Roles in a hike

Ann, Jenny, and Jihyun ... at the top

According to its difficulty rating in the Aspen hiking guide, the Ute trail is considered "easy." Maybe it was the altitude...or maybe it was simply because I've been out of shape, but the hike up for me was a HUGE challenge! I found myself huffing and puffing within the first ten minutes. If someone gave me the go ahead to turn around right then, I would have done so. But as luck would have it, I was with two determined ladies who both had the mindset to make it up this mountain at all costs.

In completing this task as a team, we seemed to have taken on three specific roles:

1. The Spearhead (aka Jihyun) - the person who leads the attack up the mountain; the one who thinks up strategies of how to go up ("avoid steepness when possible") and come down ("waddle"). The spearhead dictates the frequency of breaks (to which other members almost always respond "YES, PLEASE!") and sets the pace of the entire hike (moderately slow preferred).

2. The Clear Channel (aka Jenny) - the person who serves as the signal pathway for all messages coming from the spearhead to the anchor or vice versa. If the spearhead verbally indicates danger ahead ("Watch for those rocks"), the clear channel echoes that message with alacrity to the anchor ("WATCH FOR THOSE ROCKS!"). Please note, it is for the clear channel to decide the amplitude of such messages depending on whether or not the anchor is paying attention. A very efficient clear channel will try to keep herself in view and equidistant between the spearhead and the anchor to ensure no team member (most often, the anchor) is lost. This is done by paying attention to specific context clues. For example, if the anchor seems camera happy and tends to stop every five seconds to snap a shot along the hike, the clear channel needs to either a) rope in the spearhead by yelling out to slow down the pace or b) hurry up the rear by gently hinting to the anchor that the picture snapped five seconds before probably looks just as good as the one snapped five seconds later.

3. The Anchor (aka Ann) - the person who holds the final position in line of all the players in the hike. The anchor acts as the main support for the team. A hike can only go so far and/or as fast as the anchor can bring up the rear. The anchor (at least in our situation) heavily documents all aspects of the journey. The anchor is the last in line because she is too busy paying attention to details the others have missed. She notices the grand panoramas while the others are too busy looking down at the ground AND the smallest details like the shimmer of leaves in the sun.

With a team like the above, no hike is unconquerable! And afterwards, there will be plenty of pictures to remind ya'll that you did it!!