The Yin & The Yang

Before I made it out to Lone Pine for the trek to the ceiling I had to make a stop in two very distinct and different places. First off was the western side of Sequoia Kings-Canyon National Park. Here the largest living single organisms on earth have been quietly standing for over two millenium. The Giant Sequoia may not be the tallest but is certainly the largest in volume. Nestled in a large grove at nearly 9,000 feet lies the largest of them all- A Tree named General Sherman. Its hard to imagine when you first see it that it is the largest single living thing on the planet until you stand right next to it. I was equivalent to a mouse standing next to a six foot man. Things come into perspective.

The same can be said when I hopped over to Death Valley. Death Valley is the beauty that come from the death of the dessert and Sequoia Kings is the beauty that come from the life of the mountains. Its funny how the lower you go the hotter it is and the higher you go the colder it is. Lying only a mere 75 miles from each other its ironic that I should be able to visit both the lowest spot in the United States and the highest spot in a mere two days. Perhaps their proximity is not such a random act of nature. Having such extremes face off each other gives the other a reference for what they are. A tall man is simply a man if there are no short people around.

You are forced to stop and ponder about your place in the world when you stand in the shadow of 2,700 year old living giant. Think of all that has changed in the life of something that has lived that long? Now think of what little has happened in your short little life. Feeling small and insignificant? Perhaps not. Had I not known better I would have said that this giant seemed lonely. But I knew that our encounter gave each other purpose.

Raising money for kids by climbing a mountain may be one small rock, but if we all did something similar than we would create our own landscape. The power of collective positive action by many is more massive and powerful than any one can be.

We all may be just a small branch growing on different trees but together we create the forest-no matter how different we may seem to be.

Why Whitney?

There are other more high profile mountains to tackle. It may be the highest but it certainly is not the most well known or hardest. It is not frequented by many or talked about often yet there it stands, alone, and in a place that few visit. It is the pinnacle of a mountain range I have come to love. Something about that speaks to me. There will be nothing more pleasing to me at this moment to stand upon its east flank as the early morning Sierra light rises above its neighbors. It is my ambassador into the mountaineering world.

As Clarence King once wrote:

"Among the many serious losses man has suffered in passing from a life of nature to one artificial, is to be numbered the fatal blunting of his senses."

Its time to awaken those senses again. With that, I am off.

We have done it!

3,800 Dollars Raised....

....in 125 days. 59 individual donations. Bothering as many people as I could. With one talk at a gear store. One fundraising event AND as many email and Facebook posts one could muster.

A heart warming thank you to all my donors below! (thus far)

	De	Haddad
	Dory	Watkins
	Alan	Cascio
	Maureen	Fitzgerald
	Ann	Lee
	Sarah	Gippin
	Rachel	Shaftman
	Marcy	Patterson
	Annemieke	Farrow
	Melanie	Fazio
	Marissa	Marco
	Kathryn	Becker
	Paul	Cascio
	Brandy	Wargo
	Robin	Lynn
	Catherine	Darrott
	Kate	Silber
	Vincent	Giamalva
	Susan	Sondgeroth
	Mike-Tisa	Johnson
	Lisa	Jamhoury
	Kimberly	Pike
	Kris	Wagner
	Joseph	Roccasalvo
	Maureen	McCafferty
	Rebecca	Parrello
	Tedda	Finch
	Keri	Johnsrud
	Stacy	Weller
	Renee	Emery
	Holly	Feather
	Rachel	Darrow
	William	Wargo
	Carissa	Gehl
	Anthony	Napoli
	Amy	Clemons
	Rachelle	Hoffman
	Nikki	Hill
	Tai	Badziak
	Kathleen	Jamhoury
	Jessica	Roach
	Mary	Trotter
	Julie	Heath
	Lauren	McCarthy
	Becky	Brewer
	Jirina	Ribbens
	Tony	Di Sante
	Bruce	Roberts
	Mary	Dearborn
	Shane	blodgett
	Nina	Barreiro
	Adrienne	Friedlander
	Rachelle	Hoffman
	Stacey	Gunderman
	Jason	Nadziejko
	Jose	Gallardo
	Rocco	Papandrea
	Nanette	Norcia

Cosimo Bruzzese

A Big Thank you to both Holly Feather and Rachelle Hoffman for both donating TWICE!

