I cannot truly express in words our experience of climbing this mountain.
I can provide a few of the mundane details: the day was chilly and periodically overcast; the wind was ever-increasingly gusty as we ascended; a third or more of the trail was covered with snow that varied from hard-packed and slippery to well over a foot of crunchy and treacherous covering; and there were seemingly endless switchbacks and occasionally gut-wrenchingly frightening cliff edges.
The further we ascended in terrain resembling Hithaeglir, even as we joked about finding the entrance to Khazad-dûm to use its shortcuts to the top, we could feel the burden of our quest for the summit weighing ever heavier upon us. During the four hours it took us to reach the peak, we were required -- over and over and over again -- to draw upon patience and perseverance that we were not sure we had. The gathering of the necessary strength of will and determination to continue was far more exhausting than the significant physical exertion itself.
Herself's greatest motivation? Her role as Samwise Gamgee. It was solely through her attempts to encourage and assist the Frodos of the group when they were in need, that she was able to maintain the wherewithal to reach their destination herself. Her own arrival at the peak was secondary -- even irrelevant -- in comparison to ensuring their successes. If they made it there, so would she.
She is incredibly proud of the menfolk for conquering the mountain. Even more: they conquered themselves. That was a much quieter, though far more noteworthy, achievement. She is honored to have been witness to it all.
In a tiny way, she has been forever changed by this journey.
Will we ever climb Guadalupe Peak again? I do not know. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Many other adventures await, too.
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I'm green with envy...
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