Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Heroes & Heroines

I suspect that this forum's average reader/poster <peakbagger> has aspirations and achievements exponentially beyond the dreams of your regular couch potato.

So I'd like to see a long running, rich stream of commentary on why we are motivated by special people. Take your time and consider your comment.

Personally, Linus Pauling is my hero, but because he passed away before Al. Gore invented the Internet, I'd like you to consider Burt Rutan's TED video.

I've followed Burt's achievements for some decades now, I've personally met his brother, also Jeanna Yeager, and one of his engineers is a best bud.

TED is one of the better reasons for the existence of the Internet.

wagga, no consideration time necessary for me - to this day, Ernest Shackleton's 2-year Antarctic adventure is the most amazing tale I've ever heard of. The triumph of he and his crew's determination, courage, sacrifice and mutual caring over ridiculous odds was what inspired me 20 years ago to get my ass out of the city and into the woods.

Number two on my list is a politician, strangely enough. Teddy Roosevelt. Among other things, he was the power and impetus behind the idea of national parks - my personal pet passion.

By the way, the "TED" link doesn't work. That damn Al Gore and his undependable internet!

Quick call to Al, & it's fixed. Considering the effort it takes him to heave the bulk off the sofa, it's commendable.

I have found Anthony Robbins seminars very inspirational to my life. I have walked on hot coals barefoot 2 times as a metaphor for turning fear into power.It has had a powerful impact in my personal and practice success.
I read Napolean Hill Think and Grow Rich often.It is amazing and way ahead of its time.

Did you ever read Cherry & Birdie's Worst Journey in The Word?.

PS. The expedition's photographer was named Herbert Ponting. I have no idea whether he was related to Australia's Cricket Test Captain, Ricky Ponting.

The guy who once told me he was lucky to get his ass shot off in the Hurtgen Forest so he didn't have to fight in the Bulge.

I usually called him Dad. He's the one next to the sign with target on his helmet.

This was one of very few things he said about his almost 2 years in Europe. From Carentan to the far side of the Elbe River.

wbtravis that reminds me of my dad.He was left in charge of holding off the Germans while his troops went over a bridge in Italy.He said his commanding officer said "Fire at will" My dad said "I guess everyone thought my name was Will because they were all firing at me"
He recieved a Bronze Star for his actions that day even though his commanding officer recommended him in for a Silver Star.

Probably the very best "Oh Shit!" moment in history...

"Truman had been vice president for only 82 days when President Roosevelt died, April 12, 1945. He had had very little meaningful communication with Roosevelt about world affairs or domestic politics after being sworn in as vice president, and was completely uninformed about major initiatives relating to the successful prosecution of the war--notably the top secret Manhattan Project, which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb."

John Muir of course is a hero and inspiring to most who travel the mountains but i'd say the person I admire and inspires me the most is Christopher McCandless, a man that could have been almost anything he wanted inside society yet choose to cast it all away, burned his money (literally) and took to the tramp life to seek the deeper meanings in life that society tends to shield from our hearts, though his death may be considered by many stupid or wasteful I see no failure in it and find he lived more in those 2 years of adventure then most do their whole lives.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Something like 33 men and one woman for two years into uncharted territory and back without a single life lost in the early 1800's when a simple cut on the finger could kill you. The ability of that many men to get along without a murder is remarkable. The leadership of those two men has yet to be matched.

Mike, my 10 YO daughter was reading this over my shoulder and immediately chimed in with, "And one girl, dad! Remember how important Sacajawea was to the expedition!" I promised I'd share her thoughts. Ambrose's Undaunted Courage is one the best historical reads around.

That 1.000 batting average is one of the things that amazes me about Shackleton's 1914-1916 Endurance expedition as well. Two years stranded in the Antarctic in the most miserable conditions imaginable without a single life lost.

Duly edited my post.

Snort!

And the whole global cooling/warming/change thingy has made him so rich that he probably has a couple of Al-Gore-bulk-heavers on the payroll beside him at all times . . .

