Opinion: Climbing and politics


I was going to write about national politics this week, but the death of local climber Jack Roberts led me down a different path. Jack was a friend and a climber who inspired me to do more. His death from a fall on an ice climb near Telluride hit me much harder than I would have expected.
I have been climbing for about 50 years. Climbing is important in my life, and has consumed large amounts of time and energy over all those years. For me, climbing is not like most other activities. When I’m doing it, I am fully engaged — physically, mentally, and emotionally. At the moments of choice which occur in climbing — about whether to keep going up or turn around, or more starkly to climb up or fall off — there is nothing else in focus. And at the “up or fall” moments, when it’s not possible to just quit and walk away, making the choice to commit, stay focused, and let go of the fear, is a microcosm of what a lot of life is all about.
Climbing is also an aesthetic experience. It is outdoors, which is great on its own, but the increased awareness of one’s surroundings that comes with the excitement and fear is what enhances the already wonderful sense of being in nature. Add to that the camaraderie that comes from sharing the experience with a good friend, the whole experience is very fulfilling.
Chris Weidner’s Wednesday column on Jack’s death brought back memories of some of my climbs: almost getting frostbite on my first winter climb on Mount Washington in New Hampshire and then a few years later completing the first “Winter Traverse” of all the presidential peaks in the White Mountains; traveling to Peru to climb right after college and then later while I was in the Peace Corps teaching Peruvian porters to climb so they could make a better living; moving to Boulder to go to grad school and to climb, including numerous adventures and mis-adventures in Rocky Mountain National Park; almost summiting Peak Communism (7,495 m) in the Pamirs but ending up doing two rescues with Soviet climbers; climbing Denali in Alaska and actually crawling back to my tent because I was so dehydrated; rock climbing in Eldorado Canyon, Boulder Canyon, and Lumpy Ridge (my favorite area); scaring myself silly on some of the multi-pitch ice climbs in Eureka near Silverton; and completing all the 14’ers. I make no claims to being any sort of great climber, but I have lots of good memories from these adventures and hopefully more to come in the future with good friends.
This brings me back to politics. Boulder has been making a big effort to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to provide some leadership in addressing climate change. Our current look at creating a low-CO2-emissions/high-renewable-energy municipal electric utility is a major part of this, and is like a big climb. It is committing, has significant uncertainty about the outcome, and requires considerable human energy, financial resources, and time. I believe that most people in Boulder care deeply about the environment, and agree with the goals of Boulder’s climate efforts. Whether they voted for or against the ballot issues, most everyone seems to be saying that we need to address the climate issue and that Boulder has a role to play.
Boulder is taking the next steps toward determining if a “muni” is feasible. It would be good if everyone united around this project and made the commitment to put out maximum effort to have this succeed. The City will be creating opportunities for citizens to bring their expertise to bear, and also to watchdog the process to make sure that what we get is what we want. If we all engage at whatever level works for each individual, then if it turns out that a “muni” simply cannot be done in a way that produces the necessary economic and environmental results, it won’t be because we didn’t give it our best shot. But if the “muni” performs as well as many of us expect, we all can take satisfaction in a great accomplishment.

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