The lesson learned at Mount Whitney

         As some of my friends know, I was able to hike Mount Whitney a few weeks ago. Mount Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states culminating at 14,496 feet. Although the trail sounds intimidating, in reality it's less than 1/2 the size of Mount Everest. Nevertheless, based on the length of the hike (22 miles roundtrip) and duration (18 hours at a slow pace) it beat me like a drum. I'm sure I looked something like this guy at the top:

        Since I like a good challenge, I planned the trip by driving from the bay area 7 hours to the trail head arriving in the 2 AM hour. We prepared and started the hike at around 3 AM. Since I drove the whole way, I was now beginning the hike without sleep! Needless to say, I was a little concerned that I would need a long nap somewhere along the trail.
         The trail head was well over 8,000 feet elevation and the trail ascended more than 6,100 feet. It was definitely a climb! My heart rate raced over 150 beats per minute for much of the hike. During the first few hours after the sun rose, I got to a point that my body really was signaling for me to turn around. I was ready to get some sleep and just rest in general. The hike is difficult to replicate at sea level, so I was really far out of my comfort zone.
         As I sat on a rock by myself, I considered the effort I had exerted thus far, the goal of the hike to make it to the peak, and the respect I had for my fellow hikers. We had made a pact before the hike that we would not hike alone no matter what, so my turning around meant that one of the hikers would not make it to the top.

          Although I just read this yesterday, these words of wisdom from Sterling Sill would have been very relevant in that moment. "You will reach your objectives only when you keep them constantly in mind, and want, and have faith in yourself. This is the miracle of personality. The greatest fault in human beings is that we underestimate ourselves. It’s hard for us to have faith in ourselves... Greatness is not due primarily to heredity, environment, or aptitude. Greatness has come to some men merely because they had great want to succeed."
         I didn't have those inspirational words in mind at the time and my rational thinking skills were going downhill fast due to my exhaustion. Nonetheless, I decided to keep going just at a little slower pace. I would take one step at a time and if I felt altitude sickness on top of my exhaustion I would turn around with no regrets. Fortunately, I was able to persevere and make it to the top with the encouragement of a well respected fellow hiker.
         With Mount Whitney now in the rear view mirror and with no desire to hike it again, I agree with Sterling Sill wholeheartedly that we do underestimate ourselves and that we can be very "average" in most subjective ways and still find a lot of success merely by exerting effort and trying things with an objective in mind. I am often surprised what I can do if I push myself beyond my comfort zone. Here's another favorite quote from Heber J. Grant:

I believe unless we have ambition to accomplish things and to do things that we amount to but very little in the battle of life. I know of nothing at the present time that seems to me sadder than to find the number of our people who are losing the spirit of integrity and devotion and ambition to do things. It seems to me all wrong. Every individual should have a desire to grow and increase in capacity and in ability to do things. Certainly by mere exertion of the will, by mere desire, we accomplish nothing. We must put with that desire the labor to accomplish the things we desire. I am sure that a young man who is perfectly satisfied with what he is doing, although he may be doing very little, and has no ambition to do more, will stand still. But I am convinced that every individual can improve from day to day, from year to year, and have greater capacity to do things as the years come and the years go. I believe in that with all my heart.

         I've always liked this quote, because it places an emphasis on things that each of us can control aka effort and labor. We don't need to be the most talented or the brightest. We just need to have the desire to make the effort and then follow through. Even though hiking Mount Whitney is probably pretty easy for many people, to me it was a big effort where I pushed myself out of my comfort zone making it a psychological "win" for me.