Life is a journey, not a destination

Sheer grit, dig-down-deep determination, and a fortitude not matched by most of the toughest men I’ve ever known, were the all-encompassing descriptions – perhaps the only adequate ones – I felt as I watched retired and disabled U.S. Army Green Berets ascending and descending the great Denali (Mt. McKinley), Alaska. The expedition up the mountain was not only unforgettable; but in many ways a once-in-a-lifetime experience; proving once again that it’s not always the objective gained, but the quest to achieve it (And this I say from the standpoint of having achieved many objectives both in terms of great summits climbed around the world and other harsh, unforgiving environs explored). From the outset – even in preplanning stages – the Denali expedition was an adventure in the purest sense. Any experienced climber will tell you that any such planning, conditioning, flying into base, and ascending would have to be for a mountain like Denali. And this year, 2016, Denali has proven to be very unforgiving. A mere 18 percent of the climbers as we arrived at Base Camp had made the summit – with two deaths. One unfortunate climber fell to his death this year, and one (not a member of our group) died of high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) while we were on the mountain. From base to summit, Denali rises nearly 18,000 feet, the largest elevation gain of any mountain on earth. It is also the most northerly of any mountain over 20,000 feet; with a northern latitude of 63 degrees.

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