cot Riggins and I were the only ones who had made it to the top previously, but now a number of us say
we have done it. Jeff Myers has gone 2 previous times and for various reasons wasn't able to make it all the way up. This time, with the help of his family's support, the guides in his
group, and the strength of our Lord, he made it. The whole Myers family made it, which was very special for them.
Bill also has never been to Wilhelm despite being here for 14 yrs and having climbed lots of other mountains around here. He seemed to often be on furlough when trips occurred, but not this time. It was fun to be able to climb it together with Bill.
Cilla (see prev blog), Jordan, Jonathon, Nicholas, and Apa (one of our maintenance guys) also made it up for their first time. Nicholas is a UK med student with us who has climbed the highest mountains in 10 countries in which he has traveled. Unfortunately, his shoes weren't quite made for hiking and pretty much fell apart about 3/4s of the way up, but he kept going. He was hurting pretty good on the way down and Jonathon, a friend of Sam Bennett's and an MK who often goes barefoot, gave Nicholas his shoes to wear. Nicholas felt much better with some protection over his feet, and Jonathon won the respect of all of us with his act of service to Nicholas.