a long hike
for the past few days, i have been following the story of these three climbers lost at mt. hood, known to be missing for about two weeks now. every morning, i eagerly check the news for updates regarding this search. today it has been declared that the 9 day- rescue operation is over. sadly, the rescue team has given up. two days ago, one of the climbers was found dead and considering the extreme weather conditions, sub-freezing temperature, and very tough terrain, the other two might have suffered the same fate.
i don’t know these guys but i was optimistic that somehow they’ll survive. i was silently cheering for the rescue team. i knew the story of the 16 surviviors of the andes back in ‘72 and how they triumphed over death (something tells me though they’ve all turned vegetarian after that) and so i was hoping for the same happy ending. but then again, that was a different mountain, a different weather, a different situation.
efforts will still continue to recover whatever there is to recover and i hope that they do — for the departed’s families’ and friends’ sake, at least having that peace of mind; for the sheriff’s and his team’s sake, knowing they did whatever they can; and for my sake, realizing that life is nothing but…
