David E. Steiner

Retired USAF, Teacher, Dad, Grandfather, Curmudgeon

Like what you see? Then be sure to visit the Allenspark Wind website here, and think about subscribing.

About Me:

Click on the links below to learn more...

You are here:

About Me/

Writing

Read My Latest Column

Hiking

 

This is a dangerous time of year when it comes to hiking, climbing, or just plain walking. It's always more or less dangerous in the mountains, of course, and you hear about accidents, sometimes because people weren't careful or climbed beyond their limits or climbed alone.

Most of us either know someone who has been in a fall or have been in one ourselves. When I was young and foolish I climbed the North Face of Longs alone and on the way down I fell down most of the big snow field above Boulder Field. Several hours later my father picked me up on the highway and I had no recollection of how I got there. Still don't. I remember the fall, but none of the rest of it.

I read an article the other day about mountain safety and how we ought to be doing more to protect climbers and how we ought to educate climbers on the hazards and prevent unqualified people from attempting hazardous climbs.

This sounds like a good idea but it's really just another illustration of the great mountain paradox: we want to "rough it" and take risks, but we don't want to suffer. The reason people make these climbs and take these chances is that they want that sense of risk they can't get in ordinary life. The last person to die on Longs was a young physician who was looking for a different kind of risk than he found in treating patients. He made a mistake, fell and died. But that's what he wanted to do. That's why he made the climb.

The Park certainly plays an important role in all this with its "return to the wilderness" policy. They have removed the cables from the North Face but at the same time we want to make climbing safer. They no longer maintain the old CCC trails but they worry about people turning their ankles in remote places. Certainly they worry about being sued.

It's all just part of the old kerosene/electricity argument; we want the old time charm but we don't want the place to burn down. At its worst, I suppose we might hold people responsible if they use kerosene and the place does burn down.

Since 1910 people have been coming here because they wanted to escape the city life and "get back to nature." If that involved some inconvenience and some risks, that was okay. Sure, the dirt roads were narrow and dangerous. That was part of the deal. Today we're planning on taking out the last two kinks in the road between Allenspark and Wind River Ranch so folks won't have to turn the car and so the ground around St. Malo and the Aspen Lodge won't be littered with aluminum and orange and red plastic.

There are just loads of places you can go if you want to take most of the risks out of living. But there are still some folks who like to take risks and are willing to accept the consequences if something goes wrong, as well as the pleasure when things go right. A number of those people live here, and they get restless when other people tell them just how much risk they should take.

It's a paradox, all right. For every person who will tell you that we ought to protect ourselves from ourselves, you can find another who will tell you that straightening the road will only cause people to drive faster and have more accidents and that you can't keep the young and foolish from risking life and limb on a sheer face.

Who's right? Maybe they both are. That's the paradox, and one of the things that makes life interesting in Allenspark.

 

 

Columns

© 1985 – 2003, David E. Steiner

Allenspark Wind Columns:

Introduction

Why Allenspark?

Going Riding [August, 1985]

Electricity

Used Cars

Peace and Quiet [1986]

Liberals & Conservatives

Going to the Movies

The Screened Porch

The Beginning of The Season

The Weather

The Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The End of The Season

The Gift of Time

The Beavers

Addresses [1987]

Hiking

Watching the Trees Grow

Postal Rates

Changes in Estes Park

Square Dancing at the Pow Wow

Back to the Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The Solstices

Bird Feeders

Elevators

The Estes Park Hardware Store [1988]

Visitors

Limousine Service

A Memorial Service

A Hummingbird

Garbage

A Hiking Trip

The Estes Park Public Library

Wild Life

Riparian Rights [1989]

Weather

Fences

Commuting

Mountain Friendliness

A Motorcycle Trip

Satellite Television

“Weaving Mountain Memories”

Hotel Rates in the Old Days

The Price of Propane [1990]

The Front Range Almanac

June

Modes of Transportation

Miller Moths

My 50th Column

Modern Conveniences

Rock Climbing

On the Death of Otto Walter, Postmaster

Otto’s Memorial Service

A Big Owl Pot-Luck Dinner

A Whine About Telephone Service [1991]

After the Persian Gulf War

Some Changes in the WIND

The Trip to the Mountains

The Mountains in the Summer

Visitors

Of Dogs, Music, and Children

Muhlenburg County

To My Grandson

The Sale of Longs Peak Inn

World War II  [1992]

Murphy’s Law and the Computer

The South St. Vrain Canyon

“Whiteout”

The Hazards of Volunteering

Crime in Our Valley

Infestations

On the Death of Charles Eagle Plume

Can We All Get Along?

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Lost Horizon [1993]

Walking

Rumors About a Visit by the Pope

Progress?

More About Fences

Woodpeckers

The Visit of Pope John Paul II

Forest Fires

The New Sewage System

The Snow Pool

The Good Old Days [1994]

The WIND’s 20th Anniversary

The Bunce School

The Shooting Gallery

The Estes Park Museum

Our Government

U.S. West Takes a Hit

The Year of the Hummingbirds

A New “Yield” Sign

Growth in Allenspark

Private Telephones?

The Salvation Army

Creation Science [1995]

Devolutionizing Big Government

Risks

Airports

Fort D.A. Russell

Domestic Terrorism

Old and New

Barney Graves

Life in the Wilderness

What’s In a Name?

Arthur C. Clarke

 

The Estes Park Trail-Gazette Columns:

July 1983

Carpentry

Estes Cone

Johnny Grant

Observations in Estes Park

The Bath House

Waving

The Sutherland’s Ice House

How Old is Charles Eagle Plume?

Dogs

Christmas Trees

Tree Murder

Mountain Driving

Garbage

Mail Boxes

More About Mail Boxes

“Are you related to ....?”

Spring

An Accident

The Wild Cat

A July Reunion

A Visit to Baldpate Inn

Opening Cabins

Summer

The Times, They Have Changed

Death and Transfiguration

The Population Explosion

The March of Time

Faith-Based Social Services

Looking for Pitch

Recent Writings I

Recent Writings II

Recent Writings III

Recent Writings IV

Recent Writings V

Recent Writings VI

 

 

Jump to these pages

Contact me

 

Did you find a factual error or a typo or want to voice an opinion? Drop me a note here

 

Copyright © AngryRobot Enterprises. All rights reserved.

Home

About Me

Contact