Whistler #2: Day 2

Colored Perceptions

By 29029 Everesting

September 25^th, 2022

Into the night

Last night when the sun set behind the mountains, you didn’t. You kept climbing, kept earning checkmarks, and kept branding the ascent board.

Everest was in your sights.

Sunrise

You could be forgiven for thinking Whistler was just fog and clouds. Day 1 offered little for expansive views, but that’s only because they were being saved for sunrise on Day 2.

If you started an ascent in the early hours of the morning, you were rewarded with a view that just kept getting better the higher you climbed. Once you broke through the clouds, step after step offered incredible scenery as a bonus for your efforts.

One step at a time

To achieve something monumental, you have to set a big goal. But you can’t let that big goal intimidate you. To accomplish something so impressive, you have to take it one step at a time.

Climbing the Blackcomb Ascent Trail 8 times can seem impossible. Even climbing the ascent trail once can feel out of reach. But climbing to the next bend, or to the next aid station? Now that’s something anybody can do.

29029 is something you have to take one step at a time.

Discomfort is all that stands between you and your goals

Something you learn on the slopes of a 29029 mountain is how many obstacles are self-imposed. So much of what stands between you and your goals in life are preconceived notions. You tell yourself something isn’t possible when it actually is.

The only thing actually standing between you and your goals is discomfort.

If you push through discomfort, you can achieve anything you set out to do.

“Nature always wears the color of the spirit”

As if a testament to the 29029 finishing color, foliage on the mountain has turned yellow, orange, and, of course, red.

When the poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “nature always wears the color of the spirit,” he was referring to how our interpretation of nature is a reflection of our mood.

29029 is a challenge that feeds your soul. How does that color your perceptions on the mountain?

Seeing Red

Red is the color of the day, whether it’s the leaves of the shrubs lining the upper elevations of the trail, the final ascent bib, or the coveted Red Hat.

That color - that hat - symbolize everything you went through to get here. The struggles. The training. The dedication. All of it culminates with this moment.