Recently, I have been thinking a lot about charting new paths, and especially about the difficulty and the rewards of doing so.

The three pictures below were taken during some recent mountain hikes in Utah and demonstrate the point: charting an entirely new path takes many times more energy, much more perseverance, and an almost incredible amount more strength than any other way we might take. But it also takes people who follow and are willing to explore beyond.

Look at the first picture, taken 1-2 days after 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) of new snow. I was trying to open up a path with my hiking shoes. Every step I fell in, with snow to my knee…