SPEAK
Contributed Photo
I couldn't see more than 3 feet in front of me. I felt like I was in a dark, unfamiliar room, cautiously moving my feet forward while feeling around for a light switch.
It was 4 a.m. and my friend Louisa and I were an hour into our 13-mile hike when the batteries fell out of my headlamp.
We were climbing the 14,197-foot Mt. Princeton, one of Colorado's 54 peaks exceeding 14,000 feet in elevation. We set out from the 8,900-foot trailhead at 3 a.m. in order to summit and get back to tree level before the usual afternoon rainstorm moved in.
The moonlight exposed the silhouettes of the towering mountain peaks around us and our only headlamp illuminated just enough of the trail for us to see our next step.
The climb wasn't supposed to be that technical, and we had both climbed a "fourteener" before this, but nothing with such a drastic elevation increase. We faced an elevation gain of 5,297 feet in six miles, so time was precious. Sufficient lighting or not, we needed to keep moving if we wanted to summit.
We continued in the darkness for nearly two hours, shuffling along, unable to see the ground we had covered or what lay ahead — a mystery that both exhilarated and terrified me.
Eventually, the trail disappeared into what seemed like a field of jagged rocks and boulders. Hell on the ankles. We didn't have enough light to both see where we were going and search for trail markers (directional cues
usually formed by a stack of rocks).
It was 6 a.m. and the sun would be rising over the Rockies before long, so we decided to wait for daylight before maneuvering through the rocky road ahead.
Hues of red and orange broke the darkness as the sun rose over the mountains, revealing the vast mountain range, blue sky and our whereabouts.
Steep ridges of weathered rock expanded as high as I could see. We had guided ourselves off of the trail, which was visible 400 yards above us.
Finally able to gauge our situation beyond the glow of a headlamp, we faced a vertical climb to get back on the path or we could try to backtrack. We had come almost four miles already and had 2,000 feet to gain before reaching the summit.
"We don't have time to go that far back," Louisa said as we packed up our bags, preparing to move forward. "But I don't know how we're going to get up there."
As I pulled my backpack over my shoulders, I looked straight up to where we needed to be. Standing there, on the side of Mt. Princeton, I felt as though I had to lean forward just to keep from plummeting like a boulder down into the valley below.
Louisa followed me and we scaled the side of the mountain, meticulously stepping on loose
"We'll just have to climb in a zigzag," I said as I began trekking.
rocks that slipped beneath the movement of our feet. I bent forward and used my hands to find boulders secure enough to help push myself upward.
We kept moving in meditative silence for 20 minutes. I hadn't looked down, not until I heard Louisa scream, anyway. She slipped and now lay awkwardly on the rocks, paralyzed by fear.
"Champ, seriously, this is ridiculous," she yelled, not even looking at me, but instead down at the valley below us.
Ridiculous?
Of course it seems that way when you lose your footing and nearly fall 13,000 feet, especially when you're face-to-face with the marker where someone died — an ambitious climber just like yourself who also challenged inertia, but instead got struck by lightning. You're also moving like a two-man glowworm through the dark of night, knowing one step too far to your right could be the end of you.
"Are you OK?" I asked Louisa who was now on her feet. Her face was showing annoyance and exhaustion as she nodded her head. "Yes."
So, maybe it was ridiculous.
"We're almost there," I said, trying to foster any ounce of hope she had remaining. "You get ahead of me this time."
And so we pressed on.
Another 20 minutes and we finally reached the trail, which sit atop the mountain ridge at 13,500 feet. At this point, the last leg of our hike was more like a leisurely stroll up the side of the
Trek to the top: After losing their way in the darkness, Sarah Champ, along with her friend Louisa, reached the mountain top and found peace.
peak. At 7:45 a.m, we made it to the top.
I could go on about the incredible beauty I saw and the satisfaction of ascending a summit, but it all means very little compared to the significance of the climb itself.
Never had I felt so small or such a sense of wonder. After pushing through darkness, ankle pain, shortness of breath and the prospect of death, I have never felt so tranquil.
Each step and each struggle of my ascent stripped me from my daily worries and the busy life I had created for myself, putting reality in perspective.
There was no place for distractions, anxiety or fear. Nothing but my next step, my next breath and surviving the present mattered
in a more eloquent nutshell from James Ramsey Ullman's The Age of Mountaineering: "The climbing of earth's heights, in itself, means little. That we want to try to climb them means everything. For it is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that we are never so much as we can be as when we are striving for what is beyond our grasps, and that there is no battle worth the winning save that against our own ignorance and fear."
