Why adventure?

Adventure is nearly all I know.
A tough task at work (as a corrosion technician) is better when reconfigured as an adventure, somehow. When I think back to some of the difficulties and hardships of past adventures, they have helped me realize insights I could have learned nowhere else.
I cannot imagine enrolling in a course where, in the heat of battle, I would have done anything/paid anything/said anything to extract myself our of the experience? Nowhere else would I have put up with the 'spanking' (to be polite)  I have gotten from a good adventure. When I have designed the adventure, I consider it fun. When a similar experience (without this adventure perspective) is lowered down on top of me it...could be viewed as a pretty miserable event.
Hardship, fear, doubt and mistakes are deeply embedded in adventure. We have to be careful not to inspire those watching that we are faultless, fearless, always strong, possess iron-clad judgment, are always ready for more, etc. Observers see, I believe, that there are places where no mistakes can be made, but to project that no mistakes are made is only undermining the next generation.

An essential element of adventure is the Unknown. As soon as we step over that threshold, the game is on. Often we really cannot just turn around and descend. We must carefully consider our options and our hoped for plans. There are costs and dangers with every decision.

Adventure inspires hard work. Very few folks ever see any compensation for their efforts. I may even venture a statement that income shifts the game away from adventure.

Failure is essential to fully developing the individual. It is only in the aftermath of failure, after some miserable shortcoming that I am haunted by my actions, choices and weaknesses. It is during the lonely, quiet moments of every day that I realize I am smarter, stronger, better, tougher than what I exhibited during my failure. It is only through these moments that I am inspired to rise to overcome these past actions. Only then, do I realize what I need to do to become who I want to be.

Adventurers are pretty adept at long odds. They navigate hazards and risk pretty well. They are cost effective. They know how to educate themselves to the task, how to prepare for battle with the bigger than life-big-scary-monster. Adventurers are very good at recovery after things have gone wrong.

It is a great education to carry with you when you move forward to take on the challenges you see in the community around you.

Upon returning home, after surviving some grand adventure, there are many who will be impressed- inspire them. Some will want you to teach them a trick of two, but really aren't willing to do what it will take to hang. A few, though, will. In what I have come to call 'every person's heroic experience', those few people need to be mentored. They will go on to their own adventures.
The classic Greek heroic experience only comes to fruition when you return with all your stories, insights, strengths (you are a changed person) to inspire many, teach some and mentor a few. But, the real conclusion, is to take on community challenges.

That community supported me as I learned my chosen avocation, put up with my lame-brained youth and sacrificed to help me develop. Its only fair to pay back. You give till it hurts. Its just another adventure anyway.

Andy Politz bio

At 50, I have spent 36 years with much of my time focused on adventure, wilderness and the beauty of the natural environment. I have been lucky to have the experience feed my soul.

Since 1999, I have been working in the oil and gas industry, as a corrosion technician.

I have seen glimpses why we need to take great efforts to protect habitat and wildlife.

And, at the same time, I have seen the efforts taken to protect the environment from industrial spills in recent years. Clean-ups are very costly and have an air of a catastrophe for all time.

For over 20 years, I have been facilitating adventures at the Linworth Alternative Program, a campus of Worthinton High School, on Ohio. The trips are significant, where students are encouraged to develop their own dreams, learn the lessons within and finally return to their community to inspire, teach, mentor and take on challenges.

Finally, I have maintained a mountain guiding career that has allowed many blessings:

1991 ascent of Mount Everest (a total of 7 attempts on all sides, since 1985)
1986 attempt on the unclimbed 'Magic Line', on K2
1984 First ascent of the 15,000' south face of Mount Saint Elias (18,008', Alaska)
12 years of guiding on Mount Rainier, for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. with (exactly) 150 ascents of the mountain
1999/2001 a member of the Mallory and Irvine Mount Everest Research Expeditions. We discovered George Mallory at 27,000' who was last seen climbing strongly for the top, in a break in the clouds, in 1924. Our mission was to establish if they had made the summit 29 years before it was a reasonable thing to do. The trip was followed by a media blitz, uncountable articles, plenty of books and worldwide documentary coverage by NOVA and the BBC, and a couple of years of presentations.

