Search & Rescue
Not long ago, I was asked this question by another long-time avalanche professional after sitting in one of our annual fall Snow and Avalanche Workshops. In an avalanche accident this winter, I found - what I believe - to be a clear example. First some definitions (these are my definitions)
Meditations
I'll be out of town next week, so I'm sending this out early. We're headed to the Book Cliffs and then down to Ruby Ranch to float Labyrinth Canyon. It's a long way from Denali National Park, where NPS climbing ranger Travis
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
A few years ago, a shirtless man walked up to a Chevron gas pump with an empty gas can, paid for five gallons of gasoline and promptly dumped all of the contents over his head. Then he walked into the store. Within minutes, the cops arrived, cleared the building and
Avalanche
by Derek DeBruin We’d been home just long enough to say hello to my wife and son and then unload the car from a few days of winter mixed climbing in Utah’s west desert. With both work and personal outings coming up in the next week, I was
Meditations
The Next Step BY STARR JAMISON, WITH INTERVIEWS WITH LAURA MCGLADREY AND DREW HARDESTY In the last few years, momentum has exponentially grown to promote conversations about mental health, stress injuries, grief, and trauma in the outdoor industry. Many avalanche professionals have stepped forward to share their stories, which helps
Avalanche
Some of the following is true. It was late January. Overcast and lightly snowing. No hint of wind. Temperatures in the low twenties and dropping in the late afternoon. Silent, but not serene. I sat half-buried in the avalanche debris with two broken legs. Blood had already filled my ski
Meditations
So there are these two guys sitting together in a bar in the remote Alaskan wilderness. One is an atheist, the other, shall we say, a God-fearing man, and they're arguing about the existence of God, with that special intensity that comes after about the fourth beer. And
Search & Rescue
For some climbing rangers in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, every ridgeline holds the memory of a rescue, every peak a body bag. It's more than they can handle alone. “Rachel, where are you?” I yelled into the void above. A fellow Grand Teton climbing ranger,
Avalanche
Back when I started working at Jenny Lake, I would spend mornings in meditation on the west porch of the rescue cache with retired ranger Tom Kimbrough and an old Exum mountain guide, George Gardiner. We sat in silence, the incense burning. Sometimes we’d look over the broad expanse