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Half Dome climbers

SHERPA GUIDES AT YOSEMITE?

Posted on September 11, 2016 1 Comment
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Photo credit: outdooradventureclub.com

After Biodesign students explored Yosemite, Grand Canyon and the Mendocino coast, it was not uncommon for them to vow publicly (or privately) to return to one of the areas when they became adults. I have no record of how many achieved that goal, but I do know of one ex-student who has climbed Half Dome 8 times.

Therefore, I was not surprised when an ex-Biodesigner mentioned that he was joining a group that was going to retrace the hike that his class took over 20 years earlier.

His class rode a bus from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point and as the bus approached Washburn Point, Half Dome loomed into view. I have seen that view approximately 40 times and each time it has left me breathless. The student responses were predictably gasps, oohs and aahs, however, on one occasion a student blurted out, “He’s freaking crazy if he thinks I am going to sleep up there!”

An orientation discussion included the major landmarks; Muir’s description that glaciation was the primary force that created Yosemite Valley and the current theory that Half Dome did not have another half, but was an atypically formed “pluton.”

After allowing time to absorb the sublime beauty, the group headed south, 1.4 miles to Illilouette Fall. Turning left at the waterfall, they ascended the Panorama Trail to Panorama Ridge.

[I agree with many veteran Yosemite hikers who regard the Panorama Trail as the most dramatic, and thus inspirational, trail in the entire Park. The trail is mostly level and the easier walk provides the opportunity to better appreciate the stunning new perspectives that appear around every bend.]

After approximately 2 miles the trail descended steeply downhill and joined the John Muir Trail, which originates in Yosemite Valley. A short walk to the top of Nevada Fall provided a great place to remove backpacks, relax and eat lunch. After a leisurely lunch, the students donned their backpacks and trudged 1.8 miles to their first trail campsite in Little Yosemite Valley.

The next morning, after breakfast and a briefing of the day’s activities, backpacks were hoisted and they began the challenging, 4-mile-hike up 2700 ft. to the top of the 8800 ft. Half Dome.

[A very dramatic narrative of climbing Half Dome can be found in, “Biodesign Out For A Walk,” chapter 6, “Cindy.”]

After sleeping on Half Dome, the group made the 10-mile descent back to their basecamp at Yosemite Valley.

After the ex-student returned, I contacted him with a request to hear about his adventure. He gladly obliged and filled me with wonderful stories and images. His group left their backpacks at Little Yosemite Valley and they hiked up Half Dome in time for a gorgeous sunset.

“It was a hard hike,” he said, “I don’t k now how our whole class made it with backpacks on.”

However, when I casually asked him how they handled the trail meals, he looked a bit sheepish and said, “Our guides took care of all of that.” I was not aware of such services, but quickly connected the dots and blurted out, “I HATE YOU!” Of course he knew that I was kidding and we shared a hearty laugh.

He obviously had not forgotten that a major chore for the Biodesign trips to Yosemite was preparing trail meals for a group of 30. Rather than packing 15 small backpack stoves, we took three MSR Rapidfire stoves. Each one sounded like a small jet airplane, but could get six quarts of water boiling in about 10 mins. We carried 3, 6-qt. pots and each pot provided enough hot water for 10 hikers.

He continued, “Only some of us had some equipment and rather than spend a lot of money on equipment that we would probably never use again, we hired two guides. They supplied all the equipment, cooked all meals on the trail and filtered all the water we needed.”

When I shared this with Christie, not unkindly, she burst out laughing and said, “I didn’t know that Yosemite had “Sherpa Guides!” LOL

My curiosity was piqued and so I went on-line to research “Yosemite Sherpa Services” (just kidding) and found a plethora of options available. The guide service that I Googled charged $900/per person for a three-day backpack trip similar to the one we took. At first, I was a bit shocked, but quickly recovered and concluded that the price was reasonable for what most participants would call, “a-once-in-a-lifetime-experience.” The $300/per day for guide, food and equipment seemed like a bargain compared to the $450/per night for a room at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Furthermore, it pleased me that our 6-day Yosemite trip cost our students $50. (with confidential scholarships readily available.) When I apologized to parents about the cost, they frequently dismissed my concerns and said their kids cost them more than that when they were at home. ;o)

John Muir hiked mostly alone at Yosemite and was happy with a single wool blanket and pillowcase with some dried bread balls and some tea. However, I truly believe that he would both approve and marvel at the evolution of the latest backpacking equipment and trail techniques, including professional guides. After all, he himself guided many Yosemite visitors, including President Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt was so impressed with Muir’s wilderness that, after returning to Washington D.C., he ordered 230 million acres to be protected and formed the foundation for the US National Park Service and the US Forest Service.

