My stadium is the dawn
Today, I share a quote that speaks to something deep inside of me.
Our pathway to our individual cathedrals – the places we go to fall to our knees in awe – is different.
My cathedral is the Ocean. My stadium is the dawn. My partner Tony shares the same love.
In the stadium of dawn, either by the ocean or in the ocean, the harsh edges of my life and experience are weathered and smoothed by the power of water and the light of the sun.
I am humbled. Almost daily, which is a practice I recommend highly.
Awe seizes me. Completely. Reducing me to a mote of dust in a Universe I am unable to comprehend, no matter my smarts.
I believe most of us want to achieve something essential in life, which cannot be measured by the usual terms of money, power and status.
If I have any wisdom, on any day, it was forged in my Cathedral, and the lifelong practice of showing up each day to worship.
“In 1980, I found myself in the high mountains for the first time. I knew right away I belonged to these mountains, that I was destined to be a mountaineer. One encounters special challenges at high altitude. I discovered a new kind of mountaineering, it was not only about the complexity of the route, it was about the human struggle with altitude.
I wanted to achieve something essential in life, something that is not measured by money or position in society. I wanted to respect myself as a man, and I wanted the respect of my friends and family. My fate was to be an athlete. I was born with a certain physical and mental ability…I have tried to use those gifts to realise myself as a human being. The mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambitions to achieve. They are my cathedrals, the houses of my religion. Their presence is grand and pure. I go to them as all human beings go to worship. In their presence, I attempt to understand my life, to purify myself of earthly vanity, greed and fear. On their alter I try to perfect myself physically and spiritually. From their vantage point, I view my past, dream of the future, and with unusual acuteness, I experience the present. My ascents renew my strength and clear my vision. They are the way I practice my religion. In the mountains I celebrate creation, on each journey I am reborn.”
Anatoli Boukreev
Published April 25th 2026. Photo taken April 25th 2024
