It was 1:00 AM, dark and cold. The air was calm and my headlamp on my climbing helmet lit my first steps off the solid ground onto the Nisqually Glacier at Camp Muir at 10,000 feet. I was leading one of two rope teams on our way to the summit of Mount Rainier at 14,410 feet. The remaining 4,410 feet would take us hours traversing a glacier, an ice fall and over long, steep, sloped fields of snow. We took double breaths for each step upward as we tried to get as much oxygen into our lungs as possible at the high altitude. We needed to be on the summit by 7:00 AM.
I had made this trek three times before; the first time we were in a cloud and knew we were on the summit because we could not go any higher and found the summit register that the National Park Service has placed in a small weather-proof container.
Summit attempts are started at Camp Muir – a base camp at 10,000 feet – in the early hours of the morning, in the dark. You want to reach the summit shortly after sunrise. This way coming back down, you are back at Camp Muir before the sun starts melting the snow surface and glacial ice, making things unstable and dangerous. By leaving early with a small team, we were able to get ahead of the commercial guide service hauling up people in multiple lines of rope teams. We were two small rope teams of four each and we moved along quickly.
Walking across a glacier on a rope team, each person is secured to the line about 30 or so feet apart, in case any one of the team fell through the surface into a hidden crevasse. Many times, you can’t see a crevasse, as it could be covered by a thin layer of snow. If that happened, all the team would immediately go into self-arrest to prevent the whole team being swallowed into a deep crevasse. Our concentration was intense and focused; we were in the moment and could not let our minds wander off the task at hand – getting safely across the glacier. We were present, in the moment.
We can find ourselves “in the moment” either by choice or happenstance. When I was a member of our local volunteer fire department in Wisconsin, we were fighting a house fire. I led a hose team down a set of stairs into the basement, with a lieutenant behind me. We had zero visibility even though we had helmet lights. As I passed though the doorway in the basement room, I was focused, and I was relying on my training and equipment. I had the hose nozzle set on a wide dispersal setting and I could feel and hear the fire all around me. I had this strange feeling to get out, and I landed a sharp elbow to the side of the lieutenant behind me to backup. As soon as we cleared the doorway, the whole first floor living room came crashing down into the basement. I was “in the moment” in that situation for sure.
Two things have me recalling these moments. First, I was able to take some boxes of old color slides and convert them into digital files. The process of converting the slides was an incredible trip down memory lane to places and times that have been lurking in the background and brought forward by the images. It is amazing what old photos can unlock in memories. The second is a quote by Sean Tucker, a world champion aerobatic pilot, on what flying does for him.
“What I love so much about flying
Is it puts you in the present.
You’re not thinking about paying your bills.
You’re not thinking about what’s going on.
You’re elevated above all the problems on Earth.
Right now.
Right here.
And you’re living there the whole time you’re flying.”
You don’t have to be a pilot in the sky to be in the moment, in the present, you just need to give whatever is going on your full, undivided attention. It could be a task at hand or a conversation with someone. We are so used to putting so many things in our lives that happen at the same time. We take pride in multi-tasking, but really, we could be cheating ourselves of something special by not being present and in the moment. As we enter the holiday season and all the extra busy activities we find ourselves doing, I have a challenge for you.
Go and be present, in the moment. See how it feels, and hopefully it will be rewarding. It will be a present that is good to give and welcome to receive.
