the blog

Sometimes I sit awake at night for hours, unable to sleep. I do some good thinking during that time, though, and often work through some of the projects I have going on.

Sundays are for summit scrambles.

One of my favorite camps when I was living on Maui last year. Double and triple thanks to @mauiwesty for having such a great fleet of VW’s on the island and keeping the aloha alive and well.

A few of my favorite film images from an awesome shoot up in the North Cascades. Is it too soon to start planning summer mountain missions? Great, I don’t think so either. Alaska anyone?

@marmot Spring 22 catalog shoot, East Sierras edition.

It feels like we may only be granted so many moments like these in a lifetime, and photographing them allows me a sliver of a memory, of a feeling.

“It’s quite rare, these days, to experience something for the first time. I’m trying to be more mindful and grateful in these moments. On this trip there are things I am intentionally leaving undone, so that I can experience them for the first time.” – notes from my journal, day 12.
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Happy to have had such a mentor on the Grand Canon. Thank you for everything @kernducote . Especially putting up with me asking to row every 10 minutes.

@kyfriq showing us how the backflip is done off the diving board.

There’s nothing like a night under the stars, a cool mountain breeze and tired legs to slow down the mind. Out here, we can be really present, something that I think we’re missing in more and more daily life.

‘Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.’ ~ Ted Chiang

I’m still struggling to try and explain the Grand. It doesn’t feel fair to say “you just had to be there”… But that’s kind of how it feels. There’s a rhythm to your soul that happens after that long so deep in one place, you begin to belong there.

Preferred sleeping locations.

The river turned to chocolate for only two of the days we spend on the Colorado. It was an amazing sight to see, the river going from green to brown, only for it to return to green the next day.

Pulling into camp above Lava Rapid. Words have failed me thus far trying to explain this place.

Coincidence and intention or two sides of the same tapestry. You may find one more agreeable to look at but you cannot say one is true and one is false.

Miss you friend. Hope to see you next month. @pattiegonia
Swipe for a more accurate depiction.

The last few months have been non-stop, only having a day or two between trips. I’ve spent most of those nights sleeping under the stars, rarely in a tent, preferring to camp in the good ole fashioned Cowboy style. It’s hard to complain about anything with the Milky Way soaring overhead, reminding me of my infinitesimally small place in the universe. It’s good to have that reminder.