Steppin’ Back Before Leapin’ Forward

Yep, it’s been a while dear friends… but I haven’t forgot.   Thank you for the random and considerate kudos and reminders that this exercise of blogging (working out the brain as opposed to my hyper-abused cardiovascular system) is in someway an enjoyable escape or looking glass.  A new friend recently reminded me, “Yeah, that’s how blogs get written ya know… You have to actually spend time in the valley, behind a computer” and since then I’ve had the itch that only a good sitting down and writing can scratch.  I could make excuses for the procrastination; things like being off the grid for two weeks in New Zealand and not wanting to be lassoed back into it, training for Skimo, work, more work with the Ridge Academy, deep powder (that really doesn’t count as an excuse since we sustained weeks of crust busting and only recently finally got stormed on), fat biking (yep, fell for it- it definitely lives up to the hype!), family, Holidays, not sleeping, but hey, you know what they say about excuses right?  Something along the lines of holes of some sort I think.  In my attempt to capture some of the magic and routine of the last few months, I think I’ll go with a little picture scroll with some short descriptions to accompany what the thousand words might not tell.

Above are a couple of shots from the family trip to New Zealand, in specific, the South Island.  I had visited some 11 years ago when a friend was in “uni” in Christchurch. I brought a bike, very little agenda, and even less money.  As such, I limped my way around the island with his broken down suby (named Lester for reasons you can likely imagine) and a few shuttle rides but didn’t feel like I had really gotten to unearth Middle Earth.  Well this time, with two weeks, five people (Mom, Dad, Josephine, Jen, and me), 1 RV and a couple helpful maps and guides, we linked together one heck of a “lucky trip” (lucky was Mom’s way of saying, “Gee Ben, this was a particularly good idea and just look at how amazing the (fill in the blank)________ is”.)  New Zealand really is spectacular, and I’m thoroughly bummed that The Hobbit trilogy has decided that CGI is far superior to REAL geography.  Maybe the guys behind the editing got sick of having to blot out the countless millions of cute sheep babies that roam the island.

Some of the highlights for me were family dinners in the microkitchen followed by intense games of Farkle or SpeedUno, peaks that rise 10,000′ directly from your feet (which were unfortunately obscured by the almost solid two weeks of weather we endured), real glaciers, not the puny little snowfields our park has, runs through the hills and mountains with my wife, scenery that changed every 30 minutes of driving, incredibly friendly locals, an insanely “lucky” day in the Milford Sound where we had a blue bird day in one of the rainiest places in the world (see the rad photo where the Tasman Ocean serves as a floating pond for steep, rugged, enormous peaks), and of course the best muffin I have ever had in my entire life.  Seriously, put N Zed on your tic list for life.  Get an RV, don’t go out to dinner, bring some silly games and good friends, don’t be afraid to head straight to the “i” when you get to towns for beta, and go explore this amazing place.  I liken it to taking all the coolest places in the U.S. (including Hawaii and Alaska) and cramming them into a fairly large island with really nice people.  Oh, and don’t forget to bring a really nice brand new rain coat, ’cause it rains like the dickens over there.  If it weren’t for our willingness to spend countless hours drying out clothes and shoes on the RV dash, we would’ve nary tramped a trail with the weather we sustained.  But it really kind of added to the experience and the mystique of the island.  And that muffin, find the pink haired lady in Queenstown and go with the Blueberry White Chocolate.  Not even remotely close to vegan, rather close to heaven.

  penguins/seals/dolphins                     

Castle Valley- Fun limestone boulders/Chronicles of Narnia

One of my many failed attempts at reaching a summit

A “lucky” day at the Milford Sound- Sea inundating mile high peaks

Boga- boat yoga in the Milford Sound, I think we were nearly as entertaining as the cruise was for many of the other tourists.

His coolness- Captain of Cool

One of the many peaks that enthralled my imagination.  I had climbed 2000′ above the valley floor and was thinking I was getting up there till this bugger poked it’s head out for a few moments.  It stands at 8000′, and nearby there are peaks another few thousand feet higher.  Big Mountains!

Not sure we’ve been wetter- above us is a gigantic glacier with hundreds of waterfalls spewing from it’s feet.  Eat your heart out Avalanche Lake!

  An RV explosion in Wanaka. Further up the valley running up for a glimpse of Mt. Aspiring

On the shores of Wanaka, wind was howling like crazy.

Near the Routeburn track, a through hike we were going to attempt which was unfortunately shut down by avalanche activity (in what was supposed to be their late spring!)

Moving forward, it was a surprisingly difficult transition back to real life.  Jet lag, sleep problems compounded by hard nights on duty made for a bleary week that was welcomed with sub zero temperatures and no snow.  I really enjoyed being off of my phone, unattached to texts, facebook, email, interwebs, and all things social media.  I liked it so much I have yet to make a post nor spend much time scrolling the annals of FB (until now, where I’m posting the link to this story).  However, I do realize the value of being able to connect to friends, communicate plans, and share stories so I’m attempting to strike a better balance.  It really is nice to sit more than a few meters away from the smartphone every so often.

The snow finally started to fall, and fat bike arrived, and life starting speeding up at a pace where I feel like I could really use some fingernails to dig in and hold on.  Training, a level 2 Avalanche course, training for the start of Ridge, work, and a plethora of life details have made for a challenging few weeks and I feel like in another week I might just get a chance to fully expand the rib cage and take a deep breath and relax.  That’s not to say there haven’t been some exceptional times.

My first few times of fat biking have made me thankful to explore a new realm of fun in the winter that doesn’t require as much time or driving to have a little fun outside (right Puglife!)

Also during the last dry spell, I managed to sneak in a spicy climb in Glacier with a couple of great guys.  David POWDER Steele, Jason Keister and I skinned, booted, and ‘ponned up Little Dog Mountain off of Marias Pass on an incredibly beautiful and not terribly windy day.  Made for some great forging of new relationships and a fulfillment of the soul only a true mountaineering experience can give. You can read all about the trip in much better prose by a true writer here.

I also am thankful to have enrolled in an Avalanche Level 2 course that coaches and staff at Ridge Academy took.  It has given me much to think about and tools to use on an everyday basis when traveling in the backcountry. I also highly recommend anyone who finds themselves as a leader of friends in pursuit of powder stashes to take this course.  The tendency is to come out completely gun shy of traveling and riding in avalanche terrain, but for me, I think it has been more of a “pendulum equalizer”.  I have had an incredibly fortunate and successful decade and a half of backcountry skiing with only one incident that left me thoroughly humbled and rattled.  As such, I recognize that in large it has been through good decisions, but it has not gone without some serious strokes of luck and fortuitousness.  BC skiing is interesting in that the feedback loop is pretty much always positive.  You climb a mountain, scout a sick line, and ski it and it’s reeeaaaalllllyyy good so you do it again.  And you do it the next day, and the next year, and the next decade.  So when all of the sudden we get unlucky, or misread the signs of instability, or gambled and lost, we are fully surprised.  How could such a love affair deceive us and betray us so deeply?  Fortunately, I’ve had hundreds of beautiful and successful days.  However, I don’t want this to fool me into thinking that I am in control and that I will always ski away with a smile on my face.  I don’t want to stop having those great days.  I want many more tailgate brews with buds (and wife!) after deep days and tireless trail breaking.

Speaking of, it’s nearly the New Year!  Resolutions anyone?  I’ve never been much for resolutions, but I will say I have some goals.  How about you, what are you looking forward to this year?  Have you crafted any goals?  Is there anywhere you’re wanting to squeeze more out of life?  Good things to think about as we all move on to hopefully our best year yet!

Cheers!