Recreation
Living in
flat places is fine for avoiding landslides. It’s not so great if one likes to
hike and climb lofty peaks. The next best situation is to have a good airport.
This made it possible for me and several friends to get to Yakutat, Alaska,
from which point (after a short flight) we started our climb of Mt. Logan, the
highest point in Canada. It is a sort of almost-Denali, topping out at 5,959 m
(19,550 ft). It sees far fewer climbers than its somewhat higher cousin in
Alaska. Having climbed Denali too, I can attest that Mt. Logan’s “normal route”
is a more difficult climb than its Denali equivalent. Logan gets its share of
nasty weather, and the summit plateau stretches on and on. But as the phot
shows, the weather is not bad all of the time.
Another climbing trip took
me and my friends to Kyrgyzstan’s Khan Tengri. That trip included another
political scientist who climbs peaks. It was astounding to find that there was someone
else in this fairly small profession who was interested in climbing. We did not reach the summit of Khan Tengri.
Officially, we blame bad avalanche conditions. More honestly, it was a
challenge that was above our capabilities. Or it could be that it is a
mysterious and magical mountain. After all, this mountain suddenly grew the
last five meters needed to bring it up to the 7,000 meter mark upon
Kyrgyzstan’s declaration of independence.
This photo shows how one gets to Khan Tengri—aboard the venerable Mi-8.
Trips to
Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and Argentina have occupied my attentions too.
Then in
2004 I climbed Alaska’s Denali (Mt McKinley), the highest peak in North America
at 6,194 m / 20,320 ft along with my friends, including a college roommate and
some of his friends from work. We lucked out with especially good weather, so
we reached the summit without any heroic effort. It was a straightforward, well
planned climb. The real motivator of that venture was a friend whose job
depends on very careful planning to an unusual degree. It was interesting to compare
his organizational style to our research group’s field ventures. While his
ventures are more reliant on technology, the need for logistical flexibility
and several good Plan Bs was similar.
My college
roommate seems to have a seven summits bug, so he lobbied to climb Kilimanjaro
(5,963 m / 19,563 ft) in 2005. We and
our staff of nine—guide, a cook, porters & porters for the porters—did
that, with me arriving at the summit at 3am.
How could it be so cold at the equator?
We will
tackle some other peaks in the future with this great group of climbers. We’re planning a trip to