Photo: Cody Townsend
In the opening scene of Alpine Idyll, an Ernest Hemingway short, his favorite character, Nick Adams, retreats from the Austrian Alps into a small alpine village after a month of ski touring. The spring melt had ruined the snow and he was relieved to be out of the mountains. Santa Cruz, California freeskier Cody Townsend has been on a similar escapade (no word yet if he’s finished)–skiing his way across the Alps using nothing but his own power and the public transportation system. But, judging by his Instagram account–one of the best in the sport–he experienced no such bad luck. In fact, it seems as if he kinda scored.
“Well, we made it to Europe,” he wrote. “Most of our luggage didn’t but that’s okay, ’cause it kind of fits the theme of the trip. Josh Daiek and I, over the course of the next two weeks, are planning to tourist our way across Europe with only a backpack full of gear and the skis on our feet. Connecting ski resorts and touring across glaciers, we have no plans but (to) ski bum and hostel our way through a few countries along the way. We won’t be using a car and will mainly make our journey through human power.”
The conditions in Switzerland appeared to be decent. I found myself lusting after their mission in the most uncomfortably-intense way. I’ve experienced the transit system over there myself and the ease with which one can link up terrain features in the mountains. “I guess the constant pattern of movement is sort of addictive,” he said.
One of the main themes in that Hemingway short is a return to responsibility. Townsend’s slickly-curated social account surely invokes a sense of wanting to shirk obligation and browse the web for Euro Pass deals.