Ron Butler
May 19, 2006 11:51 PM
I don’t consider myself a hero. Really, I don’t. I think it’s cool that I’m recognized for doing what I love and I’m good at. I also don’t mind the attention. Every time I’d go anywhere in Pangea, people would recognize me. “Can I take a picture?” “Can you sign my napkin?” “Sign my baby!” It’s great. But nothing compares to the thrill of the climb. Nothing.
I mean, I was up there with the best of them. Stony Jung, Kiara Kittles, Tofi – legends! The 35th annual climb of the tallest mountain in Pangea and I make it into the competition after 4 failed attempts the years prior. I almost didn’t even try out for it. I thought I wasn’t good enough at that point. My best friend Terry convinced me to do it and I’m glad he did because it changed my life.
We all started out at the very bottom of the mountain in different tents. They called it the Climber’s Village. You’re supposed to meet the other climbers, talk strategy, and enjoy the moment. Because nobody makes it back there since it’s too hard to get into the competition in the first place. But me and my partner decided that we should rest so we went to bed early. The next day we got up anyone else, and started up the mountain. It’s even more crazy to climb than people say. A couple hours into it and a huge storm blew away most of our equipment. I lost my extra backpack when the side of the mountain we were climbing turned to pure ice. Pure ice! The rocks, the snow, the trees, the dirt – everything. One second it’s fine, the next second it’s completely frozen and there’s nothing to hold on to without slipping. We tumbled down for miles and probably wasted half a day of climbing just to get back to where we were.
When we finally got to that summit we originally fell from, we found a cave to rest in while another huge storm came through. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay in the cave very long because we heard something breathing super loud. So loud that you could hear it over the storm that was right outside the cave. I’m all for adventure and testing new things but I’m not interested in finding out what snores as loud as a train passing by so we left.
We hiked through that storm for six more days before getting to the top. I’ve got all the scrapes and bruises to prove it. It was terrible and incredible at the same time. I hated every minute of it because of how hard it was and how hungry I was all the time but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in Pangea. Does that make sense?
Maybe not but it made sense to me. I got to the top and I’m a semi-celebrity now because of it. My life here is better than anything I do when Sleep Walking now. And before you ask, I don’t want to talk about what happened to my partner. Everyone asks no matter how many times I say I don’t want to discuss it. I don’t even say his or her name. I think it’s better that way. Something happened and he or she did not make it to the top with me. That’s all I say about it. That’s all I’ll ever say.
