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By VALERIE TUCKER, Blethen Maine News Service Saturday, January 27, 2007

Jim Albert delivers the mail, striding the streets of Farmington through snow, rain, heat and so on. In his other life, Albert faces even rougher going.

Albert is a mountaineer who has scaled some of the world's highest peaks, and he intends to reach them all. It's about more than just fresh air and exercise to Albert. It's a passion that he says has directed his life and shaped his character.

The New Vineyard resident says everyone in Maine should experience the thrill of reaching Mount Katahdin's summit at least once.

"It's a beautiful place," he enthused. "If you've ever flown over it in a plane, you can see how special it is, and it's right here in our own state."

The 52-year-old master Maine Guide grew up spending time in the woods with friends in the Skowhegan area. "It wasn't a Boy Scout kind of thing for me," he said. "It was more than that."

He began reading magazines and books about mountaineering, he said. In fact, he still treasures his issues of a now-defunct British climbing magazine, Mountain. In recent years, Albert has reached four of the world's "seven summits" -- that's climbing slang for the highest peak on each continent, including Oceania and Australia as one continent.

So far, Albert has been to the top of Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska, Mount Elbrus in Russia, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. He also climbed, but did not reach the summit of, Mount Everest in Nepal, as part of the International Peace Climb in 1990.

He still plans to reach the summits of Everest, Vinson Massif in Antarctica and Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia to become part of a loosely affiliated group of elite climbers who have reached all seven summits.

Albert is reluctant to classify himself as a peak-bagger.

"A lot of people have the money for these expensive trips, a few guides and all the gear," Albert said.

"They get a kick out of saying they've done the seven summits. That's not my way. I work and save money and find the most inexpensive way to travel and don't have any sort of time limits or records to break. Some people even try to break their own and each other's records by making each climb faster and faster, jumping around from continent to continent. I'm interested in the sport of mountaineering."

Still, he admits, it would be fun to climb all seven of them.

"I figure that each of my past trips has cost about $4,000 or so, but the three remaining will be closer to $20,000 each," he said. "Maybe I won't make it to the top of all of them, but I'll give it my best shot."

This year, he hopes to scale Carstensz Pyramid, at 16,023 feet, the highest peak in Oceania and widely considered the most technically challenging of the seven summits.

Albert said he expects dangers there that have nothing to do with mountain climbing -- namely, political instability in Indonesia and some indigenous tribespeople who dislike foreigners.

"They have killed climbers who have gone into unfamiliar territory," he said. "Some expeditions have a helicopter drop climbers in locations far from these folks."

He plans to save for climbs up Vinson Massif in 2010 and Mount Everest in 2013, and hopes to attract sponsors for those trips. In the meantime, he plans to start a business leading mountaineering expeditions in Canada with fellow climbers Manny Pizarro of Montreal and John Bagnulo of Freeman Township. Bagnulo was the first Maine resident to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Albert's years of mountaineering have given him enough stories for a lifetime of dinner parties.

He remembers getting stuck in a blizzard with climbing partner Marty Pike in chest-deep snow on Mount Washington, and watching 125-mph winds lift Pike's feet into the air while he struggled to anchor himself with an ice ax.

At another point during that same climb, Albert removed his helmet during a rest break. Another climber accidentally loosened a rock, which rolled and ricocheted, striking Albert in the back of the head.

Friends rushed him to a hospital, where he received 13 staples to close the wound.

Pike, a Farmington sporting goods shop owner, said he became hooked on mountaineering because of Albert. Together, the friends have climbed "hundreds of mountains, and everything in Maine."

"I'm not anywhere near his level of expertise," said Pike, who has accompanied Albert on trips to France, Switzerland, Ecuador and Africa. "He's taught me everything. We've had some great adventures together."

Mountains aren't the only climbing challenges Albert has faced.

In 2004, at age 50, he trounced the competition in an ice-climbing contest up a 65-foot frozen waterfall at the Ile aux Raisins canyon in Quebec.

He was the oldest of the 25 competitors. The next-oldest climber was 31.

During the first two heats, Albert whittled a 72-second ascent to 57 seconds, placing him in the top 10.

"I had two good times, and I knew I would have to give it my best the next day," Albert said. "I just zipped up in 49 seconds."Ý

One of Albert's favorite climbing partners is his wife, Kelly, who usually hikes to the base camps during his longer climbs. In 2002, the couple climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with friends Marty and Melissa Pike.Ý

"Standing up there and knowing I did it was overwhelming," Kelly Albert recalled. "It was a very emotional experience for all of us."

Standing on the edge of a steep precipice and looking down isn't something she loves in the same way her husband does.

On one trip, a severe lightning storm struck a piece of metal and injured another hiker. Their climb up Mont Blanc was curtailed by fierce storms.

"Sometimes, I just worry what the heck I've gotten her into," Albert said. "But she's a trouper."

She has climbed Mount Robson in British Columbia, Mount Rainier in Washington, Mont Blanc in France, the Matterhorn in Switzerland - and of course, Mount Katahdin.