Joseph Conrad, Yvon Chouinard, and Caesar Augustus

It’s these record-breaking 103 degree, 70% humidity, two-shirt, two-shower days that I love most about deciding to spend the summer in Southern Virginia, rather than the shoreline of balmy Lake Michigan. Yesterday was much the same. I got up early Saturday morning and donned the pack, weighted down with the heaviest books in my college collection. There was something quaint and faintly European about lacing the boots, throwing some snacks and water in the pack, dusting off the trekking poles, and heading out for a long walk in which the destination was simply the walk itself. (And apparently, judging from expressions in crosswalks and along the road to the trail, the tourists and townies of Williamsburg also seem to find it a novelty.) It was quaint idea until the moment I opened my front door and was rudely awakened by the oppressive blast furnace called summer in the Old South. Coming immediately to mind was the Congo River in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, or even the Francis Ford Coppola adaptation with Marlon Brando in the jungles of Vietnam. Now this here was the Colonial Williamsburg adaptation. I started out, resisting the temptation of muttering, “The horror, the horror.”

I made a beeline for the wooded trails around a small lake on campus. I ran out of water and made another beeline back to school to refill. I don’t know how Jefferson, Madison, and others managed to get anything done (or wear all those frilly layers) in the summertime. What they needed was a Yvon Chouinard:

No longer can we assume the Earth's resources are limitless; that there are ranges of unclimbed peaks extending endlessly beyond the horizon. Mountains are finite, and despite their massive appearance, they are fragile.

-Yvon Chouinard (Chouinard Equipment catalog, Oct. '74)

For those not as well-versed in the outdoor gear culture, Yvon Chouinard is the founder of Patagonia, one of the most innovative, long-standing, environmentally-conscious, and well-respected names in the business. Patagonia is also on board with us this summer, as one of the gear companies supporting the Rainier climb. They have provided much of the clothing and outerwear I’m using on the mountain. As my mom surveyed the box of climbing apparel addressed to Doug in Seattle, she commented on the phone, with disappointment in her voice, that none of it was her size. (For a moment, I think she considered leaving her day job as a professor to become a mountaineer. I don't think Patagonia is looking for an outdoor ambassador in the Criminal Justice Department, Ma.)

When I returned from the odyssey, I ditched the pack, the boots, the poles, and the insulin pump and jumped headlong into the pool outside my apartment.

So the training continues...because of the heat, I've mostly stuck to cardio and climbing in the gym. The World Cup makes it more interesting, and kicking the ball around with friends is a nice change in routine.

A huge thank you to Terra, Chris, and our friends over at Patagonia for supporting my climb for Insulindependence!

Just over a week until the Westward journey starts! First stop: Denver .

Festina lente.*



*Found a good mountaineering motto in Wheelock's Latin textbook-- a favorite saying of the emperor Augustus. :)