Ep. 217 Trevor Thompson Big Objectives, Little Time

Trevor Thompson joins Michael and Mark to discuss the extraordinary snow year in the west and the wild — once in a decade — skiing objectives that such a winter make possible. Specifically, the huge accumulation of snow made it possible to ski from the top of Mount Whitney (14,505'), which is the highest peak in the Lower 48, to the road, something like 8000 feet of elevation loss. That's a big ski run, preceded by a big climb. Midway into that we disappeared down a rabbit hole to discuss electric vehicles, and older cars or trucks one can maintain on his or her own instead of being hobbled entirely should anything go wrong with the electronics or computers in the most modern vehicles.

Trevor nicely bridges from the concept of those who can't or won't learn what's necessary to maintain or diagnose or repair a vehicle to the topic of being hand-held through life, spoon-fed perhaps, where risk is interpreted or mitigated by an expert, where requisite knowledge and/or self-knowledge is rendered irrelevant and people are granted access to higher order experiences despite being unprepared or unable on their own.

Success breeds ambition, and technological development, which has allowed some to shortcut education and experience, has opened up adventure possibilities for those who do have the requisite experience and ambition. So the question at some point must be, "What's next?" Well, some things are doable because they're doable, not because they're fun.

Later Trevor and Mark talk about the "nerfing" of the mountain environment and its natural challenges, and the strange understanding that, "If I, a relatively inexperienced climber, is here, and can be here, then it must necessarily be safe ... ish." Transformative experience can only exist hand-in-hand with honest assessment and communication about that experience. Embellishment denies the experiencer access to the lessons that may have been available from that experience, that adventure.

Jump in, the snow skis just fine.