I’ve found myself at a higher altitude of late. Summer solstice, long days, and snow melted at the higher regions, is pulling hikers to the tops of mountains, ridges and high-altitude lakes. Where I live, the flat mesa has become monotonous and hot, even though cactus blooms are beautiful. Did you know that the earth is farthest away from the sun at the summer solstice?
The lush green grass, the abundant wildflowers, the rushing creeks are everywhere above 8000 feet. Hiking temperatures are better at higher altitudes. A breeze will cool any sweat you may work up as you climb. With luck, the monsoon rains will keep coming and we’ll have a good mushroom year at 11,000 feet.
What motivates people to climb mountains and reach great heights? I recently read a post from a woman who climbed Mt Hood in Oregon, 11,249 ft high. It was her second attempt. She had a guide and the pictures showed technical ice climbing. I was at 11,800 ft altitude today, nothing technical about it, just plain endurance got me there. I hadn’t reached any peak yet, but I spotted a ridge 1000 ft above.
I can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy towards the woman who scaled Mt Hood. I wished I had climbed it when I was younger and lived nearby. She got to feel on top of the world at fairly low altitude. She achieved the ability to see far and wide. The feeling of being on top varies. It may not be the highest of the highest, but at least higher than everything around you. Often you have to get up early, hike through snowfields before they become mushy and dangerous, and hope for clear skies before you reach the top.
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I’ve often hiked at high altitude. I don’t remember all the hikes I’ve done, but the mountain tops stick out in my mind. Kala Patar near Everest base camp, 18,300 ft, Mt Shasta, N. California, 14,100 ft, Mt Wheeler NM, 13,200 ft, San Antonio Mountain, NM, 10,900 ft, Senge-la pass in Ladakh at 15,200, Dolma pass, Mt Kailash Tibet, 18,300 ft., a dune in Holland at 100 ft. These places made me feel on top of the world, even the dune from my childhood, with far-reaching views.
Icarus wanted to fly to the sun. Does the sun, at its most northern and highest point in the Northern hemisphere, pull on us, a magnetic force, like the full moon exerts on the waves in the sea and makes them rise? I climbed my dune in Holland and most of the mountains in early summer or as soon as the diminished snowpack would permit getting high. The sun infuses us with energy, makes us want to enjoy its warmth (unless it gets too hot of course), its light. As a child I would climb up that sandy dune, pull myself up by the beach grass, stand on top and spread my arms wide to receive the light and express my exhilaration of being high, before rolling down sideways and do it all over again.
The exhilaration of reaching the top is intensified by the awe-inspiring size of the world, and the humbling realization of our smallness in the greater order. A moment of transcendence, a place of realization, or as some say, closer to God.
In the high mountains, we seek to get beyond the limitations of self, physical and mental. We exert ourselves to find edges of strength and endurance we didn’t know we had. We live in oxygen deprivation and find the emptiness wise men talk about.
There are countless ways to feel on top of the world. Finding someone to love, holding your first-born in your arms, achieving a career goal, being able to express yourself and make something enduring, getting lost in a piece of music. You can fill in more. We seek these moments; we want the exaltation.
I fuss over the effort it takes when I’m climbing, but I never complain when I can turn around and my breath eases when I descend. That relief and the giddiness that comes with it never gets old. As long as the sun is high, I’ll keep climbing for that feeling.
Thank You! In 2 years or 3, depending on circumstances, I have promised my daughter we will go to Peru. I am presently 72 and she is 40, I have done several long distance walks such as the Camino in northern Spain, but I'm a bit apprehensive about the altitude in Peru. Do you have any advice for me? Janet
I did some high-altitude hiking in Colorado and Washington state a few years ago. It took perseverance. And a lot of water. But worth it. Something about that expansive view from the heights one can reach. It's a bit of a metaphor. When you "succeed" to something "higher" -- whatever that may be -- the "views" can only inspire.