A peaceful easy feeling

The first two things that come to my mind when I think about nature are the mountains and the ocean. I visit both every year. There is something about these two things that make me feel at home. Whether it is the Indian Ocean while I was on a surftrip to Bali, or the Bay of Biscay while I was in the south-west of France. The same goes for the mountains. It is special that something so enormous, so powerful and intimidating calms me down. It gives me a peaceful, easy feeling.

Nature can be intimidating and powerful. I experienced this firsthand while I was on a ski tour in the middle of the winter season in 2013. Me, my brother and 2 friends began the tour just after we had lunch on a sunny terrace with nothing but a clear blue sky above us. Just after thirty minutes, things changed very quickly. We saw thick clouds comming up from all sides turning everything dark. After about five minutes, a few snowflakes peacefully landed on the snow that was already there but this quickly changed into a snowstorm.

We were now rushing and making our way down as quickly as possible. The snow made it hard to see and we were not on a regular slope, we were surounded by big trees covered in snow with no clear signing or path. Me and my brother were familliar with the area and we knew the way but when you can barely see 2 meters in front of you, you need to be careful that you dont fall down a cliff or lose your sense of orientation.

(a picture of me taken on a quick break)

Despite the heavy snowing and every other reason to panic, we were all still pretty calm. The real panic began when we heard a rumbling sound, kind of like someone that presses the button on a pool table and the balls fall down and hit the bottom. The sound of an avalanche. We did not know where it was, and that made it even more scary. We cautiously hurried our way down and eventually made it back safe.

Afterwards we heard that the avalanche destroyed 2 poles that were used to carry the gondola lift. Luckily no one got injured.

This particular experience showed me once more, how powerful nature can be. How quickly things can change in the mountains. How terrifying it can be. Even though this experience was pretty dangerous, it made me admire the mountains even more. As soon as I am surrounded by mountains, this peaceful, easy feeling gets to me.

Just like The Eagles once said; “Cause I got a peaceful easy feelin. And I know you won’t let me down. Cause I’m already standing on the ground.”