Climbing Mt Marcy, New York |
 Excelsior, New York’s motto on the state flag, has been described as “a Latin word meaning ‘higher’, ‘superior’, [or] ‘lordly’”, but it’s “commonly translated as ‘Ever Upward’.” In view of the fact that I had to return to New York after failing to reach the summit of its highest mountain during my first attempt to climb Mt Marcy, the common translation – Ever Upward – seemed entirely appropriate to me when I went back to the Adirondack range ten months later to try again. |