I am supposed to be on Everest, right now, the broken record in my head repeats. Why am I standing on top of my van watching the sunrise from Las Vegas?
Waiting for the rising sun to come with its much needed blanket of warmth. Connect with Dalton on your favorite social media: @storiesbydalton
Have you ever end up somewhere and you just don’t understand how you got there? The confusion hits hard, you want to make the best of your focus, and yet all you can do is dream of being somewhere else. Well, this was one of those times for me.
It was April 2023 and I was supposed to be on Everest, filming a documentary about a blind veteran climbing the tallest peak in the world, not for himself, not to see what the view is like (I hope the oxymoron gives you a chuckle), but to challenge the status quo around blindness and give other wounded solders a role model to say, “yes, I can do thing I thought impossible.”
His name: Lonnie Bedwell
We met on Denali about a year before, while I was filming the award-winning short documentary Climbing For Furley, and as time passed he reached out with a last minute invitation to come film the trip and hopefully make a documentary if the trip is a success.
In many ways, this was a dream assignment of dream assignments. Lonnie’s story is great, the setting couldn’t be more stunning, and I have a personal goal of creating something on all seven summits.
However, with the last minute nature of the trip, bringing me on board 10 days before the expedition left, not all the boxes were checked.
When I arrived at the airport ready to leave, I was denied. My passport, while valid for the next 7 months, did not meet all the requirements. The Nepal Tourism requires all travelers to a passport valid for 6 months after their return date. I was one week shy of that requirement.
My trip ended before it started.
I was devastated.
For 48 hours, I tried to get a new passport, but, the passport office was overwhelmed with 10x the normal inquiries and even with a Congressional push to get me an overnight passport, I still could not.
Breaking the news to the team, I didn’t know what to do with my two month open schedule. So, I packed the van and headed to the desert to lick my metaphorical wounds.
In 2023, I had been in this career for almost 8 years, yet I considered myself a young-gun in the industry. With lots of lessons, like this, still to learn and never repeat, I was in a rut. I was angry. For the most part, I was a climbing dirtbag with a camera, so when the bureaucracy of paperwork held me back, I couldn’t accept my failure.
The time in the desert was a warming respite from the cold I often endure in my career, but I couldn’t get out of my own head.
Kristin, my girlfriend, tried everything she could to cheer me up, but I was in an unbreakable mood. I felt bad she had to experience my mood. I wanted to let her go enjoy herself, but we were traveling in a van together, so she would have had to leave me behind. In many ways, that sounded nice, but I didn’t really want to shrivel up like a piece of jerky out here in the desert.
So, we pushed on together. Driving through Alabama Hills, Death Valley, Valley of Fire, and towards Lake Mead.
A few weeks into the trip, still being a sourpuss, I wanted to turn the corner. Let things go. But, how?
The mishap was out of my control and that is what I needed to accept.
At least, from all of my travel the major lesson I have learned has been: When things are not going your way and the results are out of your control, you need to let it go. I believe this concept is coined “The Traveler’s Mindset”
So, one of the evenings sitting alone lake side, I intentionally watched the light show on the mountains acting as the backdrop to Lake Mead change from a washed out daytime blue to orange to purple to a black bright with stars seeking an internal silver lining.
For the rest of this trip, seeking that silver lining would become my north star, but, it wouldn’t come on this trip. In fact, I would have to wait until June, just when I would have been coming home from Everest, to find my silver lining, which would literally take me around the world.
I sit quietly looking out at the calm waters, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. Connect with Dalton on your favorite social media: @storiesbydalton
The Small Things That Help
Thank you for taking the time to read UnBound. I hope the images and stories have scratched your mid-week wanderlust itch. If they have, would you please consider forwarding this newsletter to a friend?
If you haven’t done so already, consider following me on your favorite social platform:
