What. The. Fuck.
One minute you’re asleep, the next you wake up to the news that not one, not two, but three incredible humans from within our community have been sent to the mountain that no one comes back from.
Three more down.
Now where the fuck do we go from here? It’s October 1st and, for the most part, avalanches are the last thing on our mind. But just as suddenly as they bare their teeth in the backcountry, they come crashing into our everyday lives and shake our foundations with unspeakable grief.
So what can we do? Hold our friends and family as close as we can. Orchestrate lifestyles that allow us as much time as possible with the people we care about: show up for weddings, funerals, birthdays and other milestones. It’s easy enough to tell your family how you feel. But with your friends, sometimes it’s best to just show them by being there when it matters most.
I don’t have kids; playing in the mountains is a whole other game when you do. But I do have a mom, a dad, a step-mom, two brothers, a dog and a whole crew of friends who I love like they’re family.
I’ve seen them all devastated by the sudden deaths of our closest friends at the deadly behest of the mountains. And they’ve been especially shaken by the fact that it could have been me, could have been them.
I do my best to make sure that my friends and family don’t receive the darkest of calls on my behalf. But in this life of ours, there’s only so much one can do.
In the wake of these two horrible avalanches, we can perhaps take solace in the words of Joseph Campbell, mentor to Sherpas Cinema’s Dave Mossop as channeled through his recently deceased Film Professor, Brian Hendricks:
“NATURE RENEWS ITS OWN FORM, BUT NATURE, THE GREATER RENEWER, EVER MAKES UP FORMS FROM FORMS. BE SURE THERE’S NOTHING PERISHES IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE; IT DOES BUT VARY AND RENEW ITS FORM.”
Little comfort in the immediate shadow of such tragedies, but the wisdom of those words works its magic over time.
And only time.
So, in the sudden absence of three of our own, we can still find their spirits in the places where we feel most alive.
Andreas, JP and Liz: Be in peace the three of you…
We’ll see you on the ridgetops.
Photo: Callum Jelley