Mountains Are Calling

Speaking of romantic fantasies...

I have come to quite enjoy a podcast that started last year. It's called Omnibus. It's basically just Ken Jennings and John Roderick sitting around discussing all manner of random trivia, but they do it in a way that is fascinating to listen to.

This week they did a show called The Bodies of Mount Everest. If you like, you may have a listen here:
Omnibus Project: The Bodies of Mount Everest

Really, though, you can glean what's necessary for this blog from the title alone. It's about Mount Everest and people have died there. That's really no surprise. They go into detail about several of the individuals who took their last steps on the mountain and who now form a part of the landscape.

A grisly scene indeed.

Listening to this awoke something in me that hasn't come out for a long time. The fact that we're digging ourselves out of an historic snowstorm here in the Puget Sound region may have something to do with it and I'll try to unpack that a little, too.

In 2002 (it might have even been during the Salt Lake Olympics) I read John Krakauers Into Thin Air. I read the first half of the book over a couple of days during times when I could fit it in, but on the third day I was so riveted that I didn't have the power to step away from the book. I sat on a stool in the kitchen of my parent's house until the last page was turned. My perception of Mount Everest was forever changed.

Mountains have always been important to me. After graduating high school in the summer of 1998, me and my friend Jeremy took a long backpacking trip to Kings Peak, the highest peak in Utah. When I returned from Brazil I began to ski as much as possible. In that period of my life I was dedicated to school and the next ski season. Mountains and snow were a big part of my life.

I loved the mountains then and I still do, although I experience them differently now. I rarely face snow and as I've said before, I'm trying to teach young legs to love the trail. In my hurried space of life there is little opportunity for me to take challenging wilderness routes.

Which brings me back to romantic fantasies. Mountaineering is awesome. I love everything about it, but in the way that a band roadie wishes he was part of the band. Before reading Into Thin Air, I thought it would be fantastic to try to attempt something like Everest. Now, to be honest, this was never in the cards for me for lots of reasons, but that's not what dreams are about. If you only let yourself have dreams that were literally attainable, it would be a sad existence. After reading Into Thin Air, any desire I might have had for that particular achievement was GONE.

Now I've still considered something more reasonable like Mount Rainier. Especially now that it's in my backyard.

So what about the snow? Well, since the snow came last week, I've been going around in my hiking boots and stomping through it. I haven't put on my hiking boots in easily over a year and the last time I had appreciable time in the snow was in 2014 when we went snowshoeing for Chelsea's birthday. It feels good to play in it. I should take the kids and find some snow on one of the upcoming Saturdays. Maybe when they're older I can get them to go bag some peaks with me.