Facing your limits

Hello Everyone, I've only ever been backcountry skiing once. It was a great experience, and it was satisfying to know that I was fit enough to climb a mountain, and a good enough skier to get back down. There was one part of that day that was especially illuminating about my abilities though.  As we crested the highest point of the mountain and made our way along a narrow ridge to a huge bowl that would be our playground that afternoon, we passsed a couple of skiers preparing to take on a different section of the mountain. The whole time I was up there, along that ridge, I was acutely aware of how high up we were and how steep it was on all sides. The brain knows when the body is in danger, and in those situations you have an alertness that is beyond normal awareness. I was tingling in both excitement and trepidation. But we were there merely to ski the crazy slopes, not the insane ones. We were going steep, they were going off cliffs. When we passed, they were scoping out a path down, communicating with spoters below via walkie talkie. As mentioned, I am a fan of adventure sports and the films made thereof. And I've written recently about the thrill of seeing a place from those movies in person. That's what this was, I was seeing people preparing to ski lines I'd only seen in film. And in that moment, I realized fully that I would never be able to do that. It wasn't really a sad realization. I was happy with the level of skiing we managed. It was more like "So, this is what it's like. Huh, welp, that's beyond me." I had a similar experience today. Arthur and I were doing our, by now regular, 2 hour grind up a mountain when we came across a road gap jump. This is a feature of downhill biking that is just what it sounds like. A steep section of trail, leading to a ramp that shoots the rider over and across a road, then down to a steep landing on the far side. I've seen a few of these in video, but seeing one in person was illuminating. The height of the ramp, distance to cross the road, and the landing was quite a sight. And just like being on top of that mountain, a similar thought came to mind: "Nope." Wes 

Photos

The first is of the road gap jump I mentioned. 

The second is of Arthur and a doppelganger we met the other day.