High Sierra Topix

I used to get very excited at the first snowfall of the year and could not wait until Winter came. Now it seems the older I get the more I miss Summer and this time of year as it starts getting colder and the days are shorter I start thinking of all the trips and lakes and peaks that I couldn't squeeze into my Summer and I get bummed a bit. I do enjoy Winter but come March I start itching for the snow to melt! Anyone else feel this way or maybe Vice Versa and you cannot wait for Summer to end and the snow to start piling up?

I think that feeling is exacerbated by the relatively short summer season we just had this year, so yes, spring/summer cannot get here soon enough, but as you do get older, it also means, another year has gone by, it also seems to speed up as one gets older, bringing one closer to mortality.

Summer or Winter, all it changes is what gear I carry, plans sometimes become shorter in Winter, and how I watch the weather after the end of Summer changes a bit. Time is moving faster as I age.

Watched my friend John pack for our last trip 4 times (he still thinks he's 22 but he's 52.) That 64lb pack wasn't gonna work. Paul and I had him empty his pack at Tioga Lake campground and Paul and I voted on what to take/not to take. It was a struggle, but we took 18 lbs out of his pack.

Not sure I get the mortality thing, as it is just a cycle of life. Personally, I don't want to die in the shower, or t-boned by a driver on the cell phone on some stupid rush to recharge the phone. Up in the mountains, It'd be pretty much on my actions.

I did use all my clothes on the last trip in late September, which makes me happy; I wasn't cold.

It is good to have hope, plans, and dreams that excite one as to their future. Beyond the prime of life, some of us have learned how to enjoy at least some of our leisure hours during all seasons each year and thus are content to allow the months to flow by as they do. So no for at least a couple decades have been content the way seasons pass.

The perception of time is somewhat logarythmic as we age.

Wikipedia snippet:

Psychologists have found that the subjective perception of the passing of time tends to speed up with increasing age in humans...
One day to an 11-year-old would be approximately 1/4,000 of their life, while one day to a 55-year-old would be approximately 1/20,000 of their life. This helps to explain why a random, ordinary day may therefore appear longer for a young child than an adult. The short-term time appears to go faster by square root of their age. So a year experienced by a 55-year-old would pass approximately 2¼ times more quickly than a year experienced by an 11-year-old. If long-term time perception is based solely on the proportionality of a person's age, then the following four periods in life would appear to be quantitatively equal: age 5 to 10 (1x), age 10 to 20 (2x), age 20 to 40 (4x), age 40 to 80 (8x).

And, to add to these cheery observations, keep in mind the fact that improved nutrition and medical care have extended human life span, so you'll have that much longer to debate how much gear you want to drag into the hills. And, to pick up on a nearby thread, as your memory slips, you can forget more of that gear (and lighten your load), every time you break camp, or take a water break. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing all those aging boomers crawling around the Sierra the next couple decades! Cameron

When I was young, summers seemed to last forever. So did the school year, for that matter. I tend to get a bit depressed on the day clocks are turned back. Or rather, when Microsoft turns my clocks back. It stays that way through the holidays. Once the new year hits, I spring more into life. The desert starts calling and that feeds me until the high country opens up.

Don't understand the issue! Let's see I'm in the north cascades the rest of the month, Mexico in November, home in December for cross country skiing, and on days over 40 degrees, fishing for Kokanee and bull trout thru may, except my wife wants to go to Hawaii sometime during the winter, planning a NW Kokanee quest in late may-early June, then a week with grandkids at a lake near bend, two more weeks in the north cascades, after that a week of fishing in Alaska, back home for a few days then my annual Sierra trip, home for a few days, and then a road trip with my wife, probably visiting the canyons on the east side of the Sierra with lots of day hikes. Heck maybe extend the trip and do our annual trip to Mexico right after that and not even come home til December! Retirement is a b!tch!

Hey "SNOOOOOOW," you're going to have to change your handle to "SUUUUUUN!" Glad to hear you are enjoying the entire year now. I must admit to heading in your former direction, though not so much for the downhill rush that you enjoy, but more for the white world of solitude. Hope to see you up around Carson Pass this year for a Tele lesson.
"Old Ranger," your life now (in what decade are you?) sounds very like my life through my 20's.
What a life! There are a lot of similarities, even down to the fishing in Alaska- which I sometimes used to fund the rest of the year's travels. Are your adventures multiplying as you get older... and freer? That's our dream too, but first we'll have to shed some teenagers- Ryan just turned 18 yesterday!

And Russ, I reckon there's nothing wrong with getting "t-boned by a truck" as long as you're coming back from a Sierra trip, and not on the way there? I want my end to something quick and decisive like that truck ... not doddering about the hospital's drooling ward.

[/quote]

Harlen wrote:Hey "SNOOOOOOW," you're going to have to change your handle to "SUUUUUUN!" Glad to hear you are enjoying the entire year now. I must admit to heading in your former direction, though not so much for the downhill rush that you enjoy, but more for the white world of solitude. Hope to see you up around Carson Pass this year for a Tele lesson.

[/quote]


HAHA. I will definitely be out on my splitboard near Carson Pass but after reading your posts I am not sure I can keep up

My favorite decade was in the 80s when I alternated between being a backcountry ranger and working at ski areas. Now in my 8th decade there are a few things I can no longer do (eg. ski the dragon chutes at Mammoth) and what I can do takes a hell of a lot longer. Thankfully we were both quite conservative in our lifestyle and retirement investments that we have the time and resources to do mostly what we want to do. I did give up the one item on my bucket list (hiking in Pategonia) to buy a used fishing boat which I use many more days than I could have experienced in Pategonia. Anyhow now that I have the time my abilities are diminishing--but I'm not ready to give up backpacking yet.