I feel like an armchair quarterback. Here at a table, with a warm cup of tea and a writing device in front of me, I wax poetic (or try to) about the nature of mountains, the meaning of summits and all the details that surrounds those things. I think of ideas for “next time” and […]
2016
The “Emergency” Exit
I guess it was/is inevitable. An unplanned trip back from some remote/far off part of the world. The logistics have been half worked through. I can get back to NH. The rest will, with some work and the almighty dollar, fall into place. My head rests against a hard, plastic corner of the plane wall. […]
Dark to Dark to Dark
We woke in the dark then watched the sun come up. We watched the sun go down and come up again. All without sleeping. Then we watched it go down once more, still without sleeping. In between we climbed up, rapped down and walked out. *** It was to be a short spell of good […]
Facing Reality on Pilar Goretta
The reality is, once again, I am not good enough. Not strong enough, not smart enough, not tough enough, and even potentially, not dumb enough. Some things had changed in the two years since I last attempted to climb Fitz Roy via Pilar Goretta and it’s north side. I had more experience, more knowledge and […]
Migration Patterns
The mountains are calling and I must go. Soon I will drive east out of Lander, bound for Casper and a flight south to Patagonia. This will be my seventh trip to Patagonia and it should be old hat by now. In some ways maybe it is and in others not yet. I scroll through […]
Town Days
Editors Note: In honor of the return to the dusty campgrounds of El Chalten, I am posting this piece I wrote a few years ago. Life in El Chalten isn’t too complicated and many days that are spent waiting for good weather seem to pass in a similar fashion as I have written about below. […]