Dear ECS,
Good question honey.
Where am I?
I had only been gone a day or so, and we are chanting on
FaceTime with you back in Addis and me at the Dubai airport. You asked me – “Daddy, where are you?” This was a question I thought about a lot
over the next 10 or so days, for a backcountry ski trip to Kyrgyzstan. I was disconnected from the online world, most importantly by far disconnected from you and your mom for a week or so, which felt like forever to me and forever squared
to your mom as she was solo parenting and a worried about injury and
avalanche.
Kyrgy is a country that I knew little about before the trip
came together via 40 Tribes (http://40tribesbackcountry.com/kyrgyzstan-yurt-based-ski-and-splitboard-tours/). Overall, the country was
more different and exotic than I anticipated – there was a refreshing lack of English
and transliteration in the shops and billboards, for example. Why in this place of relative poverty are
there dozens of jewelry stores in the market, yet the same market that has just
a couple of fresh food stands. That
ratio doesn’t fit in my travel experiences, but I am sure that there is a good reason. Just one that eluded me.
Why Kyrgyzstan?
Well, it is a burgeoning spot for powder skiing, aka the best
skiing. One illustrative example of the excellent
skiing in the 7 days was when a weather system moved in for a couple of days of
“ lightly dumping.” This is the kind of
snow that comes most often in the Karakol valley, near the borders of Kazakhstan
and China. The lightly dumping is a
function of the frigid climate of the central Asia steppe, with very cold temps
and a persistent dryness. It doesn’t snow a lot but the snow that does fall
remains powder for the most part from the surface to the ground, in stark
difference to fresh snow in Colorado, Utah and Tahoe. 20 cms go a long way in the Karakol valley.
The skiing was glorious, mostly wide-open alpine faces,
sometimes steep and sometimes more mellow.
The powder lived up to everything I had hoped for, deep, floating and
very memorable. Getting to spend time
with Uncle James and some new friends was great, we lived in a yurt for the
week, with a wood stove for heat and the coziness of shared experiences. Krgy food was better than I had thought, great
flavors prepared really well by the 40 Tribes head chef, Norbek. It was also fun to earn those turns, as this
was a backcountry trip that had us putting in effect rugs on our skis/snowboards
to go up, sometimes for hours, before switching over to downhill mode and
zipping down snow. There is a satisfaction
that comes from putting in the time, work, and slower pace to take in the beauty
of the mountains.
Being in these mountains many thousands of miles and hours
of flying from our home in Addis, and even farther from America, required quite
a journey. There is the literal journey
of Addis -> Dubai -> Bishkek (on airplanes) -> Karakol (6 hour drive)
-> staging village (hour drive in a Soviet era 4x4 van) -> the ski zone
yurts (6 mile skin to the yurts). Where am i?
How did I get here?
I found myself thinking more about the journey your mom and
I started to build the skills for skiing in the backcountry about ten years
ago. Starting with classes about safe
backcountry travel, and trips to the top of mountains, to huts in the
backcountry, to talking with experts.
Trying to pick up tips and best practices. This trip was a nice validation for your dad
on that front, I felt comfortable in a part of the world I had never really
even contemplated traveling to, because I had my gear and my knowledge and my
friends.
But that deep knowledge is not enough, it is never
enough. You see honey, while I was happy
to be comfy far from my prior areas of familiarity, I was also trying to learn
and soak up as much as I could from the guides, true professionals, and the
other skiers. Their expertise and experience
can be, and was, a fount of new knowledge.
The tweaks could be simple, such as a little adjustment to make the transition
from skinning uphill to skiing downhill faster.
But it was also about more important and consequential things, observing
group dynamics and snow pack. What I
hope is that you embrace this kind of lifelong learning. I grant that lifelong learning is much easier
when it is in your passions, like skiing is for me. But we should try to bring that curiosity to
everything we do, as best we can.
One last thought that kept coming into my mind up there in
the mountains was embracing the moment. With the skinning:skiing, ratio of roughly
every minute of skinning earning a second of skiing on the downhill, those
skiing moments were precious. This
scarcity makes me want to ski each turn, each run the best I can. But that is not always the case, sadly. From
last week, I have a couple of ski runs I would like to have back, but that
leaves me with more than a dozen with flow.
Skiing, like so many of the best things in life, happens best in a flow
state. I have found that holding on too
tight doesn’t lead to my best flow, and consequently my best turns. You
flow more than I could ever hope for, being 2 years old seems to be great for
flow, especially when combined with your preciousness and curiosity. Keep it up sweetie – embrace that flow. I travel thousands of miles to get to the
flow state that you seemingly inhabit at all times.
Good stuff, keep it up sweetie.
love,
dad
