An Introduction
To climb upon mountain majesty is to step into a vast, indiscriminate world of the unknown and unforeseen. To approach the grand sport of mountain climbing with anything less than respect for the challenging mountain and its infinite ability to cause peril or hardship puts the climber in a most dubious and fragile position. To treat the mountain with gratitude and appreciation, however, will ultimately reward the climber with a harmonious attachment to the mountain and its intimidating terrain. It's a unique emotion when one connects with a force of nature intrinsically more powerful than any mortal being. Chaela and I understand that emotion, and we remain very thankful to the mountains for granting us safe passage, each day, as we continue our battle with the unknown and unforeseen on "The Mountain Climbing Expedition for the Ages!" We are very grateful for your readership; and it's an honor to present to you the 2nd anthology in the Six Boots to the Summit! book series:
This book takes you on an improbable journey toward the pinnacle of mountaineering achievement, as Chaela extends her everyday summit streak to 1,000 straight days! My sweet pup climbs with the heart and soul of a true mountaineer while attaining 8 milestone summits enroute to her unfathomable 9,000th mountaintop! By the conclusion of Where Rams Dare to Climb, Chaela will have taken a giant leap on her unwitting quest for climbing immortality!
Chaela's "Milestone Summit!" climbs will send you up the unending rock of the "Huajatolla" and to ridgeline storms high above the prairies where a certain buffalo roams. You'll be whisked away in the nighttime sky to ascend under the light of Venus to a summit shrine at sunrise (see photo). A venerable glacier will welcome you to its icy playground while a lovable character joins in the frivolity. The peaks are alive with The Sound of Music as their rolling, green meadows and beautiful wildflowers provide a spectacular backdrop for Chaela's 7,500th summit, 2 movie scene re-enactments, and the pursuit of a climbing ideal. You'll accompany a topographically defiant Chaela as she hilariously narrates her 4th birthday on a day in which my pup summits 4 peaks and frolics within 4 different states! The Arizona high country is home to the most sacred of mountains, and this hallowed peak will be your host for a Thanksgiving weekend climb and an unfortunate conundrum atop the mountain. New Year's Eve will find you ascending through the darkness to a midnight rendezvous with the "Summit of Two Decades!" and the last of Chaela's "Milestone Summit!" stories in this book.
You'll share in the impactful stories of an "Electrified Summit!" and the devastation of a once pristine mountain range. Chaela and I will lead you through the dense mountain fog on a climb in the land of Dr. Doolittle and a two-headed elk. An epic climbing expedition results in a secretive and surprising find, one which Chaela had coveted over many rocky and treacherous mountain miles!
There will be gifts and gales and gripes. We’ll ascend more than 19,000 feet of raspberries as “The Gauntlet," a notorious, frightening menace, will have you conjuring up your own inner daredevil! You'll learn of a mountain sweetheart with the "Soul of a Guardian Angel." The songbird in you will be singing from the mountain high to a number of lyrically adapted songs, including: "Mountain Climbing Pup" and "Venus, Planet of Light." This book’s musical tone is further accentuated by the reimagining of some memorable choruses, and a cinematic melody, which came from a mystical volcano’s apex, where you'll soar above its regal summit "As Free as the Hawks Fly."
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The young hearted of all ages will delight in the tale of a stuffed tiger coming to life to reach a very real mountaintop on a very real climb up a peak that bears his name (photo below)! A perfect climb in the San Juan Mountains will immerse you in a feeling of utter utopia, and Chaela's endearing antics are sure to leave you happily amused! The stunning photographs will bring a vibrant perspective and life to the mountains. The poetic side of mountain majesty is brought to you in a most profound way through a poem featured in the poignant story, "In the Petals of a Kansas Sunflower."
Where Rams Dare to Climb has meaning beyond its moniker as a book title. It's also a story in the book. This brief chronicle details a mountain climbing philosophy, which originated in the eyes of an awestruck youngster before evolving from the dangers and challenges of an arduous sport. This climbing creed can be found in "A Pocketbook Tail" and is the penultimate story in this book (photo below). We'll wind up the 2nd anthology in this series with the unintentionally comedic stylings of "Marlon and Marge: "Oooh, You Don't Say!"
This introduction has highlighted only a few of the multitude of eclectic, adventurous stories and photos, which you'll experience in this second edition in the Six Boots to the Summit! book series.
Finally, and as this book's bighorn centric title largely suggests, Chaela and I will be taking you up to the thrills of mountain exposure and the high-altitude confluences of vertical cliffs, narrow ledges, and harmonious attachment. You'll partake in our struggles and joys of navigating all types of rugged terrain as we guide you up the very mountain rock that elicits our unending gratitude, respect, and emotion: the very mountain rock Where Rams Dare to Climb.
We wish you a wondrous, magical, awe-inspiring, and humorous second leg of your mountainous trilogy and great journey to the summit high!
