Some light reading for the weekend.
It’s starting to feel like fall here at the IMR basecamp in Salt Lake City. There’s snow on the mountain peaks and some flakes down in the city. Of course, we expect at least one more spell of summers weather, but winter (and, at least for us here in the office) ski-season, is coming. In other places however, winter is already firmly established. The weather forecast for the peak of Maharaja in the Urals (5,971 feet) calls for “heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Sat night. Extremely cold (max 9°F on Fri afternoon, min -2°F on Sat night). Winds decreasing (near gales from the NW on Fri night, moderate winds from the NNE by Mon morning).” If you’re looking for a milder summit, perhaps the Blue Mountain in Jamaica will suit you. “Heavy rain (total 1.6in), heaviest during Sun night. Very mild (max 59°F on Sat night, min 55°F on Fri night). Winds decreasing (fresh winds from the E on Fri night, light winds from the ENE by Sat afternoon).” Regardless of where you are or the weather conditions, here are some things to read that might brighten up your weekend. ~Brent
The Call of the Road by Richard Grant. Aeon Magazine — Aeon Magazine is an old standby in my own weekend reading and I’m thrilled to share Grants’ article on nomadism and culture in the US. While it may not necessarily be the most mountain focussed piece, I think it captures some of my own sense of the mountains and the ways we experience them.
On visiting the United States, the Tibetan dignitary T T Karma Chophel met with a group of supporters in Utah. He was there to discuss democracy, but his gaze kept travelling out across the high desert to the snowy mountains on the horizon. He thought of yaks and yak-herders, making their endless migrations across a similar landscape in Tibet, and he assumed there must be some US equivalent. ‘Who are your nomads?’ he asked.
Made in America: The Outdoor Industry Association — Perhaps you plan on being out and about all weekend and don’t actually want to read anything at all. The OIA podcast has you covered. The Made in America series profiles some US based gear manufacturers and offers some insights on their goals, values, businesses, and the processes by which they produce clothing and other goods to get folks into the mountains, including these jackets and socks made of bison wool.
Out of the Wild: William Cronon and Michael Pollan, Orion Magazine — Bill Cronon sitting down with Michael Pollan to talk about our relationship to the landscape represents something of a dream. Of course Orion Magazine is the business of making dreams come true. The transcript of this conversation doesn’t dissappoint and has given me lots to think about.
Bill: That’s right: a little part of the continent that’s being ripped off into the Pacific. It joined the national park system in the 1960s, and there’s been an ongoing debate about what to do with the old agricultural lands. There’s also an oyster farm in one of the estuaries that has been operating for decades, the future of which has become a matter of controversy. Arguments at Point Reyes are about whether the park should be managed toward wild nature, toward removing the human imprints that are so visible in the landscape, or whether it should be managed to sustain those human imprints.
Michael: Many environmentalists would like to remove the farms, but the sustainable food community — which is very big in the Bay Area — wants to keep it. It’s torn apart relationships. People on both sides feel that they’re great defenders of nature. It’s a really interesting place to look at how we fight our environmental battles. I’ve argued in favor of keeping the oyster farm as well as the ranches going for several reasons, not least of which is that there are other stories we can tell in a national park besides the story of wilderness. One is the story of good husbandry. Another is the story of how you can combine the pastoral with the wild.
Photo Gallery, Devon Balet, Bunyan Velo — Sometimes its nice just to relive someones experiences through their own eyes. Devon Balet’s got a pretty good eye.
