Noticed

I love climbing. I wish I could do more of it. I wish I was better at it. There's something about the challenge. Some games are mental, some physical, but nothing is as all-encompassing of a challenge as climbing. Its a puzzle, test of strenght, and measure of mettle. Yah.

I have a few climbing heroes. Tenzig Norgay, Edmund Hillary, and David Breashears. Norgay and Hillary were the first to summit Everest. What a combo. In a climbing climate of rich and famous summitting Everest, Hillary and Norgay were symbols of climbing. Both came from common backgrounds; Hillary a beekeaper, and Norgay a Sherpa.

Breashears at first seems like the misfit of the group. He wasn't the first to ascend a 8km mountain. In fact his most famous first ascent is on a slab of rock in Colorado simply called "Perilous Journey." An understatement if there ever was one. It was a flat wall with almost no outcroppings and a singular 1cm crack.

I first picked up Breashears book while dieing in Grad school. During long nights at the library I'd browse the biography section. The book that caught my attention the most was "High Exposure," about Breashears life of climbing and the call to Everest. He's a photographer and climber. He even did some of the filming for Stalone's "Cliffhanger." I never really had time to sit down and finish it. I got to chapter three. I bought a copy in NZ when I was there over break and finished it in four days. Brilliant.

I'll just cut it short and say I really really really admire Breashears. He has my dream job. He gets paid to climb. He was lead on the IMAX Everest film. And it was during that episode that he managed to help save a number of people who'd gotten trapped in bad weather. Sorry I kept going.

The other day I was on Facebook. On the advertisements on the right I noticed a group "David Breashear: Why we climb." I joined emmediately. I was #30 in the group. I thought for a while about posting. It's so much pressure. What if I say something dumb? Eventually I posted a question on the wall for Breashears about the situation in Tibet.

No answer. I was crushed. For almost a day I had one of three wall posts on the ever-expanding group, but no answer. He even took the time to reply to another question, but not mine. Acckk. But then yesterday I checked again and he, The David Breashears, answered my question. Wow! I'm still stoked.

Paul "can I get an autographed wall post?" Murphy