[at-l] thoughts on many of the past week's posts

[icw at esisnet.com (Clark Wright)]

Well, here goes a smorgasboard of thoughts sparked by my digesting of a 
number of recent AT-L digests:

1)  Thanks again to Ryan for all he does - hope the virus/spam is 
slowing down again.  Let's all try to be virus-free and protect our 
e-maila ddresses in order to help protect AT-L and Ryan's great 
backcountry.net website.

2)  Living/dying "well" . . . some might say this is OT; I think it is 
major ON topic - the AT does magical things (in terms of living well) to 
most of us who experience her in loonnggg doses . . . I have found great 
sparks of truth in almost all the recent posts - Shane's thoughts echoed 
mine in many ways, but I disagree that if you end up in a hospital bed 
on meds that you have necessarily screwed up along the way.  BUT, his 
more fundamental points are to not only live life large, but also to 
find a way, a place and a perspective from which to REALLY try and 
submerge yourself into the utterly staggering, awesome, and infinite 
POWER of the natural world that surrounds us - where nature is both 
aesthetically beautiful, and also beautiful in her unyielding rule that 
some must die so that the circle of life can go on.  Suzie and Kelly 
rightly point out that every second of every life, no matter where we 
find ourselves, is an opportunity to LIVE and - when the time comes - to 
die as well as we can.  Like others, I have been with loved ones, 
stricken with cancer, Alzheimers and other diseases, where the end was 
not what I wanted it to be . . . but there can be much life in those 
last months and years, and often times the hardest thing is for people 
like us - who (at least occasionally) live life large and are attracted 
to the infinite, powerful, always full-of-live natural world - to take 
that perspective and provide sparks of LIFE in the hospital or nursing 
room where we have the opportunity to spend time with those we love who 
have lost their physical freedom . . . I know this is rambling on, but I 
would also observe that I believe one reason I am so attracted to 
Shane's eloquence on this issue is my own fear of going some other way. 
  Anyhow, I believe, with all my heart and soul, that there is room for 
each of us to live life large, whether it be in a final confrontation 
with nature, or on a battlefield, or in a firey auto crash, or in a 
septic hospital room, or in our own bed at home . . . the true test of 
our courage, and our oath to LIFE, will come for each of us - not just 
once (when we ourselves leave this physical realm), but in the many, 
many slices of others' lives as they approach the end, and seek our 
touch, our love, and our ability to help them LIVE the final moments of 
their own lives . . .

3)  Western Mountaineering is a great down bag maker, as is Feathered 
Friends.  I have a 20-year old FF bag - still going warm - just washed 
it in the bath tub last month (you should have seen that black water!!) 
and took it to Mt. LeConte this past weekend . . . was toasty warm in 
single digit weather, in the shelter, with the wind blowing . . .

4)  It cannot be repeated too often - get into something dry next to 
your skin ASAP after a day of hiking in cold weather.

5)  Re driving in snow and ice - it is extremely difficult to be "good 
at it" these days, with so many different vehicle drivetrain set-ups out 
there . . . front wheel drive; rear wheel drive; full-time four wheel 
drive; computer aided skid resistant systems; and 4x4 pickup trucks. 
The latter can be the most dangerous of all . . . also, the multiple 
differences in braking systems can fool you . . . what you should do 
with older braking systems (i.e. use light pressure and gradually try to 
reduce speed) is very different from what you should do with a 
state-of-the-art ABS system (i.e., slam on the sucker as quick and hard 
as you can, and let the computer do the rest).  Also, the multiple 
differences in transmissions adds further confusion . . . manual, vs 
automatic, vs electronic gizmo automatics . . .

With all of the above in mind, the main thing is to really get to know 
your own car . . . this sounds silly, but I learned more about driving 
in snow and ice while joy-riding in a snow-covered, empty parking lot as 
a teenager than I could ever learn from reading or listening to others. 
  Unfortuantely, we rarely get the chance to practice skidding around! :)

6)  Sounds like the SORUCK was an awesome time - keep posting on those 
and - someday - I will manage to get to one! :)

7)  By this weekend, I should have posted on backcountry.net my usual 
"photographic trip report" re this past weekends's snow/ice 
Smokies/LeConte adventure - happy viewing!

Thru-Thinker