Are the Sounders outshining the Mariners?

For anyone who has read this column, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of my favorite movies is Will Ferrell’s NASCAR spoof Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

In the movie, Ricky Bobby loses his wife to his best friend and former racing teammate after Ricky has a mental brake down following a crash. Fearing the worst, Ricky will often strip down to his skivvies, stop, drop and roll because he thinks he’s on fire. But he’s not on fire, he’s just stupid. Clearly unfit to race, Ricky’s wife leaves him for his buddy Cal so she can continue to lead the lavish life of a driver’s wife.

In one of my favorite scenes, Ricky triumphs over his inner demons and is back on the track. Cal, meanwhile, is trying to reconcile what he has done to his best friend during a mid-race conversation with his pit crew chief. The conversation through the radio head sets goes like this as Ricky Bobby is making his move on Cal:

Crew chief: Cal, Ricky's passing you.
Cal: Do you think Ricky is passing me in my subconscious?
Crew chief: No, he's actually passing you. That's happening right now.

Love it. And it’s my long-winded way of comparing the trajectories of Seattle’s two summer season sports franchises: major league baseball’s Seattle Mariners and the Seattle Sounders FC of the MLS. The M’s represent Cal, a slow, careful franchise wondering if they are doing the right thing and trying to figure out if they can milk any residual novelty from Safeco Field. The Sounders look like our hero, Ricky Bobby – taking the bull by the horns and pulling all the right levers.

In the Sounders first season of MLS play, the team has generated an unbelievable amount of buzz while selling out every game. They’ve met some of the demand for tickets by making a few thousand additional seats available. The mainstream newspapers and sports radio cover the Sounders like they would the NBA if it were still here. So thirsty for new Sounders angles, I listened to KJR’s Mike Gastineau interview the president of one of the soccer team’s fan clubs. And I was riveted! Seriously, I was, and I don’t even like soccer. When was the last time you heard a radio interview of a Mariners fan club president? You want to know when? Never. You'll never hear one. My friends and associates are not making plans to go the M’s game. They are trying to figure out how to get Sounders tickets. If they can’t get tickets, they settle for tailgating in the parking lot.

Our hometown nine, in the meantime, have been following pretty much the same script they’ve written for themselves over the last five years. An early season, swoon followed by three or four months of “evaluating” young talent for the future. While they've teased us the last week by taking a series from the Dodgers and a series from the Red Sox on the road, it still feels like past seasons where a 10 of 11 losing streak is in the offing. The most compelling and contrived story line lately has been Russell Branyan’s home run hang time. Tracking the ball like one might for an NFL punt, Mariners broadcasters can now manufacture excitement over an inane measure of power. “That ball was in the air for 6.3 seconds, wow!” Ugh.

We are also getting an encore performance of the Brandon Morrow Show. Is he a starter? Is he a reliever? Will he pitch in Tacoma? Will he pitch in Seattle? Tune in tomorrow to find out! Spoiler alert, for those of you who don’t want to know how this show ends, stop reading now. After getting jerked around for the better part of three or four seasons, Morrow will undergo major reconstructive arm surgery, followed by a failed attempt to return to form. He’ll have the Mariners organization to thank for ruining the career of a promising young pitcher with a cannon for an arm.

The M’s look a lot like the teams that I grew up watching in the 70s and 80s. Ugly baseball, but you could always count on getting a gimmicky giveaway item when you went to the Kingdome. There is lots of talk about whether or not you should believe in this team. My question is "believe in what?" That the M's are built to win the world series? Because, as fans, that's the only question we should be asking now that the Mariners are one of only three teams that have not appeared in the fall classic. The Washington Nationals and Texas Rangers being the other two. So, do I believe the M's are a world series team? No.

Do I have any hard numbers to prove that the MLS is overtaking the M’s? No, not really, but the Sounders are definitely a hotter commodity and the novelty of soccer isn’t wearing off. Things will only get worse for the M’s when the Seahawks begin training camp in a matter of weeks. A turnaround, if it happens for the M’s, will no doubt bring the buzz back to the ball park. After all, it is still the national passtime and soccer isn't quite mainstream yet. But until the day the M's begin to make a real run at it, they should take a look in their rear view mirror. That’s the Seattle Sounders passing you on the inside.

That’s happening right now.

