Editor’s Note

Photo by Ida Vincent.

“Spring is always here by the fifth of March.” That’s what I tell myself as I take long winter walks, keeping my eyes on the sidewalk for any early crocuses peeking their heads out of the earth. The “fifth of March” rule is something my family has followed for years. With the weather growing increasingly

Hailey Oppelt inconsistent, I’m not sure how haileyo@mountaineers.org much longer the rule will hold,

Photo by Paige Madden. but if anything it’s a light at the end of the (dark, wet, and cold) tunnel of Washington winters. For the record, I do know that most people consider spring equinox to be the end of winter. I just prefer to listen to the flowers. This year, we all seem especially eager for spring to arrive. More than the usual desire to escape our endlessly grey weather, our cautious optimism is largely fueled by hope that the burden of the pandemic will soon lighten. Like a bad carnival ride, COVID-19 has had us spinning way too fast for far too long. And not to take the metaphor too far, but I think most of us are nauseous. Spring is a natural time to feel a sense of rebirth. With waning restrictions, many of us have started to creep out of the cocoons we’ve created in the last 24 months. As stories for this edition slowly arrived on our desks, the theme of “reemergence” began to take shape. In The Olympic Mountain Project, Part II, Nate Brown shares his experiences finishing his goal of climbing 30 peaks in the Olympics after a forced hiatus due to COVID, offering more of the jaw-dropping photos we saw in Part I. In Half Moon Bouldering we hear the story of Gloria Man, an immigrant from Eastern Europe who started her business with the goal of cultivating a new kind of climbing community. Member and artist Claire Giordano offers tips for hopeful naturalists and watercolorists to capture the joys of spring in Stop and Paint the Wildflowers. We also have excellent how-to pieces this edition, with information on how to submit pika observations to Fish & Wildlife, a highly-detailed (and funny) manual on managing zippers, and a thoughtful pandemic debrief guide based on AIARE education practices. Our regular columns are full of inspiring content as well. Peak Performance offers tips to jiggle yourself free from stagnation with five-minute actions. Retro Rewind features the story of Stevens Lodge volunteer John Hansen, who spent decades helping build the lodge into what it is today (quite literally – he was there for both the original build and the expansion). Craig Romano shares his personal reflections and growth during the pandemic in Trail Talk, and we have an important update in Impact Giving on the current status of the lawsuit with the Keta Legacy Foundation and our hope for a resolution. What the future holds is still unknown, but like any carnival ride it eventually has to come to an end so that we might stumble off in search of water and a conciliatory elephant ear. “Normal” is relative, as we have come to realize, but we will return – to the trail, to the mountains, and to each other. As we reemerge this spring and in springs to come, we might not be quite the same as we were before, but we will be there regardless to bask in the light. By the fifth of March, no doubt.