Observations placeholder
Climbing high mountains – modern example
Identifier
000510
Type of Spiritual Experience
Inter composer communication
Hallucination
Background
An example of a more recent vintage from a climber’s blog ‘14ers.com forum’ ……..
Carl Blaurock (22 April 1894 – 1 February 1993) was an important early mountaineer in the United States. He pioneered many climbing routes throughout Colorado and Mount Blaurock (13,616') is named after him. In 1925, Carl and two others retrieved the body of his friend Agnes Vaille, [mentioned in the observation] who had attempted to climb the eastern face of Longs Peak in a blizzard. This story and feat remains very strong in the mind of climbers in that area.
A description of the experience
TomPierce
» Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:17 amHa! Interesting...I've heard stories over the years about climbing hallucinations, and I vaguely recall stories of such in mountaineering history. I can't say I've had an experience except one.
I had done an ill-prepared and equally ill-executed near winter (March/early April) climb of the Notch Couloir on Longs Peak. At one point I thought we'd bivy and die, but it turned into a 23 hour day with a late night rappel off the North Face, then the usual path-finding down the Boulderfield, treeline, etc. Once I dropped well into treeline I was quite a bit ahead of my team mates.
As I sloooowly made it down the trail, I was absolutely convinced that someone was walking next to me. Very spooky. As I paused, so did the other. I even stopped and did a "hellooo?" Of course nothing was there. The analytical side of my brain says it's a biochemical survival/adaptation thing. The spiritual side says its Agnes Vaille (sp?) or others, sheparding us down. Regardless, it's all good.
-Tom