Hypoxic euphoria after completing a 21-year quest...

There aren’t that many events in life that take over two decades to complete. Usain Bolt finishes a 100-meter dash in a mere 9.72 seconds. Two cells miraculously emerge into a newborn in a quick 9 months, after just a few hours in the making (“your mileage may vary”). Kepler established that the Earth orbits the sun in 12 months. High school, college and medical school take roughly four years apiece, while a full sunspot cycle takes a long 11 years. So it’s with some excitement and relief that my Colorado Grand Slam is now complete after 21 trips around the sun.

Luke (in red) and his buddies in Denver, on the way to summer camp

I’ve had the joy of sharing the high Colorado Rockies with dozens of friends over the years, some 14,000-foot peaks being easy lung busters and a few becoming quite epic challenges. This past week I took my son Luke and three of his buddies to summer camp in Colorado, and made the most of the dwell time by topping out on the final three mountains on the 59-peak list (those being North Massive, Conundrum and South Maroon Peak).

Nicky, Cindy, Scott, Bob and Don atop Mount Massive

Some great friends, including my best college buddy, fellow Everest climbers, mountain rescue team members and some NASA rocket scientists, joined me on my way to the finish line. My sincere thanks to Don, Bob, Nicky, Jaroslaw, Keith, Cindy, Alan, Steve and Tim — and my many other Mountain Compadres over the years. Here are some photo highlights of the trip, which involved over 16,000 feet of vertical in 4 days, crossing over 6 summits in excess of 14,000 feet:

Jaroslaw and Bob on the grassy slopes below (South) Massive Peak

Upper face of (South) Maroon Peak, with Tim, Steve and Scott barely visible on the traverse

Scott & Cindy finish their Grand Slams the very same day --- it just took me four times as long!

It was an exhilarating feeling to take those final steps to the top of (South) Maroon Peak outside of Aspen. The clouds were rushing around the summit, bathing the long, narrow and steep apex in an eerie light. My overachieving friend Cindy Howard, whom I’d gotten to know when I led an effort to rename a Colorado summit in honor of the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107) crew, joined me on top, completing her Grand Slam in just 5 years! [Columbia Point dedication link: http://silgro.com/ColumbiaPoint/index.htm] We took some happy hero shots on top, and thanks to good cell coverage and cool technology, I posted our photo together from the summit of #59. Congratulations, Cindy!

"The hills are alive with the sound of muzak..." (!)

I love these mountains too much to say that I’ll never return. I hope my next circuit around these peaks will be with my son, and hopefully it won’t take another 21 years to finish the list! I had my handy SPOT tracker with me, generating an electronic breadcrumb trail along the way (http://www.spotadventures.com/user/profile?user_id=42312) Nicky “Haus Frau” Messner (Everest summit in 2008) also posted a great Picasa album from the trip here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=HausFrauNicky&target=ALBUM&id=5500075723366428113&authkey=Gv1sRgCJOHk67w2t7gbQ&feat=email

My good friend Bob “BoBo” Lowry, who’s life motto is “Climb High, Don’t Die,” has a blog here:  www.boblowrys.blogspot.com

More general information about climbing Colorado’s 14ers can be found at: http://www.14ers.com/

 

 

Nearing summit as the sun slowly rises...

 

Jay Redman atop Mount Rainier

Jay isn’t the kind of guy who gives up easy, you see. Jason “Jay” Redman, a Navy Lieutenant and SEAL, was caught in a fierce firefight in Afghanistan. Separated from some of his team, Al-Qaeda gunfire ripped his face and left arm to pieces, and he very narrowly avoided becoming a fatality of war. Thinking of his faith and family in what might’ve become his final moments on Earth, he somehow held on. Forty-plus surgeries later, including 7 months with a tracheotomy breathing tube, he’s an inspiration to all wounded warriors. A large orange poster board that he displayed outside his room at Bethesda Naval Hospital says it all about Jay:

‘‘Attention to all who enter here. If you are coming into this room with sorrow or to feel sorry for my wounds, go elsewhere. The wounds I received I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting the freedom of a country I deeply love. I am incredibly tough and will make a full recovery. What is full? That is the absolute utmost physically my body has the ability to recover. Then I will push that about 20 percent further through sheer mental tenacity. This room you are about to enter is a room of fun, optimism, and intense rapid regrowth. If you are not prepared for that, go elsewhere.”

 

Kevin Ivory victorious on the summit of Mount Ranier --- Kev has my ice axe and flag in his left hand (flown during Space Shuttle mission STS-86, and taken to the summit of Everest with me in 2009)

 

 

Kevin Ivory, a Marine medic (Petty Officer Third Class) on his 3rd tour of duty in Iraq, was out on patrol in Fallujah when the Humvee he was driving ran directly over three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), launching him and his buddy Phil 10 feet in the air. Severely wounded by shrapnel blast, he found the strength to render aid to Phil, who’d lost his arm in the attack. Despite Kevin’s severe injuries, blood loss and shock, he managed to place and maintain a tourniquet on his buddy’s arm, drifting in and out of consciousness. When rescue crews found the pair, an unconscious Kevin still had a tight grip on Phil’s brachial artery, thereby saving his life. Although Kevin emphatically said he’d never climb a mountain like Rainier again (he mentioned Mauna Kea in Hawaii as an option — basically anyplace warm!), seeing him celebrate on the summit was a beautiful thing, and clearly a milestone event in his life. 

Celebration on the Summit: Mike Day (lower right), Kevin Ivory (center) and Bryan Stuart (far right); Scott, Bob and Erica also raising the flag...

