Show 1999 5 Friday Thirty met Two peaks are the variables that produced “High in Utah”a hiking authored by a couple of journalists from Valley locally at The Trailhead sports shop the book simply put is a 150-pablueprint for climbing the tallest mountain in each of Utah's 29 counties and then some — from a 9255-founnamed summit in Rich County to 13528-foKings Peak the loftiest lookout in Duchesne County and the state In its final form “High in Utah" is tidy and crisp just as a guidebook should be It's chock-fu- ll of painstaking directions to trailheads original maps that are paragons of clarity and simplicity and just enough history to provide hikers an occasional “Huh how about that?" without weighing down their backpacks Jut the book's authors — Herald Journal reporter Mike Weibel of North Logan and freelance photojoumalist Dan Miller of Richmond — would he the first to tell you the process of creating “High in Utah” wasn't nearly as simxith as the final product Indeed from the instant Weibel first pressed pencil lead to nolepaper in the spring of 1997 until the last brxtk was squeezed through the University of Utah Press a month ago “High in Utah” was not so much a labor of love as an exercise in rationalization Neither Weibel or Miller you see considers himself a “peak bagger” that creature of the recreational climbing movement for whom ascents are notches on a hell rather than endeavors of the spirit On the contrary — for the authors the peak bagger's mentality is as disgustingly abertrail it flies in the face of d rant as a discarded beer can on a their philosophy that nature is to be absorbed through the skin not conquered beneath the hoot Yet the fact remains that in “High in Utah” Weibel and Miller have produced a Nxik that could easily he tilled “A Peak Bagger's Guide to Utah" On top of that the guideline's mere existence is — to borrow from the late John Denver — an invitation for more people more scars upon the land This created some unavoidable moml dilemmas for the idealistic These trail-beati- ge ot ot The 6 Page snow-duste- authors “lid Abbey would be appalled” Weibel candidly writes in the book’s preface Still when you love the mountains and are presented with the chance to spend an entire summer getting paid to explore their folds and skirt their ridges and scale their summits justifications for doing so are easily contrived (if not entirely liberating) After some thought Weibel and Miller concluded that the project ( 1 ) gave them an excuse to travel to parts of the state they'd never before visited (2) revealed no hidden mountain enclaves or secret routes and (3) offered them a chance to improve on flawed or outdated guidebooks thereby lessening the chance some hiker could be lost or injured Good reasons all but ultimately not good enough say the authors “No matter what rationalizations I create” Miller writes “this book will diminish the experience of wildness” It is a cool clear February evening and Mike Weibel and Dan Miller sit inside a Smithfield pizza joint far removed from summer summits On the table before them amid grease-staine- d paper plates and sweating Coke cups lies a copy of “High in Utah" Its cover is glossy its spine uncreased Miller wipes his fingers with a napkin and picks up the book He has referred to the whirlwind summer of '97 when he and Weibel climbed a mountain every weekend between March 25 and November 7 as a “blurry dream" But when he begins leafing through his book that dream obviously begins to come into focus "Remember that'” Miller asks Weibel holding up the book to reveal a photo of Weibel with Miller's wife Diane traversing a steeply raked snowfield on Davis County's Thurston Peak Weihcl looks at (lie photo and chuckles heartily They share a story then Miller flips a few pages and lliey share another They tell of how Bull their way to (lie top of tliey had loposl-liol- c Mountain They tell of how Mike and Diane got lost en route to Ihapah Peak They tell of how tliey scurried for slielter when an electrical storm flashed and cracked above the exposed summit of Mount Nebo Tales follow about a precariously slippery drive away from East Mountain About clouds of merciless mosquitoes at Fish Lake Hightop About the endlessly annoying whims of El Niflo words they wrote It is apparent despite all the heavy in the preface of their book that Weibel and Miller are proud of “High in Utah" not ashamed of it “I was pretty much elated when I first held (the finished book) in my hands” Miller says “I mean we spent about two and a half years snow-blanket- rain-batter- putting it together” In that time the duo put more than 7000 miles on their pickup trucks and nearly 270 miles on the rubbery soles of their hiking boots They also climbed 84172 vertical feet — that's equal to about three Mount Everests "Actually by the end of summer I was probably in the best shape I've been in since I moved to Utah — I lost like 40 or 50 pounds" frame seems more suited to says Weibel whose offensive lineman-size- d moving mountains than scaling them “Of course” Weibel adds licking a bit of pizza sauce from his thumb “I’ve gained it all back” In the course of writing “High in Utah” Weibel also gained this an e author finalappreciation for the bookwriter's craft When the into text his notes the of bellied stacks to transform to ly keyboard up the task proved as challenging as a trudge up a scree slope On a deadline Asked whether he thinks the reading public understands the labor that goes into creating a guidebook Weibel declares “God no HSr didn't realize it I don't think" Miller meeting his partner’s eyes concurs “The writing and the coordination and all that — that's when it got to the point where it was like This is a real job' “It wasn’t just fun anymore” first-tim- So why? Why with the moral compromise and labor engendered by the project bother with it at all? Easy say the authors — the mountains Like so many Utahns Weibel and Miller are entranced by the state's rocky ranges It is the splendor of the mountains that called the authors to Utah and it is the splendor of the mountains that keeps them here Money and prestige aren't to be discounted mind you but you just don't tackle a project like “High in Utah" if you haven't a craving to climb lofty perches and look around “I've been doing this for years and I'll never lose that excitement to get to the lop" Miller says Miller is 44 years old The sun has already burnished his face into a leathery patina time has chalked his wiry goatee with gray and when he smiles little lines like sandpiper tracks in wet sand form around the comers of his eyes But as grizzled and sage as he might seem when Miller speaks about mountains he does so in the manner of a little boy who’s just seen “Star Wan" for the Tint time and is trying his damndest to relate the wonder of it all to his friends A lot of times people have to drag me off a summit because I just want to sit there and bask” exclaims Miller with a look in his blue eyes that can only be described as crazed “No matter what the weather’s doing no matter how late in the day it is I just want to sit there and absorb it all I'll start fantasizing about planets and solar winds and how unbelievably minuscule I am "It’s awe" Weibel chimes in “Just to stand on top and be able to hxik at the panorae ma in a turn leaves you almost speech- 5 44 360-degre- less” Weibel and Miller enjoy scaling mountains so much that 29 ascents in a single summer wasn't enough for them So in addition to documenting each county's high peak their book showcases five “Utah Gassics" — Wellsville Cone among them You can t really write a hiking ixxik about Utah without including Umpanogos or Mount Olympus” Weibel says And after all those mountains the duo’s still not done “Our next project's going to be called The Lowpoinls of Utah’" says Miller a wry grin sneaking across his tanned face He and his partner then declare in unison “We're to start with the going Legislature” A |