In The Event

Work was coming to a close when someone called and asked for a three mile, three foot wide length of carpet to be installed from Timberline Lodge to the top of Mt. Hood. I responded that some red indoor/outdoor carpet might be appropriate. Of course it was Bob saying Friday night looked to be the night we we're targeting. He wants to be on the slopes and climbing by 1 a.m. During that early hour the snow is nice and icy and great for sticking into with crampons. I called Derek and he was excited to go but his wife, Deanna, had seen a local weatherman say the slopes were prone to avalanches this weekend. Bob had said exactly the opposite but who really knows. I respect anybody's decision. No reason to be sick with worry over something like this. There will be a next time for him. It does make you reflect on your life insurance situation. Joy and I have had these conversations before about what would happen in the event of my death. Pretty morbid but worth considering. She says she wouldn't be able to keep the house because she doesn't pull in enough income alone. She could always move someone into the basement to help defray the costs. I told her she'd have to do more at Gilford's and her pay would increase as a result, but she couldn't learn all the bookwork machinations of the business overnight. Her brain's not set up that way. I said Derek would be around to assist. They would probably do quite well. Knowing that this is a potentially dangerous activity, why go through with the risk? Honestly, I've never felt that my life was threatened. I've been up twice with Bob, who has been up countless times, knows when it's time to turn back. He's not a risk taker. We take the friendliest route for climbers (even though we watched on TV in 2002 as a rescue helicopter crashed and slid right down that section). I need to go back up to prove something to myself that I can't define right now. Maybe I'll be able to elaborate in a future post.