Sherpas in Yosemite? Why not?

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

[email protected]

Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: Author Lowell Harrison Young, Bio-spirituality, Biodesign Out For A Walk, Half Dome, Half Dome climbers, John Muir vision, soul, spiritual growth, Yosemite, Yosemite Valley

Soul: The Greatest Christmas Gift

Posted on December 7, 2015 Leave a Comment
Photo credit: mountainproject.com
Photo credit: mountainproject.com

Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk.

On an unscripted whim, I had them close their eyes and asked
 them how many of them had a soul? Every hand shot up.
“Hands down,” I said.
“How’d we vote?” someone asked.
I answered, “One hundred percent positive. I guess this class has a lot of soul.”

“The soul is the name for the unifying principle, power, or energy that is the center of our being. To be in touch with soul means going back to the sacred source, the site of life-releasing energy, the activating force of life, the god-grounds; to venture forth and confront the world in all its marvelous and terrifying forces, to make sacred our hours here; to learn to pay such supreme attention to the world that eternity blazes in to time with our holy longing. Soul-making this.” The Soul of the World, by Phil Cousineau and Eric Lawton.

One year, shortly after we reached the top of Yosemite’s Half Dome, a group of rock climbers were completing climbing up the face. They were surprised to be greeted by a welcoming party of excited young adults. I was setting up our camp area about 200 yards away, but voices often travel clearer and farther in the mountains.

Climber: “What are all you guys doing up here?
Student: “We are all in a high school advanced biology class.”
Climber: “You’re bullshittin’ me!”
Student laughing: “No it’s true.”
Climber: “So, your biology class just happened to wander up here?”
Student: “No, our teacher led us up here.”
Climber: “Damn! He must have big balls!

I laughed out loud, but was suddenly embarrassed by what I considered to be a crude metaphor and that I had been eavesdropping. More importantly, however, I was tempted to hurry over and tell him that it was the students who were the courageous ones. I wondered if he had read Carl Jung:

“Whenever there is a reaching down into innermost experience, into the nucleus of personality, most people are overcome by fright, and many run away…The risk of inner experience, the adventure of the spirit, is in any case, is alien to most human beings.”

Jung etal, described the spiritual journey as potentially far more scary than any physical or mental challenges. On the other hand, maybe the climber was acting out Joseph Campbell’s purpose of life; “The Soul’s High Adventure.”

Perhaps it didn’t matter. After all, The Class was not only experimental, but experiential and existential. This meant that any discoveries that students made would be their own and not of my doing. Over 24 years there were many books that I discovered that would have been very helpful, but they also would have altered the many paths of discovery that were vital to the students’ spiritual growth. The best example of this (and now one of my favorite treasures) is a small (but powerful) book, “The Soul Of The World.” Phil Cousineau paired amazing quotations with Eric Lawton’s spectacular photos into a breathtaking book. It has been a deep source of inspiration for me since it was released in 1993. Cousineau included profoundly inspiring “poems, prayers and promises” from men and women from all walks and major religions, including people who are Red—Yellow—Black—White. He paired the inspirational lines with photos of some of the most beautiful and or sacred places on planet Earth. The book proved to be a powerful validation of the collaborative journey that about 500 students had shared with me. I was able to draw freely from it for the last five years of the class.

Nearly 15 years after the Biodesign Class of 1979 decided to embark on a journey of the soul, Cousineau and Lawton confirmed just how spiritually aware those students were. Jung, Thoreau and John Muir were correct when they noted that many people will live their entire life without probing their own spirituality. John Muir wrote: “Most people are on the world, not in it—have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them—undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone; touching but separate.”

The rock climber demonstrated tremendous courage climbing the face of Half Dome, but I wonder if it equaled the courage that it took for each of the 700 students to follow Loren Eiseley, Carl Jung and John Muir by embracing wonder and terror and thereby discovering that “Going out For A Walk was really going in.”

Christmastime is a wonderful time to awaken us to the fact that the journey we are on is a “spiritual journey,” a journey that would not be possible without the gift of Soul.

