Wednesday, November 26, 2008

High Crimes

I recently finished listening to a book on CD entitled High Crimes by Michael Kodas. The book was an eye-opening view of what Himalayan climbing has become, with the high cost and low training level of the many paying climbers creating situations where many get in over their heads, and guides and sherpas are loathe to put other climbers climbs at risk by mounting a rescue. Also, theft on the mountains is apparently a common occurence.
In my youth, I wound up pretty well steeped in climbing culture, and one point that was always said was that if another climber was in trouble, you did everything you could to mount a rescue. I believe I'd posted a story about the counselors from my camp helping with a rescue. I'm not sure, but think they dropped us kids at the bottom of the mountain with instructions to set up camp and prepare dinner, which we did. They scrambled up the mountain, assisted with a rescue, eventually carrying the victim down the mountain when the rescue squad members proved incapable of the task (they weren't climbers, were doing the best they could, but simply lacked the strength and skills needed).
The book convinced me that if you want to climb in the Himalaya, you should join a large, high cost expedition or better yet, just don't go. As for me, in my youth Everest and its kin were looked on as the prizes only for the very best in the world. I'm perfectly content to leave it that way. I have a knee that's not quite 100% and caused me to give up backpacking a generation ago, so unless I were to undergo surgery, I'm likely incapable of the work to attempt this. Still, the world of guided climbing has set itself up offering Everest and similar mountains as trophies for a lot of climbers of questionable ability.
Whether this is right of wrong, I can't really say, but I will compare it to the world I know, marathoning. Here's the key difference, if you get in trouble when running a marathon, you simply drop out, take a break and gather yourself, perhaps taking a gel to replenish your energy stores, and you live to run another day. In high mountain climbing, there are several things to consider, first, at altitudes approaching 5 miles, most people are unable to sustain life without supplemental oxygen, Second, even with oxygen, the rarified atmosphere means that simply walking can be a hard effort. Now, add difficult terrain, and you can likely understand that mounting a rescue at altitude without a large and very strong team is nearly impossible. Here's how to look at it in running terms - take a major marathon and instead of paying about $100 to run, or perhaps $300 - $500 including all costs, multiply that by several hundred times for a total cost of perhaps $30,000 to $100,000. Now, tell all the pace bunnies at the race that they need to walk away from their commitments and carry a runner around the course on a stretcher...And cancel the marathon for anyone who was planning to run with the pace bunnies. You now get some idea what a rescue does to those on the mountain - is it right?, is it fair? - you tell me.

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Monday, November 17, 2008

On Belay?

One of the more enjoyable tasks I perform is belaying climbers at the local YMCA. This weekend, I found myself doing this at a birthday party. Parties are often the toughest duty because there is constant application of harnesses, a continual need to confirm that they have been properly and safely applied, and the need to provide basic instruction to the many who haven't climbed before.
Still there are dividends. On Saturday, a mother decided that she wanted to climb. For most adults, the climbing is the easy part. The tough part is when you've climbed either to the top of the wall or until you can't climb further, you must commit yourself to the rope. Letting go of the solid, stable wall and dangling on a piece of rope a half inch thick goes against virtually every instinct you've developed thoughout your life. It's that act of letting go of the wall that is, as a climber, the most difficult thing you must do.
It's always nice to see adults challenge their fears, and that's what makes it so nice when adults choose to climb.

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Sunday, November 09, 2008

A Long Run With My Son

Matthew and I took a run yesterday morning with one of the local clubs. We had to scramble home afterwards because he had a bass guitar lesson. The result was a run with very little social interaction. We ran a longer route because this club moves their Saturday run's starting point for the winter season. The result was that the run, which would have been about 5 miles was likely closer to six. My son was complaining during much of the return. While I find that an out and back route is a benefit because it makes bailing out on a run early difficult, my son complained that it feels like he's running forever and that without laps like in the local park, he can't measure progress incrementally. It was interesting to hear that different perspective.
I started the run needing to hit the bathroom, but was able to make a quick detour in the park to take care of my need. The run took a lot longer than I realized, after a few minutes of rest, I guessed at the time, and it was over a half-hour off (I guessed less.) We tried to stop for a doughnut on the way home, but the shop was closed, so we got a couple of lousy fast food breakfast sandwiches.

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Saturday, November 01, 2008

Run For Your Life

Yesterday evening, I attended a screening of the new documentary Run For Your Life with Gary Corbitt. Gary is the son of Ted Corbitt. Ted ran the marathon as part the 1952 Olympic team, and was also the first president of the New York Road Runners and was the driving force in bringing accurate course measurement to the USA.
Run For Your Life is a very watchable biography of Fred Lebow, the impresario behind the New York City Marathon. It includes interviews with family members, famous runners, NYRR club officers, and the near-mythical Bob Bright. Also, included is some old footage of races from the 1960's and early 1970's.
The movie traces Mr. Lebow's running from his falling in love with the sport as a back-of-the-pack runner, to his position as arguably the most powerful man in the world of running. It traces the New York City Marathon from its earlier existence as the Cherry Tree Marathon to its first few years in Central Park and on to becoming the first "city tour" marathon, with the creation of the five borough route in 1976.
Among those playing big interview roles were Grete Waitz, the Norwegian track star whose nine New York Marathon wins made her a mega-star; Bill "Boston Billy" Rogers, the four-time winner of both New York and Boston; Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run Boston with a number, and one of the early New York winners; Nina Kuscsik, one of the early stars of women's marathoning; Ted Corbitt, whom I'd described above; Vince Chiapetta, another of the founding fathers of the New York Road Runners; and Bob Bright, the driving force behind the early growth of the Chicago Marathon, who'd dropped out of sight several years ago. Mr. Ehrlich revealed that had resorted to simple low-tech detective work, and one Bob Bright whom they'd called proved to be Mr. Bright's son, who passed on the message to his father.
As a documentary, Run For Your Life provides a lot of insight into Fred Lebow, the man, and his impact on the sport. The question I have to ask myself is, "Would a non-runner be willing or able to stay involved in watching this?" This film is very well crafted, and in a post showing discussion, Judd Ehrlich, the producer and director, revealed that he'd spent time working with Ric Burns. My conclusion is that both fans of the sport of running and New Yorkers will love this film, and almost anyone with a broad and open mind will find it both of interest and enjoyable.
Following the movie, Judd Ehrlich (center), the producer/director; Alison Shurman (right), the film's editor, and Gary Corbitt (left) discussed with the audience the making of the documentary, and talked about some of the personalities appearing in the film.

Also in attendance was Joe Perez, born with cerebral palsy, who went on to run the New York City Marathon under Ted Corbitt's tutelage. Gary Corbitt related the basic story, then Mr. Perez added some additional detail.

I asked the three panelists to pose flanking the movie's poster in the theater lobby.
(Mostly written Saturday evening, and completed early Monday morning. Photos added and captioned Monday evening.)

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