The Flag, The Dedication, and Odysseus

The Flag

The image immediately to the right is the flag that Team Wilson’s own Betsy Ross crafted. Sewn by Carla Stanley, the customer service rep for the One World Play Project, the banner will be unfurled at the top of Mount Adams in a few days as Roger, Wilson and I claim the sulfurous mound of rock and ice on behalf of the One World Futbol Project.

The Dedication

But what’s the point of conquering a mountain, if you don’t dedicate the act to someone or other? Since we’re going to be out of touch for a few days, Roger, Wilson and I are going to dedicate our hike ahead of time two three groups;

First, to the adventurers who lost their lives in the great mountains of Nepal in two recent devastating earthquakes. Their quest to reach the roof of the world dwarfs anything Team Wilson can accomplish by reaching the summit of Mount Adams. I am in awe of individuals who endure the thin air they find at more than twice the elevation of Mount Adams, and they deserve to be remembered, along with the thousands of others who died in the earthquakes.

Secondly, the donors who have, at this writing, purchased 103 One World Futbols. Every ball you purchased will serve an estimated 30 youngsters. It will cast a long shadow, lasting indefinitely, when lesser soccer balls will end up in landfills. It is a great gift that you have made.

You donors probably have a lot in common, but the element that so impresses me is this: I didn’t ask any of you to make your gift. I made it a point of pride that I never asked for the sale. I told you we were hiking for a cause; I told you what the cause was. But Team Wilson didn’t ask for a penny from any of the more than 150 individuals who receive the blog or individuals we met along the way. Most of the donors were readers who purchased only one or two balls. So consider the ratio—an enormous portion of the readers became donors  who self-initiated. There is an important message here about the character of the American people whom I know and who have made these gifts. I think it is that we are naturally kind.

Finally, there are those who have complimented Team Wilson on our effort. Some have expressed the wish that they had the energy or the purpose or the opportunity, or whatever. It is to you, as well, that we dedicate our ascent as an encouragement to pit your mettle against your own challenges. As Tennyson wrote,

You and I are old. Old age hath yet its honor and its toil. Death closes all. But something ere the end, some work of noble note may yet be done…”

 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, became Britain’s poet laureate in 1850. He was a man who had his struggles and transcended them. He wrote what has become my favorite poem, and the lines that continue to encourage; perhaps they will encourage you. The lines are about the fabled Odysseus, who, having finally completed an almost endless journey home following the Trojan War, reflects on his life and asks himself, “what next?” And, noting that he still has some tread left, he comes up with his own answer. You’ll find it in the lines that follow. And maybe there's something there for you to discover about yourself, as well.

Ulysses

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'

Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades

For ever and forever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!

As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

         This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,—

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees

Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

         There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'T is not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Love,

Roger, Robert and

Wilson, the Unbreakable

Countdown to Adams

At this writing, there are only 10 days before Roger, Wilson and I leave to conquer the state's largest mountain. And it's time. By Roger's thinking, there will be enough snow to make the ascent pleasant and the descent swift. Team Wilson has more than surpassed the goal of climbing the equivalent of five Mount Rainiers while training for the ascent, and we are within two One World Futbols of our objective of raising 100 futbols for children in distressed communities as part of that training.

 A potential hiking partner, Nancy Zwicker, jumped the gun on us, and that was actually helpful, because of the report she provided. One of our concerns had been whether there would be enough snow on the mountain. Here is her report, delivered a week ago:

It was really cold at night.  Everything froze solid, so we cramponed up.  Made the top in 4.5 hours at 10:30 a.m. The snow was too firm to glissade at 11, but softened up a bit later.  The ground is bare until about half way up to the lunch counter (a popular bivouac site where hikers camp before setting off for the final climb--ed.).  Folks were saying that the first face above the lunch counter will be too thin of snow to glissade in about a week.
I think the snow will hold on the upper mountain... 10 - 12 k.  It is much steeper than I had imagined.  We were too early to the summit, but it was so cold and windy overnight we just wanted to get moving.  Had a mountain goat sniffing around the neighboring camps in the evening.  Very cool!

The Mount Adams descent via glissade will offer something special. It's our hope to include a video of the descent using a GoPro film posted on YouTube. The photo below shows a GoPro screen shot of Interstate 90, taken from the lookout ridge at the end of the trail up Mount Si, our most frequently used training climb.

Screen capture from GoPro movie gives indication of the sharpness of the rugged, versatile camera.

