During our recent sabbatical we made our yearly pilgrimage to Colorado. There is something about the mountains that soothes the savage beast inside me. Each year my oldest son and I tackle at least one 14er. There are 53 14,000’ peaks in Colorado all of which can be climbed without technical gear. They are basically a beautiful one mile hike through rolling hills, followed by a 2-3 hour climb straight into thin air.
They are not pleasurable, they are difficult. On one site describing Mt. Bierstadt it said this was one of the easier climbs. Make no mistake about it, there are no easy 14ers period, none, zilch, zero. Climbing 14,000’ in the air is difficult and that is an understatement. Each time I climb these peaks I learn something new. During my recent climb of 14,065’ on Mt. Bierstadt I learned the following lessons.
1. Effort is the reward - Each time we have scaled a 14er, my son and I have taken pictures, caught our breath, eaten a small snack and headed back down. We don’t do yoga or meditate on the top of the mountain. The rains and thunderstorms come each afternoon and there is a short window where you can safely stay on the summit. It is beautiful up there and you can see for miles, however going down is a lot of work as well. The climb has not been completed, you have to go down the mountain. I have never felt elated until I was home soaking in the hot tub laughing at how much quicker my son made the summit than I did. It is the effort, the completion, not the summit that satisfies.
2. There is always someone better - We were cooking along the trail making great time. Both my son and I are in good shape, and these two ladies in their late 50’s came up behind us and passed us like we were standing still. I did notice one had a shirt on that said ultra-marathon or something like that. At times in my life I have felt pretty awful when I have been passed by (this coming from a man who keeps track of who I pass on road trips in the car.) I also have to deal with my son who each year when we hit the steep terrain can’t ‘hold back’ any longer and simply takes off leaving old dad in the dust. One minute we are hiking together I look down at the trail and he is gone. I catch glimpses of him on the switchbacks above me from time to time, but I am not his speed. I have learned to applaud others success and actually enjoy seeing others achieve.
3. Sometimes you have to just keep going - There is a point each year when you want to give up. The air is thin, too thin to breathe. The false summit just reached reveals another 1/2 mile to climb. Your water runs out. There are always reasons to quit and go home, to give up, to take the easy way out. One man told my son, 'you are doing pretty good for a flat lander.' It would be ok for flat landers to quit and go home. The summit is not listening to my excuses, it is not reacting and consoling me telling me it is O.K. to give up. The summit is mocking me, telling me I can’t and has effort to back it up. Sometimes you just have to keep going and there is not reason why except you do. And that is reason enough.
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