"A Very Different Kind Of Summit Moment..."

It was not a major route, yet still a summit we have scrambled to many times over, called Mt. Fairview, for very good reasons. We again enjoyed being embraced on all sides by mountains and memories from seasons past... This summit has much space for the many who share it on any sunny summer day; even space to spread apart as many do for those quiet moments up there...

After some shared joy, food, and water, I wandered forward on the exposed ridge to a spot where I often sit and muse and share warmth with the rocks. Out at that point though, I could see another adventurer who had reached this high point before us... He had his face resting on his hands, arms resting upon his knees, as he sat looking towards the west... Not wanting to disturb I almost turned away, but he noticed me, then smiled, and waved me over...

His smile has a sad sense to it though and I could see his eyes also glistened with a moisture as mine often do as well up here. It seemed he was just ending a quiet moment and was readying himself to head back down... "Just visiting", he said... A way I often describe my journeys as well...

And then we shared a very different kind of summit moment... He began telling me his story by saying this day he had returned to again visit this special place, as some years ago a small amount of ashes had been given over to the winds there... A few ashes of another whom he had shared much of his life with...

This had been one of their very first of many wild place adventures, journeys to high places, and distant lands, that were to become so much a part of their joined path...

Yet as with many of our shared trails, it had come to an unexpected close... A so difficult ending he had struggled hard with and remains so very difficult for him to accept he said. Yet by his returning to some of their summits, this seemed to help him come to understand the loss, what had happened, and is now a part of the process of remembering and cherishing all of what they did have together...

It was no surprise that with two strangers meeting we still shared this kind of moment together. I have found that adventurers often inherently connect in such ways. I was so very humbled in listening to the story of their lives together, of their love, the high points, and the depths of his loss... I hope I sensed the value of the meanings given to me within their story, ones I hope I never forget... The remainder of the brief time up there had us each listening to the quiet sound of the wind, and I couldn't, nor didn't want to stop my own tears that came and went...

I later watched him head off and descend the mountain by himself... but he was not alone by any means.....

DSD