THE WEEKLY #266: THERE’S NEVER A PERFECT MOMENT

After so many years of adventures and trekking, it takes a little bit to get my adrenaline racing. It takes even a little bit more to generate some fear within me. Fear is healthy, it means you are pushing yourself outside of the dreaded comfort zone. Right this second, my adrenaline is on the move and there is indeed a little bit of fear. The good kind. 

I’m currently in the Mashabrum Hotel on the main street in Skardu. This hotel is a hub of activity with climbers, trekkers, and tourists using this hotel as a base for before and after the ventures into the Karakoram Mountain range and surrounding regions. 

Tomorrow I will head off in a Jeep on a bump eight-hour ride. This adventure is a little different from those that have come before it. I’ll be on a three-week expedition attempting to summit Spantik Peak (7,027m). 

Everything about this adventure is new to me. There have been lots of new gear added to the kit like 6000m boots, crampons, ice axes, ropes, and more. The altitude will not only be new but it will be more than 1000m higher than I’ve ever climbed or trekked in my life. Three weeks off-grid will be new. The weather at altitude will be new. How I react to all of these changes will be new as well. I’m interested, afraid, and confident all at the same time about how my body and my mind will react. 

I’ve never wanted to be a person who waited for the perfect time, excellent weather, a convenient period of life, or for all of my friends to be ready. Sometimes when a mate calls you and says are you up for climbing a mountain, you don’t ask anything other than when you need to be there. Life’s too short to wait for the perfect moment. What I’ve learned is that the perfect moment rarely comes and in fact, it often needs to be harnessed, created, and procured through your tenacity and willingness to dive into the unknown. So here I go, the unknown is calling and I’m answering.