"Great spaces of time passed in unbroken uniformity tend to shrink together in a way to make the heart stop beating for fear; when one day is like all the others, then they are all like one; complete uniformity would make the longest life seem short, and as though it had stolen away from us unawares" - Thomas Mann, THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN
I talk a lot about mountains. I love mountains. Someday I wish to settle down in the mountains.
I love the fresh air, even if it's thinner it feels far more oxygenated than the rot I breathe down here in Los Angeles. I love the smell of pine and, once above the treeline, the crisp smell of a world beyond vegetation. The frozen abyss of a denuded landscape, otherworldly, where only gods and angels dare to tread. And mountaineers. And there's something about a place so inhospitable, so different from the lowlands that provides one with a respite from the skullduggery of everyday routine.
It's important to get out of the everyday, unnatural life we as a species have created for ourselves, as Kyle pointed out in his travelogue about the Presidential Traverse, to try and live as our ancestors did, without running water or plugged electricity, without computers or desks or even chairs, for that matter. It's also important for a man to test himself regularly and thoroughly. Only by testing ourselves do we grow. And you can't settle for just physical or mental, no, to be a whole, fulfilled man you must have both. Push both.Constantly must be testing and strengthening your mind and your body.
It is therefore a blessing to me that a year and a few months ago I was watching Jeremy Jones' mindblowing snowboard mountaineering movie DEEPER when I realized there is one way to combine this all - the lofty thrones of the mountains with physical testing and mental acuity. The pursuit of the summit. Of summits. To see the earth from every high point I can. And so I rallied together a few friends, my wife, and my brother to hike the tallest peak in the lower 48, Mt. Whitney.
I'd seen Whitney plenty of times on my way to Mammoth and in my mid 20's, not really understanding it. I mean, I like going down at high speeds, ideally with deep powder and some super steeps. Hucking my body off cliffs, jumps, so on. And hiking was only acceptable as long as it would be followed by a sick run I wouldn't otherwise be able to access, a la multiple forays into Teton Pass and Cody Bowl et al. But here it was, this new ambition, a desire to test myself on the ascent.
Admittedly, part of this had to do with the heavy wear and tear on my body. As a man grows it's the ultimate tragedy that those knees are no longer so rubber, that spills take a little longer to bounce up from, and that bruises and aches last for so long, seemingly for fuckin' ever. Not to mention I can't seem to take it easy long enough for that fucking pain in my ankles to go away, much less get better (will it ever?) So disgusted by the collapse of the body's ability to take shock, I had to find some other way to journey into those lands above the tree line that's challenging without crushing my bones into a fine dust. And thereupon I rallied together a group of friends and family for this first great hike.
As Steve John said afterwards (and I'm paraphrasing) "I haven't done something that tested me and made me so fulfilled since." By since, he means the hiking of a 45-50 degree snow/ice chute with crampons and ice axes as was necessary to get from Whitney Trail Camp to Trail crest a good 1800 feet above.
So, short of stroking my own ego any more, I'm gonna cut this. With the Olympics on, one can't help but feel a great surge of energy and ambition, a desire to do something better with this life and, even more, to truly glory the majesty that is the human body. I mean this versatile, tough, moldable thing is a truly wonderful gift. And more than anything else the human body is a perfect example of getting out what you put in, as these elite men and women can testify to.
As such 5 months of training, from waking early hours for workout to eating "properly" to all-day weekly hikes to Sundays spent prusiking or running obstacle courses in my neighborhood, have made me feel fit enough to do just that, head off onto our next great adventure, Mt. Rainier. At 14,110 feet it's about 400 beet shorter than Mt. Whitney. But considering the fact that the hike is only 7 miles each way (versus Whitney's 11 miles) but gains 9000 feet (versus Whitney's 6000) it's decidedly much steeper. And there's snow most of the way but, starting at about 10k feet, you're hiking on glacier, avoiding crevasses and falling thawing rocks en route to a summit which is, in fact, a volcano caldera.
I'm not saying this to impress anybody, just to explain that I'm an average person. I work a 9 to 7. Have a wife I love to death and with whom spend as much free time as possible. I socialize from time to time, watch movies, keep up on TV, read my daily newspaper, magazines, so on. And yet I'll be strapping myself to a couple friends as we navigate a glacier to a mountain almost 3 miles above the sea level.
So here's the point - you can do this. Anybody can do this. Life, and especially your life, is only limited by what you choose to do and how you choose to live it. And only by shaking up our day in day out, getting out of our comfort zones on the regular do we truly grow. Not only grow but live a life full of the diversity of experience and action to leave us feeling truly fulfilled when the great power above puts down his great thumb.
Previously I'd been toying around with the idea of blogging live from the mountain. But my wife helped me realize two things. 1. While this works for those Everest folks, who knows if I'll have reception without a satphone and whether it'll be as easily captured and compelling by an amateur such as myself and 2. as I said once before, we need to unplug, to go beyond the reach of modern appliance and such is the draw of nature and even more of my annual great summit runs. And in all reality I don't want to have to worry about some fucking blog while in such desolate grandeur staring at ice falls and endless glory.