Kicking around the ashes of your Seattle SuperSonics

It was a year ago today when Seattle’s 41-year-old NBA franchise decided Oklahoma City was a better place to be than Seattle. That sentiment alone was enough to push SuperSonics fans over the edge. How could a dusty mid-west pit stop, located in a big red flyover state be a more attractive home than Seattle, we asked. I mean, Seattle is a hip, iconic city. Pike Place Market, Tom Hanks movies, Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain, great coffee, Microsoft. Oklahoma has Bob Stoops, a pretty decent AAA baseball franchise and is the fast food capital of the U.S.

The handwriting was on the wall, though, when former Sonics owner Howard Schultz sold the team to Oklahoman of the Year Clay Bennett and his merry band of oil magnets. And the months of litigation, backstabbing and bad decision making played out in front of fans right up to the day the team picked up and headed East. It was no surprise to anyone who had a couple marbles rolling around in his or her melon. It was your typical hostile takeover, sorta speak, played to perfection. Make the team stink, alienate fans, show everyone you’re losing money because the fans don’t care, go to court, dupe a dim-witted mayor, cut him a check and then load up your truck for OKC.

I’m not going to rehash what happened, why it happened or what can be done next because, to be honest, I don’t have the first damn clue. I don’t know if we’ll see the NBA return to this city in my lifetime. For the NBA to return, it would take an ownership group who doesn’t mind burning piles of money while they spend more of their own cash to build an arena. It would be a pure philanthropic endeavor. You’re not going to get one red cent from state or local governments to upgrade or build an arena. That ship has sailed. There's no broad public support for it and it seems to be too complex an issue for state legislators to truly understand. If nothing else, I’ve learned that state congress is comprised of some of the denser, obtuse people in Washington.

If one actually got over the arena hurdle, he'd still have the issue of the NBA business model – a model in which you can’t make any money without building or upgrading your arena every five years with the hopes that shoe-horning in a couple new restaurants will offset inflating operating expenses. It’s akin to a dog chasing its own tail, but every so often a dog will succeed. Until expenses and salaries are reigned in, the NBA will continue to be a failing business venture for most franchises not named the Lakers.

There are a number of articles in the local media outlets looking back at what happened a year ago and its impact on surrounding businesses on Queen Anne. And surprise, surprise, surprise – many of them are hurting or gone altogether. What? You’re shocked to learn that high school graduations and Seattle U basketball games aren’t supplying the type of clientele who will hit a restaurant or bar and drop $100 on dinner and beers beforehand? I know, it’s hard to imagine that the college students who stand in the beer aisle at Safeway and do the math on how many cans of beer they can purchase with their last $11 are not going to go out to eat out before the big Seattle U basketball game.

The good news for the downtrodden Sonics fan, is that you’re not alone. There are people out there, with no political affiliation, who are keeping hope alive. Tonight, you can join like-minded fans at Floyd’s Place on lower Queen Anne for a rally and DVD viewing party. They’re going to fire up the 1979 Championship Series DVD and celebrate Sonics history. I'm guessing they'll knock back a few beers as well. You can learn more details here: http://sonicsmia.com/.

Friday Links: I'm gonna get you sucka ...

There is a lot to like about our new President Barack Obama. He’s a hoops fan and sports enthusiast. He’s young and intelligent. And he can now add expert hunter to the list. This fly is just lucky that U.N. forces weren’t involved. Of course, PETA couldn’t help itself and condemned this naked act of aggression. The organization for the ethical treatment of animals has also pooh-poohed Pike Place Market’s famous fish throwers. I guess there isn’t much to do around the PETA offices these days. Your $36 million in donations hard at work.



Here are some more links to help you completely destroy what little productivity you had left this afternoon:

Bend It Like Bennett: Oklahoma City is TitleTown USA. Not sure if I feel pissed or sorry for these guys.

Deadspin: I don’t even know what to think about ESPN’s Chris Berman anymore. Do I hate him or revere him. I’m so confused.

Failblog: There is nothing funny about infant alcoholism. OK, it’s hilarious.

SportsbyBrooks: Unless you’ve lived in Kansas City, you don’t know Joe Posnanski from Joe Blow. Well, Posnanski is a sportswriter who now apparently he doesn’t like former Mariner and MLB broadcaster Harold Reynolds. I suppose he can join ESPN’s management in that camp.

HBO.com: So, I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. And going by the latest unemployment numbers, you may as well. Here’s something fun for you to do on a rainy summer day. Leave your buddy a custom message from your favorite washed up pitcher Kenny Powers!

Warming Glow: Here are some useful talking points for parents in those red flyover states who have children with bad perms. PBS’s contributions to society endure.

