Meditations
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
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
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
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
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 days
Avalanche
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 among
Meditations
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
(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
Traveling along the coast of Maine. See you next week -
Avalanche
(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
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
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