Thank you Matt Wilson for motivating me.

And a big Thank you to the 24 of you that came to my Fundraiser and donated.
Not to mention Sheila Simmons & Stephanie Hatfield for helping me throw it.

Kathryn Becker for coming out to my talk and supporting me.

Both Eastern Mountain Sport and Tents & Trails in NYC for helping me promote the cause!

And last but not least Holly Feather (again) for helping me across the finish line...

I am completely humbled by your generosity.

Next stop. Mt. Whitney. If I could take all of you with me to the top I would... but I think my back would be sore from carrying you all.

My Quads Hurt...

I am a pretty naturally athletic person. I usually don't have to work too hard to be active. But then again I will be turning thirty-three the week after my climb. It's that time in my life I suppose where I need to start actually working at being active. I suppose the greatest birthday gifts are the ones you yourself work the hardest for.

Training your body to exceed its natural limits and tendencies is both motivational and exhausting. With my new job and hectic schedule I can fully admit that I could have probably done more but I did my best. Deep down I know that I will be fine either way. But it's good to feel you need to work a situation from every angle.

And worked it I have. I have worked in everything from Hot Yoga every week to attending a rock climbing gym in Brooklyn. Daily exercises on my living room floor while I watched the last season of Lost. I have gone rollerblading in Central Park so much over the past couple of months that the wheels on my blades have completely warn away. I have even run up and down the three flight of stairs in my apartment building about a billion times with my pack loaded. What was it loaded with? A bunch of old hardcover books, a Winnie -the -Pooh stuffed animal and an old 1940's telephone weighing about -40 lbs. From that I can gather you are thinking two things. 1). I hate gyms. 2). My neighbors think that I am nuts. Both of which would be correct.

Will it be enough? I don't know. I have never climbed a mountain before.

But there is something that I do know about myself. It won't matter. Because when I get excited about something that spring of happiness comes from within-like a child opening their gifts at Christmas. Once it realizes where it is at-my body will remember the training that it had and find a way.

Lost in a Mountain of Gear

When Clarence King in 1864 was attempting to summit Mt. Tyndall in what he thought was his pursuit of the top of Mt. Whitney the sport of Mountaineering was in its infancy. He was more surprised than any that he missed his mark by more than a mile-obscured and disoriented by a passing Sierra storm. Still mistakes like his were rare and what people were able to endure and accomplish in such a simple age was inspiring. What he didn't know he had he didn't need. His list of gear was staggering for what he was about to attempt. A simple nap-sac, a blanket, a pair of leather boats, one lasso, and some dried bacon and coffee for nourishment. To keep himself warm all he had was a blanket and the body of his climbing partner Richard D. Cotter to barricade himself from the alpine cold. People that can endure such conditions with ease and grace, and without complaint are of a different worldly mind than most. It's a single minded mentality that few it seems these days can afford.

Fortunately for me, -or unfortunately depending on the way you look at it-there has been 150 years of advancement (or de-advancement) in the field and in what you can bring with you to those hard to reach places.

Had I a chance I would have happily lended Mr. King my Garmond GPS. Perhaps then he would have set foot upon the right summit.

For the past two months I have slowly been researching the right gear. Most of it came to my house the other day in a big box resembling Christmas. It was as it turned out a bit more synthetic and plastic than what King would have imagined. But what I have to imagine is do I really need all this? There are gaiters, helmets, ice axes and fleeces. Pocket knives, backpacks and a sleeping bag. A carabiner, a climbing harness and a pair of snow shoes. I know own enough layers to clothe a small army. It literally fills up my entire dinning room. Yet.... somehow I am supposed to schlep all of this on my back, up the tallest mountain in the lower 48, and into the thinnest air I have ever breathed? Isn't some of the point of this to be freed from all that binds us?

