If we could accelerate the flow of time we would see the violence of nature’s most beautiful work; canyons carved from water, massive eruptions of stone rising straight from flat ground, glacial floes grinding their hard way to the sea. There are epic contests being waged on a timescale so vast we can only perceive its inner precincts. Man is not in his element here. Man does his best to work within a greater nature.

The scale of things is difficult to capture on camera. It is difficult to process in one’s own mind. Today we passed a massive rock formation, it’s top covered in a whorl of dark cloud. Vistas like these are surreal. They feel like something cooked up in Hollywood (“This is where the dark lord bides his time!”).

Such an expansive and wild-feeling place makes one feel smaller in every way… our precious few years among the ageless rock and water, our plans measured in months, perhaps years; our ambitions and capacities placed against mountain-carvers and molten giants. Wearing a suit here smacks of the ridiculous at times. Not just being out-of-place, but the vanity of plans. What can one possibly expect when set among such immensity and drama?

Oddly, I find it comforting and hopeful. Despite our size we labour on in the time we have. We are a part of, and apart from, this landscape. Everything about the suit here is a kind of hopeful defiance; a dream of renewal, beauty and meaning against overwhelming odds.