It had been an epic climb, if short, and ranked as one of my more exciting solo adventures. I've always said that adventures are often not much fun while they are happening, and this one had passed without my being able to enjoy it much, as it was closer to the definition of survival than recreation. As I quickly hiked back down the lower ridge in the ever-present but slowly decelerating wind, I could not help but experience the revelation that this climb was the story of my life; that throughout my life I've deliberately put myself into difficult, unwise situations through poor judgement or stubbornness, then had to fight, struggle and persevere just in order to get myself back to a level playing field from where I could move on and learn from my mistakes.
Reaching the car around suppertime with one empty water bottle, one frozen one and a frozen face, I drove three miles down Highway 16 to Pocohontas store, comfortable out of the wind even though the temperatures would still drop to minus 30 degrees that night. I drank a liter of bottled water in about thirty seconds, folded down the front seat of the car into a bed, laid out my Canadian Armed Forces Arctic sleeping bag, crawled in and slept like a baby for eleven hours, before waking up early the next morning, scraping a quarter inch of frozen condensation off the inside of the car windows, and driving the three hours back home. Life was good.
Reaching the car around suppertime with one empty water bottle, one frozen one and a frozen face, I drove three miles down Highway 16 to Pocohontas store, comfortable out of the wind even though the temperatures would still drop to minus 30 degrees that night. I drank a liter of bottled water in about thirty seconds, folded down the front seat of the car into a bed, laid out my Canadian Armed Forces Arctic sleeping bag, crawled in and slept like a baby for eleven hours, before waking up early the next morning, scraping a quarter inch of frozen condensation off the inside of the car windows, and driving the three hours back home. Life was good.
