I’ve been wondering all day if I should blog about this, but since it’s already national news I guess it’s ok. In the midst of an extremely busy day my thoughts keep drifting back to my good friend Aaron (pictures of him, the tall dark-haired guy with goatee, are included in my Alaska blog post), who is undergoing surgery today after a 450-ft tumble down an icy face of Mt. Hood. He and his two climbing partners, as well as the two additional teams of climbers below them that they crashed through, all survived. The two other teams managed to keep their places on the icy slope, and one of Aaron’s friends was able to safely walk the rest of the way down the mountain. Rescuers were nearby and saw the fall, and they waited with Aaron and and Jeremy for seven hours on the mountainside until a helicopter could airlift them out. The two men have some serious broken bones and all three are battered and bruised and scraped, but it turns out that everyone is expected to fully recover. On the one hand I feel relief and gratefulness that it wasn’t more serious– that they fell away from the the deep crevasse nearby, that the other teams had all just fully secured themselves to the ice and that Aaron’s team was able to warn them that they were falling, that there were rescuers right there waiting to provide first aid, that the injuries are all of the sort that heal eventually– and on the other hand I feel some grief and fear. Aaron is an experienced and responsible climber, and his fall reminds me that if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone. Frightening and painful things can occur among us at almost any time. Granted, this is an obvious truth, verging on the cliche, that I am reminded of again and again; granted, mountain climbing isn’t exactly a risk-free activity; granted, one can’t constantly think of these things and continue to live a sane life. Yet the reminders keep me sad, and humble. I also feel sad that, though their rescue was quickly put in motion and everyone worked as fast as they could, they had to lay injured in the snow for so many hours. I still wish God’s protection included our bodies and our fortunes as well as our souls.Thank God Aaron and his friends had helpers and comforters, and those who continue to watch over them. If you are a prayer, please pray for their speedy recoveries. If you are also a reader, here is the link to the newspaper story in the Oregonian.