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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
Don’t Forget to Look Around
The River Boulders, Redstone, CO, yesterday.
I’m sitting at my computer, sipping coffee, while George Winston plays in the background, with a hood pulled over my head and low lying clouds clinging to the mountains outside. There’s fresh snow above 12,000′, and the hill sides are draped in a yellow gold that seems to radiate its own light. Plus, I climbed in jeans yesterday, so that can mean only one thing: fall is here!
What is it about this time of year that pulls at my soul? Is it the impossibly blue sky? The angle of the sun, as the light starts to soften, giving everything a kinder glow for more of the day? The sense that there aren’t many of these days left in the year, making them all the more precious?
Or is it the colors? The mountainsides alight with a golden fire, as if to remind us that, yes, winter is coming, and it will be cold, and dark and lonely. But don’t forget this brilliant show of life, because just like winter comes every year, so does the spring, and life will be renewed again.
Maybe it’s the perfect weather, the warm days, the cool nights, the friction that is starting to feel oh-so-good after a long, hot summer. (I have seriously noticed that I’m chalking less and less.) It’s a time of year that I find myself starting off into the distance often, just contemplating the beauty that surrounds us, and what it all means.
For many climbers, September and October are self imposed “times to send,” but I feel like that robs the season of some of it’s glory. Go out and enjoy the climbing, of course, but don’t forget to look around when you do clip those chains. What you see might take your breath away, even more so than the route you just climbed.
5 Responses to Don’t Forget to Look Around
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Ahh, my favorite season. I grew up in CO, but it’s been 15 years since I experienced a CO fall. Thanks for the perfect description of the sky and the sun angle and sharing a photo of the leaves. Sigh.
Climb on,
Julie
We spent today dodging the rain in Independence Pass, climbing when we could and enjoying the views you described so well when we couldn’t. We often stopped and turned around to take in the scenery, then pinched ourselves to be sure it was real.
Great post.
John
Thanks John!
I love when the leaves turn red … like little points on the branches … like little red points … red points? Redpoints! THE ONLY THINGS I CARE ABOUT NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!WHYYYYYYYYYYY????????????????????
This could be a problem…