Last October I summited South Arapahoe peak, a 13’er in Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado (13,400 ft). It was not the hardest summit I’ve done but because of lots of snow and ice on the way up, it definitely was the most effort I have ever had to put in my hiking adventures.
The approach seemed very long, and I thought it would never end. After few miles in the nice and mystical forest, my friends and I had to go through patches of snow that were often hard to pass. A few times we lost the trail, had to either go back and find a better way, or maneuver through a combination of deep snow, frozen streams, and obstructing (but adorable) bushes. Once we passed the tree and bush line, the approach was steeper, and the wind was much stronger. I was able to see the top, but as we hiked, I did not feel like we were making any progress. It was sunny and beautiful, yet windy and cold. I looked up the enormous rocky formations before the summit push: they were magnificent, but partially covered with snow and I worried it would not be passable. We could not see the trail, we had to figure out our own passage, and we had to be extremely careful. I finally saw the summit and felt relieved. There was another person coming down who told us it was a false summit, and we had to pass it to find another path to the actual summit. So close, yet still so far away! Thankfully, the final steps were not as difficult. But the lack of oxygen at 13,000 feet really affected our performance and sense of enthusiasm. But we finally made it! We stood at the top, grasping for some fresh crispy air. The views were magnificent! The feeling of accomplishment, achieving our goal, accompanied by the beautiful panorama around us, were truly rewarding.
On the way down, I reflected on how that struggle on South Arapahoe compared to my work as research administrator. We have our training, we’ve been through many challenges and struggles, yet, we come to new projects, proposals or other tasks that seem harder, longer, tedious, and too challenging. The deep snow that suddenly makes you fall deep inside its coldness, or ice patches where you can slip and fall badly, or annoying bushes and branches that you have to maneuver through – those are our daily or weekly obstacles we have to overcome to reach our summit. We see our final product, we see our peak, yet the approach is long, and we lose the energy, we often feel like there is less air. And how many times we think our task is completed, yet, it happens to be the “false summit,” and we have many more boulders to climb, and paths to hike.
Tired, oxygen-deprived, with tears in our eyes from the notorious winds, we stand on the summit. We look around, we see all the peaks surrounding us. We achieve our goals and we look at the path we took: it seems very small from the top. We feel stronger, we feel completed. At least for this climb. We celebrate as a team, together: the team that supported us when we fell on the snow, the team that shared their hot tea with us, and gave us their hand to reach higher boulders. The team that you can share your enthusiasm with, but also whine about constant obstacles. And you can comfortably say: “Wow, that was tough… so when is the next one?”
I wish you all, in your research administration journey, to have the least obstacles, and no false summit, and only beautiful views, with loads of achievements and satisfaction.
By: Marysia Galent, CRA, Senior Research Administrator, School of Communication