Equal In Loneliness (Terry Christenson 1993) Wendigos Present (Terry Christenson 1993)

In the winter of 1993 I found myself on a ledge seven pitches (one pitch=100 feet) up the 'Shining Path' (El Sendaro Illuminoso) in northern Mexico. A couple weeks earlier my climbing partners Jeff and Kevin and I had started the first ascent of this first of a kind 20 pitch sport route in North America. The limestone was bullet proof but the cleaning process was hard work on fixed rope after the aid ascent of each pitch. It seems like almost everything growing out of the wall had a thorn on it and looking forward to a couple days rest I had jugged up the seven pitches with enough water. food, camping gear and of course my guitar in tow. I wanted to be the first to spend the night on this truck sized ledge. I had borrowed a pick axe from Amaro at the hacienda below and arriving on the ledge an hour or so before dark that day, I dug out a level area big enough for my sleeping bag. That evening as the lights of Monterey crept into the south eastern night sky I had enjoyed a good supper, fired up a joint and over a couple hours I wrote 'Wendigos Present'. During this time it was hard not to notice a multitude of cute little big eared mice exploring this newly disturbed environment. They were very fast so I had stowed my belongings carefully.  As I drifted off to sleep that night encased in my sleeping bag, they were not shy in running over me to get to wherever they were going. The next thing I remember is being in a dreamlike state. It slowly started to dawn on my waking half that whatever was moving over my face was doing so very slowly, unlike a mouse. Instantly fully awake my right hand brushed it off as I sat up and reached for my headlamp. I don't know if you can imagine a large tarantula upside down trying to right itself, but that sight stood my ass directly up and away. Not much room up there. I began thinking I had dug out a nest of these critters but soon thankfully it turned out to be a loner. With a piece of left over kindling from the small fire that evening, I managed to upright this beautiful creature but it kept turning back toward me. Eventually I persuaded it to walk away from camp to where the ledge became narrower and eventually joined up with several vertical spires to the north. There was no more sleep for me for the rest of that night. Put on the coffee, roll another one and go to the guitar for company. A few weeks earlier in Austin, Texas I had wrote a pretty chord progression and by sunrise that morning it became a song called 'Equal In Loneliness'. It will be produced by Rick Capreol this summer for the website. So often in this life what initially appears to be a set back becomes an asset.