Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College)

Shiv Kumar, Sanyukta

Undetermined

you shortened her with your axe

Riely, Andrew

English

The White Mountains, by Train: Lower Speeds, Longer Vacations

Mayer, Doug

Oreskes, Rebecca

Mountain Voices: Rick Wilcox, Part II, On Climbing Everest, Loving the White Mountains, and Money

Mullen, Kay

Appalachia 
Volume 60 
Number 2 Summer/Fall 2009: Our Carbon 
Footprint 
Article 25 
2009 
In the White Mountains 
Kay Mullen 
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 Part of the Poetry Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Mullen, Kay (2009) "In the White Mountains," Appalachia: Vol. 60: No. 2, Article 25. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/vol60/iss2/25 
This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Appalachia by an authorized editor of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please 
contact dartmouthdigitalcommons@groups.dartmouth.edu. 
suMMer/Fall 2009   89
In the White Mountains
leaves of beech and black locust
blanket Thompson trail.
At the edge, spore-bearing fern,
exposed trunks of torn fir, yellow
wood-sorrel. Roots like gorgon hairs
ground our steps. Beads glisten
on trunks of oak leaf, lichen clings
to nurse logs. We cross a logger’s
road, climb granite rocks where
mica flakes flicker. Mushrooms lie
sun-splashed in soft shells.
in a narrow trickle of stream, a leaf
lands, water striders streak
in starred directions. Across the path,
a fallen maple still stretches to the sun.
We observe ascending shadows,
descend with the sun’s rising angle,
look ahead, behind, an eye
on every moment, silence 
broken only by a rambling waterfall, 
a thrush song. We descend
where the river levels in late light,
where two trails, two mountains join
the way the falling waters merge.
Kay Mullen
Kay Mullen’s work has appeared in various journals, most recently in Valparaiso 
Poetry Review, Minotaur and Crab Creek Review, as well as in various anthologies. Her 
two full-length poetry collections are Let Morning Begin (Caritas Publishers, 2001), 
and A Long Remembering: Return to Vietnam (Foothills Publishing, 2006). she lives 
in Tacoma, Washington.



In the White Mountains

Dillon, Peggy

Slamming Doors, Cries for Help: Skeptics and Believers in the White Mountains Encounter Ghosts

Blessington, Francis

Appalachia 
Volume 60 
Number 1 Winter/Spring 2009: What Are We 
Afraid Of? 
Article 19 
2009 
Lighting a Charcol Grill 
Francis Blessington 
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 Part of the Poetry Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Blessington, Francis (2009) "Lighting a Charcol Grill," Appalachia: Vol. 60: No. 1, Article 19. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/vol60/iss1/19 
This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Appalachia by an authorized editor of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please 
contact dartmouthdigitalcommons@groups.dartmouth.edu. 
Winter/Spring 2009   35
Lighting a Charcoal Grill
At such a whoosh
when the wind lunged in the shoulder
of their fire they might have quaked
recalling the woods
                                 spouting lariats of heat
demanding bodies     relentless bowings
bonding them in dread
flaming trees flicking seeds
when Fire held the greater hand
                                                 the Divine Phlogiston
               like Gods in stone-hard
wood or ancestors in the carved tree
                   or spirits in the sky-lighting drums
that let them live for a few
gallons of blood   and that was cheap
                                for grace
and a night’s sleep and the sun’s reignition
Francis Blessington
FranciS BleSSington has published two books of poems, Wolf Howl (BkMk Press, 
University of Missouri-KC, 2000) and Lantskip (William Bauhan, 1987). He has 
published books of criticism and many essays, together with short stories and poems. 
His latest novel, The Last Witch of Dogtown, was published by Curious Traveller Press 
in 2001.
Appalachia_WS09_v6.indd   35 11/13/08   1:01:52 PM



Lighting a Charcol Grill

Summer/Fall 2008 - Volume LIX, Number 2 - issue #226. Adventures Near Home: A restored River, old roads, hidden ledges, and suburban ramble

Appalachia Summer/Fall 2008: Complete Issue

Glenn, Brian J.

