Which Mountain to die on (was: Just curious)

[DougPaul]

In Japan, about 80 people a year commit suicide by exposure in the forest at the base of Mount Fuji. Many of them simply wander without supplies or insulation and get deliberately lost.

Mt Fuji is supposed to be the most climbed mountain in the world, Mt Monadnock is supposed to be the second. Does that mean ... ?

Doug

 

[funkyfreddy]

Hi Pedxing, I just noticed your signature. I love RAW and did the music for a film he was in called "Borders". I got to hang out with him a bit when he was working on the film. He was one of the wisest and funniest people I've ever met, an incredible wit....... He had a gleam in his eye like Jack Nicholson in "One flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and we spent part of an afternoon pretending to be fundamentalist preachers...... I still crack up when I think about it, getting to play act with one of my favorite writers

I have a lot of his books and could go on and on about him. I will miss him..... this world sorely needs more like him now. He certainly faced death with grace, humor, and courage.....

What is it about birthdays that make me ponder mortality? I guess you have to take your days and the hands you've been dealt and make the most of them..... Climb those mountains, sing those songs, swim those seas...

 

[Jay H]

The folks out at Mt Hood state that Mt Hood is the 2nd most climbed mtn other than Fuji... though they might be taking into consideration the elevation thing..

Jay

 

[bubba]

I was thinking ... those of you in the upside of that gap ... may want to make arrangements at a nursing home convenient to trailheads in the Whites ...

I sent them your email address...

 

[Frodo]

This is a fantastic thread!

A few thoughts...

We ALL die, but very few choose their own death. I am another who "doesn't want to go on the cart" (Montey Python rules!), but that is out of my control. What's IN my control is living and experiencing all I can, while I can. We do not take any physical items with us when we pass on, but I am banking on taking as much "experience baggage" as I can gather... (just ask my wife!)

I also don't ever want to be a burdon to anyone, so I hope to never die either on a mountain or in a nursing home... but such as life, we don't always get to choose our destiny...

 

[chipc]

The folks out at Mt Hood state that Mt Hood is the 2nd most climbed mtn other than Fuji... though they might be taking into consideration the elevation thing..
Jay

I saw that too in an article last week in the NY Times. But after some googling it seems to be the second most climbed "glacier-covered" mountian.

http://www.nwsource.com/travel/scr/tf_detail.cfm?dt=4093&cid=6&pageid=OR&cityid=79

And of course there is the claim about Mt Monadnock being number 2

http://www.visitnh.gov/new-england-trip-itinerary.html

As for dying on the mountain, that's not for me. I just hope that when I go I am aware enough to fill my head with pleasant thoughts of my family, friends, and perhaps a few mountain memories.

 

[Maddy]

My preference would be to not die at all, however.....
When I die, I want to be cremated prompto, and my ashes will be scattered on the Rockpile. I have already made arrangements for this.
I would love to die on a mountain, anywhere in the Presidentials, or VT.
Denali would be another fine choice. Unfortunately, we don't have much to say about how, when and where.
If I do die on a mountain, I would want to be alone and not found for a very long time, preferably never. Just return me to the earth!
I can't think of a finer resting place!

 

[Jaytrek57]

I would like to be struck down down while on the internet typing on the keyb...............................................

 

[pedxing]

Freddy - Your experience with RAW sounds fantastic. There was a fine coincidence in my learning of his death and changing my signature hours before coming across this thread (I'm sure it was 5 hours).

There was something about the way inwhich he seems to have faced death that was wonderfully consistent with who he appeared to be, a wise, humble, playful man always trying to teach (often by confusing people in way that forced them to think for themselves).

I corresponded with him very briefly when I was trying to get him to come to University of Texas when I was a student there (I never got the money together to have him come, despite the fact his fee was small) and went to a weekend long seminar he gave in Houston - sponsored by the Temple of the Hidden God. We got to see him at the after party and met his sometime collaborator Timothy Leary there.

In one of his books he advocated the attitude that "I will live forever or die trying." I wonder what he would have said about that in his last weeks.

 

[RGF1]

What a macabre question.
I do not want to die on any mountain when my time comes I would want to die peacefully in my own place near my family .

Dying on a mountain is an unpleasant way to go. No matter your way of leaving us. I certainly would not want to die of hypothermia a fall, blood loss etc or even a intentional death it is also a rather selfish act as some of us will come and retrieve your body and think of your grieving loved ones .

Having carried a body off a mountain and sat and watched a young man grieve his fathers death Then facing a devastated family and not knowing what to say . I would not want to die on any mountain . Yes I love mountaians perhaps in sight of them but not on them.
This SAR Happend last June I was iust told by my Docotors that I was able to partipate in SARS again. I will be blunt along with my self the was not a dry eye among the SAR a crew .