If you think of every effort towards your dreams as the thickness of a sheet of paper; after a week- you have a report, a month- a chapter, a year- a book, and a career- a vast filing cabinet of experiences, insights and skills. As warm as they are to me, they all don't justify printing here. Start your own report today.
Andy

similarities to the Serengeti

I am taking a day in town between trips for International Mountain Guides, facilitating two of their Kilimanjaro/safari trips. We climb Kibo in 7 days and finish up with 3 days of safari on the Serengeti.
As I was bouncing along, looking out over the square miles of the plains, forests and sparse wetlands (we are here in the dry season), I was struck by the similarity of the Tanzanian parks and their vision, with America and ANWR.
The Serengeti, it appears was established to protect the migration of the wildebeast. My first response was, "Why just one animal?" This migration is like a convention coming into town. A year's business is done then. Often, every animal is benefiting from it.
It appears there are several layers of protection, from allowing herding, to residence, to hunting. However, let me tell you, these protected areas are a BIG place.
In ANWR, the coastal plains are the calving place for the cross continent Caribou migration. If we wanted to set up some form of preserve.... that would be one.
I do another safari after one more Kilimanjaro climb. I will focus my attention on the development and layout of the preserves.
Sorry no pictures, my camera did not make it into the luggage, but it was spectacular to watch two of the last remaining 20 some black rhinos feeding off in the distance. I felt it was fitting, somehow, to only see them from afar.

The trip plan

We propose a spectacular trip to represent the situation America's energy industry and environmental stewardship groups/industry find themselves in. The trip is to help us move forward on America's energy needs, yet protect our resources.
The fine line of skiing the crest of the Brooks Range through The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge represents the challenges we face in producing the energy America needs and protecting the habitat and environment of the arctic. The only way our wishes will be effected will be if we are involved: if we educate ourselves, politically engage and be creative with how we use our personal energy needs.

We propose to ski from the Alaska Pipeline to the Canadian border, a trip of some 300 miles following the wandering crest of this final mountain range forming the south border of the coastal plains. Area 1002 has been set aside for future drilling when ANWR was brought into existence. The trip should take some 40 days, starting in late March and ending in early May, 2010. To simulate the challenges America faces, we will follow the crest of the range, not ski the easier terrain adjacent to the 'real' line.
America is tough enough, we are skilled enough and we have the vision. We simply need to realize we need to act.
We expect to visit, along the way: Prudhoe Bay prior to the trip, the arctic town of Kaktovik for re-supply and fly out through Arctic Village on the way home.
We expect a team of six highly skilled ski mountaineers. Each member will commit to educate themselves on the issues, photograph and write about the trip to the best of their abilities and will do presentations afterwards. The value to this trip is that it gets the public to think, present the reality of the situation and help people get involved.
Andy

Decanting a long cherished pair of skis

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The mid to late ‘70’s were the days of wood touring skis, pine tar base treatments, and wax gurus. A name that would top a ‘who’s who’ list for the era would be Ned Gillette. Plenty of people were taking heavy alpine gear into the mountains and skinning around. Ned and his partners were taking light touring skis into remote regions. On skis as narrow as two fingers side by side, they did a seventy some day trip across Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, pulling 240 pound sleds. On skis previously used for track skiing and and afternoon tour.

Ned Gillette was grinding away and shaping, the ultra light gear movement of today. He was a guy whose shoulders the likes of John Bouchard, Ray Jardine, and all those ‘El Cap/K2/Haute Route-in–a-day folks stood firmly upon.

The story I remember is he and his partner were shot through their tent and robbed in a remote corner of Afghanistan or Pakistan. He had accomplished a large filing cabinet of experiences: he had skied around Denali (on the same light skis), did a circumnavigation of Mt. Everest, and skied off a significant Himalayan peak (24,000’ Muztagh Atta). Those big trips jump out of my memory. Certainly, there were more. There would have been hundreds of closer to home adventures. Any one of which would have been gratifying for the rest of us.

