Bob Marshall's Arctic Wilderness


Exploration meant experiencing the freshness of the world in all its elemental strength, mystery, and timeless beauty. It meant remoteness and space where one could roam alone, or with a few congenial companions, free from the environment of modern mechanical civilization. Exploration formed the structure for his deep need for the enjoyment of wilderness with its adventure, its many-faceted aesthetic experiences, its space, its sense of freedom, and its opportunity to search in wild places for what is BASIC in life. Bob found in both the wilderness and in the native frontier communities some of the essentials of freedom of the human spirit for which he fought and which seemed so lacking in the twentieth century world.
"Every mountain was covered with snow, every peak showed a clear white edge set against a pure blue background. Almost everything in life seems to be at least somewhat blurred and misty around the edges and so little is ever absolute that there was a genuine satisfaction in seeing the flawless white of those summits and the flawless blue of the sky and the razor edge sharpness with which the two came together."
Views from the summits were deep spiritual experiences. His joy was complete when, standing on a peak, he beheld the magnificence of a wild, timeless world extending to the limit of sight filled with countless mountains and deep valleys.

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