Two weeks ago I bought a Snowshoe kit. Shoes. Poles. Gaiters. Backcountry.com describes the kit as an entry-level snowshoe kit to help you get out exploring. Perfect.
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
I took them out for a trial run a few days back. I expected to strut around for a few minutes. But once I got the hang of it - I kept on truckin’. Walking through untouched snow is kind of magical in a way that I don’t understand or know how to express in words. It had a bit of a snow-globe feel. It was really something. Also, not a bad cardiovascular exercise if you need to supplement your Peloton rides.
Keep in mind, this activity is at the extreme end of my outdoorsy-ness. I ski and run. I can also sit outside next to a fire. But thats about it.
Since I was outside, alone, in the cold, battling the elements in my LL Bean Maine Hunting Boots, untethered from the hooks of email and social media - I started to drift. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would say that I entered a flow state. Groovy baby.
I imagined I was walking with a purpose. Primitive shit, you know. Like, hunting for a deer. Tracking through the snow. Looking for something to kill and eat. True survivalist stuff. I am a wuss! It’s nice to pretend.
(not me)
For some reason, whenever I am cold and walking through snow (rare) I think back to the crew of Endurance. 28 young men on a boat, led by Ernest Shackleton on a failed voyage across Antartica. They got stuck in an ice floe for over a year. Cut off from everything. It’s 1914. Think about that. It’s basically like being buried alive. How do you not die of boredom?
I read Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Journey by Alfred Lansing a few years ago, but I think about it a lot. Usually during the winter. Always when I am on a boat. It’s my greatest fear realized. Being stuck in the middle of the ocean (frozen). Helpless. Knock, knock, knocking on heavens door.
*Spoiler alert* they all survive. I would give Endurance a read to learn how. I won’t get into the details. All of the men aboard Endurance kept diaries (nothing else to do lol) which were made available to Lansing. Also, most men submitted to interviews for the book. TLDR, it’s a DOOM DIARY.
It reads like nothing I’ve ever read before.
It feels like you are very close to death - a really cold and hungry one.
Not the quick and painless version.
Of course, there are some bright spots. They DO make it home in the end. There are dogs. Card games. Drinking. Dreams of love and sex.
It’s the story of how one nut-bag (Shackleton) led a lot of men through a tender situation.
I usually don’t dig on these survival tales, but this one works.
When I got too far down the path with my snowshoes I turned around. I followed my wide footsteps back to the road. Clicked off my snowshoes and went up the steps into my house. It was warm. And it felt good to be home.
Enjoy the weekend. I hope you get a few hours of uninterrupted time this Saturday or Sunday morning to sit and read something you love. If you have a fireplace. Amazing. I hope you can sit in front of it with a cup of coffee and drift baby. Drift!
What a time to be alive.
Peace and love,
Dan
Great one! Plan on drifting this weekend!