December 2023
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moment your sense of time goes out the window-we land on a precipice at what feels like the edge of the Earth. How the helicopter pilot made the landing on such a postage stamp of granite on the side of a steep mountain is unfathomable. Paul slides open the helicopter door. Above us is the backside of the Bugaboos, a view we haven't seen. Below us is the gaping yawn of a canyon entirely devoid of human exploration. We tiptoe outside. Beyond words, all we can do is shake our heads at the magnitude of beauty engulfing us. So as not to disturb the lichen and moss with the our shoes, we fan out to hike across a sun-filled meadow before a further two-hour trek up to a glacier. I watch Margo and Glenda way in front, vying for Paul's attention. I'm taking them, I think, starting to speed ahead. But no, the approaching glacier is thrilling enough. At the top, far above the tree line and nearly blinded by snow, we're directly beside a massive green-blue glacier roaring Siberian air at us. To our other side, we're as close as we've been to what we've been hiking around the past three days: the Bugaboo spires. They are soaring granite monoliths stabbing into the blue of the sky. They are almost close enough to touch. Don throws a snowball at the glacier-with all the hidden crevices, it's too dangerous to walk on the glacier itself, says Paul. "That's how I'm starting my story," says Don with a grin, "throwing that snowball!" I laugh. "Much better than seeing a grizzly!"
Margo takes a picture of me and I take one of her. Then we all stand at the top together as a group, staring out at the world below. It doesn't matter if we cheated a little to reach these heights. The whole world has transformed into one of mountain top islands, and for that, we are a little transformed ourselves. The Miami attorney's words replay in my mind. Maybe the world isn't such a bad place after all.
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