The good and bad of summer sports in Seattle

Ask anyone who has lived in the greater Seattle area for more than a few years and they’ll tell you that the summers here are the best in the world. However, it has become a bit of a bummer if you’re a sports fan. In the world of Seattle sports there are few truly compelling local stories, but there are some constants:

• The Mariners have made it a habit of dropping out of contention by the end of May. This year may be different because the new general manager actually looks like he has a bit of a clue. But this team looks like it is years away from making any noise in the division.
• The Seattle NBA franchise that used to give fans something to glow about quit making the playoffs after the mid ‘90s and then left town altogether for a dusty, windblown one cow town in Oklahoma. I still can’t believe the NBA thought this was a great idea. Anyway, May and June used to be fun for NBA fans. Now, they get to watch hockey on TV.
• The Washington football team and its fans talk themselves into thinking that their latest recruiting class will bring glory back to Montlake. Fans systematically bash every 17-year-old kid who decides not to sign with the Huskies after realizing playing for a team that didn’t win a game last season just might suck.
• A Wazzu Cougar football player is arrested.
• There is no regular PGA stop (although the Senior tour at Snoqualmie is spectacular).
• And sports fans weary of a summer full of losers realize that the Seahawks season is still a couple months away.

If you were thinking about a week-long camping trip in the mountains, this week would have been perfect. You didn’t miss anything:

• Apparently, people around here still care about what Ryan Leaf is up to. And I guess he’s taking more painkillers than usual. Good for him. The Times weighs in as does the P-I.
• The Sounders goalkeeper calls out his teammates after a 3-3 tie with D.C. United. I know it’s more cultured and Bohemian to accepted ties as a reasonable outcome, but come on. The Sounders have six of them, almost as many as their wins and losses combined. Figure out a way to crown a victor. This isn’t Sweden and it isn’t a socialist country yet.
• Starting today, M’s can try to sign their first round draft pick Dustin Ackley who some already have playing in the big leagues this year. Too bad his agent is the Devil’s bag man, Scott Boras. It’s also too bad that statistically speaking, Ackley has as a good a shot as making it up to the big club as Yuniesky Betancourt has of leading the team in walks. OK, maybe a little better than that.
• Interleague play continues for the Mariners. Yes, they still have interleague play and Seattle has been battling their geographical rival the San Diego Padres. Uh, hem.

Things could be worse. We could live in Portland and talk about whether or not Greg Oden is Sam Bowie redux.

Gone fishing. And by fishing I mean Vegas

Some of you have noticed nary a post has been published in this space for more than a few days. Securing gainful employment has been a priority for me. So has playing golf in the first warm weather week that the Seattle area has seen in more than eight years. I’ll be back in the saddle later this week after I return from a short trip to Vegas.

While I’m away, June 2 will mark the 1-year anniversary of this blog. Here are some of the good, bad and mostly ugly postings for your review until I get back in town.

• M’s looking for new GM after all
• Sonics are gone and the city hopes you’re hoping
• This Week’s Man Crush: Clay Bennett
• Jail advice for Lofa Tatupu
• Red Sox Glory Leeches descend on Seattle
• Quick, someone get Don James a gun
• Locker’s season will mirror UW’s fallen mascot
• UW, BYU screwed out of an instant classic
• This Week's Man Crush: Seattle Special Teams Coach Bruce DeHaven
• Seahawks employ ‘Ghost Receiver’ strategy
• A White Sox win would be good for baseball
• Will Rickey Henderson’s induction speech be delivered in the third person?
• Hill smoked a doobie and I don’t care
• Cheating? UW isn’t cheating enough
• Don’t play the Apple Cup at Qwest Field
• M’s middle infield is fat, not 'ph' phat
• Flopping comes to Washington

NFL commissioner should not reinstate Vick

Michael Vick should not be allowed to play in the NFL. There you go.

In case you’ve been living under Yuniesky Betancourt’s third chin the last few years, Vick has spent the last 19 months in federal prison for financing and participating in a dog fighting ring. The former NFL quarterback is now out of prison. He’ll spend a couple months in home confinement and then a few years on probation. NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell said he won’t make a decision on Vick’s future with the league until the sentence has been completed along with a new background check.

