Essays - On Scaling Mountains

OPUS - Faculty of Music Student Journal

(Vol. 13 No.4, p.4, December 1977)

There was a fellow years ago who prepared himself for an expedition to Mt. Everest by running up the stairs of the Toronto Dominion Centre. I believe that after a while he was able to do it in 44 minutes. I don't know if he was otherwise equipped for the adventure and of he ever made it to the Himalayas.
I met a fellow once who, I was told, knew all about mountains. He studied maps and analysed them; he remembered it all: the measurements, the mineral, the mineral content, the facts about them. But he had never picked edelweiss himself.
I see so many children standing on mole hills. They are told they look so tall on them, and the mole hills have names: "Grades," "Diploma". Sometimes a child discovers that there is a mountain and wishes to climb it; he asks for directions and is shown films of mountain climbers and is given books to read which describe mountains and give accounts of various expeditions. To develop his lungs he runs diligently up and down the stairs and to develop his imagination he analyzes maps. Often this puts him on top of other mole hills called "prizes" and by looking below he can feel he's been anointed.
It happens rarely, but the mountain sometimes reveals itself to the ones it chooses: those who are prepared for the ordeals and the vigils which are part of every knight's trials in the quest for the Holy Grail,,,; those who are not afraid of taking risks; who do not climb in order to be above others, or to impress the villagers; who know their measure, their size in relation to the mountain and suffer neither from self-aggrandizement nor self-belittlement and therefore can neither be illuded nor put down by others; those who, above all have faith that they will find the path to the mountain, along the mountain, until they gain knowledge of it.
That knowledge cannot be imparted by anyone. There is a season; a right time for undertaking the journey, there is the right preparation, the necessary equipment, the proper timing, direction, coordination and resources. If the apprentice is lucky he may meet a guide and congenial fellow climbers. The rope that ties them all is loose enough for independent climbing, but should anyone slip or lose his grip, it is up to the leader to pull him to safety. Sometimes the climber remains for a while in a precarious position and it takes a special fortitude to dangle in the void before gaining a proper foothold.
The mountain guide does not give corrections for false steps from above, but starts the journey from steps from above, but starts the journey from the level of the apprentice. Sometimes the novice refuses to follow, claiming he already knows the path to follow, claiming he already knows the path to the top, while the guide points to a far-away peak hidden by clouds, which one can only reach by descending at first. But only the apprentice who is a product of mole hills'. "Successes" is concerned with the top. The anointed one knows that the view from the mountain will only give him perspective on all the surrounding ranges. Sometimes there is nothing but fog, and tireness, and storms: but the air is clearer, and the fog will lift, and when it does, you know.

Dr.B.