The Top Of The Mountain

Those at the top of the mountain didn't fall there.  Author unknown.

Yesterday was the first of a series of ski tours I am leading for my local mountaineering club during the winter of 2011/2012. I thought long and hard about putting these tours on the schedule, all of which are designed to be more physically and technically difficult than the regular tours on the schedule. There is no doubt that doing any tour as a club trip versus as a casual tour with friends increases both your stress level and the amount of preparatory work you have to do, while taking longer.

After giving the matter lots of thought, I worked out that the real reason I was hesitating was because I would be pushing myself out of my comfort envelope to a degree. Much like getting out of bed early on a cold winter morning, staying cocooned in our habits is comfortable.

Being a trip leader, at least a good trip leader, involves carefully planning a route that is as safe as possible given the current conditions, planning for contingencies, screening participants so that the obviously incapable do not come, but at that the same time taking people who will do well with a little coaching, navigating and route-finding during the day, coaching the weaker folks, while holding back the stronger folks, and, finally, making a never-ending series of constant, small but consequential decisions throughout the day. All of this while empowering people on the trip so that they don't feel led around by the nose, but also don't unknowingly stray into hazardous terrain or circumstances. Clearly, going with one or two friends is much easier.

But, if life were all easy we would seldom appreciate its rewards.

Group on top of the second summit of the day