Remind you that mountaineering requires a variety of skills to meet the many challenges to be endured - at least from what has been explained to me. One must consider physical endurance, mental toughness, determination, keen understanding of climbing techniques, proper equipment selection and handling to name a few. The 6:50 AM Metro North commute several days past from Katonah to Grand Central led me to consider another skill that had not yet been fully addressed.
The stimulus for today's consideration came from a poster on the wall of the train's first car. It was located just before the front doors on the left as I sat facing forward in the very first seat of the train. The poster was about window height, measured approximately 2'3"x 3' 6", all green in color with yellow lettering. It was clean, crisp with neither a smudge nor a wrinkle. Set in clear glass with a thin aluminum frame, the early morning sun streamed upon it making it an almost sacred image to the adoring gaze of my fellow commuters. Seriously.
Now all this meandering over-the-top "where's-he-coming from" chit-chat above may simply be a reflection of two of my obsessive/compulsive tendencies. The first is the need to remember meaningless details, perhaps like those above. The second, but not least, is to always be first to arrive at any destination, ergo, my chosen seat (obscessing on blogs may soon be a third). On the other hand, it may be something else. For while I was sitting there in the first seat of the first car, something very mystical began to happen. The light from the sun streaming through the window became much more intense, for an instant almost blinding. I looked again at the poster and what I saw took my breath away. The poster began to change. First the silver aluminum frame lost its metallic glow and soon morphed into an almost fine mist. The background of the poster began to change colors from the pale green to an almost pure white. The edges of the now white poster radiated a glowing red hue, like a cloud illuminated by the setting sun. The print of the poster also changed to the color of a pure heavenly blue sky peeking its way through the drifting white day's cover, still clear and still easy to see. I understood what the poster had become, a wonderful fluffy cumulus cloud reaching to the top of the train carrying, to my trembing awe, perhaps an important message. A message that needed to be considered. Seriously.
Perhaps and certainly possible regardless of my state of mind, the writing on the wall that I experienced that day on the train was an ethereal message of destiny. You see, this mysteriously shining poster on the train's wall, perhaps from someplace"out-there" special, carried words of deep meaning to all of us. It was not just a simple reminder of events to come, no common call for toothpaste or deodorant. No, indeed, it was far more profound. It carried forth a message of common joy, a statement of great significance. I knew also at that moment that there was a purpose for me. One that I could only accept. For I believed I was chosen to be the messenger of its almost sacred promise. You see, it was a listing of apps for our beloved iphone. The message was clear and uncompromising. It set forth that the most frequently downloaded free app by all us 3-G worshippers out there is the one called The Weather Channel. This was, indeed, a calling for those not yet converted to the promise. I looked down quite smugly at my own smart machine knowing that I was, indeed, among the in-crowd, a chosen-one. I even have blue tooth headphones. Well, ok, maybe not as serious as I thought.
Within a second, the image the glowing poster on the commuter train wall coupled with the vision of ever changing mountain climate to which I must adjust in my future adventure caused the content of my daily blog to flash before my eyes. I knew what needed to be said. The facet of mountaineering that needed to be discussed today is ---you guessed it---forecasting the weather. Hallelujah! I mean, more specifically, the ability to accurately predict the weather at that moment you are high up on the mountain, climbing to the summit; a skill not to be taken lightly and one that could be life saving. Now all of us with iphones will know that this is no great shakes. It's easy. Just push the buttons and voila. Current weather reports, weather predictions for each of the next 36 hours, ten day forecasts, weather alerts, satellite images, etc. are all there retold in an instant. What other skills are needed when one is blessed with this well stocked, multitasking, ipod playing, video watching, texting miracle machine for the ages. And who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks! Now that is serious.
But there is more to this story than a good smart phone as experience has taught me. The appropriate selection of apps may be part of the true message that I was chosen to tell but there is something more profound. Another part of the lesson for me happened with yet another miracle computer-controlled gizmo of our time; one that I happened to bring on a previous winter mountaineering climb. That lesson: very simply, when it gets very cold, like the minus 25 degree temperature that we were experiencing on that winter day in the Adirondacks, these little gadgets don't work for crap! The gizmo on that particular day was the computer controlled keys to my rental SUV. There we were back at the rendezvous spot after 12 hours of climbing. We were cold and tired. No time to stand around and chit chat. The feet will freeze quickly. A better time for me to drive four other climbers who were half my age along with equipment back to warm comfort of our safe abode. I walked up to the car to begin the journey back to camp, pulled the keys from my pocket, aimed at the SUV front door, pressed the little designated spot on the gizmo, and waited impatiently for instant gratification. But guess what? -nada, nothing happened. Not a beep, click, chirp, or rattle of any kind. I pressed again - nada, and again several times. I switched fingers. Maybe I was pressing too hard. Was this actually the right car? Details, details - where art thou, my obsessive/compulsive instincts. What will I do? What was I to say to the seasoned mountaineers standing behind me? I felt the heated glare of those raucous cursedly-young genetically-predetermined tall lean climbing machines. I cursed again with silent resentment at their image. Why was I the one that was "short" changed with the DNA base pairs? Why was I the only one with gray hair and aching knees. I whimpered in barely audible tones "I can't get it to work?" Can't get it up when I need to in order to satisfy heated desires (the door lock, I mean!!! I'm talking about the door lock!!!). My self-image was in shambles. You just can't trust these "smart" gizmos in the mountains. What next out there in the frigid night and what is the true message to be written?
( To be completed tomorrow or maybe the next day after that)( not feeling well- have a cold)
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