// SARAH CHAMP
y Wang/KANSAN (U's Dancing
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Ashlieah Lee/KANSAN
Activities. Dancers included Michael Wade Smith, the student body president, Shade Keys Little, Chancellor Grey-Little's husband, and Baby Jay, among many others.
Baby Jay and Matt Rodriguez perform Thursday night at the first annual SUA Dancing With the Stars. The pair took first place with a free dance style.
The winner by popular vote was Matt Rodriquez, a senior majoring in dance as well as a member of the KU Dance Company, with Baby Jay performing a free style number. They opened up with "It Takes Two," by Base Rob and transitioned into "Push It," by Salt-
Jay," because "you just have to love Baby Jay."
Rissien's original partner tore her Achilles' heel recently, so Buschini only had a week to learn the complex and fast-paced dance.
Jim MacAuley, a professional dancer at Paramount, said that it would normally take six months for professionals to master these dances; the performers last night had only one. While a few groups admitted to messing up a few steps, overall every group scored well and
— written by Sarah Gregory
For more coverage of this story, check out KUJH's newscast at 4 p.m.
OFFICER | 3A
Nick Kehrwald is filling the newly-created position with hopes of being proactive in student conduct education.
University hires new officer for non-academic misconduct
POLO | 2A
A pair of University alumni and a Lawrencian draw attention to polo by adding bikes to it and bringing it to the streets.
Polo gets a bicycle makeover
Classifieds ... 9A
Crossword ... 4A
Cryptoquips ... 4A
Opinion ... 5A
Sports ... 10A
Sudoku ... 4A
INDEX
WEATHER
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
Ben Kirtland, a former head of fundraising for Athletics, pleaded guilty in a Wichita court earlier this morning, said Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. district attorney.
Kirtland pleads guilty in athletics scandal
Kirkland's plea differs from the arrangement of the previous six defendants in that he did not enter a plea agreement with the
TICKETS
N p
BY ALEX GARRISON agarrison@kansan.com
SEE TICKETS ON PAGE 3A
The seventh and final defendant in the federal prosecution of several former Kansas Athletics employees has pleaded guilty to involvement in its ticket scandal.
In his plea submitted to the court, Kirtland admitted to ilegally selling tickets to KU sporting events for his own financial gain from 2005 to 2009.
"Although I do not know the exact value of the tickets I sold, I estimate the total value of the tickets I sold to be in excess of $120,000," he wrote in his petition to change his plea to guilty. "I acknowledge that I was conspiring to commit, and committing, a fraud upon the
government, but rather entered a direct guilty plea, Cross said.
Coach Bill Self plays with a lineup to see which combination of players is the most efficient offensively and defensively.
Which guys are the glue that can keep it together?
MEN'S BASKETBALL | 10A
SENATE
Plans for service center delayed
Megan Ritter, student body vice president, said they weren't at the stage they had hoped to be at.
One of the major platforms for KUnited coalition — the Student Services Center — won't be met this year because of unexpected delays in the process.
The hope, she said, is that all platforms get done in a year but that isn't always the case.
"We just kind of entered into it not knowing really how much work it would be, but it's been a really good learning experience," Ritter said.
BY ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON amcnaughton@kansan.com
Originally,Student Senate leaders had hoped to have concrete plans in place for the Student Service Center at the conclusion of the semester. Blaming bureaucratic interests,they said that might not happen after all.
The center would encompass a variety of services, such as academic achievement and success, disability services and a writing center, that the leaders of Student Senate believe would
From the beginning, the top three choices for the site are the Burge Union, Anschutz Library and the parking lot across from the Kansas Union. Renovations or additions to existing structures would accommodate the new building but temporarily displace or relocate staff and faculty.
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improve student engagement and performance through accessibility. Ideally, the building would include seven to 10 services.
The location of the center would ultimately dictate what services would be offered, which still remains a primary concern.
In an e-mail, provost Jeffrey Vitter said the University ultimately had the responsibility to decide whether to proceed with a project and to determine its location.
"I expect that this approach will allow us to plan more effectively and avoid dead ends and that process will more successfully mesh with student initiatives if the relevant discussions happen earlier rather than later." Vitter said.
Student Body President Michael Wade Smith said the University
SEE SENATE ON PAGE 3A