The alpine backcountry of the High Route is as stunning in its beauty as it is staggering in its total remoteness; when we first broke above the tree line, abandoning the broken trail for empty granite passes of our own choosing under the direction of a map and compass, we felt a total discontinuity, asContinue reading “Alone — Sierra High Route, Sierra Nevada, California, 2018”
The alpine backcountry of the High Route is as stunning in its beauty as it is staggering in its total remoteness; when we first broke above the tree line, abandoning the broken trail for empty granite passes of our own choosing under the direction of a map and compass, we felt a total discontinuity, as if we had crossed from the world outside into the halls of a grand cathedral within. Clean and glacial, sheer and lidless above the clouds, the pillars that surrounded us: the craftwork of a hundred thousand years, empty and ours to tread alone at the peril of our wits’ choosing and the blessing it bestowed on us in this lonely land of unforgiving rock so high above and far beyond. Three days passed before we next saw people.
© 2020 Ilyas Taraki
notes from my iPhone 