About 10 years ago, I got into a “season” of mountaineering. I came off a job at Eddie Bauer, where I got to meet and work with some of the best mountaineers of this generation — Viesturs, Hahn, Arnot — as well as the Whittakers. I then took a marketing job at one of the guide services and that sent me from a curiousity to actually chasing sufferfests. I climbed Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier that summer.
I’ve wrapped another personal season to varying results. I first have to thank your Mom for allowing me the time because mountaineering doesn’t take hours but days — long travel and a lot of training. Your Uncle Scott catalyzed this season of climbing as he’s been interested in peak bagging the last year, and got a Rainier summit himself.
To start this season, I took on Mt. St. Helens, which your Mom and I have climbed in previous years in the early Fall. This was my first time with skis in the winter, and I stopped short about 500 feet from the summit because of leg cramping. Lesson learned: get my hydration and pre-climb diet right. Then I climbed Mt. Ellinor in the Olympics with a large group and, again with skis, to a successful summit.
Finally, I just wrapped a big trip to Mt. Baker, which I had never climbed, and we went guided by Mountain Madness because of the glacier travel. That was a haul at 20-miles roundtrip with heavy packs. I have not been that cold sleeping overnight under a two-story snowdrift. On our second day, we stopped short about 800 feet from the summit, about 7,500 total elevation, to ski down in a white out. I felt good in my body, mind and decision quality out on a big mountain. The skiing was also really great — when we could see.
Here’s the thing about the mountains, they humble you because you feel so small and exposed. I had a lot of quiet time to think, putting one foot in front of the other for hours and hours. I found myself thinking about you, Eliza and Mom a lot. I thought about the responsibility to always return home safely. I thought about the adventures we’ll get to take together when you kids can go further and climb higher. I like that wilderness experience but I’d like to do that more with family than away from family.
Everything is on a balance. This has been a fun round of climbing, and I’m looking forward to more lowland time at beaches and pools this summer. It’s been fun spending time with climbing buddies and sleeping in tents, but I missed hanging out with you and Eliza and even your disasterous sleep schedules in comfortable beds! I spent a lot of time on the snow, and I’m excited to get back in the heat. Your Mom and I are flying out to Austin, Texas for a COVID-delayed anniversary trip.
I look forward to the next mountaineering season, hopefully sooner than 10 years out and definitely with you, Mom and Eliza on the crew.
I try to stay on topic with these letters, but one aside: puzzles. You love puzzles and your Mom upped the ante this past month trying a 1,000-piece emoji puzzle (lots of yellow circles). It took us a week and a lot of parent-only evening sessions putting that together. We’re going to stay engaged with puzzles but are probably going to get back into the sub-500-piece puzzle to keep sanity and use our dining table again.
Love, Dad