I’m not going to sugarcoat it. After riding lifts in August and September for Turns All Year Months 83-84, I was not super motivated to get out and hike for turns in October to get my 7-years. I did it anyway, ignorantly thinking the “recent snows”...
When you plan to have a surprise wedding, items quickly get sorted into one of two categories: 1) things you can control, and therefore are allowed to care about, and 2) things you cannot control and have to let go. Food. Music. The dress. Those all fall in the former...
It turns my finger the color of burnt orange peels when my hand gets damp. I paint the inside with clear nail polish to avoid this inevitability, but steel is not the best medium for jewelry. A horseshoe nail bent into the shape of a ring, this symbol of...
We’ve been traveling for a day and a half – 36 hours on planes and in airports and on trains in airports. Fitting my swollen feet back into my shoes after the 14 hour flight, one of three to travel nearly 6,000 miles, is a herculean effort. When the cab...
At the end of December, it’s fun to reflect on memories that made us smile and consider what things we’d like to leave behind as we enter a New Year. A lot of things made me smile in 2018. Spending my birthday skiing a twofer on Helens and Hood and saying...
What’s the best way to celebrate seven years (84 months) of turns all year? The snow dances in cascading sparkles as we move, the crystals refracting the sunlight in every direction. Theresa and I are skinning toward a convex slope on an especially warm spring...
These are not my people. My people approach April with glee, knowing the best adventuring opportunities of ‘Volcano Season’ are right around the corner. May and June, and sometimes July, bring an ample harvest of spring corn in the sunshine. Slushy-turns,...
Even if the glass hadn’t shattered everywhere, the snow was too dirty to make any remnants salvageable. The malted-brown goodness Andrew had carried for hours was gone forever, dissolving before our eyes into the frozen earth. We’d be spending New Year’s Eve without...
This summer kicked my ass. Between family visits and house projects and planning a secret, surprise wedding, my personal life has been all over the place. Life at the office has been similarly hectic, with an organizational restructure resulting in two openings on my...
Nearly 400 people have been members of The Mountaineers for 50-years or more. Together, they share 20,000 years worth of outdoor memories: exploring, learning, and conserving in our wild places. I have the privilege of learning about their stories on a weekly basis....
