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from Janice:

Gunnar was one of the first people at alt.out-of-body to get into a lengthy exchange of perspectives with me, and we had many enjoyable conversations both on Usenet and off.  The one conversation that will probably stick with me forever now is this one, from newsgroup posts in late May 2001: ====== Gunnar: BTW, the fact that I haven't so far had a single OBE at a glacier is very annoying, but it does lend support to the theory that OBEs are objective.  If they were subjective and constructs of my mind, surely my unconscious mind should have made sure I got at least one glacier OBE by now. Janice: Maybe you need to induce one while sleeping on a glacier.  Problem is it might be permanent. ;-) Gunnar: I tell ya, Janice, I love glaciers and all, but I would never try to sleep on one, unless it was totally necessary. Janice: I would hope not.  I don't want you to risk a permanent OBE just yet. :) ====== The context for this discussion was that several of us at the group were talking about trying to "meet" at a glacier for a group astral outing.  I don't believe in shared dreaming per se but I do find the idea enjoyable and think that it gives everyone a little extra motivation that might make it easier to induce lucid dreams.  Why glaciers?  It seemed like a "cool" idea since Gunnar had never had them appear in an OBE scene, much as he wanted them to. Gunnar went on to describe for us in graphic detail what it would be like to die wedged in the ice of a glacier,  probably little dreaming that he was describing the fate that would befall him only a month later.  When he mentioned that he was going on a glacier hike shortly, I certainly had my misgivings after all that build-up. I did get in several pleasant snow-filled lucid and non-lucid dreams, but I worried about Gunnar while he was away, even thinking to myself that I might hear he would not be coming back from this trip.  So I wasn't quite so shocked when that turned out to be the case.  He had prepared me for the possibility. I've heard that freezing to death isn't an altogether unpleasant way to die.  Supposedly after a point you start to feel warm and drowsy, and don't even notice your impairments.  Who knows, maybe someone could even manage to induce an OBE under those conditions, before things went too far.  One of the last things I said in an email to Gunnar, the day before he went on his fateful trip, was to get in some glacier OBEs or dreams while he was away. I hope he got at least one. "[Walking on glaciers] is really fun.  Not quite as much fun as being OOB, but still.  ;-)  Hmm, how about a glacier tour while OOB, now that would be something." -- Gunnar, 1998

from Dorothy:

I think it was especially poignant that our last solstice group OOB rendezvous attempt -- such a short time before Gunnar's death -- was to be an "astral" glacier.  It's like Gunnar achieved the ultimate OBE. On a personal level, I'm very thankful that I was beginning to develop a nice friendship with Gunnar.  Being on the Pacific coast in the USA, I was often the last one posting on a given day, and Gunnar was often the first to post the next morning.  So I would see his first post of the new day just before heading off to bed and I would be bidding him good morning as he bid me good night. I hope that "See you out there" will be chiseled into Gunnar's gravestone, and I'm still hoping to see Gunnar "out there" one of these days.

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