Climb for the Top - Larry Dietrich - October-November 1982

Larry Dietrich

Breathing heavily in the thin mountain air, we stopped again to rest our weary legs. How much farther? Would we be able to make it all the way to the top of Mt. Whitney's 14,496 feet? We've got to - this is the summer we've all been waiting for! I remember thinking, so this is what the seven laws of success [described in the booklet of that name] are all about. And, believe me, we had to use all seven. "Time to climb!" someone yelled. All 16 of us from the Long Beach, Calif., Boys' Backpacking Club fought the altitude that made our lungs crave oxygen. I reflected on how we had first set the goal a year before to climb California's Mt, Whitney, the highest point in the continental United States. Then we had spent much of the year carefully planning and studying facts for our climb. Necessary permits were acquired nearly six months in advance. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library