ARTICLES
Molly writes a column for the Jackson Hole News&Guide that explores adventure, the outdoors, sports, athletes, risk, health and the spiritual rewards of recreating in nature. Below you’ll find a few examples of her work. Or visit the Jackson Hole News&Guide and look under columnists to see what she's working on.
Nature and sport
What is sacred for some is just fun for others
The anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act has me thinking a lot about my personal relationship to wild lands. I have come to recognize that I have become a consumer of these places. I use them to get an adrenalin fix and some exercise. I notice the beauty, but in a fleeting way as I fly by at speeds too great to see the butterfly flitting between blossoms or the quivering shadows under the aspens as the wind moves through their leaves. It’s kind of like buzzing through a cathedral in Europe. Sure, you are awed by the towering ceilings, the elaborate carvings, the colorful stained glass and the stone steps worn by hundreds of years of worshipers, but if you don’t stay for a service do you really have any sense of the place? Read More.
Risk and Reward
Going out of bounds? Go over your checklist
A number of years ago a friend and I decided to leave Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and drop into Granite Canyon. Unfortunately I had forgotten my backpack with my shovel and probe that day.
We rationalized that it would be OK for us to ski out of bounds despite my lack of gear. I had a transceiver, and the avalanche forecast for the day called for low hazard. Lots of tracks led through the gate toward Granite. We figured the chances of us triggering an avalanche were just about nil and so we could get away with foregoing a shovel and probe. Read More.
You can’t learn from unadmitted mistakes
I come from an outdoor education background and part of my training involved analyzing accidents or mistakes to try to learn what went wrong. I believe we can learn from others, but maybe that’s the key phrase: Learn from others. What about when the other is yourself? Am I as willing to analyze mistakes publicly when those mistakes are my own? This column explores that issue and challenges all of us to think about what we can learn from our examining own misjudgments. Read More.
Playing Russian roulette in the mountains
I have a 12-year-old daughter who has lost one parent who died while doing what he loved. It helped us that when he was killed her dad was climbing, which had been his life’s passion. But it’s a fairly hollow comfort when you are faced with the reality of the loss. His death weighs heavily on my own decisions. I don’t really feel I can justify dying doing what I love. It feels selfish to think it’s OK to risk my life for a powder run when I have a child who needs me.
And yet I ski every day, mostly in the backcountry, mostly on slopes that can and do avalanche.
I’ve rationalized that life is not worth living if we are always afraid of dying. I’ve rationalized that driving a car is as risky as skiing an avalanche path. I’ve convinced myself that I’m thoughtful and educated about my decisions. But someone dying in the mountains reminds me to be humble and realistic. Read More.
Even in wilds, you are responsible for others
It is ridiculous to say that because the mountains around us have been designated wilderness, they are an empty place where we can do whatever we like without regard to potential consequences. These mountains are crowded. There are thousands of us who are addicted to the same sweet powder, the same thrill of painting our tracks onto a clean, white canvas of snow. I am as addicted as anyone, and I, too, struggle to restrain myself when the snow is light and the sky blue. But the sheer numbers of skiers and snowboarders in the mountains demands a code of responsibility. I firmly believe we cannot act as if we are alone out there, because most likely we are not. Read More.
Sport and Life
Climber's daughter would rather be a dancer
I’ve always been a half-hearted dance mother. My daughter started dancing at the age of 4 with her best friend. They were the classic adorable girls with round tummies and awkward arms always a step behind the instructor who patiently led them through their routines.
I tried to push the skiing. Tried to push the climbing. But as I watch her transform into a young woman I realize those are my dreams. I wish I had been able to ski and climb at a young age. I guess I think the exposure would have made me that much better at the pursuits that have brought me such joy.
But the operative word there is “me.” If I’m honest with myself I think I want her to do these things so I can live vicariously through her. I want to be able to drop the really radical slopes we see in the ski porn flicks. I want to do three turns at high speed as I fly down thousands of feet of powder. I want to be able to climb 5.12 or 5.13. I want these things. My daughter does not — at least not now.
She wants to dance. Read More.
With silence and tears, skier speaks volumes
Life doesn’t have an easy answer to the question “how do you feel?” Especially when posed to someone who has just raced his last Olympic race, who lost his brother less than a year ago, who has dedicated his life to ski racing and who now faces the gradual end of that path. I’m at that kind of transition now. My hip is giving me trouble, and I’ve been told I’m on the path to a replacement. How does that make me feel? I feel grief to see my world shrink as my body changes. I feel frustrated that I cannot run, and old when I get up and my body is creaky and stiff. But I’m grateful I can still do so much, and I’m happy for the bonds I’ve created with the people I’ve spent time with in the outdoors. And I continue to be driven to go back out again and again to capture those intense emotions I experience in my athletic-obsessed lifestyle. Those emotions — as complex and ambiguous as they may be at times — make me feel alive. Read More.
