Mentorship and Inspiration

Yesterday I skied with two buddies on Mt. Tumalo in the Oregon Cascades.  It was a striking blue bird day, with unimpeded
views of the snow covered Three Sisters.  This ski tour was a second reunion of the Blackburn, Schmidt, Cam spring mountain trio.  Last year around this time we boot packed our skis up to the snow line at the base of Three-Fingered Jack for an awesome descent down the East Ridge.  We have been blessed with loads of snow this year, so we played the safe approach game and went to Tumalo instead.

This picture is iconic for two of the features.  First, is one of my best buddies Benny is featured in the foreground.  The second, is the middle peak in the background - Middle Sister, or "Hope".  Back in 2009, Benny and I were between our Junior and Senior years of college, waiting for fires to burn the Oregon Forests so we could have summer work... an unusual quandary.  So we filled our packs with gear for a three day trip into the Three Sisters wilderness.  Our goal was to camp at a lake near the base of Hope the first night.  We hiked through the afternoon, found the lake, and established our camp under a scraggly weathered tree, ten feet from the edge of a 100 ft. cliff.  That night after dinner, we sat on the edge and watched the sunset slowly over the western Cascades, with Hope beaming in the alpenglow behind us.  It was an ethereal experience, and my first true backpacking overnight.

The next day, we rose with the sun as is peaked over the mountain, and began our trek to the summit.  Shortly after reaching treeline, we lost the trail and scrambled our way over large boulders to the summit scree-covered summit ridge.  The summit climb took longer because we lost the trail, and we were tired and hungry on top.  Benny had forgotten his snacks back at camp and I traded a bit of our meager rations for a cigarette on the summit - wow, how times have changed!  As we descended the mountain, hungry and parched, we glissaded down the western Renfrew glacier for over a mile.  The glacier was steep enough, and out boots just long enough to act as skis.  Luckily, the August snowpack hadn't revealed any crevasses.  I don't think I knew about crevasses at that point anyway.

We made it safely back to camp that night and back to Eugene the next day.  Looking back on this trip - thanks to Benny for being the brains and motivator of the idea - it was an extremely formative experience. People are the motivators and initiators of great ideas.  Mountains, lakes, cliffs, and alpine wildlife bring us back to a feeling of security, centeredness and humility, but people are the motivators, and mentorship is the relationship that buds growth and viability in the backcountry.  Many of us have played to role of mentoring and teaching in the outdoors, and all of us have played the role of learner.  Friendships grow stronger, and learning about ourselves and our purpose on Earth become more visible, when the mentor/mentee relationship is dynamic between friends, and over time.  My friendship with Benny has taken this path over the last ten years as our lives always reconnect.  We have taught each other the benefit of mutual inspiration, and I owe it to him the importance this interdependence has played in the trajectory of my life since that trip.