#48 Embracing the Uncomfortable
Spring in the Adirondacks
This winter has been particularly cold in the North East, apparently the ice in the Catskills was better this year than it’s been in a long time. The quality of ice climbing is always a good indicator of sustained cold. (Sadly I did not partake) While ice climbing was all time, surfing this winter was awful (and not just because of the cold) because of the complete lack of waves. Very few chances to suffer through the the brain freezing shore break even if you wanted to. And that wraps up Amateurs Mag 2025 winter weather coverage.
But that brings us to the conversation of how to survive winter. Usually by this time I’m so sick of the cold I want nothing to do with it, but this year I embraced winter - if you can’t beat them join them tactics. I went skiing for the first time in years and then a few weeks ago headed to the Adirondacks for some winter hiking.
In a twisted turn of events after heading deep into the Adirondack high peaks ready to suffer we instead experienced unreal weather (50 degrees and sunny.) Even on the top of Gothics at 4,700 feet we were still just in base layers, sitting behind a rock, out of the wind, eating PB&J, soaking up the sun.
And this is when I realized that no matter how hard you try to make the best of uncomfortable weather it’s still a lot nicer when the sun is out, it’s 50 degrees, and you can get out of the wind.
That PB&J was one of the top 10 lunches of my life.
And then on further reflection I realize that with out the acceptance of uncomfortable weather and situations it’s impossible to experience the true joy of everything lining up perfectly - Sitting on a rock on top of a mountain with your friend, letting the sun warm you, looking out at countless snow covered peak, sharing a sandwich, not having seen another person for hours - that’s as good as it gets.
As we get older and busier and more beat down by the horrors of the modern world it’s important to remember to say yes to winter, to the cold, and to suffering because you never know when the sun might come out on top of a mountain.
And some links
The Finisher : Jasmin Paris - Documentary about the first women finisher of the Barkley Marathon. She was one of 5 finishers in 2024. This year there were no finishers.
King of Moab - Documentary about Max Jolliffe (spoiler) winning the Moab 240 in 2024. Other than the skating (can’t every 30 year old from southern California do a kickflip) to the liquor store part in the beginning I thought this doc was well made and fun to watch, and he is a total bad ass, insane, and seemingly very humble person.
Ty Andrews: 9 Hours on Manaslu - Documentary of Ty attempting a FKT on Manaslu the 8th highest mountain in the world. Ty also just announced he will be attempting a FKT on Everest and FSP made made a custom bag for him for the Everest attempt this summer.
Such great photos ✮⋆˙