One Journey Through
A World of Stories
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
- Joseph Campbell
A week in Ouray, CO with the Colgate Outdoor Education crew.
If you are more of a watcher than a reader, check this video and maybe just scroll through the pics ; )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7i2lpvkoA8
1/15/2016
Welcome to Ouray
After a week of high adventure, it is midnight and I now sit in the Denver airport, with 5 hours to kill before my flight back to NY. I am dog tired, but instead of trying to sleep on this floor, I would rather reflect on one of the best weeks of my life.
This trip solidified a few things for me. For starters it solidified my love for climbing. Not just the pursuit of vertical movement, but for the environment and atmosphere that surround it.
Colorado was easily one of the most breathtaking places I have been: the snow tipped Rockys rising in all directions, the small towns nestled into valleys surrounded by craggy giants, and of course the epic frozen waterfalls and gullies speckled throughout the backcountry. It was the interaction with this natural environment that first drew me in, but I think what gives climbing the staying power of a life-long pursuit is the community.
This trip reinforced the feeling I already had, that the climber community is filled with the most open and friendly people I know. Everyday, whether in the Ouray Ice Park, or the CO backcountry, I met fellow climbers, out seizing the day, enduring cold, and conquering fear, all with welcoming smiles on their faces. I spoke with the full range of beginner to pro, local to international, young and old climbers, and I don’t remember once feeling anything less than immediate acceptance and interest.
How are the biggest names in climbing so damn approachable?! While getting geared up at the bottom of a climb in the backcountry, up walked La Sportiva athlete Karsten (http://www.karstendelap.com/about-me/). Like so many of the best climbers I have met, Karsten was down to earth, easy going, and humble. I would not have known that he was a sponsored athlete except for the full body Sportiva outfit and his soon to be obvious climbing prowess. As we climbed something on the left side of a gully, Karsten lead up a huge rocky waterfall known as Killer Pillar. It was inspiring to watch his methodical gait as he danced his way up the vertical giant; even in the face of huge falls that would injure or worse, Karsten kept his cool, shaking out his forearms calmly whenever the pump started creeping up on him. After the climb I congratulated him and made sure it was cool that I took a few pictures. Not only was it cool with Karsten, but he said if any of them turned out, he would send them along to his sponsor!
A few days later I was in the ice park and Karsten walked by with another Sportiva athlete. Naturally I struck up a conversation with the two of them and came along to see them climb. As Karsten lead up a gnarly face of rock, balancing precariously with crampons and picks scratching out micro cracks and edges, Anna (http://www.sportiva.com/ambassadors/athletes/alpine-climbing/anna-pfaff) told me how she began her climbing career. For her it had begun dirt-bagging in Yosemite, climbing tall stuff and interacting with the older generation of beastly climbers. After getting comfortable with many hours spent dangling from ropes, Anna began seeking the alpine environment of Patagonia. Now she travels to Pakisan every year and pursues alpine objectives in the Himalayas.
Anna and I talked about why climbing is so alluring: the intensity of the bodily exertion, the tranquil beauty of the landscape, the meditation in mindful movement, the symbolic importance of the journey, and of course, the wonderful community of motivated and aware people. Anna was far above my pay grade, but she let me photograph her climbing and then talked to me at length about why she does what she does, how she got there, and even listened to my story and my thoughts about the future. She also told me that she was a nurse and tried to work a few shifts a month, even though she knows she could just climb full time. Anna embodied the “follow your dreams” mindset and further inspired me to try to find a balance of self-fulfillment and more communal service.
Another inspiring man I met was named Tway. I walked past Tway in Camp Bird, an old mine-turned climbing spot by locals. As I jogged along the path to warm up my numb toes, I ran into Tway taking pictures of some climbers. Like most of these conversations, I don’t remember how this one began, but I know that I could have said almost anything and it would have been received with a smiling response. After displaying my interest in photography and asking Tway how he had come to be there, he quickly began telling me his story. After undergrad, Tway had immediately jumped into the world of banking and finance. After 8 years working up the corporate ladder, he realized that a six-figure salary was not all that he aspired to. Tway quit his job and travelled Asia for 8 months, during which he found his love for photography, travel and the great outdoors. Upon his return to the states Tway picked up a recruiting job because that was what society told him he needed, monetary security. He quickly realized that he had jumped back into the same rat-race that he had left. Again he quit his job and decided that he would try to take a path that brought him fulfillment during the 9-5 hours instead of something that just paid the bills. Now he stood before me, building a portfolio, attempting to make his way in the adventure/outdoor photography industry.
Tway’s story resonated with me because I think so many people feel the social/familial/monetary pressure to follow the status quo and take the well-trodden path of undergrad -> grad school or job -> career, and never have time to really explore their personal interests, and thus wake up down the road and realize that they aren’t doing what they want. Tway, Anna, Karsten and other inspiring people I met during this week further solidified my feeling that academia and desk jobs are not for everyone. Their stories reinforced the idea that there are other ways to make it in this world; other paths that I must explore.