Lessons on ice reach far beyond the climb
“Ice climbing is all about mitigating suffering,” Mattie Shaefor told me. “It’s about managing your fears. I find it gives me a window into myself. I am always discovering something I need to know.”
Shaefor said she looks for a place of ease inside the suffering of ice climbing. She forces herself to turn up the positive voices in her mind when she begins to doubt herself. These lessons transfer to daily life and have helped her through challenging times. I tried to think about that as I headed up my first ice climb in 12 years. Read More.
Survival means good preparation, good mind
If I were faced with the devastating loss of my partners, experiencing great physical pain and confronted by an epic journey to safety, would I have what it takes to make it? I’ve had my moments where I’ve freaked out on climbs, had temper tantrums when my gear has been inadequate or my skills have failed me, and those moments of emotional instability make me wonder. I’m most likely one of the 90 percent who panic under great stress. Read More.
Staying Wired in the Wild Is Great ... To a Point
I hope that people recognize the limitations of technology when they go out in the wilderness. I hope people recognize that one of nature’s greatest lessons is self-reliance and that you need to be aware of your setting when your choose your activity. I hope people leave their cars with the gear, knowledge and skills they need to take care of themselves. But ultimately, for those times when things go terribly wrong, I’m glad we have the ability to call for help. Read More.
Midlife aches rooted in exercise imbalances
Our bodies know how to move correctly. Watch children run and you’ll see they move freely and easily. But as we start focusing on certain activities, we begin to grow unbalanced. And for most of us around here that means strong quads, strong abs, strong lungs, pecs and lats. When we’re young that may be enough to perform at an incredibly high level. As we age it may mean that, like me, you start to hurt. Read More.
Winter camping is worth it if you do it right
I can’t recommend starting your winter camping the way I did. My first experience was a nine-day instructor-training trip in the Wyoming Range. You could view it as a long job interview. We worked hard and tried not to complain. Most of my memories are of being hungry, shoveling snow, struggling to pull a sled up hills and then avoid being knocked over by it on the way down, more shoveling, and generally being miserable. But there were moments even then when I caught a glimpse of why you might want to go. Read More.
Helmet technology may slowly be catching up
I write headlines every Tuesday for the Jackson Hole News&Guide. The parameters are simple: Use a verb, fill the space, grab the reader’s attention, capture the essence of the story. Sounds easy, but I struggle with the task, so I’m pretty forgiving about bad choices.
Still, a Dec. 31 New York Times headline, “Ski Helmet Use Isn’t Reducing Brain Injuries,” struck me as sensational. For readers who glance at headlines and read the first paragraph, those words might be enough to convince them it isn’t worth shelling out $100 for a plastic lid if it doesn’t do anything to protect them. I think that would be a shame. Because the truth about a ski (or really any) helmet’s efficacy is more complicated than the headline implies. Read More.
Shhh ... don’t tell too many that we’re No. 1
Jackson lost to Sun Valley, Idaho, this fall in the Sweet 16 of Powder Magazine’s Powder-Town Throwdown. The qualities assessed in the competition included vertical drop, snow quality and skiable terrain.
My first reaction to the news was: What? Sun Valley beat Jackson? Are you crazy? It barely snows over there!
And then I felt the opposite: Good, we lost. The last thing Jackson needs after Ski Magazine named us the No. 1 resort in the nation this year is more attention. We already have plenty of people sharing our snow. Read More.
People
Paul Tells His Story The Leader, Fall 1995
He is a man of extremes and contradictions. On one hand, he is a brilliant visionary, on the other he can be a jokester. He is known both as a charismatic teacher and as someone who has gotten into more than one fistfight in his time. He is a man who has made enemies, but also one who keeps what he calls his "brag file" of letters from hundreds of people thanking him for changing their lives and helping them live their dreams. It is perhaps because of these extraordinary characteristics that he has had such impact on people throughout his life. Whether you love or hate Paul Petzoldt, you cannot dismiss him.
“Thanks, Molly. This is where our collective wisdom comes from—people who have meaningful experience and the depth of understanding to share it in a way that’s helpful to everyone else. ”
“Well said, Molly. It seems a shame that we need to state what I would hope our society would have evolved to take for granted by now — treating others with the same consideration you would hope to be treated with. Instead the more advanced we get, the less of community we seem to have become. Your article is the kind of message that needs to be spread and taken to heart. Thank you.”