I've got an upcoming trip to Nepal so I've been heavily hitting the highest and rockiest trails I can find. I was feeling sorry for myself yesterday at the base of White Mountain, 3 trips, 2 summits in 3 weeks. I wanted to quit.
Then I saw somethng halfway up the mountain, two people standing over a shorter one who was struggling. I thought it was 3 workers from Barcroft and the shorter one was digging something. They weren't moving at all. When I got closer I could see it was a man in a wheel chair struggling to get his wheels unstuck from the big rocks on the trail!
This brave man would not let his assistants help him in any way. When he could not go up frontwards, he backed up the rocks. I quit whining to myself immediately and thanked heaven I could walk up this trail.
The man is 52, from the Bay area, didn't ask his name. It was his 3rd day on the trail. The kind Barcroft lab let him park his car at the lab, but to be official that he did the WHOLE trail, he took his wheelchair 2 miles back down to the gate and came back up again. The group had set up camp at the low saddle area below White.
This man didn't want to spend a 4th night, so when I came down from the summit, he was still struggling up. I believe he may have made it around 4PM or so. His chair is a regular one with only a modified heavier frame. The big wheels are slightly thicker and it has the regular 4" (?) wheels in front that get caught in the scree often and cause him to crash when he goes down hill. His assistants only help him down, he wanted to do the whole thing uphill himself. When I last saw them they were past the black rock high on White and back up into the red rock near the summit, but where the road gets REALLY rocky and rough. I had enough trouble just walking it. The chair has no brakes so he uses kayaking gloves since all others burn through due to friction and burn his palms. His assistants will help him go on the down parts as the chair picks up speed and can turn over.
My hat is off to you, dear brave man. He had a great sense of humor when I saw him many times reach down and throw off 20 and 30 lb rocks. I'm just cleaning the trail for you folks walking, he joked.Not once did he complain or whine, he just kept going like the Energizer bunny.
I was with a lot of people who looked like they wanted to quit, but when they saw this enormous struggle, everyone went for the summit. I took pictures, but they are film. If anyone took a digital photo, please post. No one would believe this without photos.
So if you're tired, sick to your stomach, feet sore, got a wedgie and you want to quit, just think of this person with such determination and strength.
