Texture

Out in the hills I am constantly blown away by the grandeur and vastness around me. I often come home with photos of stunning landscapes and distant horizons. These views inspire and motivate me to go higher and further.

But the mountains are filled with incredible minutiae as well. The textures of the rocks and ice, the detail with which a flower or a lizard is decorated are equally incredible.

In climbing terms the minute textures of the rock and the ice tell us where to put our feet for the best friction and where to swing an ice tools for that one-swing-stick. It is interesting, teaching people to climb, how much of this texture they tend to gloss over, to not even see though it is right before their eyes.

I think this is one of those times when climbing holds a life lesson. Our goals and ambitions, our vast landscapes are important, but equally important are those tiny details, the speckles on the newly blooming Indian paintbrush. These details are beauty and inspiration unto themselves as well as important footholds on the way to realizing those more lofty ambitions.