The Avalanche Doesn't Care

The avalanche doesn’t care if you’re an expert.(Photo: Brendan Leonard)

As the saying goes,The avalanche doesn’t care if you’re an expertOn avalanches,Or an expert on anything else, reallyThe avalanche does not care that you have some email you’d like to answerOr that you’ve been meaning to clean your garageOr spend more time with your kidsThe avalanche just cares about gravityAnd getting down the mountain

The avalanche doesn’t care that you are not an expert,Or that this is your first day ever skiing in the backcountryOr your 200th dayThe avalanche really doesn’t careIf you would preferNot to take a ride under thousands of pounds of snowMoving downhill at 150 mphAnd come to a stop under the debrisNothing personal hereJust physics

The avalanche doesn’t careIf you haven’t done everythingYou wanted to do in life yetThe avalanche doesn’t care about your plansOr dreams, or your free will, or whateverFor all the avalanche cares,You could be a tree or a rockReally, you’re just in the way

The avalanche doesn’t care if your friends are expertsOn avalanches, or on snow science,Or at digging you out from underTen feet of recently relocated snowThe avalanche will probably not decide to take it easy on youAnd bury you under six feet of snowInstead of ten feet this time,no hard feelings

The avalanche doesn’t care if you respect itIt will not pick a fight with you in a barFor bumping into it or stepping on its shoeIt does not have an ego or an agendaJust a lot of mass and potential energyThat is really hard to win an argument withOnce it starts moving

The avalanche doesn’t care about youOr the things you wanted to do in the next few yearsBut unlike the avalancheA few people would probably like itIf you got home safelySo be careful out thereAnd if you’re not sure how to be carefulMaybe stay in bounds until you are

Because skiing is funAnd being able to continue to ski for a very long timeIs even more funAnd of course there are other things in lifeThat are nice to be there for, too