Following Life’s Cairnes
At 2:00 AM, we were on the trailhead. A fine mist fell as we slipped on our packs and adjusted our headlamps. Soon we heard nothing but the slosh of our boots on the muddy trail. At dawn, we emerged out of the forest onto a vast meadow resplendent with hip-high grass and mountain flowers. In the distance, we could see the first of two waterfalls. A thick fog obscured our view of El Diente, one of Colorado’s most challenging 14,000-foot peaks. Reaching the upper falls, we began to engage wretched rocks—scree from El Diente’s cliffs. We found a faint trail among chest-high bushes going straight up the west side of the upper waterfall. Above tree line, the trail disappeared in an immense scree slope.
Traversing upward through the massive scree field, our trail was marked only be Cairns—a mound of stones erected to show climbers the way. Occasionally, unable to see the next Cairn, we would have to explore the scree until the marker appeared. Once, after traversing a snow-filled ravine, we lost the Cairns and had to double-back. Our way became steeper and steeper, until we reached the foot of a gap in El Diente’s East Ridge line. No Cairns.
Just as we were about to turn back, angels arrived in the form of Tyle Smith and four other experienced mountaineers. When Tyle introduced himself, we couldn’t believe we were shaking hands with a living legend, a climber we had read about in the mountaineering books. In 1990, Tyle had climbed all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks in an astonishing 16 days, 21 hours, 25 minutes.
With Tyle guiding us, we climbed a steep gully strewn with massive boulders. After great effort, we reached the ridgeline with bottomless drops on either side. We traversed cautiously along the ridgeline. Keeping our eyes focused on the next handhold, we avoided looking down…or back. About fifty yards from the summit, we came to vertical rock. On the south face, a treacherous 6-inch ledge with small, widely spaced hand holds frightened us. On the north face, a 5-foot wide, gently sloping ledge looked much easier. Tyle warned us away from the “easy” ledge, “It’s covered with a thin layer of ice.” A step on the icy ledge would have plunged us into the foggy abyss.
The summit appeared abruptly. We celebrated for about thirty seconds, then, with the weather threatening, began our careful descent. During our trip down the mountain, through the scree fields, into the huge basin surrounded by towering peaks, along the paths adjacent to the waterfalls, over the meadow, across the creek and into the alpine forest we were reminded of God’s majesty and his loving guidance.
CONCEPTS TO CONSIDER:
- Have you ever felt that God has sent special angels to help you?
- The experience on the icy ledge brings to mind the admonition: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it, but the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7: 13-14). Have you ever regretted taking the easy road when the “narrow ledge” would have been better?
- Have you considered the “Cairns” that God has used to mark your life’s path?
- What traits cause us to lose our way?
- What problems arise when we look down…or back?
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