Gary:
Ed Viesturs does a lot of climbs that ordinary mortals like me would never dare to attempt. At least 90% of those 209 climbs were either easy, something I had climbed before, or both. I try to set realistic goals and plan my climbs so that I never have to decide whether to quit. When the conditions aren't right, I climb something easier or I stay home.
Lynn:
I began by hiking short distances in the summer. Over time, I hiked further, higher, and in the colder months. I began with easy rock scrambling and low-angle snow and slowly worked my way up to more technical rock and ice. I started backpacking in the summer and little by little gained the experience and gear to do overnight winter climbs. I've done a few stupid things while climbing, but I don't consider myself a daredevil. Yes, I like to test my limits, but I don't like telling stories about what almost went wrong. Climbing is hopefully about experience and good judgment, not big balls or super-human powers.
As for the ski down Whitney, it was a ton of work without much fun or danger. We did it in mid-March, and the trail down to Trail Crest didn't have quite enough snow. We scratched our skis on quite a few rocks. Trail Crest to Trail Camp was lousy snow. We ended up doing as many kick turns as real turns. We had heavy packs from Trail Camp to the truck. We had sections of soft snow and sections of breakable crust. It was slow going with partial moonlight and cheap headlamps. The road down from the Portal had lots of frozen boot/ski/snowshoe tracks that were a real pain. As I said, it wasn't particularly fun or dangerous, just a lot of work. But it sure sounds cool, doesn't it?
Bob
