Photo of the Day: The Evolution Traverse

With 21 years of climbing memories in my head, there is one experience that truly stands out; Climbing the Sierra Nevada’s Evolution Traverse in 2002. For me, the photo I have chosen is all about beauty, all about a great experience with a good friend, and all about being in the mountains doing what I [...]

No Photos, just Words

Twenty years ago I did little more than climb; sport climb, trad climb and alpine climb. Like so many other climbers of my generation, Peter Croft was a hero. He was also, and still is, a friend. I vividly remember one morning we spent having coffee together at my house, he was telling me all [...]

Learning from Loss

The loss of friends carries a message. Death has the ability to teach us to live. In the last months I have seen death in the mountains. I have been both witness to it as well as removed, watching from afar as its effect sweeps through a community of friends and family. I have sifted [...]

Fair Warning

“E pericoloso, vero? Troppe persone sono morti delle montagne, hai capito?” This from my Italian instructor, a retired school teacher telling me it is very dangerous in the mountains. In finding out what I do for a living, and just how often I am in the mountains, she fired warning shots based on her experience [...]

Berg Heil

The last time I was on the summit of the Magerstein was with Janine, a group of friends and a topless Italian woman. Today, I am all alone, there is no one to offer a Berg Heil to, only myself and the silence. Ironically, it is likely my last day in the mountains until I [...]

Coming Full Circle

In yesterday’s Blog entry I said that in the fall we often take stock of our lives. After I wrote this I had my own little back to the past encounter triggered by the discovery that I am on the cover of the 2009 Patagonia Calendar.My trip down memory lane took me to 1987. Fresh [...]