Hillaneering

Today I went hillaneering. It is very similar to mountaineering, except you do it on a hill. I chose the local stompground--Mt. Helena. Hillaneering on Mt. Helena has a lot of similarities to mountaineering on Mt. Everest. For instance, you need to dress warm and drink plenty of fluids. On Mt. Everest, you'd probably want some sort of hearty, electrolyte-rich elixer or just some good ole H2O, whereas on Mt. Helena, you should probably take some beer.

Now, you might ask why I would put myself through the riggors of hillaneering at this time of year. Why wasn't I enjoying the cozy, local ski resort?? That's a good question, but I'll save that topic for later. For now, I'd like to speak to some more similarities between Everest and Mt. Helena.

When you leave from the base of Mt. Helena in a summit bid, you basically have to accept the sobering fact that you are going to be rising 1200 verticle feet in elevation. On Mt. Everest you have to commit to a 12,000 foot rise from base camp to the summit. The only difference in the ascent of Everest and Helena: one zero.

Another similarity between the two peaks has to do with a cold, hard fact of existence--something that we hillaneer's know as "mortality." Every year on Everest, many will lose their lives on their journey to the roof of their world. Similary, on Mt. Helena animals die all the time. At least, they probably must. I speak from the anecdotel experience of seeing a dead bird on the side of the trail one time and also a dead vole on the Ridge trail. Walking past a dead vole (or any other fellow mammal for that matter) on the trail is really tough. One can't help but ask themselves, "Was it an error in judgment?", "Was it an unpredicted storm?", or did they just fall victim to their own relentless egotism, the influence of which would not allow them to swallow their pride and admit defeat?

I won't ever know the answers to these questions. The vole was already gone when I met him, which means I wasn't able to ever talk to him about his experience--what was going on with him, what drove him to this summit, etc.? Alls I can do is remember that I am a hillaneer. And even though we are now separated by eternity, so was that vole.