Appalachia 
Volume 59 
Number 2 Summer/Fall 2008: Adventures Near 
Home 
Article 14 
2024 
Mountain Leadership School at 50: The Evolution of a Program 
Started in 1958 to Prevent Accident 
Brian J. Glenn 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia 
 Part of the Nonfiction Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Glenn, Brian J. (2024) "Mountain Leadership School at 50: The Evolution of a Program Started in 1958 to 
Prevent Accident," Appalachia: Vol. 59: No. 2, Article 14. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/vol59/iss2/14 
This In This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted 
for inclusion in Appalachia by an authorized editor of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please 
contact dartmouthdigitalcommons@groups.dartmouth.edu. 
96   APPALACHIA
Mountain Leadership 
School at 50
The evolution of a program started in 1958  
to prevent accidents
Brian J. Glenn
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   96 5/9/08   9:41:42 AM
SUMMER/FALL 2008   97
WE CAN BEST UNDERSTAND THE ORIGINS OF THE APPALACHIAN Mountain Club’s Mountain Leadership school by looking at a 1956 
interview with Joe Dodge, who was often the first individual with authority 
to learn of accidents in the Presidentials. 
so many people [said Joe] come to enjoy the out-of-doors in these White Hills 
and we have so few accidents as a result of unpreparedness or foolhardiness that 
it has always seemed to me the Lord is with damn fools and little children. And 
i have seen hundreds of cases where over-enthusiasm has outweighed good judg-
ments and youngsters, particularly, have exposed themselves to dangerous situa-
tions far beyond what a serious mountaineer would allow himself to get into.
What do you mean, youngsters?
i mean from teen-agers through to college age. They are largely the ones who 
use the hills to the greatest extent.
—“Climbing safely in the White Mountains:  
An interview with Joe Dodge” 
Appalachia, 19561
 Reports of accidents in the White Mountains in the 1950s show that fewer 
people got into trouble, but a greater proportion of them died than do to-
day. The victims a half-century ago were almost universally, as Dodge put it, 
“youngsters,” either college students or teenagers. A recurring theme through-
out the reports was that the group’s leaders often lacked formal training and 
made errors in judgment that more experienced hikers might have avoided. 
Although today it is rare to see organized groups going out without trained 
leaders, there were few places for leaders to receive formal training back in the 
1950s. That changed in 1958.
 The AMC’s Mountain Leadership school (MLs) celebrates its 50th anni-
versary this summer. originally founded as a training program for trip lead-
ers with the purpose of reducing the number of accidents in the Whites, the 
Mountain Leadership School participants work on the cairn at Thunderstorm Junction, 
below Mount Jefferson. AMC ARCHIVES
1 “Climbing safely in the White Mountains: An interview with Joe Dodge.” Appalachia, 31, 
no. 2, Magazine no. 123 (December 15, 1956): 229. 
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98   APPALACHIA
program’s mission and format have changed remarkably little during the past 
half-century, yet its teaching has evolved dramatically, offering an up-to-date 
and extremely useful introductory to intermediate-level education to out-
door group leaders. Although most avid hikers i have spoken to have heard 
of MLs, few seem to know much about the program. Thus, the program’s 
golden anniversary serves as a nice opportunity to go back to the program at 
its origins, and compare it with what goes on today. Finally, we can consider 
the kinds of individuals who might benefit from attending it as students.
 As the interview with Dodge reveals, the problem of poorly trained trip 
leaders was well understood at the time, and in 1958, the members of the 
AMC Council responded by creating the Committee on Mountain Leader-
ship, giving it the mission of promoting safe and enjoyable hiking in the 
Whites through responsible trip leadership. The committee approached its 
charge extremely seriously and did so through three prongs. First, the com-
mittee circulated a movie, Mountains Don’t Care!, which was followed by a 
second film shot in the Whites called Mountain Holiday, which was about the 
dangers that hiking posed and the joys of hiking done safely. This was coupled 
with brochures and posters placed in the huts. (The poster from the second 
year was so popular that it was made into a postcard. see the next page.)
 second, the school created a series of leadership “grades” for AMC lead-
ers. Grade i was for summer leaders, with Grade ii for winter. Grade iii was 
for rock climbing leaders, with iV going to those “qualified to lead a rope-
climbing party in areas of an alpine nature at any season.” Finally, Grade V 
