Springtime in the Mountains
Spring in the mountains stirs inside me some of my deepest memories of freshness, joy and adventure. When I look at this photograph I took in Austria, on our train ride to Innsbruck, it brought back those springtime climbing memories. On some of the spring climbs you would start low in the clouds and climb up through the clouds and be in total sunshine as you ascended up the slopes kicking steps in the snow all the way to the top. You would feel like you were on top of the world. The sounds of water flowing and running down the mountain, waterfalls, and spring birds and sunlight through the trees made it all so magical.
During our train rides through Switzerland and Austria there were so many beautiful natural landscapes with small towns at their base. I wondered if they also experienced this same excitement of spring climbing? Oh, I think that might be a silly question as climbing traditions in Switzerland and Austria are deep and long. In fact, REI was founded in 1938 and the entire foundation of REI was built on importing the superior Alpine equipment of countries like Austria to help Pacific Northwest climbers safely tackle peaks like Mt. Rainier.
Our train ride through the Alps was such a fleeting glimpse. So, glad we got to see its Springtime beauty in all its glory.
On the path together,
John