Jemez Mountains Las Conchas Fire 2011

Usually I write about good and exciting things. Today I have to write about something intense. The Jemez Mountains are on fire. I grew up in the Jemez and spend a great deal of time there not only rock climbing but hunting, backpacking, and enjoying the amazing place that the Anasazi roamed. I went to summer camps there, and grew into the person that I am today. This wonderful time lapse video shows only day 1 of the fire that is the biggest fire in the history of the Jemez Mountains on record. Los Alamos National Laboratory, the town of Cochiti, and many other places are under mandatory evacuation.

The winds of change are upon us...all of us. I see the futile efforts of the C-130 bombers that carry so much slurry that they can barely gain elevation to get over my house on their way to the fire, watched the flames rip across the sky scape of the Jemez last night as the reports said only "1000 acres burned", but it was 49,000 acres ( burning 2,000 acres an hour), and think of the places that I've been that were lush with green and filled with elk are lost to a flame and a darkness. All of the Los Alamos crags, Cochiti Mesa(one of the first bolted sport climbing areas in the USA), and many other climbing areas both old and new, are now compromised.

Most of the best climbing are bolted sport routes that have been established by many people. The bolts themselves are likely suspect after a fire such as this can ruin the temper of the metal. To what degree is unknown. The photos of green pastures and climbing in a pristine area such as the Jemez are gone for now.

For me, I almost wonder if I should go back once the fires are done. For me, it's like knowing that an old friend is dying a slow and agonizing death. Going back once the fire is over will be like going to see my friend's torched body in a casket, yet waiting for their offspring to grow up to take their place and be green once again.

Yes, I'm sad. I know that the mountains should have burned a long time ago. We think we have control of the forest somehow. We do not. I grew up believing that Smoky the Bear concept was good. Now, I'm not sure. The United States Forest Service has been very good about not having forest fires. Maybe we need to accept the fact in the USA that death is a part of life, or maybe we need to accept that we can do a better job. That the cycle is a circle, and that from death there is life.

Our society has evolved since the early and mid 1900's. Out thought process on how we "manage" natural resources should also evolve.

Over the last 5 years I have lost many personal friends in the climbing world, mostly to avalanches. Certainly, if I were in another line of work, and not only in guiding, that I would find that friends would die from other causes.

The fires are necessary and will purge the foliage and the decay. I will be off on another journey in my homeland to find other places to make good memories and "new friends" while reflecting upon the loss of this one.

So lift your glass and toast: here's to enjoying the moments that make our lives extraordinary! I'll miss the Jemez in what is was, and through the smoke and carnage, will learn to appreciate the dawning of a new era.