Addiction: the condition of being abnormally dependent on some habit
I didn't think it would be a scrambling summer this year. With the snow lingering weeks longer than usual, it seemed that we all needed a kick to really get going this summer. For me it was the trip to Asulkan Hut, which led to Abbot Pass Hut, which literally had me on some sort of high for days afterwards. That was followed by Cascade, but as we went through picking a scramble (because we were itching for a bigger one), another mountain remained on our list: Sheol Mountain.
Sheol doesn't seem to be ascended very often, though I know of a few people who've been up this month. It had its own appeal: located north of Temple, one will have a full view of Temple's north face. I'd been itching to do something in the Lake Louise area again, so it sounded appealing for that reason as well. And Bob Spirko's scrambling photos simply had me hooked. It looks solid, and those big stepped terraces remind me of something that should be Babylon. I don't know why I've steered away from the Kane moderates so long - maybe because my very first moderate was totally loose talus - but moderate seems to now be just that: moderate, where you have good footing, but you also get to use your hands a bit more. It's not knife edge stuff. These currently seem more appealing to me than hikes, and I'm sure next summer's list has now opened up a whole new world of opportunities. Besides, where can you start out in Paradise, go to hell, worship a Temple, and return with a summit gained? That's about as religious as I get - with whatever nature and mountain religion might be.
Sheol, the term in Hebrew means a grave or pit, was the place where the dead gathered, as thought by the early Hebrews, and was believed located beneath the earth, perhaps at the roots of mountains. The dead were thought to lead a conscious shadowy existence there, they were not in torment, but had neither hope nor satisfaction.
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