6000 Feet
Miscellaneous
I've had some of my best nights sleep at above 6000 feet in the mountains. Where the atmosphere is thin and I find I can sleep very well on a slim foam pad, my tent pitched near a cold glacial Circ. Dreams seem so accessible when they are dreamed in a place nearly touching the stars. The night's sounds are always friendly and no one is near with the exception of my climbing buddies. This is truly a good nights sleep.
Serving me to sleep well are the day's exertions; climbing into the heavens with a heavy pack or running around the ridges in the high country, looking down into valleys yet unexplored. Just about everything we do at that altitude we do to survive. We filter water, we find good camping, wash if we can and cook in tiny pots our essential daily ration. All of these routine tasks are done with exultation as everywhere we look we see high mountain peeks, deep green heather and ancient baked granite. Many of the things we touch through the course of our chores has never been touched by people before, many of the things we see are seldom seen, everything we do feels unique and enriching, it keeps the heart pumping and frees the soul from the mundane things that occur daily in the lower altitudes. As a result, when it comes time to sleep it's a very welcome respite, and we sleep well.
The high country above 5000 feet is a magical place. This is where trees are stunted and heather is preferred over grass. Not much of either of these things grow here however. The air is thin, the soil non-existent and the wind does as it will. Snow packs deep at this altitude in the winter and hides the tiny lakes and rugged scree. The feeling is that this is a place seldom visited by people or animals, those that come are just moving through, transients on the way to their next valley or new hunting ground. It's the high traverse, special in it's altitude and solitude, rare in it's emptiness. Here is peace and beauty of a grand scale. The simplicity of the high country seems to heighten the senses, clear the mind of chaff and elate the soul. To sleep in the high country is to dream of things yet unseen, look forward rather than back, believe rather than to reconcile. Nights are rejuvenating.
People ask me why I climb mountains expecting an easy short answer. I like to think I do it because that's where I live. Down here my heart beats, my job engages me, my work, friends and family share with me and keep me smiling. But it's up on the mountain that I live really. That's where my perspective on the world was formed, that's where I feel truly free and that's where I find self awareness. Up on the mountain I stop to measure my life, I hold a days work in a single view and I feel accomplishment in all of life's pursuits. If you have to ask why I climb mountains you probably aren't going to understand the answer. If I tell you it's to get a good nights sleep you'll probably think I'm being smug. If I told you because they are there you would feel cheated of a real answer - and you would be. I climb mountains because it is a metaphor for life. We are all climbers and we all will get our day of rest in the high country. I get my best night's sleep there.
I've had some of my best nights sleep at above 6000 feet in the mountains. Where the atmosphere is thin and I find I can sleep very well on a slim foam pad, my tent pitched near a cold glacial Circ. Dreams seem so accessible when they are dreamed in a place nearly touching the stars. The night's sounds are always friendly and no one is near with the exception of my climbing buddies. This is truly a good nights sleep.
Serving me to sleep well are the day's exertions; climbing into the heavens with a heavy pack or running around the ridges in the high country, looking down into valleys yet unexplored. Just about everything we do at that altitude we do to survive. We filter water, we find good camping, wash if we can and cook in tiny pots our essential daily ration. All of these routine tasks are done with exultation as everywhere we look we see high mountain peeks, deep green heather and ancient baked granite. Many of the things we touch through the course of our chores has never been touched by people before, many of the things we see are seldom seen, everything we do feels unique and enriching, it keeps the heart pumping and frees the soul from the mundane things that occur daily in the lower altitudes. As a result, when it comes time to sleep it's a very welcome respite, and we sleep well.
The high country above 5000 feet is a magical place. This is where trees are stunted and heather is preferred over grass. Not much of either of these things grow here however. The air is thin, the soil non-existent and the wind does as it will. Snow packs deep at this altitude in the winter and hides the tiny lakes and rugged scree. The feeling is that this is a place seldom visited by people or animals, those that come are just moving through, transients on the way to their next valley or new hunting ground. It's the high traverse, special in it's altitude and solitude, rare in it's emptiness. Here is peace and beauty of a grand scale. The simplicity of the high country seems to heighten the senses, clear the mind of chaff and elate the soul. To sleep in the high country is to dream of things yet unseen, look forward rather than back, believe rather than to reconcile. Nights are rejuvenating.
People ask me why I climb mountains expecting an easy short answer. I like to think I do it because that's where I live. Down here my heart beats, my job engages me, my work, friends and family share with me and keep me smiling. But it's up on the mountain that I live really. That's where my perspective on the world was formed, that's where I feel truly free and that's where I find self awareness. Up on the mountain I stop to measure my life, I hold a days work in a single view and I feel accomplishment in all of life's pursuits. If you have to ask why I climb mountains you probably aren't going to understand the answer. If I tell you it's to get a good nights sleep you'll probably think I'm being smug. If I told you because they are there you would feel cheated of a real answer - and you would be. I climb mountains because it is a metaphor for life. We are all climbers and we all will get our day of rest in the high country. I get my best night's sleep there.
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