Warnings Against Myself: Meditations on a Life in Climbing
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Transcript of Warnings Against Myself: Meditations on a Life in Climbing
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WARNINGS
AGAINST
MYSELF
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DAVID S TEVENSON
WARN INGS
AGA IN S T
MYSE L F
MED ITATI ON S O N
A LIFE IN CLIMBING
Seattle and London
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© by David Sevenson
Prined and bound in he Unied Saes of America
Design by Tomas Eykemans
Composed in Cassia, tpeface designed by Dieer Hofricher
Display tpe se in Monserra, designed by Juliea Ulanovsky
Phoographs are he propert of David Sevenson
unless credied oherwise.
All righs reserved. No par of his publicaion may be reproduced
or ransmied in any form or by any means, elecronic or mechan-
ical, including phoocopy, recording, or any informaion sorage or
rerieval sysem, wihou permission in wriing from he publisher.
www.washington.edu/uwpress
Caaloging informaion is on file wih he Library of Congress
----
Te paper used in his publicaion is acid-free and mees he mini-
mum requiremens of American Naional Sandard for Informaion
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Prined Library Maerials,
.–. ∞
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For my sons,
Macklin Sevenson–
Slow your roll and hold your own
A million miles, a million roads.
—Macklin Sevenson
and
Dougal Sevenson
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Even hough we navigae daily hrough a percepual world of hree
spaial dimensions and reason occasionally abou higher dimen-
sional arenas wih mahemaical ease, he world porrayed onour informaion displays is caugh up in he wo-dimensionalit
of he endless flalands of paper and video screen. All communi-
caion beween readers of an image and he makers of an image
mus now ake place on a wo-dimensional surface. Escaping his
flaland is he essenial ask of envisioning informaion—for all he
ineresing worlds (physical, biological, imaginary, human) ha
we seek o undersand are ineviably and happily mulivariae in
naure. No flalands.
—Edward ue, Envisioning Information
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Contents
Inroducion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Warnings agains Myself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Speaking in Code: Conversaions and Reflecions
on Climbing, Language, and he Religion of he French . . . . .
Te Purposes of Ascen: Episodes and Conversaions
on Advenure, Climbing, and Wha I All Migh Mean;
An Accoun of went Years in he Wes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Climber as Wrier: From he Armchair o he eons . . . . . . . .
Las Dance of he Wu Li Maser: A Disanced
Appreciaion of errance “Mugs” Sump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Virga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unehered in Yosemie: A Repor from Paradise
in he Las Summer of he Millennium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Shor Walks wih McInerney: Tree Classic Pilgrimages . . . . .
Supersiious: Mon Blanc, French Alps
Sruck: Longs Peak, Rocky Mounains
In he Bugs: In he Canadian Rockies
Axe of Conriion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Byron Glacier, June , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Eros on he Heighs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Te ower and he Riddle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lives of he Volcano Poes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Here Comes Ol’ Flaop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A Shor Culural Hisory of he Ice Axe
in he wenieh Cenury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tree Dreams of Mounains, Lae Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Whillans, Hason, and Me: A Disanced Appreciaion
wih a Couple rip Repors, Conexualized . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In he Very Big Ice House: ravels on he Harding Icefield . . . .
Lis of Illusraions
Acknowledgmens
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WARNINGS
AGAINST
MYSELF
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INTRODUCTION
Since i is cerainly no cusomary for an auhor o dis-
cuss his own work, perhaps a word of apology, or a leas
an explanaion should occupy firs place.
—Tomas Mann, “Te Making of
Te Magic Mountain,”
Warnings against Myself accrued essay by essay over more han
went-five years, beginning in abou . I began climbing in .
By , some of he evens I was wriing abou had already been un-
ruly residens in he reasure house of memory for eigheen years.
If aken as a whole, hey migh be read as a kind of mounain-
eering memoir. If so, i is one ha leaves ou enormous amouns
of my life, such as my family life and my working life, all of which
unfolded in he foreground while my mounaineering life occurred
mosly in he margins or waied in he wings.
Bu I never se ou o wrie a memoir, nor have I done so.
Te wriing is no chronological, nor necessarily linear. Mos of
he essays—he ones I like bes anyway—migh bes be described as
recursive. I’ve added as posscrips he year he essays were wrien
and a noe from he presen reflecing on how hey srike me now.
Te more recen essays require less commenary.
I se ou o wrie lierary essays, by which I mean somehing more
sophisicaed han a radiional mounaineering rip repor. Te re-
pors colleced in he annual American Alpine Journal are models of
his radiionally minimalisic and journalisic stle. Tose repors
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INTRODUCTION
a road, deah o sleeping, life o dreaming. Tose are he grea me-
aphors because hey respond o somehing essenial.” My memories
are no meaphors, bu hey are like hem in heir essenialit.If I didn’ se ou o wrie hese essays as a book, I did a leas se
ou o wrie, jus as I se ou o climb. For many years climbing came
more easily o me wih is insisence on focus, is engagemen of he
senses, is immersion in he naural world. Prufrock measured ou
his life in coffee spoon; erry empes Williams measured hers in
birds, a leas she did during he ime recouned in Refuge; for me
i’s mounains.
Te challenges of he blank page were harder for me o commio, a longer, slower road. Noneheless, I have ried o adhere o To-
reau’s dicum: “If one advances confidenly in he direcion of his
dreams, and endeavors o live he life which he has imagined, he
will mee wih a success unexpeced in he common hours.”
I don’ know abou “confidenly,” and as far as “success” goes, all
I know is ha I coninue o climb, and wrie, all in he direcion of
my dreams.
DDS
Anchorage, Alaska
Sepember
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