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Last week I had the blessing of being able to enjoy 5 days of backpacking in West Yellowstone. It was so beautiful there: wild, quiet, remote, and mostly untouched by humans. It was deeply refreshing! But there was a cardinal rule laid down by our guide; no matter how experienced you were or how comfortable you might be on your own, you were part of a group. If one member was having a hard time, we all slowed down. If you needed to sneak off to the bathroom, you let someone else know. And even if you just needed some new socks from your tent or wanted to go somewhere for some quiet reflection, you took your bear spray and let another person know where you would be. In short, we were responsible for each other’s safety and well-being; it was not every person for themselves.
One place where this team approach often gets thrown out is Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. I thought I wanted to take on Everest after reading Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air 10 years ago. Then I learned it would cost around $100,000 for a guide and equipment. The government of Nepal, where Everest is located, also requires a special course in trekking along with paying $11,000 for a permit to make the climb. Only after all this, could one fly to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and hike ten days to the Everest Base camp. Climbers have to do this in May because there are only a few weeks between the worst of the winter storms and the summer monsoons. Over the years, at least 300 climbers pursuing the peak have died from altitude sickness, running out of oxygen, falls, avalanches, sudden storms, heart attacks, frostbite, snow blindness, and hypothermia. If you make the dash to the summit, you still have to face the equally dangerous descent. Because of the financial and personal costs involved with Everest, people tend to think of themselves rather than others when the summit is on the line.
These details are necessary to get the full impact of a story involving a guide named Dan Mazur. Early one morning in 2006, Mazur was leading two well-paying clients up Mount Everest. They were only two hours from the summit, with just another 835 feet to go. Then they saw bright colored fabric in the distance. At first they thought it was a tent, but soon realized that it was an abandoned climber named Lincoln Hall. Hall had made it to the top, but during the descent he became incapacitated from oxygen deprivation. His two Sherpa guides tried to help him, but eventually left to save themselves. When they arrived to safety, they declared that Hall was dead. But Hall wasn't dead. Somehow, he had managed to survive the night without gloves, jacket, sleeping bag, oxygen or food. Hall was hallucinating when Mazur approached him. Mazur and the others spent the next four hours pulling him away from the slopes, giving him bottled oxygen, food and liquids. While they were working hard to save him, two climbers passed them on the way to the summit. Mazur asked them to help but they said they didn't speak English. They certainly weren’t the first to behave this way. Only eleven days earlier, another climber died 1,000 feet into his descent. Dozens of people walked right past him, unwilling to risk failing reaching the top. Mazur radioed the base camp for help and eventually Sherpas made it to them. They helped save Hall, but by that time Mazur and his clients were too exhausted to attempt the peak themselves. Their supplies were depleted and they would not get another chance at the summit. They came home without completing the climb and Mazur did not receive his full commission. But he said he had no regrets. "You can always go back to the summit, but you only have one life to live. If I had left that man to die, that would have been on my mind for the rest of my life. How could I live like that?"
So, who was the greatest on the mountain? Was it the climbers who supposedly didn’t understand English and made it to the top? Or the others who walked past the dying climber two weeks before? Or was it Dan Mazur and the people with him who spent a great deal of money, time and energy and ended up finding the moral summit 835 feet below the pinnacle of Everest? Their money, time, and effort were not wasted. They had conquered Everest without reaching the peak. Dan Mazur knew what greatness was. He and those with him put aside their own dreams of conquering Everest for the sake of a fellow climber.
It is hard to be part of a team. Especially for those of us who are type-A, driven, and independent. I often fall into the attitude of “stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours.” As ghastly as the behavior of many Everest climbers was, we often act in some of the same ways. How often do we pass by those who are hurting physically, emotionally, mentally, or financially? We justify our indifference because we think it’s not my problem. I don’t want to get involved, I don’t have time, someone else will take care of them, or they put themselves in that situation. I know I can be blinded by my own schedule and timelines, becoming a slave to them rather than seeing a perceived interruption as an invitation to serve and help another person. St. James has nothing but harsh words for Christians who are jealous and selfish with their resources rather than using them wisely for the relief of others. How often do we fall into that category? Always wanting more and better things? Excusing ourselves from helping and giving until we reach an imaginary place where we have no more needs and plenty for ourselves?
Jesus calls us to set aside our own desires for the sake of others. He calls us to seek the greatness of humble generosity, to "rank first" among our families, friends and communities by taking on the spirit and role of servants. Every day, you and I are called to consider others before ourselves. The needs of children, the sick, the poor, the elderly, the foreigner, the homeless … all call us away from ourselves. Every day we have to resist the temptation to selfishness, the temptation to put ourselves before others. Every day we are called to greatness by conquering a mountain much more difficult than Everest. We have to conquer ourselves. And it begins in little things with our families and friends, at home and at work.
The goal of our lives is union with God. But that union is not achieved apart from others. We are called to help others come to Jesus. We ourselves came to know him through the witness and charity of someone else. The strength to achieve this union comes from Jesus Christ on the cross and working together as a team. He made Himself weak so we could be strong. We pray today for this strength, the strength to reach out to others in charity, the strength to ascend the Mountain of God and to never ignore those in need we meet along the way.
