Through the Mill

The following article was originally published in the October 2010 issue of Constructor, a publication of the International Union of Elevator Constructors.

Brothers and sisters:

By the time you read this at the beginning of October, I will either be back from a bicycle trip eastward to the Niagara region or still cycling around New England.  This is the less ambitious version of the trip to circumnavigate Lake Erie on bicycle I have been contemplating for years.

The idea first came to me after reading Himalayan Passage by Jeremy Schmidt and Patrick Morrow.  It is the story of the how Schmidt, Morrow and their wives, all accomplished mountaineers, spent seven months in the high country of Tibet, Nepal, China, India and Pakistan.  Their only itinerary was the circumnavigation of the Roof of The World.  It is an incredible story filled with adventure, friendship and discovery all set against the most formidable natural boundary on earth.

Then there was A Bike Ride:  12,000 Miles Around the World by Anne Mustoe.  She was a 54 year old, overweight, out of condition ex-headmistress who in 1991 gave up her job, bought a bike and took to the road.  12,000 miles and 15 months later she was home.  Along the way she tells of fierce downpours, blizzards, blistering heat, political turmoil, kidnappers and amorous waiters.

Both of these books tell of accomplishments, either achieved singularly or as a group, that give the reader a tangential sense of the experience.

The books Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, both by Jon Krakauer, are cautionary tales.  The first is the story of 24 year-old Christopher McCandless who in April of 1992, gave away his life savings of $25,000 to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, invented a new life for himself and  hitchhiked into the wilderness north of Mount McKinley.  Four months later his decomposed corpse was found by a moose hunter.  The story of how this college graduate from suburban Washington DC wound up dead in a bus literally in the middle of nowhere is a compelling story of a Tolstoyesque search for self.

Into Thin Air tells of Krakauer’s own experience in summiting Everest in May 1996 where five of his teammates froze to death in 100 degree-below wind chill and the sixth was so heavily frostbitten he was left for dead at least twice, still survived and had his right hand and most of his face amputated.  The leaders of the expeditions, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, both legendary mountaineers, died on the mountain in a climbing season that claimed twelve lives and was the deadliest climbing season to date.  The reason for the loss was attributed to Summit Fever, that intense desire to reach a goal at any and all cost, forsaking the best judgment of clearer heads and your own personal safety.  The Outside magazine articles that inspired both these books are compelling, the books themselves are riveting.

What story I will tell, whether it resembles that of Schmidt, Morrow and Mustoe or echoes the haunting work of Krakauer, as of this writing, is yet to be seen.

It will, though, be an adventure.

I go an email from…

‘till next month (maybe),

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.

Don