Because it's there

BCD and I

One of the reasons that I got a digital camera was that I wanted to document the roofs that we used to climb growing up in the neighbourhood. This is not the post for that - I've had my camera a year now and a single roof of my youth has yet to be documented, let alone written about. But recently (as you mite have guessed from the cover stars--- and thanks the Smiths, for the terminology--- that adorned this blog for a bit there the last two fortnights) I have a mountain climbing fixation. Hence pictures of Everest, Matterhorn, the Eiger..etc... and the introduction of mountain climbing terms to securityout, etc etc etc...

So - mountain climbing. I'd liked the movie "Into the Wild" a real lot. I wasn't gung ho for it, but Gf was and she won. Now, funny, as I was the one to run w/ the movie-I immediately got the book, read it in what seemed like a few minutes, and then realised that name.....John Krakauer and a book we had here on the shelves - Into Thin Air was by the same dude.

Into Thin Air was about the disastrous climbing season in 1996 where twelve people in various parties died on the mountain. The story was famous for me already - I'd followed the events live on the mountain ten years ago - I remember how deeply heartbreaking it was when one of those stuck dying on the mountain was able to use a mobile phone to have a last chat with his wife. Then there were the people left for dead -the one actually made it back to safety, though badly injured. Finally, the horror of one group actually leaving others to die because it would interfere in their quest for the summit. I remember that time.

And.....the book...... was brilliant. Again, for the second straight book, it couldn't leave my hands. I go on about how I can't concentrate enough and am too busy to read like I did when I was little - but it was finished in 24h - and it would have been done sooner except that I had to do well, fuck, I had to acknowledge people and talk to them --it was the Thanksgiving thing going on.....


Not BCD and I

So- climbing. Those huge mountains - where one has to use oxygen? God it seems suicidal. When you get that high in the mountains, the air consists of only 1/3 the amount of Oxygen as @ sea level. The mind really starts to go @ that level - punch drunk fighters, or drunken goofs - that what the brain turns into. The tales of misunderstanding and mistakes that are made that high are fascinating. To have the brain so gone, and to still have to do intricate climbs - jeeze!! It scares the hell out of me reading about it. So, of course, after I finished that book, I ordered a 2008 collection of stories about survival inn the mountains.

So - now Gf is afraid that I want to go mountain climbing. I explained to her that in 1996 one had to pay $70,000 to outfit and climb Mt. Everest - so i won't be going soon.

However........ there ar elots and lots and lots of mountains - some that really needed be climber, as much as walked up - here in the states. Maybe.

But -again - the reason for this post is those climbing forays we used to do when we were young. Everyone climber the buildings, but I was in the leadership of two different groups. The greatest of these roofing crews was the L5. Although we had several members, there were two = BCD and I - who were the lead climbers. So - if someplace hadn't been roofed before - we led the way. Anytime a difficult piece in the process had to be solved - either of the two of us. So - when we had to literally scale up a drain pipe 60-70 feet up the sheer side wall of a building-it was either of us to do, get into the building and go to the place where we could leave in the others more safely.

I took great pride in that position. And the climbing on Everest really made me think of those days. These mountaineers had to scale up - again - sheer walls that would defeat everyone else. People could even conceive that these places were able to be conquered.

And so w/ BCD and I. We were talking over the weekend (post to come) about two roofs in particular. They were dominating heights - but they were so hard to climb that any worth on a regular basis for us was null and void.

But - they were there, they were in the neighbourhood, and they had to be climbed @ least once. Crazy, we were - because these roofs were so dangerous. So -two targets - on on 63d and Sacramento, and the other on Kedzie just north of the north alley of 63d (a gorgeous gorgeous building, too) were building we just had to climb.

Tha's next - maybe next week.