was for those “qualified to lead a climbing party engaged in any form of 
mountaineering anywhere in any season.”2 The qualifications for the various 
grades would be determined by the respective chapters, which would provide 
individuals with a certificate and shoulder patch. Third, the Committee on 
Mountain Leadership created what we now know as the MLs.
 it’s striking that the AMC Council realized that the beneficiaries of these 
efforts to train leaders would not be AMC members. The club wrote in Ap-
palachia Bulletin that year, “An analysis of recent accidents and near-accidents 
in the White Mountains discloses that almost all have involved climbers, ski-
ers and campers of high school and college age. Few have been Club mem-
bers . . . .Although some of the accidents resulted from a failure to accept the 
judgment of the leader, most involved inexperienced persons without proper 
2 Appalachia, 24, no. 8, Magazine no. 127 (December 15, 1958): 275.
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SUMMER/FALL 2008   99
The Appalachian Mountain Club circulated this postcard in 1961. AMC ARCHIVES 
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   99 5/9/08   9:41:46 AM
100   APPALACHIA
leadership attempting a feat beyond their experience or beyond their physical 
fitness. inadequate clothing and equipment are common.”3
 The council went on to explain that because few accidents happen on the 
AMC trips, the council planned “to offer assistance also to the leaders of other 
recreational, camping and outdoor organizations whose members are likely to 
benefit from this program,” opening the doors to what would become MLs 
to anyone who was interested.
Mountain Leadership School, Then
The first records we have of MLs come from its fourth year of operation, June 
14–17, 1962. There were 36 students that year, divided into three groups based 
on previous hiking experience, and then into two groups once they made the 
Presidential ridge. Five participants were women, and several were members 
of the U.s. Forest service. seven full-time leaders conducted the program 
with the assistance of a four-person support staff. A note was made of gear 
being supplied by Peter Limmer & sons, and special thanks were given to the 
U.s. Forest service for its assistance.4 
 The first day of the program took place in a classroom at Pinkham notch, 
with students having discussions about trip planning, meals, and partici-
pant screening. That evening, they had a gear inspection, and the following 
morning headed up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, ending up at Lakes of the 
Clouds Hut (the next two evenings were spent at Madison Hut). During 
their time on the trail, participants learned map and compass skills as well 
as some modest first-aid practices, did quite a bit of hiking, engaged in 
“informal botanizing and geologizing,” and, importantly, spent a great deal 
of time talking with leaders about what we would now call “best practices,” 
with leaders going through scenarios from their own experiences. There is 
no evidence that leadership skills, styles, or group dynamics were taught in 
any formal way, leaving participants ample time to work on the huge cairn 
at Thunderstorm Junction instead.
 The program was targeted at individuals who would be leading high school 
and college-aged students on trips, and what shines through from the report 
is the importance program leaders placed on developing leaders who could 
3 Appalachia Bulletin, 24, no. 1 (January 1958): 2.
4 Bradford F. swan. “Grade i Mountain Leadership Workshop.” Appalachia, 28, no. 12 (De-
cember 1962): 327–330.
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SUMMER/FALL 2008   101
inculcate a love and understanding of the Whites in the younger charges 
they would be leading.5 The Whites were supposed to be fun, and leaders 
were expected to be able to be fluent in the geology and wildlife found in the 
mountains such that participants would want to learn even more once they 
went home.
 Finally, in what seems to be a permanent annual tradition at MLs, it 
rained, hard, giving participants “a taste of what it is like to move above tim-
berline when one cairn ahead is as far as you can see.”6
Mountain Leadership School, Now
i attended the second of two sessions of MLs in 2007. The session began on 
August 15 at the Highland Center in Crawford notch. Fifteen participants 
were divided into two groups, each with two instructors and a handful of 
support staff helping with gear, logistics, and transportation. Five women 
enrolled in the course, although, alas, this time around, there were no Forest 
service rangers. We spent the first day with a lesson about group dynam-
ics and leadership styles, lessons in first aid (especially the dangers of hypo-
thermia) and Leave no Trace camping, and a team-building exercise. After 
