Post by Moonshae on Jan 9, 2019 19:21:13 GMT -8
Has anyone read this book by Randoph Fiennes? It was recommended as inspiration to get out there and just be bold, but to me, the whole book was a list of narrowly avoided disasters, mostly by luck and circumstance. The irony I found was that he detailed previous explorations that failed where he was, and for many of them, he simply got lucky; his survival wasn't always skill or preparation. Had luck turned against him, someone else would be telling the story and he'd be one of the failed examples.
Don't get me wrong; the book is incredibly fascinating and a great read. It just told me that extreme adventures in the cold are not something I'm willing to undertake. It makes for a great story but the hints are that daily life was basically about mitigating misery. I know there's a lot of talk about taking the circumstances as they come and not just being a fair weather hiker, but that's embracing discomfort, not misery. When you're losing a quart of water overnight in sweat because you can't possibly be warm enough and just shiver all night long, burning massive amounts of calories, day in, day out, just shivering, it must take a lot of grit to be able to focus on the goal.
Don't get me wrong; the book is incredibly fascinating and a great read. It just told me that extreme adventures in the cold are not something I'm willing to undertake. It makes for a great story but the hints are that daily life was basically about mitigating misery. I know there's a lot of talk about taking the circumstances as they come and not just being a fair weather hiker, but that's embracing discomfort, not misery. When you're losing a quart of water overnight in sweat because you can't possibly be warm enough and just shiver all night long, burning massive amounts of calories, day in, day out, just shivering, it must take a lot of grit to be able to focus on the goal.
