Essays – Ice and Trail

The Winter 14ers “Game”: 2018-19 Kickoff

With true, honest-to-God calendar winter beginning today, Friday, Dec. 21, it’s the perfect time to give a brief rundown of what exactly counts as a winter 14er, strictly speaking, and why anyone even cares.

Igniting a Life Outdoors: A Jacket, WornWear, and Rebirth

Like a first love, it opened a world of possibilities. I was 23 and a recent transplant to Boston when it found me on the glossy back page of an outdoor magazine. I was newly severed from the Rocky Mountains, for which I’d only just begun to develop an affinity, displaced into a world of brickContinue reading “Igniting a Life Outdoors: A Jacket, WornWear, and Rebirth”

Rescued: A Boy and His Dog

Her origin story will always remain a mystery. One of the few known facts is that she was born on or around March 3, 2015, near the Mescalero Reservation in southern New Mexico. This is a familiar tale. Stray dogs on Native American reservations are a growing epidemic. It blew me away the first time I sawContinue reading “Rescued: A Boy and His Dog”

Mountain Therapy

So many outside influences affect how we perceive ourselves. Our self-esteem is too often based on the opinions and actions of others. Climbing brings everything back to center. Mountains recalibrate the soul.

11 Tips for Hiking 14ers Like a Grown Up

1. THE INFORMATION IS OUT THERE Don’t ask for information on Quandary’s East Ridge in August. There’s no faster way to rile up the masses. If you have a question about the 14ers, it’s already been posed and answered at least a dozen times. Invest energy in doing your own research. I promise, it’s moreContinue reading “11 Tips for Hiking 14ers Like a Grown Up”

Top 5 Colorado Mountain Towns (for Dirtbag Climbers)

One of the biggest perks of pursuing 14ers and 13ers is having an excuse to range far and wide across Colorado. Little towns that even natives haven’t heard of become favorite haunts, complete with their hole-in-the-wall restaurants, obscure festivals, historic sites, quirky attractions, sunny patios and small-batch breweries. When you exit ski country, you enterContinue reading “Top 5 Colorado Mountain Towns (for Dirtbag Climbers)”

A Legend Passes: In Memory of Steve Gladbach

I’d planned on a couple of trip reports being my next blog posts, but the events of the past 24 hours take precedence. Steve Gladbach, a preeminent Colorado mountaineer and by all accounts one of the finest human beings on the planet, was killed in a climbing accident on “Thunder Pyramid” near Aspen. The detailsContinue reading “A Legend Passes: In Memory of Steve Gladbach”