Meditations

Season's End

To borrow from Bashō Even at Alta - hearing the cuckoo's cry - I long for Alta.

Meditations

Bring on the Night

Does the Condemned man Floss His teeth The night before the gallows? Who Else but a blind man Wins a staring contest with the sun? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bright Constellations Now you see them, now you don't Alpine headlamps. (Evening views of the Middle Teton) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This world of dew is only

Meditations

What Lawrence said about pain...

The young alpinist Michael Gardner died this week in a climbing accident on the north face of Jannu East in Nepal’s Kangchenjunga region.  Although I didn't know Michael as well as I knew his father, I do know that his star shined brightly.  Searingly bright.  He once

You Are Authorized to Conduct this Rescue

Two springs ago, a friend of mine fell through the ice on the Great Salt Lake attempting to save her dog who had also fallen through the ice.  After a few minutes in the freezing water, she described experiencing a sensation where she was floating above the frozen lake, looking

Is it Really LOW danger?

For the past 25 years, I've worked as a backcountry avalanche forecaster in the Wasatch Range of northern Utah.  Each morning, our office issues an overall danger rating on a five point scale between Low to Extreme (with a bunch of fine print and other details).  We think

Meditations

WE ARE Dangerous (Another Look...)

My friend Mark Johnston spends a lot of time in the mountains and a lot of time traversing from Y to Z.  Many of these travels are solo.  Many are with his sidekick Archie -  Man's best friend.  Or is he?     Mark send this to me a few

Avalanche

Deep Learning (Do Emotions distract from rational thought?)

In Paul Valery's book, The Yalu, a Western intellectual is questioned by a Chinese scholar who critiques the West's worship of intellect - the West's tendency to equate, in Francis Bacon's formula, knowledge and power.  For you, intelligence is not one thing

Meditations

Prisoners of War (A short meditation on Leadership)

If you’re my age, you might’ve grown up watching a film, The Bridge On the River Kwai.  It tells the story of British and American GIs in WW2 who were POWs, forced by the Japanese to build a bridge over a river separating Bangkok and Rangoon.  It won

Meditations

Mizuta Masahide

(L.Sagatov) Barn's burnt down -- now I can see the moon. Mizuta Masahide (1657–1723) studied under the patron saint of avalanche haiku, Matsu Bashō.   ❄️❄️❄️ Come Let's go snow-viewing, Til we're buried.   (it's no surprise that avalanche hunter and zen redneck

Meditations

Maine in Summer

Traveling along the coast of Maine.  See you next week -

Avalanche

Laughing With God and Nietzsche in the Snowpit

(Introduction:  When I asked Colorado avalanche forecaster and researcher Jason Konigsberg to look over a short avalanche essay that involved God and Nietzsche, he said, Sure, but I don’t know much about those guys…)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bluebird.  I’m near the top of Empire. A beautiful white canvas of avalanche terrain.

Meditations

Making Sense of the Wolf

My good friend Terry O’Connor was killed in an avalanche in the Lost River Range in central Idaho last month.  He had been skiing in some of Idaho's more remote ranges this spring, and as such, camping is usually required for an early start.  Only a week