Saratoga Sampler

Michael Williams always had the yen to climb

By Mary Ann Cook

ROCK/HARD PLACE: Between a rock and a hard place is a phrase to define nearly impossible situations. But for a few among us, that's just the place they want to be. They actually search such places out. One person like this is Michael Williams, a professional mountaineer who grew up in Saratoga.

He spoke at the Foothill Club's speakers series recently and regaled the packed room with tales of carefully planned and executed derring-do. Williams has the distinction of having scaled the highest mountains in each of the seven continents during the past seven months, and described his adventures in these perilous pursuits.

He and the rest of his party of 11 skied 900 miles to the South Pole. He led the clean-up crew climbing Mt. Everest, bringing back garbage, trash and equipment that had been jettisoned. Other peaks he has scaled include Kilimanjaro, Denali, Mount McKinley, the Caucasus in southern Russia and peaks in Argentina and Tierra del Fuego.

In the Australian climb near Sydney, one man nearly made it to the top in a wheelchair. He is the husband of Williams' cousin. Joining the Antarctic trek was a divinity student who had rowed across the Atlantic. That seems to demand repeating: She rowed across the Atlantic.

Climbers on a Williams expedition are all ages and from all walks of life, not necessarily die-hard mountaineers. Indeed, on the Antarctic trip, some who had never skied before became proficient on the trip. As few as six or as many as 58, may accompany him.

Even as a lad, it was clear Williams couldn't wait to scale whatever was handy. Betty Peck, his kindergarten teacher, said she had to caution, "Michael, you can climb only to this branch." One slide showed him going up a ship's rope ladder, a cargo net from the San Francisco docks that had been installed at the school.

At age 13, he was a junior rock climbing guide at Youth Science Institute and he's been climbing and leading climbs ever since. He earned a graduate degree from the University of Arizona in environmental geology. While ice climbing, he has broken both legs over the years.

Williams once led an expedition up an uncharted mountain in China, its second highest and unscaled until then. When he's not scaling peaks, he can be found at Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he is owner/founder of Professional Mountain Guides.

"It's the people that make mountain travel so interesting," says Williams of the Sherpas who live in the shadow of the Himalayas and the masked dancers of Bhutan. "We can bring about change [in international understanding], and tourism is the best tool for change."

Another Williams maxim, "When you're conquering a mountain, you're conquering yourself." It helps if you have the ability to keep one thought in your head the entire day, he says. In the Antarctic, especially, the scenery is unvaried. A sextant and a compass were used to plot the way.

JAPANESE NEW YEAR: A ceremonial mochi pounding at Hakone Gardens marked the Japanese New Year for members of the Hakone Foundation. The pounding referred to a mound of cooked rice that had to be pulverized until the grains weren't distinguishable. It was placed in a large stone bowl.

Participants pounded the mass with thick wooden poles early on, and later with large wooden mallets. One mallet wielder stood on either side of the granite bowl and would take turns striking the target. The pounding had to be done with precision and in perfect rhythm, or else John Tauchi's hand would have been crushed.

He was the one who reached in to turn the mass over, so the consistency would be uniform. The rice was then shaped into small balls, covered with sweet bean sauce or toasted soybeans or sesame seeds. Art Okuno was in charge of the ceremony and explained its history; Helen Metcalf organized the evening.

Hakone gardener Jack Tomlinson said visitors from all over the world praise Hakone. Evidently gardens of the Edo period are becoming scarce, being replaced even in Japan. Kiyoshi Yasui, internationally famed gardener from Japan and a Hakone supporter, was one Tomlinson named.

Next up for Hakone Foundation: Mary Hays on the language of flowers in Japanese textile design. Her talk/slide show is Feb. 25. She and her husband collect Oriental textiles and have gifted museums and written scholarly papers on the art. The talk is at 6 p.m., but the textiles can be viewed earlier.

PRAYER SERVICE: Sacred Heart Church held a wedding anniversary-evening prayer celebration last month with 26 couples present. Longest married were Rose and Patrick Conway at 61 years. Close behind were Eleanor and Aubrey Gray at 60 years. Some 14 others could claim a union of more than 50 years.

GROUNDHOG DAY: Does Groundhog Day bring to mind a plump marmot or Bill Murray's movie? Or perhaps Jack Mallory, who organizes a yearly party for the holiday. This year some 100 Punxatawney empathizers gathered at Harry's Hofbrau to salute their state and its holiday.

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