Man conquers mountaintops

Deepa Bharath

William Burke lives for adventure.

Be it taking cross-country trips on his Harley Davidson or scaling

some of the highest peaks in the world, the 62-year-old Costa Mesa

resident outdoes himself every time.

Last year, Burke climbed Aconcagua in Argentina. At 23,840 feet,

it is considered the tallest mountain in the Americas and outside

Asia. He has also seen the beautiful vistas from the top of Mt.

McKinley in Alaska, about 20,320 feet high, and Mt. Rainier in

Washington, which is about 14,411 feet. Burke is planning to climb

Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, in December.

On Wednesday, Burke took four of his grandchildren, 13 and under,

up Mt. Whitney, which is close to 14,500 feet in elevation. It took

them about 17 hours to complete the expedition.

His penchant for mountains goes well beyond a temporary adrenalin

rush and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, Burke said.

“I just love the mountains,” he said. “I love everything about

them -- the streams, the lakes, the vegetation -- everything. And the

challenge, too.”

It doesn’t have to be a big mountain for him to climb it.

“It’s therapeutic for me,” he said. “It’s so serene and pure up

there. It gets you thinking and helps you put your life in

perspective.”

His favorite mountains in the United States are in the High

Sierra, Burke said.

“Some of the lakes high up in the mountains are breathtaking,” he

said. “It’s a terrific stress release.”

Despite his thirst for adventure, Burke was a late bloomer when it

came to mountaineering. A retired corporate lawyer, Burke started

experimenting with trail walks in Hong Kong, when he went on an

assignment to Asia in 1996. He got to travel to most Asian countries

for his business, but his passion for climbing grew when he

participated in a 100-kilometer trail walk and mountain race in Hong

Kong.

Burke twice climbed Mount Fuji -- Japan’s tallest peak at 12,389

feet.

But he doesn’t regret starting out late.

“That’s the thing about mountaineering,” Burke said. “Age doesn’t

really matter. I was 60 when I climbed McKinley, 61 when I climbed Aconcagua. And I’ll be 62 when I climb Kilimanjaro.”

With those three mountains, Burke will have climbed three of the

seven highest summits in the world. His wife, Sharon, who is quick to

point out that she doesn’t share her husband’s passion for

mountaineering, says she secretly hopes he would decide against an

Everest expedition.

“We never say the word Everest in our house,” Sharon Burke said.

She doesn’t encourage her husband on his adventures, but she

doesn’t discourage him, either.

“He’s always been a workaholic,” she said. “This has taken him far

away from that. He’d forget his worries and all about his work during

the time he’s on the mountains. He’d have to, because he needs to be

focused.”

As for Sharon Burke, she worries herself sick in Costa Mesa as her

husband climbs the summits of the world.

“I keep calling base camp several times a day to make sure he’s

safe,” she said.

But her husband has always done things others wouldn’t even dream

about. He once rollerbladed in Central Park with his grandchildren

and broke his wrist. About seven years ago, he rode his

Harley-Davidson all the way to North Dakota to his grandfather’s

grave.

“He just went with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and he had to

deal with a snow storm near Yellowstone,” she said. “But he made it.”

But Burke is not as cavalier with the mountains.

“Some of the big mountains may be easy to climb on paper,” William

Burke said. “But you always need to respect a big mountain. You have

to be prepared.”

Be well-conditioned, eat to stay fueled, drink plenty of water and

breathe properly, he said.