So it goes… Part 2

I was “supposed” to climb Mt. Eolus and Sunlight Peak on Saturday, July 7th.  I was then going to climb Windom Peak on Sunday, July 8th.  As I noted in the previous post, I somehow sprained my knee, and despite climbing an additional hour, decided I was making things worse and turned back.  We took a little solace in knowing that there is a good chance we would have made a decision to turn around because the weather was foul.  On Tuesday, July 10th, I learned a Canadian climber fell and died climbing Windom Peak after he was separated from his companion on the day we would have climbed.  It made me think writing “So it goes” after failing to summit was apropos – like the Taoist farmer fable:

One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “May be,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “May be,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “May be,” said the farmer.

RIP fellow climber…