Used skis 6:20 PM

The other day an email advertising a 25% off sale on skis landed in my mailbox. Enough to tempt me into thinking that maybe I actually could use a new pair of ski. Not that there's anything wrong with the skis I have, other than, they're to narrow. To narrow for what? Well with all the wide skis on the market these days, my skis just aren't wide enough, at least in order to be tackling all the powder we're looking forward to this winter. At least that was my initial thought.

It's easy to get distracted from our honest intentions of trying to live a conscientiously with as little impact as possible. Sure, I could try to justify my wants, I'd be passing along an old pair of skis that I don't need anymore  (recycling), but do I really need that extra 1 cm of width? Will I have less fun skiing? The truth is, it probably won't make that much of a difference. You see, it's not about the skis. It's about being outside communing with nature and enjoying the elements. Sure the skis help, but they aren't the deciding factor. I've been enjoying powder for years with much narrower skis than those I have now. Maybe it requires a little more effort, and maybe it's little different experience, but any less fun?

Present day nostalgia 1:15 PM

Sitting here reading through my google reader subscriptions I followed a few links and was not only inspired but somewhat humbled. As a climber and skier my values are often challenged, every season the market is flooded with a new line up of skis, new climbing shoes with stickier rubber, new jackets with the latest in breathable weather protection. It's easy to be drawn into the materialism of new and better, perhaps skiing or climbing will be just that much more enjoyable if I have the latest or greatest "thing" out there.

At the same time I am often reminded of my roots. No, I wasn't born back in the age of hemp ropes or woolen sweaters. I grew up and learned to climb in the days of Patagonia fleece, dynamic ropes, and boreal fires (remember how to pronounce that). Yet from even in my early childhood I was drawn to the simple life, there was always something about that era of leather boots and wooden skis that gives me a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps it wasn't so much the equipment, but the personalities of eras past. Maybe I'm romanticizing, but there was something about the determination of those that inhabited and sought beauty in the alpine environment that leaves much to be desired in our fast paced modern lives. We've managed to minimize risk and make the alpine world more accessible, but by removing some of the challenge have we also removed some of the reward? I'm not necessarily referring to those that are constantly pushing the envelope in good style, the Steve House's and the Chris Sharma's, but to those everyday climbers and skiers that depend entirely upon technology for their achievements.

Zen and climbing mountains 12:15 AM

A quote from Yvon Chounaird from the book My Favorite Place on Earth

...if you climb in the Tetons you find that everybody is climbing the Grand Teton. The other peaks are empty. It’s the opposite of what climbing really is about. Climbing is about the process of climbing, and these people are just focused on the end result. It’s kind of the opposite of Zen. They all want to get up the highest peak and put a notch on their belt.

Ski mountaineering 1:14 AM

There are many who find in the combination of skiing and mountaineering the finest of all sports, for whom no ski tour is perfect unless it includes the ascent of some big peak, or traverse of some great glacier pass, and also yields the ski-runner the unfettered joy of a perfect unhampered run down some great glacier. It is not merely skiing; it is not merely scenery that draws us to the glaciers on skis. It is rather the knowledge that the skiing motion seems to lend a new significance to mountain beauty, so that the impressions gained in some run down a glacier highway are deeper, more vivid and more enduring than those which reward the man on foot.

--Arnold Lunn, Alpine Skiing At All Heights and Seasons" (published in 1921)

Mountain Monk 1:06 AM

As a mountain monks, we seek out the high peaks in order to find refuge. Mountains captivate and seduce us with their awe inspiring beauty. Mountains provide not only tranquility and inspiration, but an arena for activity and exhiliration. From deep concentration of a single move while climbing a jagged granite spire, to the rhythmic focus of skiing an untouched track through aspen groves, to peaceful relaxation in a serene mountain meadow, here at mountain monk all forms for fellowship and meditation in the mountains and beyond are welcome.