So there it is. So you'll hafta excuse a little radio silence for the next week or so while Kyle and I go out and practice all this shit we preach. Keep it real and don't let the man get you down.
Ryan
I love the fresh air, even if it's thinner it feels far more oxygenated than the rot I breathe down here in Los Angeles. I love the smell of pine and, once above the treeline, the crisp smell of a world beyond vegetation. The frozen abyss of a denuded landscape, otherworldly, where only gods and angels dare to tread. And mountaineers. And there's something about a place so inhospitable, so different from the lowlands that provides one with a respite from the skullduggery of everyday routine.
It's important to get out of the everyday, unnatural life we as a species have created for ourselves, as Kyle pointed out in his travelogue about the Presidential Traverse, to try and live as our ancestors did, without running water or plugged electricity, without computers or desks or even chairs, for that matter. It's also important for a man to test himself regularly and thoroughly. Only by testing ourselves do we grow. And you can't settle for just physical or mental, no, to be a whole, fulfilled man you must have both. Push both.Constantly must be testing and strengthening your mind and your body.
It is therefore a blessing to me that a year and a few months ago I was watching Jeremy Jones' mindblowing snowboard mountaineering movie DEEPER when I realized there is one way to combine this all - the lofty thrones of the mountains with physical testing and mental acuity. The pursuit of the summit. Of summits. To see the earth from every high point I can. And so I rallied together a few friends, my wife, and my brother to hike the tallest peak in the lower 48, Mt. Whitney.
Admittedly, part of this had to do with the heavy wear and tear on my body. As a man grows it's the ultimate tragedy that those knees are no longer so rubber, that spills take a little longer to bounce up from, and that bruises and aches last for so long, seemingly for fuckin' ever. Not to mention I can't seem to take it easy long enough for that fucking pain in my ankles to go away, much less get better (will it ever?) So disgusted by the collapse of the body's ability to take shock, I had to find some other way to journey into those lands above the tree line that's challenging without crushing my bones into a fine dust. And thereupon I rallied together a group of friends and family for this first great hike.
As Steve John said afterwards (and I'm paraphrasing) "I haven't done something that tested me and made me so fulfilled since." By since, he means the hiking of a 45-50 degree snow/ice chute with crampons and ice axes as was necessary to get from Whitney Trail Camp to Trail crest a good 1800 feet above.
So, short of stroking my own ego any more, I'm gonna cut this. With the Olympics on, one can't help but feel a great surge of energy and ambition, a desire to do something better with this life and, even more, to truly glory the majesty that is the human body. I mean this versatile, tough, moldable thing is a truly wonderful gift. And more than anything else the human body is a perfect example of getting out what you put in, as these elite men and women can testify to.
As such 5 months of training, from waking early hours for workout to eating "properly" to all-day weekly hikes to Sundays spent prusiking or running obstacle courses in my neighborhood, have made me feel fit enough to do just that, head off onto our next great adventure, Mt. Rainier. At 14,110 feet it's about 400 beet shorter than Mt. Whitney. But considering the fact that the hike is only 7 miles each way (versus Whitney's 11 miles) but gains 9000 feet (versus Whitney's 6000) it's decidedly much steeper. And there's snow most of the way but, starting at about 10k feet, you're hiking on glacier, avoiding crevasses and falling thawing rocks en route to a summit which is, in fact, a volcano caldera.
I'm not saying this to impress anybody, just to explain that I'm an average person. I work a 9 to 7. Have a wife I love to death and with whom spend as much free time as possible. I socialize from time to time, watch movies, keep up on TV, read my daily newspaper, magazines, so on. And yet I'll be strapping myself to a couple friends as we navigate a glacier to a mountain almost 3 miles above the sea level.
So here's the point - you can do this. Anybody can do this. Life, and especially your life, is only limited by what you choose to do and how you choose to live it. And only by shaking up our day in day out, getting out of our comfort zones on the regular do we truly grow. Not only grow but live a life full of the diversity of experience and action to leave us feeling truly fulfilled when the great power above puts down his great thumb.
Previously I'd been toying around with the idea of blogging live from the mountain. But my wife helped me realize two things. 1. While this works for those Everest folks, who knows if I'll have reception without a satphone and whether it'll be as easily captured and compelling by an amateur such as myself and 2. as I said once before, we need to unplug, to go beyond the reach of modern appliance and such is the draw of nature and even more of my annual great summit runs. And in all reality I don't want to have to worry about some fucking blog while in such desolate grandeur staring at ice falls and endless glory.
So there it is. So you'll hafta excuse a little radio silence for the next week or so while Kyle and I go out and practice all this shit we preach. Keep it real and don't let the man get you down.
Ryan
