I don’t think I had owned anything with a Patagonia logo on it until a year or so ago. I like the brands that have served me well, but I typically don’t buy stuff to flaunt a logo.
Now, though, I own six Patagonia trucker hats. Five of them are from the Fitz Roy series.
I wear the hats, not because I know much about the company Patagonia, but because my first backpacking trip was to Argentina’s portion of Patagonia. In particular, I hiked and camped near Cerro Fitz Roy, the largest single piece of rock I had ever seen in my first thirty years on the planet.
That was my first trip with Woody, my favorite backpacking partner. I had one of the most intense worship experiences of my life, extemporaneously shouting names and attributes of God into the wind at Laguna Torre. I dipped my toes in a glacier lake for the first time. I withdrew my hand from a mountain stream and tasted the unmistakeable goodness of glacial runoff for the first time. I survived my first rainy night in a tent there and then completed my first ice climb on the Glacier Viedma. Crossing Viedma Lake on the back of a boat, I weathered waves from winds so strong that the wind meter blew off the boat at 110mph (according to the folks in the cabin who chided me when I finally joined them).
I learned so much about myself on that trip.
The day we were to climb to the base of Cerro Fitz Roy, we ate breakfast under cold mist. Glaciers create their own weather; both temperatures and winds can change in a matter of minutes. We could hope for such a quick improvement, but the rain and clouds had been squatting on our clump of trees since the afternoon prior with no sign of retreat.
As a group, we decided to climb the switchbacks up to the rocky base area, anyway. Woody prayed before we embarked—something along the lines of, “God, we’d love to see your glory today. We’re going to climb, even if we don’t see Fitz Roy; but we’d love to see your handiwork.”
I had never heard a prayer like that—at least not that I could remember. It was bold but accommodating, worshipful but not obsequious.
We zig zagged up a steep slope, trudging alone in the fog. (The groups I’m with often joke that the only time I’m quiet is on the uphill stretches.) Right as the path flattened out, the fog started to lift. By the time we got to the lake and removed our boots, we could see some blue sky. It was my turn to give the day’s devotional, and I bombed. By the end of it, though, only a wisp of cloud surrounded Fitz Roy’s pinnacle.
Having the place to ourselves, we absorbed everything like explorers. Woody explained to me that cameras would never do our memories justice, that people back home wouldn’t understand the wonder of the moment. “When you make that hike, you understand where you’re standing.”
Eventually, other trekkers started arriving; and we headed back down under suddenly-direct sunlight. God had used the clouds to make our climb cool and to give us a moment alone to worship him. With barely a cloud in the sky, we had a beautiful blue backdrop to the iconic monolith. God had not only answered Woody’s prayer but also displayed his majesty, sovereignty, and creativity.
A few hours after we broke camp and returned to town, the clouds returned around Fitz Roy. We gathered at the end of a long January-summer day around hot pizza and cold frambuesa smoothies at Patagonicus. In the dimly-lit room, we basked in the stories of the glory we had seen that day—how God had shown up.
I’ll never forget that moment in my life: the sense of accomplishment, the impression of awe.
Scientists have found that reflecting on life’s wins like these refuels our serotonin levels in our bodies, which helps us manage stress. Triggering those memories and what goes with them immunizes us from burnout.
So, I wear these hats regularly to take me back to January 2008. When folks compliment one of the hats (which happens regularly) I get a chance to tell the stories—God’s stories. God always interjects himself into my adventures, and I love relaying those tales to others.
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I’m not a good photographer. Here are some pictures of the Fitz Roy area from folks I follow on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPHMLP8DuyF
https://instagram.com/p/BNABrvqjIS5/