 

[Halite]

I saw this article in the NY Times this morning about an avid hiker who didn't die on the mountain, but has enlisted the help of his hiking club to allow him to revisit his favorite peaks post mortem:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/u...77&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

So as a variant on the thread topic: What mountain would you want to have your ashes spread on?

 

[MadRiver]

So as a varient on the thread topic: What mountain would you want to have your ashes spread on?

Bondcliff for me. My friend wants Little Haystack.

 

[Danielle]

I don't really want to die on a mountain, but have pondered the idea of having my ashes spread somewhere on a mountain or in an area I love and have enjoyed hiking. Out on the shores of Russell Pond in Baxter State Park seems a fitting, restful spot, surrounded by wilderness, with mighty Katahdin in the distance. Or, perhaps West Bond, overlooking the Pemi. Either way would mean some good trail miles for my friends I wonder if they would be up for it?

 

[Lawn Sale]

That strikes me as a porly founded and thoughtless generality. My grandmother lived to be 100 and that hardly describes the quality of her life which she enjoyed at home ... her biggest complaint being that her friends had all passed away.

I have known other centenarians or near centenarians with like experiences. In fact, I'm connecting with a 90 year old man in Baxter Park this summer ... and he's led a prolific life teaching (Middlebury College), writing (several novels and WWII historical accounts) and capturing trout after a service connected disability incurred as commander of a PT boat in said WWII.

I met a lady climbing to Chimney Pond when she was 99, aided by her 4 grandchildren, and she said she would do it again at 100.

I also know of a guy who still plays racquette ball at 96.

My only regret would be if I died alone, no one should have to go through that...or of a broken heart.

I plan on living a long and fruitful life, and it's one plan I intend to keep.

 

[sierra]

MT. Princeton In CO. I grew up in the Whites but I fell in love with the Rockies and MT. Princeton is just beautifull, I felt so much energy on that summitt. I would be honored to perish on its slope.

 

[SteveHiker]

"that's no way for a man to die..."

"yeah, you're right Ed.

A parachute not opening, that's a way to die.

Getting caught in the gears of a combine. Having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that's the way I wanna go.
...
but I wouldn't wait til the last minute to fill out those organ donor cards."

- Lt. Frank Drebbin, Police Squad

 

[markv]

why not

I'll play along. I would like to die on a mountain on which i would decompose well. One with soil, and plenty of rain. So that would be just 'bout ANY mountain in New England that's not in the Presis or Baxter, right? I'll choose the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan.

I would not want to die on Everest. How unnatural...

 

[dr_wu002]

I saw this article in the NY Times this morning about an avid hiker who didn't die on the mountain, but has enlisted the help of his hiking club to allow him to revisit his favorite peaks post mortem:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/u...77&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

So as a variant on the thread topic: What mountain would you want to have your ashes spread on?

Actually, you can have it both ways. You can die on a mountain. Then when the moose eat your decomposing body, they'll travel to other peaks and poo you out in various other locations. Hey, I want to die on Bondcliff, and West Bond, and South Twin and Garfield, and Washington and Katahdin and Marcy and Haystack and Everest etc. And now I can -- on all of them!!

Next time you reach down to eat one of them brown 'mountain berries' just think -- it might be me.

-Dr. Wu

 

[Neil]

Actually, you can have it both ways. You can die on a mountain. Then when the moose eat your decomposing body, they'll travel to other peaks and poo you out in various other locations. Hey, I want to die on Bondcliff, and West Bond, and South Twin and Garfield, and Washington and Katahdin and Marcy and Haystack and Everest etc.

Next time you reach down to eat one of them brown 'mountain berries' just think -- it might be me.

-Dr. Wu

Wu, it won't be moose, it'll be ravens and mice. You will become mouse poo.

There is a story, I don't know if it's true, about a guy who died just below the top of Saddleback in the Adirondacks. According to the legend it would have been his 46th peak. To get his body off the mtn. they had to haul it to the top so a helicopter could pick it up. After deliberation the 46er powers-that-were awarded the dead guy 46er status posthumously. I bet Pete knows more about this tale.

 

[Skyclimber]

Wu, it won't be moose, it'll be ravens and mice. You will become mouse poo.

There is a story, I don't know if it's true, about a guy who died just below the top of Saddleback in the Adirondacks. According to the legend it would have been his 46th peak. To get his body off the mtn. they had to haul it to the top so a helicopter could pick it up. After deliberation the 46er powers-that-were awarded the dead guy 46er status posthumously. I bet Pete knows more about this tale.

Yes in 1980, Keith Solomon died just below Basin. Saddleback was to be his 46th Peak. His body was flown to the top of Saddleback and the Forty Sixers gave him a number. (1609)