Meditations
Earlier this winter, I got a call from an avalanche colleague in California. “Drew, I haven’t been sleeping well. My ulcer has flared again.” “Tell me.” “Six weeks ago, I was out alone and was caught in an avalanche. I lost gear but I’m fine. I haven’t
Meditations
When I moved to Japan in the early 1990s, my ‘handler’ Stacy guided me around for much of the first month. He had me chauffeur him through town and country so I could get the lay of the land and learn to drive on the opposite side of the road.
Meditations
It's been quite the winter. Feast or famine. The climate change forecasters told us it would be like this. Coincidence, I'm sure. In this newsletter, I want to explore survival, the power of the mind, and the Hand of God. The two pieces below may have
Meditations
Years ago, Edward Abbey concluded that the desert had no heart. I wonder if he just didn't look upstream.
Search & Rescue
When I worked as a Jenny Lake climbing ranger in Grand Teton National Park, I would often take my dinner over to the west porch of the rescue cache. Our cabins were nestled along Cottonwood Creek on the east side of Lupine Meadows and from my evening vantage, I could
Meditations
Not long ago, I was in the upper reaches of Bells Canyon in the Wasatch Range and came across an older man grimacing as he sat awkwardly next to his pack. I've broken my fibula, I believe, he said. I'm a retired orthopedic surgeon. I don&
Avalanche
There is a lone Engelmann spruce that stands near the bottom of the Hogum Fork drainage in Little Cottonwood Canyon that is often referred to as The Medicine Tree. Hogum Fork is difficult to reach in winter and perhaps even more so in summer. But the tree. She must be
Meditations
My good friend Miles completed the Teton picnic a couple of weeks ago. This was a good outing for the 20 year old....but what made it mind-bending was that he was swimming across Jenny Lake at 3am during the Perseid meteor shower. Imagine swimming in 65° degree water watching
Meditations
Some studies have revealed that our current drought is more severe than the one that turned the Plateau into a ghost town almost a thousand years ago. So we headed to Ridgeway and Crested Butte as climate refugees. For my friend Jerry Roberts Here for Cold Mountain. Instead - old
Meditations
The monsoons missed us last night. One could see gunmetal grey all around us and pretty colors on the radar in a circle but we saw not a drop of rain. (I had to go back into the archives Jan 5, 2010 for the piece below). There is a beautiful
Meditations
I didnt mean I'd seen everything, John Grady said. I know you didnt. I just meant I'd seen things I'd as soon not of. I know it. There's hard lessons in this world. What's the hardest? I don't
Meditations
I worked for many years as a climbing ranger in Grand Teton National Park. The old joke was that superintendents come and go, but the rangers stay forever. One of the more memorable superintendents was David Vela. Vela was a large man with an even larger personality. He had a