Appalachia Volume 69 Number 1 Winter/Spring 2018: Mount Article 5 Washington: Summit of Extremes 2021 Climbers Who Volunteer: Everest Climber and White Mountains Fixture Rick Wilcox Reflects Erik Eisele Joe Klementovich Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia Part of the Nonfiction Commons Recommended Citation Eisele, Erik and Klementovich, Joe (2021) "Climbers Who Volunteer: Everest Climber and White Mountains Fixture Rick Wilcox Reflects," Appalachia: Vol. 69 : No. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/appalachia/vol69/iss1/5 This In This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Appalachia by an authorized editor of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Climbers Who Volunteer Everest climber and White Mountains fixture Rick Wilcox reflects Story by Erik Eisele Photo research by Joe Klementovich 44 Appalachia Appalachia_WS2018_FINALS_10.30_REV.indd 44 10/30/17 3:09 PM Editor’s note: This tribute to climber Rick Wilcox offers a glimpse into the lives of volunteer mountain rescuers who live in New Hampshire’s North Country. They leave their day jobs and homes at all hours to stage dangerous searches high on mountains. Wilcox, in Mountain Rescue Service, has been at it longer than most, and his low-key approach to the work means that most people who step into his store on Main Street in North Conway have no idea that this cashier in a T-shirt has helped save many people over half of his life. Wilcox has said he believes it’s time for a new generation to lead, and term limits have ended his leadership in this active rescue group formed in 1972 by the state, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and climbers.