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Description

This is Mt. Ritter, the tallest mountain in Madera County California at 13,149 feet. It was discovered and named by Josiah Whitney during his ill-fated State Geologist ‘I’m just out here in the motherlode prospecting for fossils while Congress is looking around for ways to finance the Civil War’ stint. Carl Ritter was chair of Geography at the University of Berlin is the author of ‘Erdkunde im Verhältnis zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen oder allgemeine, vergleichende Geographie, als sichere Grundlage des Studiums und Unterricts in physicalischen und historischen Wissenschaften’, a master opus of geography that basically founded the science. I don’t know why I am unsurprised and faintly amused at the length of the title. But I got here not because of Whitney or Ritter but by that founding Saint of California John Muir, who made the first ascent of Mt. Ritter in 1872 nearly at the cost of his life:

“At length, I found myself at the foot of a sheer drop in the bed of the avalanche channel, which seemed to bar all further progress. The tried dangers beneath seemed even greater than that of the cliff in front; therefore, after scanning its face again and again, I commenced to scale it, picking my holds with intense caution. After gaining a point about half-way to the top, I was brought to a dead stop, with arms outspread, clinging close to the face of the rock, unable to move hand or foot either up or down. My doom appeared fixed. I must fall. There would be a moment of bewilderment, and then a lifeless tumble down the once general precipice to the glacier below. When this final danger flashed in upon me, I became nerve-shaken for the first time since setting foot on the mountain, and my mind seemed to fill with a stifling smoke. But the terrible eclipse lasted only a moment, when life burst forth again with preternatural clearness. I seemed suddenly to become possessed of a new sense. The other self -- the ghost of by-gone experiences, instinct, or Guardian Angel -- call it what you will -- came forward and assumed control. Then my trembling muscles became firm again, every rift and flaw was seen as through a microscope, and my limbs moved with a positiveness and precision with which I seemed to have nothing at all to do. Had I been borne aloft upon wings, my deliverance could not have been more complete. Above this memorable spot, the face of the mountain is still more savagely hacked and torn. But the strange influx of strength I had received seemed inexhaustible. I found a way without effort and soon stood upon the topmost crag in the blessed light.” - John Muir

The phenomenon of a ‘guardian angel’ coming forward to help explorers in a moment of distress is actually quite pervasive. It’s called ‘the third man factor’ and there’s been quite a lot of study into it along with a whole bunch of cracking good stories in a book of the same name which you can find online. Adrenaline is a heck of a drug. But while Muir’s account is short enough to be possibly explained by an adrenaline rush, things like Shackleton’s crossing of South Georgia Island occurred over such an extended period of time that their ‘third man’, who was seen by all members of the party, can’t be quite as easily explained. It’s a great story, I recommend you check it out.

Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you?
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

I’m just ruling Xander out as a possibility here because he wasn’t born yet.

Description

This is Mt. Ritter, the tallest mountain in Madera County California at 13,149 feet. It was discovered and named by Josiah Whitney during his ill-fated State Geologist ‘I’m just out here in the motherlode prospecting for fossils while Congress is looking around for ways to finance the Civil War’ stint. Carl Ritter was chair of Geography at the University of Berlin is the author of ‘Erdkunde im Verhältnis zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen oder allgemeine, vergleichende Geographie, als sichere Grundlage des Studiums und Unterricts in physicalischen und historischen Wissenschaften’, a master opus of geography that basically founded the science. I don’t know why I am unsurprised and faintly amused at the length of the title. But I got here not because of Whitney or Ritter but by that founding Saint of California John Muir, who made the first ascent of Mt. Ritter in 1872 nearly at the cost of his life:

“At length, I found myself at the foot of a sheer drop in the bed of the avalanche channel, which seemed to bar all further progress. The tried dangers beneath seemed even greater than that of the cliff in front; therefore, after scanning its face again and again, I commenced to scale it, picking my holds with intense caution. After gaining a point about half-way to the top, I was brought to a dead stop, with arms outspread, clinging close to the face of the rock, unable to move hand or foot either up or down. My doom appeared fixed. I must fall. There would be a moment of bewilderment, and then a lifeless tumble down the once general precipice to the glacier below. When this final danger flashed in upon me, I became nerve-shaken for the first time since setting foot on the mountain, and my mind seemed to fill with a stifling smoke. But the terrible eclipse lasted only a moment, when life burst forth again with preternatural clearness. I seemed suddenly to become possessed of a new sense. The other self -- the ghost of by-gone experiences, instinct, or Guardian Angel -- call it what you will -- came forward and assumed control. Then my trembling muscles became firm again, every rift and flaw was seen as through a microscope, and my limbs moved with a positiveness and precision with which I seemed to have nothing at all to do. Had I been borne aloft upon wings, my deliverance could not have been more complete. Above this memorable spot, the face of the mountain is still more savagely hacked and torn. But the strange influx of strength I had received seemed inexhaustible. I found a way without effort and soon stood upon the topmost crag in the blessed light.” - John Muir

The phenomenon of a ‘guardian angel’ coming forward to help explorers in a moment of distress is actually quite pervasive. It’s called ‘the third man factor’ and there’s been quite a lot of study into it along with a whole bunch of cracking good stories in a book of the same name which you can find online. Adrenaline is a heck of a drug. But while Muir’s account is short enough to be possibly explained by an adrenaline rush, things like Shackleton’s crossing of South Georgia Island occurred over such an extended period of time that their ‘third man’, who was seen by all members of the party, can’t be quite as easily explained. It’s a great story, I recommend you check it out.

Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you?
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

I’m just ruling Xander out as a possibility here because he wasn’t born yet.