Ladders
The King and Queen of Tortuga
Stop by Bismarck for the
Children’s Renaissance Festival
by Brian Reinbold
At over 29,000
feet Everest
has over
3000 vertical
feet in what
mountaineers
refer to as “the
death zone”.
Lack of oxygen
above this
altitude causes
rapid breathing
and heartbeat.
Sleep becomes
more difficult
and digestion
is shut down.
Disorientation
and Edema
can occur
sometimes
even among the
most seasoned
mountaineers.
Sir Edmund Hilary
is credited as being
the first man to
climb to the summit
of Mount Everest. It
is in his honor that
a formation near the
summit is named.
The “Hilary Step” is
a forty foot face of
sheer rock only a few
hundred vertical feet
below the peak of the
worlds 39th tallest
mountain.
Unexpected
storms at this
altitude can
result in radio
blackout,
causing
climbers to
lose contact
with their base
camp. It has
been described
as agonizing to
watch from afar,
and know that
your colleagues
are struggling
toward the goal,
yet to be completely unable
to assist. No rescue is
expected here.
The air is too thin for a
helicopter to fly, and fellow
climbers are nearly always
too exhausted to do anything
but put one foot ahead of the
other in the effort to return
alive themselves.
Simply placing one foot
above the other can take all
the effort these climbers can
muster after days of climbing
and weeks of preparation.
So how is it possible to climb
a forty foot face of sheer
rock, when oxygen deprived,
exhausted and battling forty
degrees below zero wind
chills?
Ladders.
Ladders taken ahead by
Sherpas, the natives to the
region who have served as
guides since Tenzig Norgay
summited Everest in with Sir
Edmund in 1953, and before.
Aluminum ladders lashed
together
allowing climbers to place
one foot above the other and
struggle on toward the goal.
After the Hilary step is an
hour’s climb on a snow
capped ridge, often in
blinding sunlight. It gently
slopes to the summit. The
summit that is the top of the
world.
The view from Everest is
said to be indescribable, and
the
accomplishment of
summiting the world’s 39th
tallest mountain can never
be taken away from those
who have achieved it.
Every schoolchild knows the
name Everest. Most could
tell you who Sir Edmund
Hilary was. They would
even know the name Tenzig
Norgay.
The Royal Huntsman
offers our version of
Medieval Hunter’s
Safety Courses.
Few would have heard of
the Hilary step. Fewer still
are aware of the system of
ladders that make it possible
for hundreds of climbers
to achieve the summit, to
stand at the top of the world
by Transcending the Hilary
step.
And yet, the ladders are
there. The work of those who
have gone ahead, who have
prepared the way. Every
climber knows of them.
I hope you find your
“ladders”
Be Well!
A beautiful fairy always
stops by and visits the Royal
Family. Thank you lovely
fairy Jillian!
The gypsy’s magic oracle has
offered insight for many years
and led to a very peaceful and
enlightened kingdom.
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