LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1544680
Inset, top: When tentbound for 4 days, it's important to keep the stoke high. Inset, bottom: Digging test pits on the steep slopes before skiing. Opposite: The author steps out into the type of terrain dreams are made of. LOCALadk 24 into the mountain. I gasped and pulled back. Where I once stepped, now lay an open hole. Nothing but ice and rock as far as the light reached. With that sobering reminder, we lovingly chanted "Feed the hole! Feed the hole!" "The hole" would go on to become an imaginary character in our slowly distorting reality, but wouldn't prevent us from reaching the top of our intended line. Sheltering under a small shelf, we transitioned to our skis. We post-holed into our platform which we'd dug out of seemingly bottomless powder. Through our ob- servations around the range, during the bootpack, and digging the platform, our confidence in the snowpack grew. We dug a final, abbreviated, test pit. Somehow, suddenly, we were exactly where we were supposed to be. That moment — unexpected and yet long awaited — felt like a culmination of my last decade in the mountains. We had climbed from Ava- lanche Pass and my first summit of Mount Colden to the staggering monoliths of Alaska. We were weath- ered by frigid Northeast winters, prepared by the blind optimism of a bushwhack through the krumholz, and from years of travelling with intention. I have never had a singular goal in the mountains. Instead, I have always had a loose vision, a sort of mountain- mood-board, that has guided me and shifted with my inspirations: to move through the mountains efficient- ly, to stay present, understand my place in the vast landscapes of our world, and to acquire the skills to play and explore new terrain however I please. And then we skied. The First of Many It was the steepest and softest snow I've ever skied - a feeling I will be chasing for the rest of my life. I skied tight chutes and mandatory drops through ice chokes. We climbed the shoulders of alpine ridges. We tracked the sun through the sky and the cornices overhead. When we've talked about this trip, people often ex- claim, "Wow, sounds like the trip of a lifetime." At the time of writing this, I'm 25. My goal was never to have the "trip of a lifetime," but rather to have a lifetime of trips. Here's to many more "trips of a lifetime." t