Meditations
Bear with me. Years ago, I worked on a mountain rescue team in the northwest. Yet I hesitate to call it a ‘team’ because it suffered due to the presence of an overwhelmingly charismatic, yet mercurial individual we’ll call James. James had broad shoulders, a square jaw, and a
Meditations
I always considered my father to be a master gardener. In the last quarter of his life, he would enter his strange and inspired flowers into the county fair and talk shit to his competitors, often well-heeled ladies that had, as he wryly described it, “the help.” My wife’s
Meditations
Ok, I lied. This will be the last Meditation for the season and it will be briefly about memory and beauty. People tell me that these meditations are like being led into different rooms, but never to an absolute conclusion. Why should this be so different? Time slipping away. That
Meditations
I was recently invited to speak at a friend’s memorial. And so I began by acknowledging my fellow speakers, referring to a recent study on...fear. The study found that people feared public speaking more than death itself; in other words, more people would rather be in the box
Meditations
Avalanche by day Pisco Sour, Haiku by night. Now Free like the wind (libre como el viento). Jerry Roberts, Rōbert (pron: Rō’bear), aka The Reverend, aka The Assistant Spiritual Director, aka The Zen Redneck, was promoted to the ranks of eternal enlightenment on the first day of autumn. He&
Meditations
I knew that inventorying the clouds was an important part of the job. I had just forgotten how important. I know now that it means everything to me. Far out on the desert to the north dustspouts rose wobbling and augered the earth and some said they'd heard
Avalanche
artwork by mike clelland Why do people take avalanche classes? I have been so curious recently about the MOTIVATIONS of avalanche students. Can they be boiled down to two generalizations? A: I want the risk of being injured in the backcountry to be less than it is today. B: I
Basho's Narrow Road North is a cold winding path. First steps of autumn. For my friend Rōbert
Meditations
"If our father had had his way, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him." Norman Maclean Chase Wharton’s father was a long-time National Park Service ranger and superintendent and Chase has continued along this path. We
Meditations
An old friend of mine was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in the fall of 2021. Normally, this is a fairly quick and immediate death sentence. He lived way longer than they expected him to. I went to see him a week, maybe a week and a half before
Meditations
I begin this meditation with an excerpt from my January 5, 2010. avalanche forecast. There is a beautiful book, written by the French aviator Antoine de St. Exupéry, called Wind, Sand, and Stars. Part of it details a time when his plane crashed in the Libyan desert. I think it
Meditations
“To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.” Norman Maclean Cottonwood Creek is nestled in the cradle of Teewinot and murmurs through the ranger and guide’s cabins of Lupine Meadows.