It’s hard to know why three experienced mountain climbers decided to climb Mt. Hood in the winter. It seems a needless loss of life. Why not climb it in the summer? It’s like going to look for Dracula at night. Why not wait until broad daylight? We are driven by the human or animal spirit to seek the unknown and the impossible dream.
At the beginning of Hemingway’s story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, he writes the following:
Kilimanjaro is a snow covered mountain 19,720 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai, the House of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.
Perhaps the three climbers had the same mission as the leopard.
posted by Dad at 7:11 PM
1 Comments:
I think Mark has the right idea on this one. When I am president I am going to require that all mountain climbers, skydivers, bunji jumpers, snake charmers, wild animal trainers and NASCAR drivers be bonded for at least $2 million. They will still be just as dead but at least the taxpayers will not have to pick up the tab for the search and rescue teams. There is a possibility that bonding will be required for all future cruise ship passengers as well.
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