Now that could be another thread with a whole lotta commentary, as opinions are sharply divided on this guy. One thing is for certain though - park rangers in Alaska (and elsewhere) have seen an increase in behavior by young men modeled after McCandless, which is referred to as the McCandless Syndrome/Phenomenon. I haven't read Krakauer's book or seen the flick, but I guess I need to. There's something in McCandless' ill-prepared adventure that seems to touch a lot of people.

My initial impression, after reading an article on him years ago, was simple and brusque: what an idiot. Apparently that's a very common reaction, especially among those of us who do venture "Into the Wild" - regularly, prepared, and with a healthy degree of respect for Mama Nature's temperament. Clearly though, I'm missing something. I realize I'm a left-brain kinda guy and will view almost any matter from a practical, linear standpoint first, but I have enough right-brain inventory to recognize that other people will see the same pattern differently from me. Anyway, I ordered Krakauer's book from Amazon today to see if I can make sense of McCandless and his story. A lot of people appear to see him as a hero, as you do Rogue. I'd really like to understand it.

I had to read the Wikipedia page to find out about McCandless' story.

From that page, a quote from Alaskan Park Ranger Peter Christian:


My first impression is that those who are attracted to that mode are probably like McCandless, in that they grew up in a home environment that was always more than comfortable -- more than enough of life's necessities. And I then recall my childhood, where apparently my family was living below the poverty level, barely able to buy necessary clothing and never allowed to have extras like candy or soda pop. (At the time I didn't realize it was that bad; I was a little kid.)

But living that way, and slowly gaining ground getting out of the economic pit, it left me with a strong desire to NEVER return to that mode. So throwing away all those hard-earned worldly goods and "living off nature" are a completely foreign concept to me.

In regards to McCandless, suicide by any other name is still suicide. The method doesn't make it something else.

It's like: I'm going to fly my plane west over the pacific until it runs out of gas. My adventure will be the return trip.

First the disclaimer: I consider Jon Krakauer a friend.

My first reading of Into the Wild gave me the same impression as many: a modern product of pampered society, who thinks he can go into full survival mode, without paying the dues, with predicable results.

It talking with Jon about it, though, that was clearly not his take. Not to speak for him, but, he seemed to think that it represented the same process that most people make at some point in their adolescent-->adult journey, although this one had defined exterior parameters that everyone could see. In this case it might be a bull moose, in another a "bull" trainman, or a corner enforcer. Jon really intended this to be ONE EXAMPLE of the journey that most face to a life as an independent adult.

Add a spouse and, most especially, children to that responsibility cocktail and McCandless' style of philosophical adventurism is completely impractical for most of us, regardless of our motivations. As are many other things, this is an unattached young man or woman's endeavor. I'm not so drastically far removed from my twenties that I can't recall acting on a wild hair, but unnecessary self-denial and voluntary austerity weren't ever in my game plan. No Tibetan monk here.

No wagga, but been meaning to after it was given quite a bit of space in Huntford's The Last Place on Earth (Amundsen beating Scott to the South Pole). That's one of the biggest challenges I face daily - so many good books, so little time!

Although he lacked the necessary skills to survive completely it wasn't a totally blind attempt at wilderness survival, what really made him think he could do it is he lived for a month in the Gulf of Mexico on only a 10 pound bag of rice and what he could manage to catch, and considering he did quite well in the wild, better then the movie shows.

It is true that if he had only had a map he would not have died, the river he could not cross has a basket pulley system to get across only a couple miles down stream, although foolish you do have to consider the notion of how can you truly have a pioneer type experience in modern day when every inch of the earth is mapped? do like he did and dismiss the map all together!

I just relate to his story allot and am stuck in a debate with myself to take to the tramp life like he did because society has nothing to offer me.

The movie is still one of my favorites for sure: trailer the 480p version of that doesn't seem to work but the 360p version does.

I saw the movie before I read the book and I liked it that way because I felt the book then was giving me more insight into the story.