In mountain-climbing, acclimatization is key

I am hearing of this type of Israeli tragedy too often. A young, post-IDF hiker dies while trekking in Peru. G-d forbid a car accident or a shooting, but wholesome granola-crunching trekking?! You think of the outdoors as putting you being in touch with nature and inspiration, not with death.

Shira Roth’s final words are chilling. They are recorded for posterity in a WhatsApp message: “Ima, I am feeling my systems collapsing and shutting down completely. Today was disastrous. I feel like I am about to die.”

Shira did, on a long bus ride to a hospital. Meanwhile, her mother in Israel responded to her daughter’s message with these now tragic words: “I hope that by the time you are reading this you have already recovered and are OK. From what I understand, this sickness is due to elevation. Now you’ll be returning to Lima. Feel good § § §”

The more I learn about this youthful Israeli hiking culture the more worrisome it becomes. These young kids shoulder more responsibility and pressure than anyone ever should — literally life and death situations and decision; the idea of their traveling and trekking as a healing release, as a restorative journey, is a wonderful one.

But despite their unusual set of experiences, at the end of the day we are talking about still somewhat immature young adults who might be influenced by peer pressure. When hikers feel slowed down by a fellow hiker, the resulting pressure can yield poor decisions, such as pushing past real limits in order to keep up. I don’t know that that was the case with Shira Roth, but this tragedy is an opportunity to review hiking safety.

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Summiting a mountain is one of the greatest experiences, feeling on top of the world, sometimes amid the clouds, catching your breath from scenery below that seems as though it was placed there just for you. You feel at once the peace and the power of the world. This kind of solitary ascent sometimes is the only thing that can renew you.