Notes From Everest

I just got a message from my friend, Kevin, who is currently climbing Mount Everest. According to him, "it's quite the circus!" He's actually working, which just happens to include climbing. Here's a link to today's diary of the team's expedition, which is to re-create the path of Mallory and Irvine.

Day 7

Here's the main page, which today has an interview with Jimmy Chin about the various types of snow.

I have an absolutely great job but, sometimes, I still get jealous of my friends who have better ones. As a member of the North Face team, Kevin travels the world, pretty much just adventuring. I'm officially jealous.

But he's earned it. For one, he's one of the better all around climbers in the world. As I used to tell people, if it involves going up, Kevin is better than me at it. It doesn't matter what the form of locomotion is or what tools are used; he is a master climber.

But he's also paid his dues. We met in Yosemite during the 80s when he was permanently on the road climbing. I learned a lot from him. Much about climbing but just as much on how to live cheaply. He moved in with me once and had his entire existance whittled down to one haul bag of stuff. This way he could exist on a salary of around $300 a month. I followed suit--though never got my possesions below what would fit in my van--and spent the next decade living on as little money as possible in order to facilitate climbing as much as possible.

At some point, as a climbing jouralist, I began to realize that not many climbers had the resume of Kevin. So I wrote an article about him. At the OR trade show that year he came up to me, weilding a haul bag filled with gear, and said "This is great. I just show people this article and everyone is thowing stuff at me." Since then, he's been hard to track down. When I'm doing things that seem cool, I'll then get a note from Madagascar, Patagonia, or Pitcairn Island that make me jealous, but also motivate me to keep at it and continually find challenges for myself. I couldn't be happier for him. There are a lot of poser/schmoozer types out there who get money without the substance. Kevin's got the substance and he's earned every trip.

It's unknown just what will happen during this little adventure. They brought the A team, but with altitude and weather involved, it's never a casual affair. So check it out. Should be a good show.