dinner, we divided up group gear and planned our respective routes.
 By the first night, some of us were excited, others anxious, reflecting the 
wide range of experience among us. We were there for a variety of reasons: 
i had plans of becoming an AMC chapter trip leader. several were teachers 
who would be taking students on trips through their schools. An equal num-
ber were out there simply to become better hikers. one had been an AMC 
leader for decades and was preparing to lead major excursions. Two had hiked 
all 48 new Hampshire four thousand footers (one adding a round of winter 
ascents). At the other end, there were several participants who had never been 
in the White Mountains before at all.
 Just looking at mileage and the difficulty of our route, the trip plan for 
my group appeared modest. on the first day, we would depart from Lincoln 
Woods and hike just 6.5 miles, camping partway up the Bondcliff Trail. The 
5 ibid., p. 329.
6 it took one participant just three sentences to get to the rain in her account of a 1989 
class. see Anne studabaker. “M.L.s.: Thunderbolts and Mud slides—one Woman’s Jour-
ney Through the Mountain Leadership school,” Appalachia Bulletin (november 1989): 
22–27.
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   101 5/9/08   9:41:47 AM
102   APPALACHIA
following day, we would proceed slightly more than 5 miles over Bondcliff, 
spend some glorious time doing map work looking out over the Pemige-
wasset Wilderness, then continue over Mount Bond to Guyot campsite. on 
the third day, we would hike over Mount Guyot in the pouring rain on the 
Twinway Trail, down to Zealand Falls Hut, and then camp somewhere be-
low it on the Zealand Trail before being picked up the following morning 
from the parking lot. i have to confess to being incredulous that a school for 
backpacking leaders would send a trip into the woods on the very first day 
and do nothing more than a lousy six and a half miles mostly along a former 
railroad bed. Assuming a mile and a half an hour and even a long stop for 
lunch somewhere, that should have placed us at our destination before 1 P.M. 
Where was the challenge in that? Another participant and i quickly began to 
propose side trips: Black Pond? Franconia Falls? What we hadn’t learned yet 
was that MLs is part classroom, part experiential learning, and part scenario. 
There was much more to the day than simply hiking.
 in the course of following a route, students are presented with a series of 
hypotheticals, scenarios, and situations to ponder. What is an appropriate way 
to inquire whether someone is just slow or if they are bonking because of low 
Map and compass work on Bondcliff. MARIANNE PAGE
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   102 5/9/08   9:41:48 AM
SUMMER/FALL 2008   103
blood sugar? How do you go about asking experienced people to do a gear 
check without offending them? What do you do if, during the gear check, it 
turns out someone is missing a raincoat? What will your group of nine do 
if it arrives at the campsite and cannot stay there for the night because it is 
filled? Backpacking leaders must constantly plan for alternative campsites, 
exit routes, and evacuation scenarios. This is made much easier when hiking 
with fit, experienced participants, obviously, but we cannot always handpick 
our participants, and especially for leaders of school groups, the burden of 
planning for and dealing with alternatives can fall exclusively on the leaders in 
the field. Between hypotheticals, scenarios, and trying to find a campsite with 
only the vaguest of directions, our first day filled, and we did not arrive at our 
campsite until 5:30, having spent almost eight and a half hours on a trail that 
was just over five and a half miles long.
 We spent two of our three nights practicing Leave no Trace camping in 
sites other than platforms or huts. For both nights, we found locations that 
were already disturbed, and went through great efforts to remediate as much 
as possible the impact of others who had gone before us. i found myself 
getting unusually angry watching a woman toss an apple core off the deck 
at Zealand Falls Hut, passing a man with a fishing pole sticking out of his 
pack, and talking with an older couple who told us of the nice warm fire they 
enjoyed while camping out the night before in the Pemigewasset Wilderness, 
even though both fishing and campfires are in fact legal. on that note, one 
controversial aspect of our trip was tearing apart a legal fire ring in our final 
campsite along the Zealand Trail. Leave no Trace demands that a fire ring 
should not have been built in the first place, and having dispersed the stones 
and the semi-burnt wood, swept up the grass our tents had patted down, and 
picked up the small wrappers left by previous campers, we could say with 
