The Mountain will not always be there
Most people who frequent Mexico’s lovely beaches don’t realize that the central part of the county is home to some pretty big volcanoes. There are a number of proverbs in mountaineering lore that counsel caution on any mountain. One of these is a cautioning reminder that “the mountain will always be there.” In the case of Popocatepetl, an extinct volcano at nearly 18,000 feet, this axiom proved patently untrue when it dramatically exploded just a very few years after I climbed it, instantly melting the glaciers we had lumbered over, filling the atmosphere with ash and gas and permanently closing the peak to aspiring mountaineers.
The truth is that most great challenges are “once in a lifetime” opportunities. The complexities of our lives and the diminution of our mortal powers makes this a subjective, if not objective fact. I actually turned down my first opportunity to climb a big mountain when I declined to join a group of friends on an expedition to Denali in Alaska. I was working steadily in Hollywood at this time and didn’t feel it would be wise to turn away work for at least a month at a time when my career seemed to be advancing quickly. Ten days later my friends returned from the summit of the highest place in North America and I realized the folly of my careerist thinking. I would never again turn down the opportunity for a real adventure in deference to the material rewards of career advancement. I would pay a big price in lost opportunities in the film world when I moved onto the Himalaya, where a full quarter of a year would be required to mount an attempt on the lofty ramparts of Asia. But I no longer cared what price I paid.
