Wandering in Whiteouts
Surrender your Spirit...
To the breaking tide in the cool evening glow,
To the outstretched arm of a Cedar tree,
To the breath of northern wind, high in the mountains,
that nurtures the fire within,
To the still of the morning at first light.
Wade into the whiteout, leave all you know behind.
To know it all is not to know that we forge into future blind.
We must take each moment as it comes, mind awake and wide.
We are the universe and the universe is us, from ourselves we cannot hide
— Julie Ann Holder
I am just landing back into my little bird’s nest apartment in Bellingham, after a weekend of guiding a Fast and Light Mountaineering course out the Ptarmigan Arm at the foot of the Park Glacier on Kulshan. As the cosmic joke goes, weeks of sunshine in Washington dissolved into thick fog, clouds, and moisture over the weekend. In light of this obscurity of the landscape, we decided to continue and allow the learning experience to be what it was.
So often, when everything goes right, we fail to see the lesson in it. Hopefully, we are aware enough of the power in these places to offer gratitude for our smooth and safe passage, but the teachings are surely more subtle; whispers.
Walking into a whiteout, however, offers a teaching that is unavoidable; to be where we are, to only move where the way is open; to know and appreciate the value of sight; to listen to the inner dialogue and witness our individual experience with the challenge at hand.
Returning to these lessons this weekend, I felt called to reshare this poem I wrote years ago after a different adventure, that also took place entirely in a cloud. It’s refreshing to acknowledge that our plans are trivial to the mountain; it is the mountain who calls the shots; we are only visiting; we have so much to learn; we are forever the students of these places. And when we decide to wade into discomfort, we may learn more about ourselves than we intend to at the outset.
Whatever adventures you get into this summer season, remember to listen for the lessons. No matter if you accomplish your objectives or never make it to the trailhead, there’s value and learning in all of it.
What an experience….to be a human in this life!
