Food for thought from an old trip report…

From Kyle Dempster’s trip report:

“I’d like to say that our decision to leave Josh at the tent, while Hayden and I tried to blast to the summit, was a difficult one. At 7000 meters, life’s fragile existence can quickly become extinct. Maybe Josh’s condition would turn severe, maybe Hayden and I wouldn’t return from our summit push, thus leaving him stranded without ropes to get down, or maybe the mountain would take us all. It sounds dignified to say that the decision was tough, but while the three of us sat in the tent that morning suspended so high above the earth, there was very little discussion about the devastating possibilities. Josh would stay in the tent and go no higher; we left him with the stove, extra food, and an extra sleeping bag.  Hayden and I racked up, tied in, and would blast the final 350 meters to the 7,285-meter summit of the Ogre, and get back to Josh as quickly as possible.

Maybe Hayden and I were blinded by the summit, maybe it was a dumb decision for Josh to say, “Go.” The three of us had cast aside the mantra of ‘stay together in the mountains,’ and surely our decision deserves some level of scrutiny. However, in the mountains and in every moment with the people that we choose to have adventures with in the mountains, we must constantly be aware of ourselves, our surroundings, and communicate these perceptions. If Josh had said that he needed to go down, Hayden and I would have done so. If either Hayden or I had felt a strong enough conviction that leaving Josh was not a good idea or that the terrain above was too dangerous then would have gone down. If any of us had felt differently about the circumstance, then we would not have made the decision that we did. Each moment in the mountains is different, every decision unique, and this one made collectively by the three of us felt appropriate.”

Filing under: things to think about in the mountains.