A couple of weeks ago, I hauled a sled with camping gear into the Jewel Basin for a little over night ski trip. The weather was supposed to be good, I had a weekend free, the snow was supposed to be great, and I needed to train for Denali. I was by myself because I had difficulty convincing anyone else to go in with me. The snow was great, so it must have been another reason...I swear I shower and use deodorant! I had a great weekend running around and skiing in the mountains by myself. After hauling in the sled 6 1/2 miles up the road to Camp Misery, the parking lot/trailhead of the Jewel, I set up a camp and prepared some delicious tuna-mac for dinner. I was all wrapped up and ready for some shut-eye when I realized the full moon was rising. So I had my own little "Moonlight Dine and Ski." I took a lap up to the ridge above my tent and skied amazing snow, face-shots included, via light from the moon. The next day I toured around the area, skiing cool north-facing shots before breaking camp and wrangling my sled back to my pickup. Here's a little taste of the trip in video form:
Winter Camping in the Jewel Basin from Colter Lane on Vimeo.
I find that I definitely enjoy skiing, climbing, hiking, biking, and any other number of things much more when I'm with other people. You can feed off each other's enjoyment, laugh at each other's mistakes, share in the glory of the scenery and amazing-ness of the the experience, and share in the decision making. Even pictures are better with other people in them. However, I do enjoy getting out by myself. I can go my own pace, do what I want to do, and not have to worry about anyone else. One other nice thing is that it's quiet. At one point on the Saturday I was in the Jewel it was snowing and if I stopped all I could hear, or more appropriately "sense," was the falling snow around me. There are very few times in my life where I feel as though I have been in a quieter place. Absolutely no distractions from other people, technology, machinery, media, etc. It was as if my world was on pause and I was getting to experience a single moment in time repeated indefinitely. The snow was beautiful in its silence; I was enthralled.
Reflecting on that time in the woods, I have to wonder how many occasions do we have to really experience quiet? We have so many media influences bombarding us every day. I've seen people of all ages who seem to be addicted to music, needing to be "plugged-in" to their mp3 players. While substitute teaching recently, the class was watching 180 Degrees South. In it the filmmaker takes off on a journey to reach Patagonia, following in the footsteps of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins. The class was being taught about media influence in their lives; being asked if they could go 6 months without video games or music players. But there were kids in the class that we (me and a co-teacher) couldn't even get to un-plug and watch the movie!
Through all of this we miss out on two things: 1) Interaction with the people around us, and 2) Time for reflection on what's going on in our lives, both of which I feel are extremely important. My challenge for anyone who reads this is to become aware of how much media influences your life, how much you willingly expose yourself to the bombardment of technology and information. I won't encourage you to give it up completely: I think that would be rash and selfish in its own way (if I threw away my cell phone, it limits the ability of others to contact/coordinate with me). Find ways though, to take breaks and seek to engage actual human beings more and give your life some reflection.
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