21-year Navy SEAL veteran (Master Chief) Mike Day makes Rambo look like a male figure skater doing a Triple Salchow with a Half Gainer (or whatever it is those little guys do). Mike faced such overwhelming odds in an Al-Qaeda firefight in Fallujah it’s hard to fathom it, especially given the humility in which he recounts his fateful day. Riddled with bullets and presumed dead (he took 27 bullets in total, 16 to his body and 11 to his body armor), he somehow rallied and took down his four assailants. Had his valor been witnessed by two independent sources, as is required for the Congressional Medal of Honor, it is likely he’d have received our nation’s highest honor for valor in combat. Mike made it to the top in fine form, and apparently liked it well enough to want to take a friend and fellow wounded warrior (double lower extremity amputee) to climb Denali, an even colder and tougher destination. That’s just the kind of guy he is — as a retired SEAL, he works with a non-profit to help other wounded veterans get the services they need to transition back into civilian life.

Bryan Stuart, also a Navy SEAL, was hard hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) during his first tour of duty, and has stoically fought  to recover strength and function following multiple injuries and other issues. An electronics and communications expert on the SEAL teams, he hopes to go back to college soon to pursue an electrical engineering degree as his wife completes medical school. SEALs are famously tough: Bryan never showed any weakness or suffering on the climb. Although a quiet individual by nature, I could tell by his proud smile that he was powerfully changed by the summit experience. What’s more, the experience left the entire team of guides and volunteers (including Micah, Bill, Curtis, Art, Ann, Erica, Heidi, Tim, Kegan, Walt, Bob and me) with a profound sense of awe — we most likely derived even greater uplift from the climb than the vets!

Please consider giving generously to Camp Patriot so they can help others — “Giving back to those who have given.” www.camppatriot.org

Camp Patriot honors those who’ve given us so much…

Brave American military men and women proudly serve us around the world, including in the direct line of fire in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result, there are over 2.3 million disabled veterans in the US, and this number continues to grow. Thankfully there is an incredible organization called Camp Patriot (www.camppatriot.org) that strives to honor and support them by providing meaningful outdoor activities, regardless of their injuries.

I met Founder and Executive Director Micah Clark last summer at a conference, and immediately wanted to do what I could to help. He and fellow mountaineer Curtis Fawley asked me to join their 2010 Mt. Rainier Summit Challenge, and it took all of a microsecond to consider my reply. I’m deeply honored to help guide a group of remarkable Americans to the top of 14,411-foot Mt. Rainier, as well as give a keynote at their annual fundraiser tomorrow evening in Seattle: Camp Patriot Program 7.8.10

The Summit Challenge Team includes four (dis)abled servicemen, among them Navy SEALs and 1 Navy Corpsman (medic):

Navy Corpsman Kevin Ivory

Navy SEAL Jason Redman

Navy SEAL Mike Day

Navy SEAL Bryan Stuart

We’ll also be supported by my friends at International Mountain Guides (IMG, www.mountainguides.com), with whom I climbed Everest, and the fine folks at Rainier Mountaineering Inc. (RMI, www.rmiguides.com).

Camp Patriot not only enables adventures such as this Rainier ascent, they aspire to build a mountain lodge to support thousands of other disabled veterans in the years ahead. Please consider giving generously: http://www.camppatriot.org/donations.html

TRACK OUR CLIMB IN REAL TIME:

In the days ahead I’ll post thoughts and photos from the climb here. In the meantime, you’ll be able to track our progress via my handy SPOT Messenger, dusted off from my last Mt. Everest climb: http://www.spotadventures.com/user/profile?user_id=42312

Check out these other links, including video of our team training in Arizona a couple of months ago:

• http://www.azfamily.com/video/featured-videos/Vets-that-form-Camp-Patriot-97830019.html
• http://www.twitter.com/camp_patriot
• http://www.myspace.com/480215603

Monty stoically awaiting a helicopter Medivac from Everest Base Camp

Moments ago I learned of the death of a good friend and 2008 Everest teammate, Monty Smith. He took his own life just days before his 49th birthday for reasons that I’ll likely never know. He was the perpetual optimist, the constant conversationalist and one of the most outwardly enthusiastic people I’ve ever known. He was a successful businessman, a life-saving mountain rescue leader, and a dedicated family man.

He and I shared considerable adversity at the completion of our time on Everest together: I had ruptured a disc in my low back and had to limp down from Camp III, and he had a fluke nosebleed in the cold, dry air of extreme altitude. In the course of a few hours at Camp II (21,500 feet above sea level), he bled out perhaps 20% of his blood volume before we could get it slowed down. 

I was thankful to Monty for three important reasons: for the shared friendship and shared regret of missing out on the summit together, and for a ride back to Kathmandu in his Medivac helicopter (instead of a 36 mile trek with a crippled back). I always assumed he’d eventually make his way back to Everest to “finish the job,” as he was an extremely accomplished mountaineer, but this was unfortunately not to be…  

Monty and I celebrating our expedition at the world-famous Rum Doodle with an Everest beer, as I'll always fondly remember him

I’ve never understood what would prompt someone to take their own life, particularly someone as broadly accomplished and positive as Monty was. I’m so very thankful to have known him, and my prayers go out to his family and other friends.

Life certainly has its ups and downs, but on average it should be a great celebration. If you’re having trouble seeing this, please seek out the help of friends or counselors.

Your many, many friends will miss you very much, Monty. Climb on.

————————————————————————————————————————-

Monty’s Obituary is inspiring: Monty Smith obituary