Posts

Posted on

Evolutions

Change happens.

You don’t have to advocate for it, embrace it, or even instigate it. Change is inevitable. That said, sometimes we want change. Sometimes we need it. I made some big changes in my life in the last year. Sometimes, when you do this, it’s exciting and invigorating. But after the initial buzz of a big change things settle, they simmer, and it’s then you can begin to smell the real flavor of your ingredients, and what the hell this grand thing you’ve been cooking up might taste like. You can never really and truly know the full extent of your decisions ahead of time. You can weigh options, make a pros and cons list. Consider and reconsider. But eventually you have to jump in and swim through the reality of what you’ve chosen.

I’m not trying to be dramatic, only to paint a picture of how much I’ve changed my life in this last year, and how much it means I find myself considering what that means for me now, what it means for my future, basically just how it might play out.

Continue reading “Evolutions”
Posted on

Koyaanisqatsi

It has become so easy to believe that we hold dominion over the world. That we are in control. That the forces that gave us life can be bent and shaped by our will. In our personal lives we encounter hardships that can slow, or sometimes stop us, but we have faith that we will persevere, that we will emerge on the other side stronger, stripped away of what is non essential.

But this isn’t always the case.

There is so much of this world that is bigger than us, stronger than us, so much that will outlast us, that all we can do is hold on, find our center, and do our best.

This is faith.

Our world is changing. It doesn’t matter what you believe in or who you think might save it. Whether it’s illness or war or climate change or any other crisis we face, we cannot expect that our lives will not be disturbed, that we can go on as we always have.

We have to make changes.

We have to disrupt the very systems we rely on. We will have to suffer or go without, there is no other way around. We cannot have it all. We can wait until the bitter end, until our systems are stressed and our security broken, until our air is choked and our water is poisoned, until our family is sick and our loved ones are dying, or,  we can think ahead.

We can act.

We can sacrifice and adapt so that the most vulnerable among us might be spared the most damaging consequences. None of us asked for this responsibility, none of us want it, but it is our fate. We have to find compassion for the process, solidarity for our sacrifices, or we will be stranded alone.

This is our world. A life out of balance. 

Posted on

Birkie Fever

It hurt. I anticipated that. About 40k in, my arms were starting to cramp. When I reached the lake I could feel the gas really running out. When I crossed the finish line I could barely walk, my feel were so sore. But it was a success, I finished. My first Birkie, I was proud of my effort and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

What I hadn’t anticipated was the view, the sounds, the feeling that greeted me when I topped out on the bridge and looked down onto Main Street. A thousand people? More? The sound was deafening, the air was electric. The road covered with snow and skiers, the sidewalks packed with screaming fans, for a brief moment we all shared in the spectacle. I wasn’t ready for how that made me feel.

In a word, inspired.

For a few hours I stumbled around watching new friends finish, meeting fans, drinking coffee, beer, eating doughnuts, whatever I could find. I walked up onto the bridge and looked back down Main Street, it made me want to cry.

During a time when everything feels so fragmented, so divided, when huge problems loom all around us seeming bigger than we could possibly ever solve, here was a writhing, thriving, refreshing, and reassuring mass of people gracefully proving all that wrong.

Close to six thousand people skied the birkie that day, and each one of them possesses a spirit of courage and determination necessary to overcome challenges we can’t even imagine, all borne from the most simple love of sliding on snow.

I’m grateful for every facet of the ski industry and culture that occupies my life, but this one runs deepest, it’s opened to door to it all. There’s no paying back where it’s gotten me or how it’s helped me navigate the twists and turns, the hills and icy tracks of my life. There’s only taking part, in continuing the tradition, skiing every day with love and gratitude.

Thanks to the over three thousand volunteers who made this event one of the most memorable weekends of my life. I look forward to seeing you again. 

Posted on

Amy’s Place

Traveling isn’t often a bucket-list type of activity for me. I don’t tend to go places just to have been, to check them off the list. To me, a place is usually synonymous with an idea or an activity. Traveling is a verb, it’s something you do, not something you take in. How you travel has a direct effect on how you experience the place you’re moving through. You can choose to skim, to consume the culture in small bites only when you have the appetite, or you can dive into it, bathe in it, try to see it from the inside out and understand how it fits into the world you know, the world you came from. Despite making it a priority to budget large chunks of time off during my year, the term vacation doesn’t really resonate with me. Looking back though, this trip was something of a vacation, a vacation from my reality, from what I’m used to. I didn’t know what to expect from this trip. Sumatra had been a nagging idea in the back of my mind for years but how to make it happen, what I would do, how I would travel through a place so remote to my understanding, I just didn’t know. Somehow I found Amy’s Place, and now it all makes sense.

Continue Reading Amy’s Place
Posted on

Temple Traverse

I’ve been wanting to do this one for a while now. You’ve always had to go high for the snow, now you just have to go a bit higher. Temple Traverse via Gunsight Pass. Apparently I did it backwards which makes sense to me now, in the future I might also wait for more snow. My achilles is sore now which means I probably went a little hard, and wasn’t quite prepared for the amount of walking. 8hrs car to car with about 2 hrs on skis, 1/2 hr of which was spent descending through beach ball sized chunks of wet slide debris. Adventure.

Continue reading “Temple Traverse”

Posted on

Homecoming

Places shape us. They become part of us. Whether its the people or the landscape, the culture or the environment, or any number of things in between, some places dig deeper into us than others. Places we grow up, places we pass through, who we are, how we interact, it all plays a role in our experience, what we give, what we take away. We all have places we call home, places we feel home, places we love, places we loath, places we begrudgingly accept as some intrisic part of who we are. Although these places might be a part of us, might come with us everywhere, sometimes, we return to them physically. This homecoming can be a relief, it can be a reawakening, it can be a rediscovery. Coming home can reveal things we missed the first time, it can remind us of who we once were, who we really are, and where we’re heading next.  Continue reading “Homecoming”