A watershed opportunity- The Ruwenzori

Eric Simonson, partner of International Mountain Guides- IMG (www.mountainguides.com), called out of the blue the other day.

My family, bosses and any students that may be in a class at the time have all learned to cringe when I answer the phone with, "Eric Simonson, how the bejeebers are you doing?"

In the past, an identical exchange has led to several Mt. Everest expeditions and general disruptions to a mid-western, Ohio, like-to-be-settled life.
In no way should the blame fall on Eric.
I have to take full responsibility for leaving my family for weeks, or months, while I do something dangerous. It is not pretty. It is not something I am proud of, in the least.

It is at the core of my life's thesis, where I find myself at present, though.

Many, many times, members of climbing parties I was with told a common story. It goes, "The (50 something) teller speaks of always wanting to climb mountains.
               I could associate the deep-seated desire with my own as they spoke.
However, in the years of struggling to build a business, or career, raise kids and generally develop a secure life for their family, these dreams just had to be set aside.
As a guide, I could only think back to my own father and see the parallels with his life. Life often expires too soon. It's a fine line to walk between setting aside for the future and grabbing the bull by the horns for today.
The point here?
Fill your day with little adventures. Plan a few grand ones every year.
They don't have to be expensive, remote, dangerous.
Adventure is stepping across the threshold into the unknown be it: working on your car or home, singing a song, inventing something, talking to someone you are afraid to talk to...
Adventure is not really knowing what you are in for, yet there is enough inner faith to launch forward anyway.
Some confidence that any challenges can be met.
That the vision and drive you have at the start, will not dissolve like a mountain mist as the endeavor warms up.

Little adventures keep us honed and ready. With them, we gain a personal insight we will realize no other way.

The Ruwenzori peaks, situated in Equatorial Uganda, are those misty, fabled mountains in the distance. Ptolemy wrote of 'The Mountains of the Moon' waaay back when he was shaking the world up with astronomy and geography.

Ptolemy
An early Baroque artist's rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus.
Born	c. AD 90 Egypt

As the 1800's matured, the source of the Nile became a driving siren's call of exploration. Stanley (of "Livingstone, I presume") fame, is credited as being the first European to see the Mountains of the Moon. All previous claims were thought to have been hallucinations. The locals believed the nearby mountains to be covered in salt. At the turn of the century, it was soon realized glaciers covered these mountains straddling the equator, in Africa.

Back when I started climbing, a John Cleare book, Mountains, (I believe) had a couple of photos of the Mountains of the Moon. Likely more than any other images in Cleare's book, the Ruwenzori cast a veil of mystery and intrigue.

What kept people out? Horrendous political times, rampent crime and continuous bad weather. The reputaion is for continuous rain. All that water that makes up the Nile has to come from some where, right?
        

The little guide book on a map I found off the shelf in International Mountain Equipment (different than IMG), as opposed to IME (in North Conway, NH), stated it is nearly impossible to stay dry in the Ruwenzori.
It sounded like a challenge to me.

Much of my rain gear being fairly high milage, I went out to our local outfitter, Outdoor Source and outfitted myself with Marmot's Exum Jacket, Precip pants and a precip full brim rain hat. Let's see how they hold up in some real rain.
The gore-tex fabric will keep the water out (it will, won't it?). Every bit as important as good membrane laminates, is excellent design.
Since it's beginnings, Eric Reynolds and Marmot, has build gear with fabulous attention to detail.

Africa is a different place to climb. The Marmot Matterhorn 30 pack should hold just enough gear to keep a bag of tricks handy.

Let's see if we can keep this going through the trip.