Mara returns to the Mountains

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Michel Leclerc (here)
From what I know about the field: nothing from experience but this from listening to two friends:

Friend One telling how her son, an experienced high-altitude climbing guide who made a hundreds of meters fall with his patrons on a rope, of whom one fell to his death, one broke his back and basin, one just had bruises and he himself fragmented his foot bones because he had allowed his quite assertive clients to override his warning that the weather was not to be trusted;

Friend Two, the attorney representing the relatives of the clients, who won the case against the Climbers‘ Club employing Friend One’s son.

Lesson One: never continue when your guide says Return,
Lesson Two: always return when you want to return even if your guide says Continue – with your guide.

Does that sound like a wise rule, mountaineering members? Bill?

Yes, 100%.

Many years ago, I was on Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland, famous for its bad weather), with a friend who had traveled a long way and who was an enthusiastic novice who'd never climbed there before. I knew Ben Nevis very well, so I was in the role of the 'Guide'.

Half way when hiking up to the mountain, I began to get a very bad feeling about the weather. I decided that we had to turn round and forget about climbing that day. My friend was very upset, but I insisted.

Sure enough, later that day a violent storm broke. If we'd been high on the mountain, we'd have been in very serious trouble. (I have quite a few similar experiences, and my instincts about things like this have been part of why I'm still alive. )

[mountain_jim]

I was amazed at Noam's ability to film that smooth of a video while running behind Pema on that slippery, uneven surface.