The 13th Omnipotent

After thoroughly reading (devouring) the flyer, it was clear that this was a superior mountain tent. The design principles had convinced me. Now I needed to see the physical manifestation. Could it be as good as the description? I was a bit skeptical, but called the phone number and spoke to Bill Nicolai, the tent designer and manufacturer and, set up a time to meet with him and see the tent. He sounded very matter-of-fact. I couldn’t get a read on him from the conversation.

     My mind filled with questions. Who was this guy Nicolai? This tent was such a breakthrough design I concluded Nicolai must be some middle-aged engineer who probably worked at Boeing during the day. Yes, that made sense, a middle-aged engineer. A guy with glasses who smoked a pipe. The erudition of the brochure also gestured towards a scholarly individual. Perhaps he was a professor at the University of Washington.

     A couple of days later, Lara and I drove to the address on the brochure. Surprisingly, it was a small wood-frame house in an older residential neighborhood near Green Lake on the north end of Seattle. Could this possibly be right? I drove by, stopped, and then circled back and parked the car in front of the house. I paused, uncertain. The modest structure was someone’s home, not the commercial enterprise I expected. I wondered if this was some form of ruse. Nevertheless, I was committed to following through and left the car.

     Somewhat wary, I approached the house and knocked on the door. After a moment, a wild-looking man, who might be a good extra or lead character in the movie Quest for Fire, opened the heavy wooden door. I said I was there to meet Bill Nicolai. He replied, “He’s coming.” Though he didn’t introduce himself, I was surprised that he expected me and went back inside to get the tent. As he left, I peered into his house and noticed two ice axes crossed over each other, mounted above the fireplace mantle in his living room.

     I thought the ice axes a good sign, an omen, symbolic of alpine authority and expertise. Symbolism appealed to me. Later Nicolai would introduce me to this wild man. Mark Fielding was Nicolai’s long-time best friend, mountain mentor, and regular climbing partner. What I didn’t know at the time was that Mark was one of a cadre of the most skilled Seattle alpinists. He had partnered with the legendary Fred Beckey and numerous climbs and put up several first ascents.

     As Mark brought the tent out into the front yard, another outrageous-looking character drove up in a black 63’ Ford Galaxy. Looking a lot like Jerry Garcia, Nicolai slowly emerged, sauntered towards me, and introduced himself. I was astonished that he and Mark were my contemporaries, both young men, and neither even remotely close to the older, strait-laced, pipe-smoking, Boeing engineer or college professor types that I had led myself to expect. I had to laugh at the discrepancy between my expectations and the reality in front of me.

This is an excerpt from ‘The 13th Omnipotentd,’ an adventure story from my recently released memoir, Banquet of the Infinite, which is now available as an eBook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.