.......
Speaking only for myself, it was considered and acted on.
I had summited Hood well over 30 times before my (now 21 year old) daughter was born.
I have not been there to climb except once since, (COUGH*outofshape*COUGH*fatbastard*COUGH) and that was only to fulfill a guide contract for a friend. We got off the summit 20 min before a major lightning storm hit. We stopped below the cloudcap and started back up when it passed to go help some highly skilled, highly experienced, very savvy Portland Mt. Rescue folks who were still going up as we were going down. They were fine as it turned out, but not by much. Proving you can be the very best Mt climber in the world and end up dead. I can name some names and circumstances if you would like.
The loudness of a lighting strike near you is not something you can communicate on a computer. An unexpected avalanche, crevasse bridge collapse or humoungous rock whizzing right by your head can be equally shocking.
As far as answering your first question, I bumped my life insurance and stopped what I consider the high risk things. I don't do the mountains and ice. Stopped drugs and toned down the partying. I do not ride a motorcycle now as well, although my wife does: go figure eh?
Kids made a huge impact on us both, yet we draw our own lines, with our eyes wide open knowing both the risks and the consequences.
I still rock climb, which I consider a lower risk activity. I do not make judgments for or about others who still climb ice or Mt's and have children, this is my choice. They make their own choices. I understand those parents still mountain climbing, I sometimes ache to run up Rainer or jump on the ice in the gorge when it hits, but I can easily get a quick pump in the rock gym, where it's warm and safe all winter, and spend the evening with my family, which makes it worth writing off the mts. As a family we do things together as well. A hike up dog mountain gets talked about for months, and your son would most likely love doing that with you as well. He doesn't give a shit about Mt Hood, he wants to be with you.
You came on the board asking advice, and got good advice in my opinion. These guys have seen people come on this board asking advice whom later wound up dead in what some would say is a tragedy. It is something these cascadeclimber folks take seriously (generally).
My dad died when I was 18 months old, due to no fault of his own, I take my responsibility as a parent pretty seriously, it is my prime job, and all else is secondary. But, I can see a time - where we kick the lil boy out soon as he's 17 now, where this will be changing. My son and I have gotten season passes the last 2 years, and it's pretty safe (and fun) to burn some fast runs at Meadows all winter. Great fun. So I'm ON the Mt, but not really ON the Mt. in a serious way. If the weather turns we head for the bar and a couple of hot buttered rums, and the lad has a hot chocolate and then drives me home while we discuss the highlight reel of the days events: prime jumps, runs where dad got left in the dust, major crashes, turns missed, etc etc :-) Sweet deal!
Good luck with whatever you choose. I feel you have already taken a very responsible and intelligent path gathering as much info BEFORE you jumped in, something not everyone does. Your son is lucky to have such a committed and caring parent.
Regards;
Bill
ps, read this trip report of Ivans day on the Mt. Keep in the back of your mind as your read this that this horror show was during great weather in PDX today.
I'm sure sky, assworked and pandora can attest to how "shocking" rockfall at a local cragging area can be and i damn near saw the three of them bite it. O'course, i almost got into a head on collision due to some fuck head on the way to that very same cliff a couple of weeks earlier...so, really, which one is it?
Our time is in the stars, literally, and there ain't squat you can do about it so you might as well enjoy it, come hell or high water.
We perceive time moving only forward, but other observers/observations are actually looking back on us. Your time is marked, like it or not...die climbing, die in a car accident, die in war, etc. we all die and we don't determine when it happens...