pride that we had left the site in a much better condition than we had found 
it. But i could not help but wonder if we had actually increased the chance of 
a forest fire breaking out if those who followed us exercised their lawful rights 
to build a fire without restacking the stones first. it was an odd dilemma, but 
of course, those are the very kinds of questions trip leaders must face.
 Regarding concern for the environment, MLs has come a long way. En-
vironmental impact simply was not as big a concern 50 years ago, even for 
groups such as the AMC. in 1958, the chairman of the Committee on Moun-
tain safety wrote in Appalachia, “i always prefer to set myself up as cook at 
the outset of an expedition, for i find that this shortly leads to practically 
everybody else volunteering for the job. i am then relegated to washing the 
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   103 5/9/08   9:41:48 AM
104   APPALACHIA
dishes; but i have found that the good mountain stream which flows near all 
well-selected campsites does the bulk of my dishwashing for me.”7
 He then talked about cutting firewood—something no one does anymore 
in the White Mountains. Today’s MLs stresses a far different set of skills, 
such as cooking with nothing more than a small camp stove, cleaning in an 
environmentally friendly manner, enjoying the surrounding wildlife without 
intervening in its food chain—in other words, leaving as small an impact as 
possible in all activities.
Who Would Benefit from Attending MLS
Thanks to its experiential format, MLs is beneficial to trip leaders and aspir-
ing trip leaders of all experience levels because they will get different benefits 
out of it. For some, it will be the first time they have ever cooked with a stove, 
misted out their toothpaste, hung a bear bag, or used a compass to take a 
bearing on a destination. For these individuals, the focus is more on acquiring 
skills and finding a comfort level being outdoors. They will go out, co-lead 
for a while, one hopes, and when they finally feel ready, lead with a solid 
fundamental base of knowledge and experience. For experienced hikers, the 
focus is more on group dynamics, learning how to teach expedition behavior 
in others, trying out various leadership styles, and honing specific camping 
skills not called for on most day hikes, and having beneficial side conversa-
tions with instructors.
 Because it accepts participants of all experience levels, MLs is not a 
certification program. it may seem odd that this program does not claim 
its graduates are qualified to lead trips into mountains, but this was how 
the program was designed from the start. We see that even in the program’s 
fourth year of operation in 1962, when participants finished the course with 
a written exam, the instructors decided to allow individual AMC chapters 
to determine whether the graduates should receive their trip leader Grade i 
certifications or not.8 in short, what the program does—and does extremely 
well—is provide participants with a solid formal education in the funda-
mentals of backpacking leadership. When combined with experience, this 
is a very solid education indeed.
7 William Lowell Putnam. “Mountain Leadership.” Appalachia, 24, no. 9, Magazine no. 128 
(June 15, 1959): 316.
8 swan. “Grade i Mountain Leadership Workshop.”: 329.
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SUMMER/FALL 2008   105
Parting Thoughts
it is far too soon for us to determine the true effects of our leadership program. 
Perhaps our children will note the value of what we are doing today.9
—William Lowell Putnam, “Mountain Leadership,”  
1959 AMC Annual Report
i feel much more confident in my abilities thanks to MLs, which offered me 
my first opportunity to act as a trip leader. it helped me find a leadership style 
that works for me and that i will continue to develop over time. i was able 
to hone some backpacking skills i had rarely had a chance to practice, and 
the program also helped me see weaknesses to which i need to devote more 
attention. Plus, it was really, really fun, and one cannot be a good leader until 
one is not simply comfortable in the mountains, but actually loves being 
there. Having said all that, i do sincerely hope no one takes my word that the 
program remains as vibrant, important, and relevant as it ever has. instead, i 
encourage people to find that out for themselves.
BRIAN J. GLENN is an assistant professor of political science at Emerson College. He 
thanks Christopher Crotty, MLs director, and Becky Fullerton, the AMC archivist, 
for their assistance with this article. 
9 William Lowell. Putnam. “Mountain Leadership.” AMC 1959 Annual Report (september 
1960): 10–11.
Instructor Kathryn Riley Yousif, right, talks with participants on the Wilderness Trail.  
MARIANNE PAGE
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   105 5/9/08   9:41:50 AM