The details of Vick’s dog fighting ring have been well chronicled. If you need more information, just do a Web search and you’ll spend the next week and a half sifting through the documentation. For me, it’s not only the killing of the dogs, but the way that he and his dirt bag buddies engaged in the act. It’s not like they walked up and quickly put the dog out of its misery. No, these sociopaths strung them up, electrocuted or drowned the dogs. Vick personally hung or drowned seven dogs. I can’t comprehend engaging in such a thing, nor do I want to try.

Those who think Vick should be reinstated will point to the fact that there are a number of convicted felons or “criminals” who are playing in the NFL after serving their time in the clink. Tank Johnson (weapons), Leonard Little (manslaughter), and Pacman Jones (miscellaneous), just to name a few, have all been allowed to continue their careers in the NFL despite off field trouble. So, why shouldn’t Vick be allowed the same right, the argument goes. On queue, ESPN’s Jemele Hill has made this a racial issue – framing Vick’s case as a story of an African American man trying to “overcome.” Like always, Hill does a disservice for intelligent discussion about race relations. Vick being black is irrelevant to me. I’d feel the same way about him if he were a lily white Canadian NHL goalkeeper.

Here’s the thing: I don’t think any of the other convicted criminals should be allowed to play either. Playing in the NFL is a right not a privilege, that’s the easy argument. But that’s not all. NFL teams have a responsibility to the communities in which they reside to do the right thing and not employ (that’s the key word) people who are likely to commit crimes. It’s not only a PR issue, it’s also about being a good corporate citizen. NFL teams are a public-private endeavor. Us taxpayers will foot the bill for your stadium and amenities while you NFL owners import people from other locales who will not damage the fabric of the community and provide 17 Sundays of sports entertainment a year. That should be the deal.

Vick has the right to obtain gainful employment and shouldn’t be denied that right. But he is also a convicted felon. The NFL doesn’t have to hire him, nor does any other company for that matter. Almost all companies do background checks before hiring people for key positions in their companies.

I can’t get a good job if I’m a convicted felon. In fact, I couldn’t get a job if I had a misdemeanor on my record stemming from a violent altercation. If I got drunk in a bar, pushed someone over and was cited for misdemeanor assault, I couldn’t get a job at most companies. If I had a bag of cocaine in my pocket while doing this, I could forget about getting a job with at least 90 percent of businesses in the area.

Vick is trying to do and say all the right things now that he’s out of prison, but let's not forget that if he were not caught, he'd still be committing these crimes. Vick is contrite because he is going after a job that could potentially pay him millions of dollars for years to come. Nothing more.

Vick and his camp are in full PR mode. He’s got a film crew following him, hoping a studio will purchase the rights to a documentary. And Vick recently met with the Humane Society to talk about a partnership. However, I don’t think any of these activities should help Vick earn points toward an NFL comeback. He has the right to sell his story and write his book. He also has the right to try to find a job, wherever that may be. But he should not be allowed back on an NFL playing field.

Climber Ed Viesturs back on top of the world

Climbing legend and Bainbridge Island resident Ed Viesturs summited Mt. Everest yesterday morning as part of an expedition to promote Eddie Bauer’s new line of expedition gear. Ron Judd of the Times has the complete rundown of the details here. Also on the summit was Peter Whittaker, who comes from a long line of climbing legends. in 1963, his uncle Jim Whittaker was the first American to stand atop Everest. Peter’s father, Lou, opened Mt. Rainier guiding service RMI.

Over 10 years ago, I had the chance to interview Viesturs, who at the time was promoting his IMAX film “Everest.” Considering the couple years he’d had beforehand, I found him to be one of the most honest and accommodating athletes I’ve ever interviewed. The “Everest” film captured the attention of the world after the so-called 1996 Everest Tragedy with the deaths of eight climbers, including local climbing guru Scott Fischer and noted guide Rob Hall – both of which were good friends of his. Viesturs was heralded as a hero who braved a deadly storm to help save the lives of other climbers stranded high on the mountain.

In the article I wrote over a decade ago, Viesturs had all but written off going back to Everest because of the crowds on the mountain and the feeling that there wasn’t much left to do on the tallest peak on earth. But even Viesturs admitted, “never say never.”

Here’s the article:

Haunted Up High
Seattle mountaineer Ed Viesturs gets on with life after ’96 Everest tragedy

By Dan Engel

Ed Viesturs awoke and set out for Camp IV on Mt. Everest at 11 p.m.

Heading into the pitch-black night with only his headlamp and knowledge of the terrain leading the way, he set out on his final summit push.

Viesturs made good time up the slopes of the mountain, despite breaking trail for his teammates who would leave for the summit an hour later. The circular light from his headlamp bobbed and danced on the blanket of virgin snow that covered the South Col.

