Annapurna IV
• 1950: Does first reconnaissance of Everest's South Side with Charles Houston

The list goes on...and on...and on. 

But, what I've valued most about Tilman in reading his books - and in reading what others had to say about him - is his work ethic, his value of teamwork, ethics, and philosophy about the mountains and the mountain way. 

Interestingly, though, you won't find much on the web about Bill Tilman. There is a wonderful site by Bob Conlay, who sailed with Tilman and adventured with him from 1956-1977. And, there's David Glen's site for his book WARRIOR WANDERER The Life and Times of the Legendary Explorer Bill Tilman. There's also Treescaper's album on his travels with Tilman on Flickr. Other than that, not too much.

Perhaps it's Tilman's zest for exploration rather than notoriety, and his humble (but tough), somewhat enigmatic ways that have kept him out of the limelight. And, that's probably how Tilman would have liked it; as Glen writes, Tilman was "a man whose basic shyness and reticence to boast of his astonishing achievements belied a great sense of honor in the way he conducted his life."

And, I would add, perhaps in the way he conducted his death: In 1977, at nearly 80 years old, Tilman set sail in the tug En Avant with five others. On November 1, 1977, the left Rio de Janeiro, bound for the Falkland Islands. They disappeared without a trace...

So, below are some of my favorite quotes - mostly by but some about - Bill Tilman. Enjoy!

The truism that we climb on the shoulders of our predecessors is sometimes forgotten, and it is difficult to exaggerate the important of the part which earlier failures play in the final success. The Himalayan peaks over, say, 23,000 ft. which have been climbed at the first attempt can be numbered on the fingers of one hand, and even if the present climb be cited to the contrary, the answer is that we had the inestimable advantage of knowing where to make our effort and how to get there - knowledge gained for us by our forerunners. And apart from previous experience on the actual mountain there is the vast fund of accumulated knowledge of high climbing in general to draw upon; for though experiences may be "the name men give to their mistakes" it does not lessen their value to those who are willing to learn.

- from Ascent of Nanda Devi, 1937

It was but a short three months that we had met, many of us strangers, but inspired by a single hope and bound by a common purpose. This purpose was only achieved by team-work, team-work the more remarkable on account of the two different nationalities; and though these two nations have a common origin they are for that reason more critical of each other's shortcomings - as relationship leads proverbially to ill-feeling. The Americans and ourselves do not always see eye to eye, but on those rare occasions when we come together to do a job of work, as, for example, in war or in the more serious matter of climbing a mountain, we seem to pull together very well.

There each man pulled his weight each must share the credit; for, though it is natural for each man to have his own aspirations, it is in mountaineering, more than in most things, that we try to believe:

        The game is more than the players of the game,
        And the ship is more than the crew.

- from Ascent of Nanda Devi, 1937

A propos of writing books Dr. Johnson's opinion was that "any blockhead can write if he sets himself doggedly to it". I should like to alter that and say, " any blockhead can write a book if he has something to write about" - that I have anything to write about is entirely due to my companions, British and American, to whom I dedicate this book.

- from the preface to Ascent of Nanda Devi, 1937

We live and learn, and big mountains are stern teachers.

-from Two Mountains and a River

After the first joy in victory came a feeling of sadness that the mountain had succumbed, that the proud head of the goddess was bowed... [That night] each little incident of the climb was gone over again and again, and I remember, in the small hours when the spark of life burns lowest, the feeling which predominated over all was one of remorse at the fall of a giant. It is the same sort of contrition that one feels at the shooting of an elephant, for however thrilling and arduous the chase, however great has been the call upon skill, perseverance, and endurance, and however gratifying the weight of the ivory, when the great bulk crashes to the ground achievement seems to have been bought at the too high cost of sacrilege.

-reflecting on reaching the summit of Nanda Devi, from Ascent of Nanda Devi

No one goes so far or so fast as the man who does not know where he is going. 

Any worthwhile expedition can be planned on the back of an envelope.

Tilman was always first away in the morning, carrying a load in excess of the standard Sherpa load. He always arrived first at the day's destination. Sometimes he would run along parts of the route. He would have tea brewing by the time the rest caught up with him and then he would praise those who had made good time, and yell and scream at those he thought had been lazy or lacking in some way. On at least one rest day he made all his Sherpas a cake. Tashi, the Sherpa who was translating all this for me, was made to repeat this fact several times. He was always the first to cross turbulent streams, pass hard rocky sections, and shoulder awkward loads.

- Sherpa Norbu, on climbing with H.W. Tilman in the 1930's

And, finally:

Put on a good pair of boots and walk out the door.

-H.W. "Bill" Tilman on how to have an adventure

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Thursday Thought: Criticism, Conservation, & Politics by Teddy Roosevelt

I've always been enamored with Teddy Roosevelt. A gallant, eloquent statesman, he was also an ardent supporter of conservation in all its facets. And, he was a passionate explorer and climber.

In fact, Roosevelt was descending from the summit of Mount Marcy - the highest point in New York State - on September 13, 1901,when he received a telegram informing him that President William McKinley was near death. McKinley died on the 14th, and Roosevelt was sworn in as President - becoming the youngest to hold the office. 

A Republican by party, Roosevelt was quite unlike what we know as the GOP today. Again, he was an avid conservationist, pushing the use of the nation's natural resources, but not the misuse of them through greed. Roosevelt pushed for equal opportunity for all American citizens in his "Square Deal" policy, and was a strong supporter of thoughtful government regulation of interstate corporations. In a nutshell, Roosevelt wanted America to be great...for all Americans. As he said in a speech in Philadelphia in 1912: In the long run, this country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless it is a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.

There were many things to admire about Teddy Roosevelt. But, as usual, his words are better than mine, so below are some Thursday Thoughts from Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, whose birthday fell on October 27th:

From A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open, 1916:

Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method.

From Arbor Day - A Message to the School-Children of the United States, April 15, 1907:

We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted...So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life.

From Citizenship in a Republic, Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

And, finally, a little call-to-action for us all:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. 

AND

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Finally, a great video on Roosevelt from YouTube:

Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.