Perhaps I am forgetting something here.

The most important piece of gear that I could possible take with me are my own two feet. After all they are what will carry me into this predicament and will, with a bit of luck, carry me out. And thanks to EMS I am now the proud owner of a pair of Scarpa Omega Mountaineering boots to protect them. The number one rule in the wilderness is to protect your feet. And I have paid healthy to do so.

For all I care I could go naked now, just as long as I have my boots on. Try that one on for size Mr. Clarence King.

Newtons Law

One of the great think tanks in my life (beside my own shower) is the New York City Subway. I had a thought while riding the subway today. I watched as the subway car came to a screeching halt mid-tunnel as it so often does. Its motion was brought to a standstill by the forces that acted against it: traffic ahead, a red signal, some mass transit workers working on the tracks. We lay motionless for several moments. Then, as suddenly as we were brought to a standstill, the car began to lurch forward again in motion. I watched as the bodies of the passengers across from me jerked backward in inertia as if they had wanted to stay motionless. A momentary struggle had occurred.

I realized something that I had inherently always known. There is a constant force in our lives that combats the direction in which we should be moving. We constantly work and fight to combat this natural tendency. We strive to remain in shape. If we didn't then we would be unhealthy. We fight to maintain friendships and relationships in our lives when we tend to be too busy. We fight to stay focused and accomplished when the tendency is to turn the TV on. We try to give when we want to keep. To trust when it is so easy to mistrust. To get back up again when naturally we fall.

The power to move forward in any direction is driven by our own internal desire to go places. I am sure there is someone out there that can argue the otherwise but it seems to be that the nature of our lives if not acted upon by our own desires is to remain distracted. Some of the most successful people in the world are those that recognize that natural tendency and drive every aspect of their lives in the opposite direction.

I ask. Why does it have to be this way? Why should the things that we perceive as good be such a struggle to maintain?

Perhaps my quest to climb Mt. Whitney and raise these funds is my own attempt to move in the opposite direction of things. The past three weeks I have succumbed to the natural tendency to be too busy at work, distracted by things that really don't matter, and depressed on the outcome of my fundraising. But I must remind myself to keep the motion going. After all if I didn't strive to climb to the top of a mountain then the naturally tendency would to be stuck at the bottom. Think of the perspective I would lose.

One of Newton's laws states that an object remains at rest until acted upon by an outside force. He obviously was not taking into consideration the inside forces of a human being.

I have to wonder what was he doing when he thought of that?

Oscar's are like Climbing Mountains

Come out to support BCM, my Summit For Someone climb and watch the Oscars in style!

This coming Sunday March 7th I will be hosting an Oscar Viewing Party to Benefit Big City Mountaineers and my climb!

Location: The Grisly Pear
107 Macdougal Street (Between Bleecker & W3rd)
New York, NY 10012 US

When: Sunday, March 7, 6:30PM

What's cooking for Oscar night?

Oscar Viewing on big screen TV's and surround sound!

Drink specials:
*Ladies Guinness $7
*All Well Drinks $7
*Cosmopolitans $8
*Bud light/Dos Equis $6
*Food Specials

*Proceeds from these help fund the cause! COME HUNGRY!

Raffles for Best Picture/Best Actor & Actress/Best Supporting/Best Director and more! Have a chance to win some extra cash!

OSCAR Bingo!

Character artist on spot to draw your charactercher!

2 Dollar shots every time someone crys during their speech!

AND CRAZY AUTHENTIC BELLY DANCING ALL NIGHT LONG!

Come early if you want to laugh at the red carpet dresses!

$10 Dollar donation at the door that directly benefits kids who need mentoring and off the street! Free Bud light or soda as your first drink!

Invite your friends, all are welcome!

Swanky Dress optional!

-Steven