A bee staggers out of the peony. His most recognized work is Narrow Road to the Deep North...also translated as Journey to the Interior. A Buddhist, Basho was often mistaken for a priest while on the road in the 1600s. But it was the banana tree at his home
I first want you to know that I am one of you: I love skiing powder and hate crossing other tracks. I love making my own decisions in the mountains and I also love occasionally triggering avalanches. But as a backcountry avalanche forecaster for 26 years, there's something
You know the old saying, A guy on his own can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real idiocy, it takes teamwork? It's not true. Ok, it's not always true. But these ideas of Crew Resource Management......If you See Something, Say Something, etc..... have become
Overheard at the monastery between the novice and the master - I once asked you why you were doing something and you replied that it was important to occasionally sharpen the pencil. But the thing for me - I keep breaking the lead point of my pencil. A bunch of lessons to
It was just before midnight, 1974, when the devil - Scratch - appeared to Charlie McCarthy. McCarthy had just written Child of God (a book on loneliness, madness, depravity and other acts unfit for this polite audience) and Scratch saw some potential. He offered McCarthy the opportunity to be the greatest novelist,
Dusk in the mountains. Boy sleeps on his mother’s arm. I‘ll live forever. Had a few 'technical difficulties' this morning, but I hope they are ironed out. Thanks again to Laurel Hunter for coming to the rescue. Thanks for subscribing to the Meditations. You'll
Avalanche
When I heard the collapse, I thought, No problem. But this was before I understood avalanches as well as I do now. The slope fractured like a pane of glass and even though I was on a 22° degree pitch at the top of the slope, it was as if
Meditations
...and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all. McCarthy. All the Pretty Horses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know this isn’t really part of the genre, but
Meditations
Did you hear the one about the lion tamer who followed the directions by the book and in the end, the lion ate him anyway?
Avalanche
What is it about these two profound words that you hear with any decision of consequence? You’re looking over the tips of your skis down onto the Bobsled, a perfect white canvas on the north side of Gobblers Knob*. Shadows of blue pierce the canvas, but that's
Meditations
Japanese Enso. Fairly well represents my view from the seat of the car, although the circle became nearly all black by the end. Read on... Hip surgery last Tuesday. Unreliable narrator. My wife and I leave surgery at 4pm. We head to the Bengal Smiths and park in the shade.
Avalanche
It’s early January. Old depth hoar at the base of the snowpack. He peers down the slope. Steep and north facing. V1: Pascal believes it’s stable and skis the slope. The best run of his life. V2: Pascal believes it’s stable and skis the slope. It shatters