MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter / Spring 2018

74 MLCM WINTER/SPRING 2018 Coast Mountains, June 2017 Martina We are days away from the end now. The mountains and the weather never really did cut us a break in the end, and by this point I’ve stopped expecting them to. Even now, a few days before the summer solstice, it’s snowed over a metre and stormed every day this week. We skied right through it, the difficulties are part of our daily life and we’ve learned to deal with them Coast Mountains, June 2017 Tania Months have passed since those first gruelling weeks where Martina struggled with dealing with hardship every single day. So many times, I saw how much she wanted to give up but somehow persevered anyway. Proudly, I’ve watched her grow and learn while traversing these mountains. Together, we have been totally immersed in the freedom my husband and I fought to reach and sacrificed so much for. Arriving at Skagway has always been irrelevant, I am living my dream and finding my freedom every day out here. And now, so is Martina. Coast Mountains, May 2017 Tania Martina told me today she feels trapped here. It’s been three days now and I can see she is anxious about running out of food again and managing the hazards the storm is bringing. How can I tell her that this storm is not a cage, there are no real boundaries here? This storm, this remote pass in the mountains, is not lonely. This here, right now, is freedom in every sense. Stuck in a tent in the mountains with my daughter, I want to explain this freedom. How do I articulate that the sound of graupel and wind against the tent walls is the sweetest sound in the universe compared to a cold steely voice telling me that I will never see my children and husband again? I look over at her, staring impatiently at the tent ceiling, and I begin: Your dad and I had these dreams when we first escaped…. as a team, until they don’t seem like difficulties any more, they just are. Over the past six months, Mum and I have adapted to our environment, we’ve compromised goals, and fought for our lives when we had to. I once heard that real adventure starts when everything else goes wrong, and after almost 2,300 kilometres of ski touring, I understand that completely. The difficulties are what make life interesting, and finding the beauty despite the chaos is what makes it worthwhile. I no longer expect suffering and serenity to be doled out in equal doses and I’ve learned that the universe does not, in fact, owe me anything. If I want serenity and beauty I need to look for them, and the truth is they are everywhere. In the odd moments I can’t find them, I just need to look at Mum, smiling at a freshly fallen snowflake on her glove. ABOVE Sun's out, fun's out.There's always room in the pack for a tutu. RIGHT PAGE They call it Stormy Monday... and Tuesday andWednesday and Thurs.... Martina battles through yet another Coast Mountain blizzard.