I'm in Massachusetts now, getting ready to speak tonight at Berkshire School, an amazing prep school in western Massachusetts.
A great school academically, Berkshire also has quite an outdoor and climbing history. Ritt Kellogg, who was sadly killed by an avalanche on Mount Foraker in 1992, went to Berkshire (an on to my alma mater, Colorado College). And, as I just recently learned, George Mallory spoke at Berkshire back in 1923 during his lecture tour of the United States. Wow!
Tonight, I'll be speaking as part of Berkshire's amazing "Pro Vita" program, a week-long program that pushes students outside the norms of traditional academics, and gets its name from the school's motto: Pro Vita Non Pro Schola Discimus (Not just for school but for life).
On Thursday, November 4, 2010, I'll have the honor of sharing some of my favorite expeditions with any and all interested at a fundraiser for the Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT).
Covering some 2,000 square miles of stunning land in Colorado - from Evergreen and Conifer in the east to Georgetown and Fairplay in the west - MALT "promotes the preservation of lands important for maintaining the integrity of our water quality, protecting wildlife habitats and agricultural lands, and creating regional parks for outdoor recreation." MALT does great work, conserving land for varied use through conservation easements, public projects, and other initiatives. Since 1992, MALT has managed to protect over 14,000 acres of land in Jefferson, Clear Creek, and Park counties.
On Thursday, I'll be helping MALT with an outreach event and fundraiser. The evening will begin with a VIP reception at 5:45 - 6:45 PM. The doors will then open to the public, and at 7:00 PM I'll present my Three Favorite Expeditions show, which takes the audience on a fun journey from South Georgia Island to remote Gurla Mandhata, and on to the North Face of Everest for a step back in time. Below is a little video of some of the images from this presentation:
But, most importantly, this is an event to support a great organization - the Mountain Area Land Trust. So, if you're in the area, please come out to Evergreen Thursday night to support MALT, and hopefully have some fun in the process!
For reservations and information, please call 303-679-0950 or send an email to Michaela@SaveTheLand.org.
This coming weekend, June 11-13, 2010, I'll be joining a handful of other professional athletes for a few days of fun and exercise in beautiful Aspen, Colorado, for the Outside in Aspen event. (It's been a great spring here in Colorado, with lots of moisture, making for some stunning scenery - snow capped peaks dropping from blue skies into lush, green valleys. Not bad!)
At the event, I'll be joined by fellow First Ascent athletes Melissa Arnot - just back from her third summit of Everest - and kayaker Jesse Coombs. Additionally, my classmates from Holderness School, extreme skier Chris Davenport and cyclist Tyler Hamilton, will be there. We'll all participate in an athlete symposium / panel discussion as well as participate in various adventure events from rock climbing to trail running, cycling to kayaking.
It should be a great weekend, with lots of extracurricular events going on as well in the always-fun town of Aspen.
I was honored beyond words that the students of The Bosque School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, not only remembered by presentation to them back in February, 2006, but also enjoyed it enough to ask me to speak at their commencement ceremony last night.
It was not only an honor, but also a lot of fun, and exciting to see these energetic, young people moving from one phase of life to the next, commencing this new and intriguing chapter of life. And, it was great to hear after the ceremony that they enjoyed my brief, 20 minute speech about the wisdom I've gleaned from the mountains over the years.
Many of them shared their dream summits with me afterward: playing professional soccer, returning as an MD to work on the nearby Navajo Reservation, and even some who hoped to one day be professional climbers. (I strongly advised them against that!)
The four key points of last night's commencement speech are still in my head, resonating with me as I hope they are with the newly-graduated Bosque Class of 2010:
Dream...and dream big
Get a helmet...it's a bumpy road ahead
Don't take life too seriously...it's not
And, keep your humanity...a box of pears and a hug means a lot more than summits and certificates
Thus, I thought for this Thursday Thought (I know, it's Friday, but I was a bit busy yesterday!) I'd share with you what I said to the students, faculty, Board of Trustees, and parents of The Bosque School for their 2010 commencement. It's a bit long, so I've uploaded the full speech as a PDF file.
As many of you know, I've been fortunate enough to go on some pretty amazing expeditions and trips over the years. I've guided and shot images on 5 continents, working and climbing in areas ranging from the jungles of Borneo to the Kalahari Desert.
But, the question often arises: What is your favorite expedition? Well, the answer - or answers - come tomorrow night as I discuss my favorite trips of all time...and why they are my favorites.
Tickets to the show are $3 at the door, and benefit the American Mountaineering Museum. And, along with great gear and discounts up to 60% at Vital Outdoors, we'll also have some light food and excellent beer courtesy of Golden City Brewery.
Want a little teaser of tomorrow night's show? Check out the video below.
Just the other day, I came upon a video of Charlie speaking and sharing his film from K2 in 1953. It was shot in 2005, but includes the entire DVD that shipped with his memoir, The Brotherhood of the Rope.
He looked like Indiana Jones...really. And, it was probably intentional, a modern-day archaeologist/anthropologist of the far reaches of Nepal. Regardless of appearance, Dr. Charles Ramble was no impostor, no wannabe hero, but rather a dedicated man who had made significant discoveries in the remote, semi-autonomous kingdom of Mustang, a remote fin of Nepal jutting onto the Tibetan Plateau.
For the better part of 3 hours in 1993, Charles Ramble spoke to all 26 of us (we were studying for 6 months in Nepal on a semester abroad program), and not a one was anything but rapt. He told us of a faraway region, until 1991 sealed off to foreign visitors. And, of ancient Buddhist and Bon cave complexes high above Lo Monthang. And, even more intriguing, the fact that these caves date back to perhaps as far a 2,000 B.C. - long before the Buddhist era.
Fresco in cave (left); Charles Ramble inspecting artifacts (right)
And, he spoke of the dangers of his find. Not dangers to himself, but rather dangers posed to the ancient, irreplaceable treasures in the caves: frescoes, artifacts, possibly texts and more that lay unprotected from the elements, and also from art thieves and looters who had already laid waste to many such sites throughout Nepal. (Literally thousands of ancient artworks have been stolen from Nepal's temples and sites over the years; see the website Stolen Art of Nepal and the book by Lain Singh Bangdell, Stolen images of Nepal.)
It was a lecture I never forgot...And, thus it was with great excitement that I heard about an expedition in 2008 by Leisl Clark, Pete Athans, and led by my friend Brot Coburn, would be heading to Mustang to explore and document this amazing site deep in the Himalaya.
(Broughton "Brot" Coburn is a legend in Nepal, and for good reason. He lived and worked there for 2 decades, and wrote 2 of the best books in my opinion on Nepal, Nepali Aamaand Aama in America. And, he's a great guy to boot!)
The expedition to Mustang was filmed and is in production by National Geographic, due to air on PBS later this year.
So, come on down and learn for yourself about the Secrets of Shangri La from Brot Coburn! And, check out the video below - a short preview of the film, with old "Indiana Charles Ramble Jones" making a great climb!
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