Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
Subscription Form

Get notified of the best News

Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
22K Followers
25K Likes
5K Followers
1K Followers
Mountain Life
Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
  • The Great Outdoors
  • Videos

Narrative : The Holy Stone

  • November 23, 2017
  • Ben Osborne
Total
6
Shares
6
0
0
0
0
0
Total
6
Shares
Share 6
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0

I had been to the Holy Stone a decade ago, travelling by snow machine with people who knew the country. At motorized speed, landmarks don’t imprint on your brain as well as they do when you are on foot. Now, skiing alone across the vast Siberian tundra, I couldn’t remember any waypoints. For all its spiritual significance to the Koryak people, the Holy Stone is merely a two-metre high volcanic obelisk, in a land of many rock outcrops, on a tundra that stretches nine time zones from east to west. With the sun dipping, the wind building, and tendrils of new snow scudding across the coast range, I dropped into a gully and dug a tent platform into a wind-hardened drift.

 

LonerStone

words :: Jon Turk.     illustration :: Dave Barnes

I normally enjoy the calmness of a solo journey, the self-reliance, the lack of words. But this time I was travelling by myself because Misha had just died. When we joined up in the Moscow airport a few weeks ago, I barely recognized him: weak, pale, and sickly. He survived the nine-hour flight to Kamchatka on sheer willpower and then celebrated our upcoming journey to the tundra with a hearty meal of vodka and pickled eggs. And then he simply vanished from this earth before we had time to say goodbye, if there can ever be a proper goodbye.

Misha and I had been brothers. The summer before our journey to the Holy Stone, we were camped on the Pacific coast of Siberia, on the “eastern edge of the eastern world,” resting after a long day in our kayaks. As Misha sipped his medicinal tea, he told me: “You have saved my life. The Wild Nature has saved my life. At home I was making too many papers. Each day, nothing but papers.

So, I had a hole in my stomach. Eating me. Bleeding. Killing me. And now we are paddling to Alaska with our own hands.” And he raised his hands to gaze in amazement at his calloused palms, such a fragile means of propulsion to carry us across an ocean. “And now, these herbs that the old woman gave me, and this ocean, and this Wild Nature, have saved me. I am no longer eating myself from the inside to the outside. Thank you, Jon. Labour and Defend.”

I had never thought that crossing the storm-tossed Arctic waters of the North Pacific in a kayak was a journey into safety, but for Misha it was salvation

I had never thought that crossing the storm-tossed Arctic waters of the North Pacific in a kayak was a journey into safety, but for Misha it was salvation. After paddling from Kamchatka to Alaska, Misha and I journeyed to the Holy Stone on this tundra, this valley at the centre of the Koryak universe, so we would never forget where the real healing power was.

And then he moved to Saint Petersburg. I cried, a hearty cleansing cry, the tears mingling with the falling snow. “How could you have forgotten?” I asked rhetorically.

After a few years in the city, Misha sent me an urgent email that we needed to return to the centre of the Earth. But by the time we arranged our travel plans, his ulcer had exploded and hemorrhaged, and when I met him in Moscow, it was too late.

Speaking about too late, I realized that I was dangerously cold, so I set up my tent, cooked dinner, and snuggled into my bag. The following morning, I climbed to a nearby hill to fix my bearings. Below was a broad river valley where one lifetime ago, when the old shaman, Moolynaut was a little girl, the Koryak tribes gathered every spring to rejoice in the return of the sun and the plant growth that would nourish their reindeer. I saw the Holy Stone out there, a speck of black in the vastness, alone, if a stone can be alone, with all\ the people gone to the villages and cities, and the tundra quiet except for the\ wind and the soft sound of falling snow: Without the deer, playing children,\ lovers courting, and elders telling their stories. Because within one lifetime,

Moolynaut’s lifetime, we have all moved away. I broke camp, paid homage to the Stone, and then headed into the mountains to ski fresh powder on some lines that were steep enough that it was stupid to ski them without a companion. But that was fine. Sanity wasn’t my friend right now.

 

Narrative is a new section where we publish essays, rants or letters written by past and future speakers of the Mountain Life MULTIPLICTY show, a multimedia storytelling event held each spring in Whistler. Jon Turk was the keynote speaker in 2017 and this article was taken, in part from his books, In the Wake of the Jomon and The Raven’s Gift, although the story of Misha’s death has never before been published. www.jonturk.net

 

https://vimeo.com/190762669

 

You might also like:

42537

MULTIPLICITY 2017: JON TURK ON ADVENTURING AND THE CONSCIOUSNESS REVOLUTION
Jon’s world-view was transformed by Moolynaut, a 96-year-old Siberian shaman. This journey is chronicled in Jon’s book, The Raven’s Gift. Jon’s newest book, Crocodiles and Ice: A Journey into Deep Wild represents “a continuing exploration of a consciousness revolution based on a deep, reciprocal communication with the earth.”… Read more

 

Total
6
Shares
Share 6
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Jon Turk
  • MULTIPLICITY
Ben Osborne

Previous Article
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding

Silvertip Lodge: Heliskiing’s New Hot Tip

  • November 22, 2017
  • Ben Osborne
View Post
Next Article
  • Skiing
  • Videos

How to Remove Your Climbing Skins with Your Skis On

  • November 24, 2017
  • Ben Osborne
View Post
You May Also Like
Wachs_Fairly-Mellow
View Post
  • Skiing
  • Videos

