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Hard things are hard (and worth it)
posted by John : May 26, 2021
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If you want to go down
You have to go up. (And lifts are aid.)
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. (JFK, September 12, 1962)
Yes. I quoted (actually paraphrased) this to the boy as we climbed the steep, snow covered slopes with Tinkham. There was a bit of whining and deep breathing. Don't get me wrong. HOS was fine, but these months of less-than-usual activity has left me more out of shape than normal. So I talked to him as an excuse to stop and rest. (Pro-tip: Bring a camera. Every time you stop you're only doing so to take a picture.)
We weren't going far, but we were going up. Up enough to have a decent glissade down and practice using our ice axes where the runout was safe. For it to be any fun on the way down, it had to be hard on the way up. But it would be worth it. Right?
At 14, suffering for the future is a hard lesson to learn. I'm sure I hadn't learned to embrace the suck by that age. If/when the kids figure this out, they'll be a leg up when it comes time to elect to save money, study instead of party, and climb big mountains with me.
Who said hiking was a waste of time?
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