Skiing uphill might be the mother of all aerobic sports; you’re chuffing along (typically at altitude) and because you’re relying on both your legs and arms – and not suffering the pounding of running – your legs fatigue slowly, making it entirely possible you’ll throw up long before your legs force you to stop.
Snow Falling on Wally
And yes, XC-skiing is like fly fishing (remember, everything’s like fly fishing); you’re deeply immersed in something requiring focus. The world recedes a little, and with luck all your daily hassles disappear into the rhythm of whatever it is you’re doing (skiing or casting or maybe throwing up).
Still – and despite all the stories we tell – fly fishing doesn’t involve much real suffering, but anyone from the upper midwest/upstate New York will tell you suffering’s an essential component of living and being (though they’d never use those words).
It’s common knowledge that residents of the frozen states who move to Florida eventually lose their ability to appreciate beauty, the sad and inevitable result of denying themselves the suffering of winter (which pretty much explains why xc-skiers know how to appreciate the heck out of beauty).
And yes, if a fly fisherman doesn’t suffer at least a little in the winter, you’ll suffer a lot once the backcountry lakes and streams open up and you’re dragging your larded, non-beauty-appreciating butt up some mountainside.
Because I want to fish a few backcountry spots this year – and the Upper Sac’s seriously blown out – I skied up an unplowed road this afternoon, putting in a good three miles uphill, Wally the Wonderdog trotting alongside (at least during those rare moments when he wasn’t trying to crash me by getting in front and stopping).
At this point, Wally the Wonderdog has been snoring away on the couch pretty much all evening (don’t tell the L&T), no doubt dreaming of crashing me again tomorrow, though a couple late client meetings render that unlikely. Still, he lives in hope.
See you sprawled on the snow, Tom Chandler.
Technorati Tags: xc-skiing, skiing, fly fishing, wally the wonderdog, beauty, suffering
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Does standing, well, fishing, not just standing, in a steelhead river in the rain until you can’t feel your feet improve your ability to appreciate beauty? That seems to be on the right track, at least. Jim Ferguson(Quote)
Glad to hear you are getting some more snow, Tom. And, of course, Wally looks fine as ever. I won’t say a thing about the couch. More photos of the Wonderdog! Kentucky Jim(Quote)
I’d say that qualifies. So much more to fishing, and fishermen than what meets the eye.
@TOM: Cross Country skiing will certainly make you appreciate beauty more, but I’d have to say it’s great that you have a dog like Wally to cruise around with you too, even it he does try to wreck you sometimes. My lab does the same thing only with the snow blower. She likes to sit in front of it so it keeps me on my toes. Currently she is sitting at a cupboard door in front of me scratching the hell out of it. She knows there are treats on the other side but she’s had more than her fair share, damn puppy eyes. Benjamin Rioux(Quote)
It’s a start, but it barely holds a candle to things that truly fine-tune your appreciation for beauty – like shoveling snow, digging some moron’s car out of a snowy ditch, trying to piece together the mailbox after being obliterated by the snowplow (for the fifth time), wondering when your skin is ever going to feel the sun – that kind of stuff.
I think every theological scholar is with me on this one: fly fishing simply doesn’t involve enough suffering (if any) to achieve any real state of grace. I couldn’t say it if wasn’t true. Tom Chandler(Quote)
This post is being considered for The Sacramento Bee’s roundup of regional blogs, which appears in Forum, the Sunday commentary section.
If you have questions (or you DON’T want your blog post considered for inclusion in the newspaper column), contact me at greed@sacbee.com
Gary Reed
Forum Editor Gary Reed(Quote)
Once again, Wally the Wonderdog proves to be the Underground’s real media star. At some point, I’m going to give up and simply name the blog after him (“Wally’sWorld.com”). Tom Chandler(Quote)
Anybody else think Gary ought to chance his email address? With what the print boys are going through and all . . . Suburban Aggie(Quote)
I worked on newspapers. Even back then – before Craigslist gutted the classified ad revenue stream and staff “reductions in force” were a weekly event – it was hard work, though something you could generally be proud of at the end of the day.
That newspapers need an overhaul is pretty clear. What’s less clear is what everybody stories everybody will be sourcing when only a few papers are left standing. Tom Chandler(Quote)