Wishing all of you a soulful, merry Christmas.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: Bio-spirituality, Biodesign class, Half Dome climbers, Lowell Harrison Young, Merry Christmas, soul, soul medicine, Yosemite, Yosemite Temple

“The Rarest Courage Is The Courage Of Thought.” - Anatole France

Posted on June 21, 2014 Leave a Comment

HD ClimbersOn only two of the 20 Biodesign Classes that got to sleep on top of Yosemite’s famous Half Dome, rock climbers “topped out” the same afternoon we were there. Our students were fascinated by the climbers and went over to the edge to welcome them. I was about 100 yards away, busy with other tasks, but in the cool mountain air their voices could be easily heard. One of the climber’s voice came across the way crystal clear: “Your whole biology class is up here? Far out! Your teacher must have big balls.” I burst out laughing. The phrase was not new to me; I had heard our guys, and a few girls use it, but never directed at me. Although I found it a little crude, I understood young people’s desire to communicate intensity, passion, even spirit, when they found words like “courageous” trite and obsolete.

After all four climbers reached the top they ate a snack, drank some Gatorade and quickly began reorganizing their “haul sacks.” The amount of food, water and climbing gear needed for the 5-day ascent was stunning. They divided the packs evenly, with each one weighing about 60 pounds. We were shocked to discover that they were going to descend the cables and make the 10-mile trek back to Yosemite Valley; the final few miles in the dark. It was hard to imagine a hiker carrying a 60-pound load for a short distance, let alone 10 miles. As they prepared to leave the leader asked me for a favor. The ascent had taken one day longer than planned and, mysteriously, all of their flashlights had dead batteries. He wondered if we could spare a couple flashlights. Our students reacted quickly and each climber was given a light. We told them where our base-camp was and they assured us that they would leave the flashlights there. After they departed, in an uncommon cynical moment, one of our guys snorted, “Any bets we will ever see the flashlights again?”

Later on in the night, the climber gave me pause to reflect and what I discovered was intriguing. In leading the students up the cables to the top of Half Dome, I did not feel that any particular body parts were larger than normal. Translated; I did not feel particularly “courageous.” I felt more like Sir Edmond Hilary who stated that he climbed Mt. Everest “because it was there.”

And then I experienced yet another Half Dome epiphany. The young climber was not referring to the courage of climbing a mountain; he was referring to the courage to face our gravest fears. For me, this was not leading a group of students up the cables of Half Dome, it was leading classes on an educational adventure that may have been the only one of its kind in a public high school. We were truly in the spiritual wilderness with no charts or maps and at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Anatole France’s words came to mind. “The rarest courage is the courage of thought.”

Richard Bach wrote in, Jonathan Livingston Seagull:

“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip… is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.”

Breaking the chains of well-established thought patterns can be as difficult as breaking a well entrenched habit. However, the greatest difficulty is often overcoming the fear of believing something new. Mark Twain understood this perfectly when he wrote:

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

The work I was doing could be both threatening and provocative to traditional thought patterns of students, parents, colleagues, administrators and school board members. Although numbers of antagonists were typically small, they could be very vocal. Comments like, “Biodesign is NOT a science class;” “Young is a frustrated preacher;” “What he is doing is not only illegal, but evil,” were whispered, or even expressed verbally. For several years, one school board member did every thing in his power to have the Biodesign Class banned and me fired. When confrontations did occur, I was shaken to the depths of my soul. I had no book or lesson plan to refer to. Aside from my wife, I had no one to confer with to offer guidance, support or encouragement. Of course, I was keenly aware of the perils that Socrates, Jesus and Galileo faced for encouraging people to “break the chains” of their thought patterns. In the end, I had to rely on the wisdom of my support team. Men like Socrates, Aristotle, Galileo, Newton and Einstein. I regarded what I was attempting was “good” and Plato warned me, “if you ever doubt the power of evil, try to do something good and see what happens.”

One of the primary goals of writing Biodesign Out For A Walk was to offer guidance, support and encouragement to teachers, in general, but specifically biology teachers, to “break the chains” of restrictive traditional teaching methods and set their students free. It may be scary at times, but it may also be a matter of a student’s spiritual life or death.

Note: When we returned to our base-camp, all four flashlights were lined up in a row, on a table with a “thank you” note written on a piece of a grocery bag.

Lowell Harrison Young, Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

Posted in: Reflections | Tagged: Anatole France, breaking the chains, courage, established thought patterns, Half Dome climbers, Lowell Harrison Young, restrictive traditional teaching methods, Yosemite Valley

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