Its 2011 and Everyone is Still Alive

Good grief Charlie Brown! What in the hell have you been up to? Hmmmm, besides the usual? Not much, I guess...

It's definitely been an 'intriguing' start to the next year. Not a whole lot has changed really. The weather is always changing; I'm growing older; I'm learning new things; my outlook on life and people, places, and things is changing; so I guess a whole lot has changed. I think a smart person once wrote "Change is the nature of existence". This seems to be the theme to my meager and unrelentingly ambiguous life. Instead of fighting the tide I've embraced this fact and tried to go with lifes ever evolving ebb and flow. I would desire not to get too stuck in the muck and mire of dwelling in the past or rehearsing the future. Another smart person said, "Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean." So with a fresh face, and strong desire to move forward I've made a comittment to return to school and finish my masters degree. With that I've also taken up a new outdoor interest: snowboarding. It's something I've wanted to try for a few years now. When I lived in Colorado as a kid (age 9-15) my parents would take my brother and I up to Winter Park for skiing. My father, being quite proficient at the sport was gone in a spray of snow flakes, leaving my brother and I to fend for ourselves. After a few times out we eventually got the hang of it and I can remember blasting down the steep snow covered hillsides manipulating the two skinny and long planks strapped to my feet with great ease and having an absolute blast. Not to mention the beauty of the mountains and the warm embrace of the lodge afterwards. So after a great deal of hand wringing and hopping from one foot to the next I finally made the financial plunge and invested in a few things I would need to get the adventure off the ground.

So far I've been out three times; twice to Crystal Mt., and once to Mt. Baker. I have to say that all three times were more than I had hoped for. With the occasional 'slam', I've actually managed to start carving as of my last trip, and I finally have garnered some visible control. My main goal has been to get good enough to start doing back country (i.e. Rianier), but really, it's just been invigorating to get into something new.

Mt. Baker parking lot.

Crystal Mt. My first time out was a heart wrenching one. My 'friends', all quite good and well seasoned skiers and snowboarders thought it a downright traditional faux-pa not to throw me down a double black diamond my first day out. This is said black diamond, The Powder Bowl. I took a lot of seats going down, but made it unscathed, and ended up going down another three times.

Mt. Rainier, as seen from the summit of Crystal Mt.

Now don't get scared. I've not given up climbing in the snowy white face of some new outdoor adrenaline fix. If anything it's given me a new perspective on climbing; hell on life in general. Yesterday I had a great breakthrough and managed to carve down my first black diamond with no falls and no drifting. I got to the bottom and had this supreme rush of clarity and unadulterated joy. It was like clipping the chains of my first outdoor lead all over again without the slightest notion of what this might do for my climbing ego or scorecard. I couldn't stop myself from hugging my friends and looking as if I had taken a large hit of laughing gas for the rest of the day. It was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. And while this is the same reason I climb, it was amazing to find it in another activity. The struggle of learning how to move over snow/rock effortlessly; taking huge whippers or slamming after catching an edge is such an enlightening process that locks you into the 'moment'. It allows you to let go of so much that keeps you from enjoying these present moments in life that are happening all the time.

"A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how this world ticks, how the whole thing just is."