Mountain Leadership School at 50: The Evolution of a Program Started in 1958 to Prevent Accident

Irwin, Brian

Appalachia 
Volume 59 
Number 2 Summer/Fall 2008: Adventures Near 
Home 
Article 16 
2024 
Climbing with a 2-Year-Old: Check the List: Ropes, GPS, diapers, 
sippy cups... 
Brian Irwin 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia 
 Part of the Nonfiction Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Irwin, Brian (2024) "Climbing with a 2-Year-Old: Check the List: Ropes, GPS, diapers, sippy cups...," 
Appalachia: Vol. 59: No. 2, Article 16. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/vol59/iss2/16 
This In This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted 
for inclusion in Appalachia by an authorized editor of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please 
contact dartmouthdigitalcommons@groups.dartmouth.edu. 
116   APPALACHIA
Climbing with a 2-Year-Old
Check the list: ropes, GPS, diapers, sippy cups…
Brian Irwin
LOST LEDGE. iT’S PERFECT. THAT’S WHERE YOU SHOULD TAKE HIM,” Joe Cote told me when i asked him for a good place to take a two-year-
old climbing. The charismatic, old-school first ascensionist of new Hamp-
shire ultra-classic rock climbs like Cannon Mountain’s Moby Grape took a 
sip of beer. His captivating smile quivered. My son Andy dashed around the 
party wearing his new, four-inch-long rock climbing shoes. “Rock climb-
ing—yeah!” he squealed as he darted between my legs, lassoing Joe’s and my 
feet with a length of yellow climbing rope. Joe is a master of teaching kids to 
climb. He’s not a guide, nor is he a renowned instructor. Rather, he’s an inspi-
ration, a mentor. Kids may learn how to climb from Joe, but more important, 
they learn climbing is fun. 
 Lost Ledge is no place to let your guard down. it’s over 200 feet of the 
gnarliest 40-degree, bolted, low fifth-class1 slab climbing in the east. And it’s 
committing and alpine. A full 20 minutes from the road, for my son this 
monstrous approach hike calculates to an age-adjusted time of more than 
ten hours. We were going to do it in a single push, and i was confident he 
was ready. An expedition like this would require us to pack at least the ten 
essentials: two sippy cups of juice, three diapers, baby wipes, water, a security 
blanket, and my wife and breastfeeding two-month-old as porters. 
 Andy had free soloed2 the stairs more than a year earlier and had all the 
moves wired. Having top-roped a full pitch on Whitehorse Ledge the week 
before, he was clearly hungry for a bigger challenge. The night before the 
1 Rock climbs in the United states are rated using the Yosemite Decimal system. Fourth-class 
climbs may not require a rope. Fifth-class climbs require a rope and are rated from 5.0 (easiest) 
to 5.15 (hardest). 
2 Free soloing a climb refers to climbing alone, without the use of bolts, protective climbing 
equipment, or ropes. it is the most pure, risky form of climbing.
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SUMMER/FALL 2008   117
climb, he hardly slept. He screamed to have his pants changed, for more milk, 
and for a stuffed Beluga whale i bought him in Talkeetna, Alaska. Granted, 
he never sleeps well, but that night was different. i could see in his face he was 
thinking of the climb, imagining his assault of the harrowing granite face. He 
was like a horse waiting for the gates to open.
Brian Irwin with his boy climbing “Four Holes, 5.5” on Lost Ledge. CAROLYN IRWIN 
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   117 5/9/08   9:41:59 AM
118   APPALACHIA
 We got a familial alpine start. Breakfast in town first, followed by two 
breaks to breastfeed got us to the trailhead by 11 A.M. Lost Ledge is not a 
misnomer. After the expected 20 minutes of hiking, we found ourselves bush-
whacking up a streambed. We were lost, and there wasn’t a ledge in sight. An 
hour later my wife, with our other son, now two months old, strapped to 
her belly, shouted directions to me as i thrashed up a steep slope, monkeying 
from tree to tree to pull myself through the dense vegetation. she navigated 
by GPs and only when the screen read “twelve feet to waypoint” did we eject 
from the thicket and first see rock. 
A few quiet grunts squeaked out from under his tiny helmet 
as he made the last few moves to the chains.
 When we arrived, Andy’s face was striped with brushburn from bristly 
branches. He was in a good mood; somehow he’d napped most of the hike 
in. sitting on a boulder, he eyed the obvious, aesthetic line above us. As his 
little mouth worked a bite of Clif Bar i could see him thinking, reciting the 
climbing techniques in How to Rock Climb i’d read him as a bedtime story a 
few days earlier: “Tension off that flake, stem the corner, and pull up into that 
pocket. Rest, then mantle into that dish.” He was anxious to send.
 Carolyn belayed off a tree as Andy and i cast off. We freed the first 40 feet 
and pulled into a basketball-sized pothole. Andy dropped his butt into the 
hole and took a rest. “oooh. That was hard, Daddy.” We shook out and 
headed up the last stretch, a committing wall of improbable 5.1 jugs. Andy 
was getting pumped. i reminded him of the classic alpine tale all climbers 
recite in their head when they’re on the verge of failure or collapse, “The Little 
Engine That Could.” A few quiet grunts squeaked out from under his tiny 
helmet as he made the last few moves to the chains.
 We start to climb because it’s fun, but over time, we keep climbing 
because it offers something more. it offers something intangible, a connec-
tion with mortality and risk that makes us feel alive. it offers introspection, 
honesty, and challenge. it’s not always fun. There’s nothing fun about suf-
fering in a snow cave at the base of a wall, awaiting stability of the snowpack 
above or dying winds in a hope to launch an ascent of what could be the 
best climb of you life, or your last. But suffering is sometimes a requisite 
part of climbing. 
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   118 5/9/08   9:42:00 AM
SUMMER/FALL 2008   119
 We cope with the suffering by talking to ourselves. We tell ourselves things 
like “it’ll all be worthwhile” or “You’ve wanted this for your entire life and 
now you’re here.” These phrases scream in our minds as we limp up runout 
faces, settle for questionable bivouacs or plod up the last few hundred feet to 
the true summit. These hollering voices keep us alive as we drip sweat onto 
the tattered cables of old cams or pins as we drive the cold steel into granite. 
And sometimes, tragically, these words resonate in some climber’s ears as they 
slip into the last sleep of their lives. 
 Climbing rocks is a wonderfully simple and primitive act. it’s one of the 
first things kids do after they learn how to walk. Climbing kids aren’t born 
with the ability to understand the work or the suffering that may, for them 
someday, become part of their passion; that years later they’ll spend a lot of 
money to climb a mountain that leaves them empty handed and frostbitten 
and come back reporting it was the best trip of their lives. They don’t under-
stand that with a bad bushwhack they just experienced their first epic. They 
haven’t learned how to talk themselves down. But they have already learned 
the most important lesson of climbing. 
 That night i lay in bed when Andy shouted out. i went into his room and 
found him sitting bolt-upright. 
 “Daddy,” he said as he flipped his security blanket over his shoulder, “i 
want to go rock climbing again.” 
  i laid him down and tucked him in. 
  “You liked it?” i replied. 
  “Yeah. Rock climbing is fun. Really fun.”
BRiAn iRWin is a family physician from the Mount Washington Valley who has 
written for Alpinist, Rock and Ice, Couloir, Powder, and other publications. He is a ski 
patroller on Mount Washington and Cranmore Mountain and works on search and 
rescue missions. He and his wife live with their two sons and black lab in Madison, 
new Hampshire.
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   119 5/9/08   9:42:00 AM



