As one who once climbed mountains throughout North America, I am always struck by the passing of a mountaineer.  So it was that I read recently of the death of Malli Mastan Babu, India's finest and most famous mountaineer.  Babu had been missing in South America's Andes Mountains since March; an April expedition happened upon his body, covered with snow.  He was only forty years old.
     Babu is most well known for his remarkable speed of ascent.  In the space of less than six months, he scaled the highest peak on all seven continents, a feat that other mountaineers often took years to accomplish.  No one could keep up with him, which was why he usually climbed alone.
     What I found particularly poignant about Babu's passing is that according to news reports, a bag found with his body contained a copy of the Baghavad Gita, part of Hinduism's most famous epic, the Mahabharata and, in its own right, one of Hinduism's most beloved vedas, or scriptures.  Translated from the Sanskrit, Baghavad Gita means "Song of God."
     I think of John Muir, the famous American backpacker and mountaineer and founder of the Sierra Club, and who, like Babu, yet in his own tradition, read the Bible (he grew up in the Scottish Presbyterian Church) and penned highly lyrical meditations about seeing God in the wilderness.  Two people, two traditions, but the motivation remained the same:  to experience the creator.
     Mountains speak powerfully of God, God as creator, redeemer, and friend.  So does life.  Are you listening?