Part VI
“While all the time that I was loving you
You were busy loving yourself
I would stop breathing if you told me to
Now you’re busy loving someone else
11 years out of my life
Besides the kids, I have nothing to show
Wasted my years, a fool of a wife
I should have left your ass long time ago
Well, I’m not gon’ cry
I’m not gon’ cry
I’m not gon’ shed no tears
No I’m not gon’ cry
It’s not the time
‘Cause you’re not worth my tears”
-Not Gon Cry by Mary J. Blige1
Content warning: abandonment in a wilderness setting, abuse, alpine death, and attempted murder
How do you determine if someone is competent enough to take you on an experience you have never been on before in an outdoor setting? Who seems competent? Who is actually competent? Does that competent person automatically become your care giver in this new setting? And how much personal responsibility should one take to be prepared for a new adventure? How does gender and possibly race/ethnicity play a role in this?
The buzzing I have seen online recently surrounding people being under prepared for outdoor adventures, most specifically women, has had an uptick due to a now famous legal case of a man climbing in Austria where his girlfriend froze to death on their attempted ascent of the country’s tallest peak, Grossglockner, with a 3,798-meter (12,460-foot) summit. For reference to those local to the Pacific Northwest: Mt. Rainier has a 4,392 meter (14,411 foot) summit.
This is not new…
Read/watch/listen to the rest of this journey on my Substack
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