Once in a Blue Moon

This New Year’s Eve is filled with more stuff than dreams can possibly be made of.

It’s a Blue Moon and it happens to fall smack-dab on New Year’s Eve. The lunar phenomenon occurs once every 19 years: that’s pretty powerful however you look at it.

2009 was an auspicious and sad year. We lost some of the greats of climbing – John Bachar, Craig Luebben, Bruce Bindner, and the mountaineering world said good-bye to Dr. Charles Houston, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, Guy Lacelle, Tomas Humar, Johnny Copp, Micah Dash, and Wade Bruce Johnson.

What this blogger remembers these, and so many more here unnamed, climbers/hikers/mountaineers for is their “get ‘er done” attitude. Perspicacity. Their willingness to fully commit, mind, body, and soul to their goals without hesitation. And if they didn’t make it the first time, like Walter Bonatti they accepted their fear and got to it until they did. It’s a legacy that’s simultaneously humbling and inspiring and a fantastic reminder that the Museum offers me on a daily basis.

2010: a Space Odyssey, thanks to Arthur C. Clarke. All of a sudden it’s 2010 and we’re still wondering how the decade disappeared so quickly. Weren’t there some important things we meant to do before another grey hair appeared, before another year disappeared, before another friend was lost?

2010: a Personal Odyssey, thanks to that person staring back at us from the mirror. Perhaps, because we’re getting a rare glimpse at a rare astrological event, we can take an extra step back to ponder that Blue Moon. It’s that extra stride that’ll give us the added momentum to jump straight into our dreams and get ‘em done.

Whatever your odyssey may be, however you fulfill it, we at the American Mountaineering Museum and Mountaineering Center wish for you and dream with you. May the best of all opportunities present themselves and inspire you throughout 2010.