Getting High on High
More than Twelve Steps
Recovering Alcoholics Mountaineer Society (RAMS)
It has never seemed to bother anyone that the single "A" in the acronym doesn't precisely match the "at a" in the name, and as a result capitalization of the "at a" in the name seems subject to each particular writer's whim.
"Spiritual adventures in the mountains - one day and one step at a time" (6/13/91)
...which attempted to evoke the spirituality aspects of AA as well as explicitly making the link between the AA motto and the club name. This latter aspect was at once perhaps both too blatent and too subtle, so a few months later the masthead sported the explanation:
"OSAT - an outdoor club for members of Twelve Step Recovery Programs" (8/22/91)
It should be noted that there were discussions early on as to whether the club should be open to AA members only or members of any twelve stop program. This declaration reflected the group conscience on that issue. Later that year, the "outdoor club" identity was made more specific, as:
"A mountaineering club for members of twelve step recovery programs" (11/5/91)
When it was pointed out that spouses and "significant others" were also participating actively in the organization, the decision was made to broaden the purpose to include them, thus:
"A mountaineering club for members and friends of twelve step recovery programs" (2/13/92)
Finally, midway through the second summer season of OSAT activities, realization that a spectrum of outdoor interests was represented within the club, even though mountaineering was clearly the foundation, the purpose re-adopted "outdoor club" as the fundamental noun describing the group. This purpose statement, which now has withstood the test of four years of use, describes in a dozen (that magic twelve!) words.what OSAT is all about:
"An outdoor club for members and friends of twelve step recovery programs" (7/14/92)
Jim H presented a proposal to the February 1994 club meeting that included additional organizational responsibilities for the Board of Servants (BOS). The BOS's organizational proposal discussed at the March club meeting included, as the first mentioned BOS responsibility, to develop and submit to the full membership for approval a statement on the mission (purpose and objectives) of OSAT. At the April 1994 business meeting the Mission Statement was adopted as follows:
In the months that followed, additions and alterations were proposed during several club meetings, but most members felt that, while the suggestions were typically valid aspirations and statements of principle for the group, they unnecessarily complicated the otherwise straightforward mission statement, which remains today in its originally adopted form.
The heading of the June 13, 1991 newsletter incorporated the phrase "Spiritual adventures in the mountains - one day and one step at a time." As the name of the club began to stand on its own double meaning, and the purpose evolved to a more utilitarian form, the need for a club motto emerged.
On the November 1991 newsletter, the phrase "Climb mountains and don't slip" appeared on the masthead below the purpose statement for the first time. Here again, Jim evokes a double entendre as a technique to link mountaineering and recovery. "Don't slip" has obvious meaning to a climber, but certainly the deeper meaning in the context of staying clean and sober holds much more significance to vast majority of OSAT members.
On the March 1992 newsletter, for reasons that are unclear, this was changed to much less elegant "Keep climbing mountains and don't drink in between." Perhaps Jim was feeling some members needed a more blatent reminder of what was intended.
The May 1 1992 newsletter was the first in which Jim quoted the Dalai Lama under the simple motto "Keep Climbing Mountains", which vaguely suggests.the AA meeting admonition to "Keep coming back."
On the October 1992 newsletter, the motto was altered slightly to read "Keep climbing mountains and don't slip in between." Again, Jim appears to have wrestled the prose into a more blatent explanation of what he wants the phrase to convey. AA's "Keep coming back" simply implies not slipping in between, and this version of the OSAT phrase loses the double entendre charm of the simpler "...and don't slip" originally used a year earlier. Nevertheless, the makings of the more elegant present form were now all there.
Finally in the May 1993 newsletter, the motto appeared for the first time in its current form, "Keep climbing mountains and don't slip". This was the version of the phrase which had been recommended at the April 1993 club meeting as the meeting closing mentioned in the AA group preamble, subsequently adopted by group conscience at the next Tiger AA meeting. Although remarkably close to the original phrase, it had taken two years and five renditions to evolve to its current form. Later, Jim (and subsequently others) began writing this at the close of articles in the newsletter, summit registers, or elsewhere, and in some places it appears simply as "KCM-ADS".
The quotation from The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet first appeared in the March 25, 1992 newsletter. Jim H was first exposed to the quotation about the spirituality of mountains from the Dalai Lama in a drama concerning mountaineering. He made the effort to get the full text of the quote, and began including it in the club newsletter. The quotation has become a cherished tradition of OSAT, reminding us why mountains and mountaineering are important in our lives.
Last update: 6/17/96