Still Climbing
We moved from downtown Chicago to Colorado in 1992, and that next summer a friend from church talked us into doing something that seemed daunting to us city slickers: he led us up one of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks (4593 meters). That mountain, Sunshine Peak, is actually the smallest of the 14ers, barely making the cut at 14,001 feet.
Fear
Despite our aching legs, we felt a huge sense of accomplishment, exactly the kind of feeling you expect after climbing a mountain. We did a few more that summer, then the next, and after a while climbing 14ers became a summer staple. It gave us a chance to see our beautiful new state in all its glory. About half of Colorado’s 14ers seem more like hikes than climbs, as you rarely have to use your hands. The other half, however, include lots of exposure (I have a latent fear of heights so I keep looking up, not down when I inch across precipices or cling to a ledge), huge boulder fields, tricky maneuvers around rock towers, and the challenge of fickle weather. The scariest places have appropriate names: Highway in the Sky, the Knife-Edge, the Bowling Alley, the Keyhole.
Typically a climbing day starts at 3 or 4 a.m., when we pack food, drive to the trailhead, and begin in the dark, our path lit only by headlamps and perhaps the moon. Sometimes we camp nearby the night before. One beautiful spot, the Chicago Basin, is ringed with three 14ers and can only be reached by a tourist train and a long uphill hike. We try to summit by 11 a.m. at the latest, then head quickly down to treeline in case afternoon thunderstorms roll in.
When I had a rollover accident in 2007, I lay strapped to a gurney for seven hours contemplating my life, since the doctor told me that if a bone fragment had nicked the carotid artery, I wouldn’t survive. I can’t die yet, I thought. I have three more 14ers to climb! At the time I had done all but three.
A month later a fellow Coloradan named Eric Alexander heard about my accident and sent word through a friend, “If Philip needs any help climbing those last three, I’d be glad to lead him.” I soon learned that Eric participated in the expedition that led his blind climbing buddy up Mt. Everest. You may have seen the National Geographic special on this extraordinary feat. Hmm, I thought. If he can get a blind guy up Mt. Everest, he surely can get me up anything in Colorado, even with a recently broken neck! That same summer, after I got out of a neck brace, Eric led me up my final summit, Maroon Peak, a difficult climb near the town of Aspen. We celebrated quickly as clouds rolled in and then dashed for treeline.
This summer my wife and I followed Eric up another tricky peak, Pyramid, which sits impressively just across the valley from Maroon Peak. Janet has now climbed 51 and has three to go. In the meantime Eric has become a good friend. He has written about his climbing adventures in the book The Summit, available from Amazon.com or from Eric’s website www.highersummits.com. Eric also travels and speaks about his experiences climbing the highest peaks on six continents (he’s still trying to get to Antarctica). If you like adventure, his book will cause the hair on the back of your neck to rise: I won’t spoil anything, but suffice it to say that leading a blind man up Mt. Everest is merely one of the challenges Eric has faced.
No Fear
Eric recorded a few minutes of our Pyramid climb on his iPhone, and you can view them below or at this link: http://highersummits.nlpgblogs.com/2011/08/12/philip-yancey-shares-some-wisdom-on-pyramid-peak/.
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15 responses to “Still Climbing”
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About Philip Yancey
For Yancey, reading offered a window to a different world. So, he devoured books that opened his mind, challenged his upbringing, and went against what he had been taught. A sense of betrayal engulfed him.
Thoroughly enjoyed Eric’s video of your Pyramid climb! Thank you so much for posting it.
Sadly, we missed your workshop at Snowmass Chapel this summer. http://rockandice.com/upcomingclimbingevents/4-meetingseminar/89-eric-alexander-and-philip-yancey-present-two-workshops-at-snowma
Was this presentation possibly recorded, either video [DVD] or audio or is there a transcript available for purchase? We’re sorry we missed, but our schedule on Saturday, August 6th, unfortunately, wouldn’t allow, but would love to hear what you shared about “what the mountains have taught [you] about [your] own connection to God through prayer.”
Nice to actually hear voices, catch a glimpse of the casual personality you and your wife possess. I can’t imagine the awe and the “inner connection” that must be there at such height. A few years back I used to climb a fairly steep bluff up above us beside the lake, a slow, hard ascent that allowed me, finally, a view over the city below, a cool breeze, and an altar in the grass for reflection. Just several hundred feet up, but well worth the effort.
I really love Colorado because of your narratives. And I love adventures, I think that maybe I could like adventures like yours too, hehe.
Hugs!
I once climbed Uluru in central Australia – 1,142 feet of sheer terror. Impressive, huh?
I keep looking for a new Philip Yancey book but nothing – I’ve read all your other books. When will you next book be out?
Joe, my latest books are Grace Notes and What Good Is God? I have a big project underway at the moment (a memoir), but it won’t be out for a couple years. Thanks for your patience.
Joe, my latest books were Grace Notes and What Good Is God? I have a big project underway at the moment (a memoir), but it won’t be out for a couple years. Thanks for your patience.
Philip
I was just smiling away as I was watching the video. It’s really nice to see my favourite author enjoying the outdoor talking about mountain climbing and his perspective of it, of being attuned to nature as well as to God and most of all it’s wonderful to watch how intimately joyful Yancey is with Mrs. Yancey 🙂 I wish both of you many more wonderful experience such as this. Thank you for sharing the post. God bless you both 🙂
Warmest regards,
An avid Yancey fan (Kim of Malaysia)
what a great adventure. I had the joy and challenge of climbing Mt. St. Helens after it blew and was opened for visitors. It was an awesome sight to look into the crater. It gave new meaning to the word “power”. I’m glad the creator is in charge. Thanks for sharing about your climb.
Bless you,
Ed
Enjoyed the written post and the video with your commentary: going up the mountain to experience the “majesty” of God’s creation; the “intimacy” with the Creator; and the fallibility of our humanity–calling “Help! Help!” Jesus went up the mountain. One of my favorite movies/books, “Cry the Beloved Country” depicts that same innate drive. I’m not a physical mountain climber but I spend a lot of time there spiritually. Thanks for sharing a beautiful moment with all of us.
Bear Gryls look out, Phipli Yancey’s in the wild. Great post thanks Philip.
Enjoyed the video. It’s very neat to hear and watch the man whose words I’ve been reading for so long. Also nice to meet Mrs Yancey.
Philip, my wife and I don’t do real mountain climbing but we love hiking in the Canadian Rockies, and we have done some hikes that involved a bit of climbing. I think that if you spend all your praying time in small rooms, you end up thinking of God as a being who inhabits small rooms. That’s when you need mountains to restore your sense of spiritual perspective!
Always good to read your thoughts.
Tim Chesterton
The climbing I can understand. But what about the breathing?!?! I went up to 8000 once and got nosebleeds and headaches.
There is truly a sense of accomplishment when you have reached the summit of a mountain. I have been able to experience this once in my life when myself and a group of friends climb Mt. Dana, just outside Yosemite National Park on the Eastern Sierra side. It has an elevation of 13,053 feet and those last couple of feet I was crawling on my hands and knees to reach the top, but God’s pressence and the sense of accomplishment I would feel helped me reach the summit.
Thank you so much for your books, they were recommended to me by my wonderful pastor Steve Metcalf and helped me with the untimely death of my mother. God Bless You. Kathy McClellan