A central element of these innovative adventures would have been the Epoke 900 skis they used. They are like a classic bicycle or a vintage kayak, either able to host under-your-own-power dreams. They were the major, break-the-mold fiberglass ski, illuminating the future. They were lighter, the bindings and boots were lighter. There were no metal edges. Whenever possible, you would have skied on wax (rather than skins) to go faster and farther. Rumor has it they were indestructible, had a sensuous flex, and skied as if you were a better skier than you actually are.

I was able to buy a pair of Epoke 900’s probably 20 years ago at an end of the season gear sale. They have been gently stored, awaiting the right trip to mount bindings on them.

In North Conway, New Hampshire last winter, in the International Mountain Equipment consignment room, I found an unused pair of lightweight touring boots cheaper than I could have gotten them free. We then embarked on a mission to Ragged Mountain, down the road, for matching bindings. I ended up buying an unused pair of skis for the bindings mounted on them. Within a week of getting home, I had mounted the bindings on the vintage skis and was trying to find an opening to get out on them. Ned Gillette himself could have designed the newer binding/ski/boot system.

I had the opportunity to ski them the other day, on a tour of a pipeline segment, at work. I had a pipeline safety assessment to do in Dayton, OH.

Pipelines that lay in dense populations get exceptional care and verification they are safe. Every few years, they are re-surveyed, in case the land usage has changed. This pipeline ran beside probably the most heavily used bike path in the state. It linked up maybe 80 miles of trail and interesting sites along the Great Miami River.

With snow on the path, it would be most efficient to ski the route, rather than walk the breakable crust. I dumped out an ancient collection of wax and selected a can I hoped would best handle the sun crust, warmed-up rounded snow grains, and 30-degree temperature. The wax choice was perfect. The skis performed as well as I would expect a critical foundation Ned Gillette would have built his trips upon. I could appreciate his judgment with every kick and glide. It was like a fine, long anticipated bottle of wine being opened to great company, with a fire in the hearth and the wine perfecting the evening.

I was skiing a natural gas line from an electrical co-generation plant, to a river crossing a few miles south, under road and railroad bridges, with auto traffic noise, and an ancient river channelized within concrete through town. Once this pipeline crosses the river, it passes south of the Sunwatch Indian Village (a pre-historic village site). I had just visited the site prior to this leg.

As I skied along, the attitude I imagine Indians have infused my thoughts regarding this upcoming ANWR trip. The Iroquois still believe “We must make our decisions, not just with tomorrow’s results in mind, but thinking of how they will affect seven generations to come.”

Developing an opinion about drilling in ANWR, for me personally, has been like a slow tennis match, with alternating opinions from each side’s position and back. It is, however, starting to firm up, but that is for another page.

It is sometimes helpful to carry something to remind us of those who symbolize the best of who we hope to become. These Epoke 900’s are the prefect ski for this ANWR trip, both from the right tool for the job and as a reminder to set your visions high and work hard towards them.

My journal for the trip will be a nearly unused logbook a high school teacher I had used during a summer in the Juneau Icefields, in Alaska. Ed Shay was an exceptional science teacher who had a firm understanding of the practical and environmental concerns. A topic was unfinished if it did not come to fruition by understanding the practical application of the information, so students gained an understanding into the essence of critical challenges we face.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Their memory helps us make the critical decisions we are facing. I believe our elders’ spirits will guide us, if we listen. We are greatly impoverished if we chose to not use their counsel.

I believe we should use the foundation our elders have established as a fulcrum for us to pry open the difficulties we are up against. Hopefully, we will remember those seven generations from now, so our decisions will have honored our forefathers. We are stewards of our children’s future.

Drilling in ANWR, to a certain extent, is the Gaza Strip of the energy/environmental juxtaposition.

I searched for the Epoke Website to send them a note, and came up with this interesting reference from a forum. Several comments down, a relative of Ned Gillette has posted some scans of articles about his trips.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=496871

Andy winter 2009