Viesturs had been blessed with good weather on May 22, 1996. The weather was cooperating and Viesturs climbed relentlessly.

Step.

Breath.

Step.

Breath.

But the weather hadn’t been as forgiving just a couple of weeks earlier when his close friends Rob Hall and Scott Fischer died on Everest in a blinding snow storm along with four others.

As Viesturs trudged through the fresh, knee-deep snow, he knew he would likely run across the bodies of his friends. Eventually, he did.

“You have to remember I saw them on the way to the summit,” Viesturs recalls, more than two years later as he sits in the backyard of his West Seattle home. “So I tried to set myself up for that however I could. On the way up I focused on getting to the top.”

Viesturs summited at 9 a.m. with the IMAX® film team not far behind who shot the first footage from the summit with the bulky large-format camera.

With his goal achieved, Viesturs made his descent via the Southeast Ridge with two stops along the way.

“On the way down, I spent a few minutes with both Rob and Scott to pay my last respects,” Viesturs says. “I never lost a friend before, let alone two friends on the mountain at the same time.”

Even now, Viesturs can’t shake the thoughts of the Everest tragedy. He often turns to his wife Paula, who was the IMAX team base-camp manager, to talk about the ill-fated season.

“I still think about it every day,” he says. “And we still talk about it – somehow it still comes up.”

More than two years after the much publicized Everest tragedy of 1996, Viesturs continues answering questions about what happened and why. But he yields few answers about why those people died. He doesn’t even want to try to explain what possibly could have gone wrong.

“So many people from the media wanted us to speculate why things happened and whose fault it was and I just hated that,” he says. “I wasn’t on the summit ridge, I don’t know why they made the decisions they did – let it be. But of course everybody wanted to blame somebody. John Krakauer was as close to the action as anybody. Read his book, or read Anatoli’s (Boukreev) book. But you can’t ask the dead what happened.”

The inquires keep coming as Viesturs travels the country to promote the Everest IMAX film and give lectures. The 39-year-old climber is ready to move on with his life. But the media and the public aren’t finished with him yet.

“You miss these people, but you kind of have to keep going,” he says.

Viesturs understands and accepts his role in all of this, although it can be trying at times. Because of the lectures and film premieres, he hasn’t had the time or the financial need to continue guiding. Instead, his days are spent talking to corporate groups, college students and Everest junkies, an activity he enjoys.

“It’s tiring, though,” he says. “You go to a reception and there are 80 people who come up to you and ask the same questions. But you have to answer each person like he or she was the first person you talked to.”

The man without the mask
Viesturs is asked questions about his climbing abilities about as much as the Everest tragedy. He’s revered as one of, if not the, best high-altitude climber in the world.

“I would say Ed is the most consistent both emotionally and physically,” says Todd Burleson, founder of Alpine Ascents International in Seattle. “He has done great things and he has done them without luck. Ed is like the Mark McGwire of mountaineering. The interesting thing about Ed is that he looks so normal.”

Viesturs has summited 10 of the highest 14 peaks in the world, all without supplemental oxygen. He will try to make it 12 by the end of next spring. He has also led or been involved with Everest expeditions nearly every spring since 1987.

But his beginnings were humble.

After graduating from high school in 1977, Viesturs moved out to Seattle from Illinois to pursue his love of climbing.

His first summit was Mt. St. Helens that same year and it transformed his life.

“When I finally got to the top, I said ‘This is exactly what I’m looking for – this is what I dreamed about.'”

Viesturs studied zoology at the University of Washington for four years before moving on to Washington State University to attend veterinary school.

He practiced as a veterinarian for two years before making a decision to climb fulltime.

“By then I was climbing a lot and going on a lot of expeditions,” he says. “I realized that I couldn’t do both.”

Viesturs joined Rainier Mountaineering Inc. in 1982 where he guided clients for 12 years. While he has summited Mt. Rainier 187 times, climbing the Northwest giant is never mundane.

“It can be as nasty on Rainier as it can be on Everest,” Viesturs says. “If you climb a lot in the Northwest through the winter, other than altitude, you’d be ready for Everest.

“Look how many Himalayan climbers come from Seattle. It’s because of our terrain and our weather – it has produced some pretty hardcore climbers.”

Ascending the peaks of the Cascades prepared Viesturs for his first test with Everest in 1987. He fell short of making the summit by 300 feet when he ran out of rope. But Viesturs knew he could summit Everest and make it to the top without bottled oxygen.

