Edmund Hillary, Jim Whittaker, “The White Tower” by James Ramsey Ullman, Glenn Ford, Edward Whymper, il Cervino, chimneying, the Schawangunks, New York, bouldering, “Mountaineering: the Freedom of the Hills,” Zermatt, Switzerland, Hotel Perren, Gornergrat Railway, Monte Rosa, bergfuehrer Emil Perren, the Riffelhorn, Gorner glacier, chamois, Zermatt cemetery [8.4 min].
When Tom and Rita picked me up at the bus station and showed me to my bunk in the Winterhaus, I knew I was in for a great experience. None of us had ever met, and both sides put their trust in the other. I thought they were the coolest couple ever. Tom, a Ski Patrolman, and Rita, a ski instructor, they had turned their love of skiing into a career. At that time I was fantasizing about a way to break out of school for a ski season, and I envied their courage. So for two weeks they welcomed me into their lifestyle, allowing me to help out with their 1960-61 Christmas rush. Winterhaus, a large, three-story building built and owned by Tom and Rita, opened for the 1956 ski season. It sat 150 yards up a driveway at 3418 Mountain Road. Thoroughly Bavarian in style, the red shutters
It is a well-known law in golf that “Every good shot must be paid for with an equally bad shot.” Over time nothing damages the golfer’s ego more than these endless cycles of elation/ joy/optimism followed by despair/loathing/suicidal depression. Happily, there is a way out of this wretchedness — the Recovery Shot. This is the only shot in golf that requires no thought, no alignment, no pre-shot routine, no visualization, and, provided you grip the club by the correct end (something my novice golfer and beautiful wife Jilly has written about in her one-page book on putting (she calls the putterhead “the handle”)), no skill, and no talent. How do I know this? Because yesterday I made a Recovery Shot. On Luck Golf Course’s 165 yard par 3 Number 12, my 7 iron somehow misfired in my hands, hitting the ball high and right, causing it to bounce twice on
Many of us who are old enough will remember the spell that President John F. Kennedy cast over a crowd of people. There is probably no better example than his speech to a crowd of 450,000 from the steps of the Rathaus Schöneberg in Berlin on June 26, 1963. The Germans were excited for several reasons: 1) This was the first visit by an American president since the end of World War II. 2) Their one-time enemies had become the heroes of West Germany because of the Allies’ 1948-49 Berlin Airlift under the leadership of the wildly popular General Lucius Clay, thus saving two million Berliners from starvation and cold. 3) The communists had just erected the Berlin Wall, and now the survival of Berlin was once again in doubt. American support was key, and the Berliners hung on Kennedy’s every word. Watch the 3 minute highlight video and come
Santa Monica beach, surfing, UCLA Chemistry Dept., Prof. Willard F. Libby, San Vicente Blvd, Sierra Club, Basic Mountaineering Training Course (BMTC), Stoney Point, Chatsworth, bowline, belaying, Last Chance Canyon, Susan’s death, scorpions, Onion Valley, ice axe practice, fault block, Owen’s Valley, snow camping, snow cooking, sitting glissade, self-arrest, Strawberry Peak, Baby Karen, Split Peak climb, Arkel Erb, Ken McNutt, rest step, Bernard Hallet, “Congo Kitabu” by Jean-Pierre Hallet, Mr. Ritter, Sigma Alpha, view from Mammoth Mtn, Lake Ediza, Minarets, Mt. Banner, Steve Fossett 2007 crash site, John Muir 1872, John Muir Trail, Yosemite Valley fly through, Leaning Tower, Bridalveil Fall, El Capitan, Sentinel Rock, Yosemite Fall, Half Dome [15 min].
