Mountain Highs

This summer, Christine Beitzel and her husband, James, stepped out of their comfort zone. Instead of just watching reports of famine in Africa on TV with helpless concern, they decided to join eight others in a fund-raising trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to garner pledges for the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

Jobs that just can't be worth the money: Neurologist for Eric Lindros. Barber for Donald Trump. Nutritionist for David Wells. Pitching coach for Buddy Bell. The last one comes with 81 games at Coors Field. By the time the season's over, you might require Lindros' guy. Marcel Lachemann, miscast as Angel manager but still one of the best pitching coaches in the game, said he is content with the Colorado Rockies. "Denver is a great city, and it's a beautiful stadium," Lachemann said. Wait.

Presumably Mark Kiszla is high on the Mile High City when he writes that it "towers above the rest of the country as the United States' home of champions." As evidence, he cites Larry Walker, "the most complete ballplayer in the National League," and Terrell Davis, "nothing less than the MVP of the NFL."

"Meiyou, meiyou." Repeating the word that functions as an all-purpose negative, the tall, lanky man in worn canvas shoes, pants rolled up to his knees, shook his head, baring his nicotine-stained teeth in a grin. He was repeating the bad news for us, good news (he thought) for him: The cable cars up the mountain were not running today; we would have to walk, and surely we would need a porter-guide.

The pre-Christmas chaos is finally over, and thus the eastward and upward migration has begun. Thousands of skiers and boarders are expected to hit the slopes this week. For local resort operators, the week between Christmas and New Year's Day is a momentous one, not merely because of the profits but for the impression they hope to make.

The morning after arriving at a Colorado mountain lodge, Mike Riley developed a piercing headache. He felt nauseous, utterly exhausted, and he hadn't even strapped on his ski boots. The 36-year-old New York sales executive chalked it up to the prior night's celebration kicking off a week in Aspen. But the sickness lingered for two days. "By then I knew it wasn't a hangover," Riley said in a telephone interview. "I knew it was something more."

A swirling high-pressure front sitting above the Rocky Mountains pushed gray skies and drizzle into Orange County on Tuesday, but forecasters said the damp weather should be gone today or Thursday. The high-pressure zone that was above Utah and moving into Colorado on Tuesday was pulling tropical moisture from the gulfs of Mexico and California and pushing it northwest--a common summer phenomenon called a monsoonal effect.

Cincinnati Red Manager Ray Knight spent part of his off-day Tuesday at a Denver hospital room after a skiing accident. Red spokesman Rob Butcher said Knight went to St. Anthony's hospital to make sure he had no internal bleeding. The nature of Knight's injury was not known, but it was not believed to be serious, Butcher said. The Reds resume their three-game series with the Colorado Rockies today.