A couple of recent setbacks seem to be resolved: Roger pulled a tendon during a training hike on Mount Si. He's been in therapy, and a test hike on Rattlesnake Ridge showed that his tendon is up to the task. Roger's concerns about possible heart fribillations if his pulse becomes too high have been put aside as well by his doctor, who said his heart is healthy and can take the climb. A week ago I tested Rattlesnake Ridge (1,100-foot gain) with a 47-pound pack; yesterday I carried 35 pounds up Mount Si. (3,100-foot gain) So we're in shape for the hike.

During the coming days we will be inventorying our gear and supplies to decide what to take and what to leave behind. We'll let you know when we head out.

Oh, I should note that I've made a big thing about climbing Adams on my 70th birthday. Actually, I won't be 70 if we go up in early July. However, as I recall it, life insurance actuarial tables treat me as if I'm 70 six months before the fact. That's good enough for me. I hope you don't object.

Love,

Robert, Roger and
Wilson, the indestructible

Betsy Ross, The shocking recovery of Roger's ankle, the Fifth Rainier, and divine intervention

If the conquistadors could take possession of vast swaths of the Americas for the King of Spain, I figure I can rename Mount Adams in honor of Wilson the Indestructible -- at least for a day. That's what I intend to do, when Roger Matthews (my guide), Wilson and I reach the summit of Mount Adams in the next few weeks.

And things are shaping up for a successful ascent. It has been snowing on Adams, making for an easier climb. Roger's leg is healing from a recent strain. And we have our own Betsy Ross, who is in the process of crafting a Team Wilson flag which will waive over the state's largest mountain, just as the Stars and Stripes were crafted to represent a fledgling nation. Well, OK, so I wax a little grandiose. Live with it.

The scene of Team Wilson's fifth "Rainier."

After meeting the goal of 70,000 feet of elevation gain while training for the climb, Team Wilson added a couple thousand feet to the total by climbing Rattlesnake Ridge twice more, pushing the figures past the equivalent of five Mount Rainiers, as represented in the image below.

14,409 feet x 5 = 5 Rainiers, another great milestone.

The possibility of too little snow had been a worry, but the latest wrinkle in the plans occurred when Roger pulled a tendon climbing Mount Si a few weeks ago. Several years ago, while walking around the ancient Mayan coastal city of Tulum, he was descending down a house-sized boulder when he slid on some sand and struck a stone with his knee, rupturing the "quad tendon," which connects the quads (four muscles) to the knee, making it possible to sit, squat, and walk. He came very close to being crippled for life, but a good therapist and two months of keeping weight off the leg led to a significant recovery. Part of the recovery included treatments using electricity to speed healing.

Well, the shock treatments are back. When Roger pulled a leg tendon on the Mount Si hike,the initial diagnosis was that it might mean he wouldn't be able to hike for two months or more -- long enough to put our Team Wilson's Mount Adams guide out of circulation. But just last week, I received this e-mail from Roger:

Finally, a diagnosis. I did not stretch my Achilles tendon, but rather a smaller side tendon called the posterior tibialis. I can't hike for a month (therapy twice a week, and lotttttsssss of stretching, but my therapist didn't see any problem with me planning to do Mt Adams. Early to mid-July would be good, and the weather looks like that would be a good time too.

This message came right after Carla Stanley, the customer service representative for the One World Play Project, sent me designs for the flag that will be unfurled at the top of Mount Adams ... uh...Mount Wilson, I mean. I had just told her about Roger's healing progress, and she admitted she had been praying for that. So there you have it -- divine intervention. With that kind of supernatural involvement, we can't back out now, and besides, the snow is lingering on Adams, making for a safe climb and a fun descent when we slide 2,500 feet or more down the mountain on our butts.

Carla Stanley, our very own Betsy Ross. She is pictured with a One World Futbol.

Rough prototype of the

Team Wilson flag that will wave 

over the conquered mountain.

By the way, that's Carla's photo immediately above. She's poised with a One World Futbol. Carla was the individual who won our Valentine's Day contest by correctly guessing that Wilson is gender neutral, and for that she got a box of See's chocolates. When she found out we needed a Betsy Ross to create a Team Wilson flag, she leaped to the challenge. For you guy readers -- see what a little chocolate can do? Take a lesson.

So while Carla plays Betsy Ross, Roger has been undergoing therapy that involves warming the leg, stretching the tendon, then icing the leg. In each session like this there are electrical pads giving his calf muscle as much jolting as he can endure. And since there's no organ damage, no death and no-one to hear him scream, it's technically not torture.

It's uncomfortable, but it's working, and he will climb Rattlesnake Ledge again this weekend to see how the healing is coming along.

If the snow holds and the healing continues, we will be claiming Mount Wilson for a day sometime around the Fourth of July. Then it's just a matter of notifying the National Geodetic Survey that they need to update their maps.

Love,

Robert, Roger,
and Wilson