The barely discernible speck you see in the distance is me. An hour later would have me not much closer. At least there was sun. Intermittent, but sun nonetheless. What isn’t in the photo is the driving rain, sleet, and snow that chased me all the way to the summit and beyond.

It was brutal work. 5 hours of nothing but uphill. And not the gentle rolling kind either. The final push, thankfully, was a quick downhill section to Sunshine Village. Sadly this day anything but. I set the tent up in one of the impromptu snow flurries that had accompanied me all day.

The push over this first summit made me realize all the more that every crest, no matter how big or small, is a victory. And every valley a wonder. 

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail non-stop, solo around the world, is famous for answering a reporter’s question along the lines of ‘Just how hard was it Robin?’ with “If it were easy, it would be raining whiskey.’. How right, Sir Robin, how right indeed.