Climb

Trying to beat the heat, I ducked into the Autry Museum (of the American West) yesterday while I was waiting for my friend's event to start outside. I'm glad that I did, as I stumbled upon a really cool exhibit on the history of rock climbing at Yosemite.

I learned all about how the techniques and equipment have evolved in the nearly 150 years since naturalist John Muir pioneered climbs in this region. There was even the iconic Teddy Roosevelt-John Muir photo from the book that I am reading on display. Now I finally know what carabiners, pitons and cams are, and how to use them - in case I am ever in a tight spot.

It reminded me of this great documentary that I saw a few months ago, Blindsight. It's a nail-biting film about renowned blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer, who led a group of blind Tibetan teens - outcasts in their society - to climb Mount Everest. If any story illustrates the "Yes, we can" philosophy better, I'm sure I haven't found it yet. It's an incredibly inspiring film on many levels.

I want to check out some of the other great climbing docs like Touching the Void, and a few, like Vertical Frontier and To the Limit, that specifically highlight Yosemite climbing.

In another story of an uphill climb (sort of), my last two blog feed emails haven't been coming through, so I'm hoping the third time is a charm.

Day by day, step by step. We'll get there.