 Canned Salmon
This is sort of about food, but not really that much. In the 'perfumed tuna' thread someone made the comment "Fish out of a can should not be made for human consumption" In general, I tend to agree, but I must admit that the very fact that I am alive and mostly well today is a result of several factors, not the least of which was fish from a can.
Back in March of 1977 I was part of a climbing trip to make an attempt at a winter ascent of the north face of Mount Hooker ( yes, that REALLY is the name of the peak ) in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. The three weeks we spent getting there and, miraculously, back again were the toughest, most greuling, painful, wondrous, worthwhile, awe inspiring, flirting with death days I've ever spent on this planet. Someday I'm going to start writing it all down before I forget any more of it, but this is not the time or place, I'm just here for the salmon, I'll try to keep this short.
I'm guessing that not many of you have a good idea of what it is like to travel on heavy, backcountry skis through rugged, wilderness mountains in winter for weeks on end while carrying a massive backpack that probably outweighs you by at least 50 pounds. And it was winter, most days when we stopped to make camp it was 10 - 15 degrees below zero (F) while the sun was still sort of shining. Maintaining that level of effort in such brutal conditions requires calories to keep going. LOTS of calories. LOTS and LOTS of calories.
One thing we had was canned salmon. Maybe 40 pounds of it. But it wasn't just any canned salmon. One of the trip members was from the Olympic Peninsula, and the salmon we had was some that his grandfather had caught and had packed in tins with a heavy oil. That stuff was so tasty, rich and fatty- spoonfuls of heaven in a barren, fridgid, uh, heck. After a bit of that canned fish with dinner, one had the energy to pop the frozen mass formerly known as your sleeping back out of the stuff sack and pummel it into some sort of useful device for getting a bit of rest in something approaching warmth.
Heavy as those cans were, having that salmon made a major improvement in the outcome of that trip.
mjb.  | 
