Merge pull request #59 from spang/main

contribution of words for nova memorial

content/en/memorials/krisnova/_index.md

@@ -104,3 +104,13 @@ Nova did her best to support those she knew personally and the broader communiti
 What I want to remember about Nóva was her enthusiasm.
 
 Anything she was going to do, it was at high volume and high velocity -- and really, your job was just to keep up. And in the end, I remember the version of her that found where she wanted to be. 
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+### Christine Spang
+
+I started climbing with Nova in summer of 2023. We shared a very special climb together, the Direct North Ridge of Mount Stuart, in July. I remember so many moments of it like yesterday. Stopping at her favorite taco shop in Cle Elum, Señor Bones, and admiring the colorful Dia de los Muertos themed decor while she cracked jokes with the woman taking our order at the counter. Sitting on the back of her camo green Subaru, the "Lesbaru", putting on our shoes and making sure our packs were ready to go at the trailhead on a hot sunny afternoon. Nova at the top of the ridge we had to cross to drop down to where we planned to camp, grinning as she looked out at our objective as I caught up with her after a thousand foot climb---I never could match her fierce hiking pace with a heavy pack. How courteous she was around the campsite when I wanted to jump naked into Ingalls Creek every morning and evening. Her laughing as she pitched her one tent, a single wall mountaineering tent with poles with failing shock cord---and finding that it was much too warm for a summer evening. We tossed and turned in our sleeping bags that night, until at 3:30am I convinced her we should just get up and get started. She had a deep dirtbag soul and she usually just threw a sleeping bag down on a trans flag rather than pitch a proper camp, unless she was on a glacier. She was just happy to be in the mountains in their simplicity. Convincing her to go the way I wanted down the moraine as we circled around the mountain to the base of the route, and after finding it heinously loose and a bit scary, promising that next time we could go her way, Madam Mountain Sense. Arriving at "The Notch" halfway up the route after a mega simulclimbing block she led and feeling pleased she asked for a short break. Sometimes it seemed like her energy was boundless, but she was human too. Her reflective joy at how arriving at the technical climbing of the Gendarme near the top of the route instantly put me into a whoopingly happy mood though we'd already been on the move for 14+ hours. She loved the ridge lines the most, and I the sweeping clean cracks in vertical granite. It was my turn to carry the sharp end of the rope up the mountain. Arriving at the summit at sunset and her waving for me to stand on top first so she could capture an epic photo. Traversing the summit ridge by day's last light to get to the correct colouir to descend safely, which she had thoughtfully gotten beta directions to from a friend as well as GPS coordinates. The endless 4 hour descent we shared together by night, sitting to rest our aching feet and sip some water. The camraderie of shared suffering, and the delirium of passing out after a 20 hour day on the move.
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+She was a wonderful climbing partner: mega stoked, courageous, full of ideas and energy and mountain magic. She had a beastly capacity for work. She always learned as much as she could about a big route before getting on it, and had a thousand ideas a minute about things to do in the future. She delivered the funniest jokes with perfection.
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+Though we only had a short time together, Nova left me with many gifts. I think of her every time I want a moment to be special, and I remember that you have to MAKE it special. You have the power to imbue time, places, objects, relationships with meaning. Through stories, names, presence, treating them with care. I learned that from watching Nova.
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+I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to know her. To love her, and be loved by her. She showed me that it's not the amount of time together that defines your impact on another person. It's the depth of the connection you create during that time.