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Echoes from the Chair |
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By Dan Richter 6/24/95 |
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I do not think we conquer peaks. We may conquer our fears and self doubts, but mountains cannot be conquered -- we simply go to them. |
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I read in the Sunday New York Times this weekend about two young rangers, Sean Ryan, 23, and Phillip Otis, 22, who died on Rainier last week trying to rescue an injured climber. |
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"The snow has all melted out around my camp, unleashing both green grass and beautiful purple, red, white, and yellow wildflowers," Sean wrote his parents. "The sun is still shining off the snow on the summit, whose glaciers will continue to feed the waterfalls and rivers that fill my water bottle and lull me to sleep each day." In describing him his father said: "He felt the back country was a sacred place. He wanted to educate others, and he liked to be able to use his skills to help others." |
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Phillip’s professor of religion at Bates College, in describing him said: "Phillip was interested in a link between Western religions and our generation’s responsibility in caring for the environment. He saw humankind as having the responsibly to be stewards of the earth." |
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Reading about these wonderful young men reminds me that we go to the mountains because of who we are, and of whom they help us become. |
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On a lighter note, It seems that the we outings folks are a nuisance to ExComm. A lot has been said about the Schedule of Outing fiasco and I don’t want to add anything here. Its pretty clear that for whatever reasons the Schedule will no longer be distributed free and that contrary opinions, in the form of the "Save our Schedule" ad or letters to the editor of the Southern Sierran, will be quashed. So be it. |
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I suggest that as part of the initiative of the joint meetings of the climbing sections we should all get together and publish a Climbers Schedule. We can do this in our own newsletters, and with suitable disclaimers, we might publish some of the climbs and activities of our sister organizations. |
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We should also look at the many redundancies that the SPS, DPS and HPS have and explore how we might reduce some of them. |
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Barbara Cohen is chairing the nominating committee for this fall’s management committee elections. I hope as many of you will run as can. In this time of change and transition we need your commitment. |
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It has proved to be another great season and I look forward to seeing all of you at our fortieth anniversary banquet in December. Climb on! |
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© Copyright 1994-2001 Dan Richter |
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