Climbing with a 2-Year-Old: Check the List: Ropes, GPS, diapers, sippy cups...

Oliver, Mary

Appalachia 
Volume 59 
Number 2 Summer/Fall 2008: Adventures Near 
Home 
Article 29 
2024 
Lord of the Air 
Mary Oliver 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia 
 Part of the Poetry Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Oliver, Mary (2024) "Lord of the Air," Appalachia: Vol. 59: No. 2, Article 29. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/vol59/iss2/29 
This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Appalachia by an authorized editor of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please 
contact dartmouthdigitalcommons@groups.dartmouth.edu. 
126   APPALACHIA
Lord of the Air
one day
  when Eagle
    descended
      from the clouds
and settled
  on a nearby hill,
    i did this foolish thing:
      i crawled toward it
through the tall grass,
  as though to a god
    or, anyway, some messenger 
      returned from the air—
and suddenly there it was,
  very near,
    and though i sat up
      without a sound
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   126 5/9/08   9:42:07 AM
SUMMER/FALL 2008   127
and felt myself honored
  in that simple, sandy place,
    Eagle,
      like the lord that it is,
was one thing only—
  furious—
    its beak chattered,
      its eyes shot fire
as, opening its wings,
  it broke with gravity
    and rose again
      in its smooth,
untemptable power,
  without, even for a moment,
    measuring me.
      And thus i was measured.
—Mary Oliver
MARY oLIVER has published more than a dozen volumes of poetry, as well as works 
of imaginative prose and poetry instruction. Thirst: Poems by Mary Oliver (Beacon) 
was published in 2006. Our World: Photographs by Molly Malone Cook, Text by Mary 
Oliver (Beacon) was published in october 2007. Red Bird (Beacon) was published in 
April 2008. she is a frequent contributor to Appalachia.
Appalachia_June_2008_v6.indd   127 5/9/08   9:42:08 AM



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