Friday Flick: “Fairly Mellow” at Fairy Meadow Hut

  • Ned Morgan
  • January 20, 2023
Camp_credit_Jerome_Tanon-The-North-Face
View Post
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • Trips & Expeditions
  • Videos

Friday Flick: Free Rider

  • Ned Morgan
  • December 30, 2022
View Post
  • Mountain Lifer
  • Skiing
  • Videos

Friday Flick: Santa Rips

  • Sarah Bulford
  • December 23, 2022
The-North-Face-Nevia-paraglider
View Post
  • Trips & Expeditions
  • Videos

Friday Flick: Nevia

  • Ned Morgan
  • December 2, 2022
alpacka_archives
View Post
  • Paddling
  • Videos
  • Women

Friday Flick: Sheri

  • Ned Morgan
  • November 18, 2022
Helly-Hansen-ski-patroller-Big-Sky-carrying-signs
View Post
  • Mountain Lifer
  • Skiing
  • Videos

Friday Flick: Ski Patrol at 11,166 Feet

  • Editor
  • October 21, 2022
Labatts-Blue-SUP-Camping-trip
View Post
  • Videos

Labatt Blue and the Lost Art of the Niche-Sports TV Ad

  • Ned Morgan
  • October 11, 2022
katielo-nexusstillasset-alaska-8355
View Post
  • Skiing
  • Trips & Expeditions
  • Videos
  • Women

Friday Flick: Nexus Trailer + Interview with Director Shannon Corsi

  • Ned Morgan
  • October 7, 2022
Featured Posts
  • Mountain-Life-Coast-Mountains-Winter-2023 1
    ML Coast Mountains Winter-Spring ’23 Issue Out Now
    • February 3, 2023
  • Saint-Lawrence-ice-canoe-Jean-Anderson 2
    Jean Anderson: 40 Years of Ice Canoeing
    • January 31, 2023
  • CHOK-Images-RAB-Avril-2022 3
    Chic-Chocs: True Eastern Alpine
    • February 2, 2023
  • Life-Time-Grand-Prix-gravel-bike 4
    New Docuseries Profiles the World’s Elite Off-Road Cyclists
    • January 30, 2023
  • Fjallraven-Nuuk-Parka-daniel-blom-photo_jacket 5
    Gear Shed: Multisport Winter Roundup
    • January 26, 2023
RECENT POSTS
  • L'Hymne-des-Trembles-Laurentians-Quebec
    L’Hymne des Trembles: Uncompromising Laurentian Skiing
    • January 27, 2023
  • Brian-Hockenstein-surfing-Iceland-water-and-ice-ML
    In the Land of Water & Ice
    • January 24, 2023
  • Marie-Pier-Desharnais-A-Womans-Experience-on-K2-flag-crop
    Marie-Pier Desharnais: A Woman’s Experience on K2
    • January 23, 2023
Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
INSTAGRAM
mountainlifemedia
22K Followers
Live It Up EP 22 is OUT NOW!
NEW ML Coast Mountains Winter-Spring ’23 Issue is OUT NOW! 🙌
There are some first times that we will always remember. Like the time I skied off-piste through the alpine highlands of le parc national de la Gaspésie.
@shimizuimg getting those January goods ❄️ #mountainlifer
With four decades of ice canoeing under his belt, Jean Anderson has dominated a sport that's unique to Quebec and that he helped shape.
Featuring three gravel and three MTB events, the series explores the intense competition and love of the sport among 60 of the world’s premier cyclists.
Winter commute with #mountainlifer @michelle_pittam ❄️🚵‍♀️🌲
@lhymnedestrembles.ca is no mirage. Set in the lush Laurentian forest, yet easily accessible (less than an hour and a half from Montreal), this luxurious ski-in ski-out residential resort by @groupebrivia is nestled at the foot of the Versant Soleil side of Mont Tremblant. The Tremblant region is a perennial destination for outdoor enthusiasts from around the world, and within the province, attracting 3.5 million visitors annually.
ML staff and gear partners highlight the latest jackets, boards, crampons, hoodies, insoles and bindings in alpha order. #Linkinbio to learn more!
Adventures like this one require an inspiring team. @timemmett is a longtime friend, adventure partner and extraordinary human; an explorer, pro climber, surfer, freediver—you name it. @luca.freediver is an incredibly talented freediver, fresh off breaking the Canadian national freediving record (85 metres). The fourth man on the team, @brianhockenstein, is a filmmaker and multi-talented snowboarder always ready to jump into the fray and capture the magic. - words Jimmy Martinello. #Linkinbio to learn more!
Follow

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

Live It Up EP 22 is OUT NOW!
NEW ML Coast Mountains Winter-Spring ’23 Issue is OUT NOW! 🙌
There are some first times that we will always remember. Like the time I skied off-piste through the alpine highlands of le parc national de la Gaspésie.
@shimizuimg getting those January goods ❄️ #mountainlifer
With four decades of ice canoeing under his belt, Jean Anderson has dominated a sport that's unique to Quebec and that he helped shape.
Featuring three gravel and three MTB events, the series explores the intense competition and love of the sport among 60 of the world’s premier cyclists.
Mountain Life
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising

Input your search keywords and press Enter.