“My physiology, just by luck, happens to work well at altitude,” he says. “You read these descriptions of people who just stagger to the top and are just wasted and they barely get off the mountain. It’s really not like that for me. It’s tiring, but I come down feeling pretty good.”

But he does use supplemental oxygen when guiding clients at high altitude, especially Everest.

“At that point I’m there for my clients and I’m not there for myself,” he says.

Viesturs’ client list has dwindled the past few years due in part to his lecturing and the birth of his son Gilbert. His time is more precious now. When he’s in town, Viesturs would rather be at home with his son.

However, Gilbert’s birth hasn’t changed how Viesturs climbs and probably won’t keep him out of the mountains.

“My attitude has always been that I wanted to be as safe as I could be and as conservative as I could be because I want to live through these climbs,” he says. “I’m equally as safe and conservative now as I’ve always been.”

After Viesturs summits the 14 peaks, he’ll likely turn his attention to smaller climbs not far from home.

“I could be happy for the rest of my life climbing here in the Cascades,” he says. “This is something that is in my blood, so I can’t see quitting.”

Everest Anonymous
The spring of 1997 marked the end of Viesturs’ Everest adventures.

The decision was a mutual one with David Breashears, expedition leader and producer of the 1996 IMAX team, and Pete Athans, a friend and fellow climber.

“We were sitting there on the South Col thinking, ‘What are we doing here?’” Viesturs says. “We’ve been here a dozen times each, let’s get on with our lives.”

The threesome dubbed themselves “Everest Anonymous,” a tongue-in-cheek name for their support group. Each member vowed never to return to the icy slopes of Everest. If one does return, there’s a hefty penalty.

“We’ll owe each other $1,000,” Viesturs says.

The reasons for Viesturs not returning have little to do with the Everest tragedy and more with personal goals and the crowds that flock to the mountain every spring. Everest has become a been-there-done-that thing. He has climbed the mountain on every side, guided clients to its summit, filmed a movie and shot a video documentary.

There just isn’t much more to do on the mountain he says is his favorite to climb. But he hasn’t closed the door completely on Everest.

“I don’t feel the need to guide on Everest again, unless it was for a unique individual or project,” he says.

Crowding and differences in mountain-guiding philosophy on Everest also keeps Viesturs at a safe distance.

“There are so many people there now, half of them shouldn’t be there,” he says, alluding to what he feels are too many clients with a lack of climbing skills. “And if someone gets in trouble, you are obligated to help.”

When Viesturs made the decision to take a client to Everest he considered the criteria. His client had to climb for the right reasons, meaning no trophy hunters. He also wanted a client who had enough experience to be self-sufficient.

“A guide isn’t supposed to hold your hand, wipe your nose, set up your tent and cook your food,” he says. “We are there for leadership. I think a lot of guides have produced a client that requires someone to be there all the time and I think that’s wrong.

“Just because someone can write a check doesn’t mean they should climb Mt. Everest. Just because you know how to drive a car doesn’t mean you go to the Indy 500.”

Viesturs made it a practice to tell his clients that payment didn’t equal an automatic shot at the summit. Clients had to perform down low and show that they were up for the challenge. He didn’t want to put his life and the lives of other clients in danger.

Unfortunately, the public believes that for $85,000 someone can climb to the top of Everest, Viesturs says. Consequently, the guiding profession has taken a knock and Viesturs is trying to mend the wound when traveling the country for lectures and IMAX-film premieres.

“I get a chance when I get out there to tell them Everest is difficult,” Viesturs says. “I trained for 10 years before I went.

“They think these guide services are just schlepping people up Mt. Everest and it’s not true. Most guides are experienced professionals. Most clients have been climbing for years and years before they work their way up to Everest. Of course, there are a few services running shoddy trips, but that is the minority.”

Through his lectures, Viesturs also gets to share why he loves climbing. Most people can relate, he says, because mountain climbing is all about setting goals for yourself as well as enjoying the beauty of nature.

“The feeling you get when you accomplish something very difficult, it’s a feeling that is very addictive," he says. "It’s also just being in the cold, crisp air … being high on a ridge when the sun comes up while climbing with one of your best friends.

“You just can’t take a picture of that and have it describe what you’re feeling.”

But Viesturs will continue trying to explain that feeling to as many people as he can.

*As it appeared in the November 1998 issue of Sports Etc. Magazine.