It's All About the People......

The sun is making another appearance. This time however, the elements of Earth and Sky seem more clear than they have ever been on this trip. The surf is steady and ferocious, the winds have ignored the palms, the rocky coastline is clear of bi-peds and the sky is vastly blue. The sky, ...today it seems completely empty, void of any thought or plans. Much like the sky in my own head.

The reason I came here was for work, and the work is complete. The equipment is packed and the photographs are all backed up. Now, I stare out on the ocean and land with a calm reflectance. Much has happened since my departure from Portland on October 26th. Some bad and all good, but mostly all good. I learned something amazing on this adventure, and didn't think I would ever say this, but it's all about the people. There are some incredible people out there amongst this mostly mixed up world. These are the people who give me hope. I could name all of them off to you along with a story about each, but you have met these people yourself and can think about them with the same smile I have for everyone, and I truly mean everyone, I have met since our arrival in Barrow Alaska.
Last night I had this conversation with one of these great people about all of the stories we walk right by and will never know unless we ask. He asked me, how many times have I bumped into somebody just to say excuse me and nod instead of taking that opportunity to learn their personal story. I have had this same thought and try to curb away from the all to typical, today is my day and I'm on a mission, attitude. However, there are many days when I do run away from interactions because of my self centered mission, usually pointless. The times I've slowed my pace and made that engagement are the times I have learned and evolved the most.

Even through the chaos that happens on every photo shoot (especially location work) I found a new way of enjoying the moments and individual stories around me while working. It's far to easy to get wrapped up in your work and forget that you are living as well. Keeping up with this blog and knowing that I would like to write more made this process of living easier. I was more aware of the experiences happening before me. Writing down your adventures allows you to experience them from a more emotional sophistication rather than a direct impulsive one. I hope to continue posting my daily adventures, allowing myself to see the emotion and beauty in every day existence. It's easy to record the spectacular days because, well, they don't happen every day. But in so many ways they do, I just have to be receptive to them.
This concludes my current journey until tomorrow. From Barrow Alaska to Turtle Bay Hawaii, what a saunter. My mother always told me to never judge a book by it's cover and I finally learned what she meant. Alaska's cover was far and cold, but the book read warm and generous. And Hawaii's cover appeared colder than Alaska and much more disconnected, but the surviving culture here is one of the most beautiful I have seen. Until tomorrow........

Turtle Bay

We packed up and headed to the North Shore for the last week. This area is a much more pleasant atmosphere. Of course it is still a huge resort/spa atmosphere. But amongst the hooplah, beaches, waves, and forests have room to breath. I went for a jog/wander away from the tourism comforts and found an amazing coastline rich with a volcanic past. The shore was a mix of sand and jagged volcanic shelves the waves crashed upon relentlessly taking the sand away revealing more and more of the black rock with each wash. Along with the surf came the stormy weather and just as quickly as a wave dissolves back into the sea the windy rain lifted as well. This went on for some time filling me with energy and strength I have been craving since my visit in Alaska.However, although I have finally found the beauty in the landscape I was seeking there is still so much development on Oahu that I have yet to find a truly wild place where a resort or hotel is completely hidden. Just when I thought I was away from it all, I heard a golf club chopping towards the earth. I stood and climbed over a small dune to find an unnaturally green golf course and,......yes a resort at the far edge. I guess at least the resorts sprawl plans are contained by the island itself.

This is a place of indescribable natural beauty and wildlife. I just hope we don't destroy the true beauty that exists here with greedy development. Maybe we are blind to the reasons behind natural disasters. Could they be a message, or a way of cleaning up? I do not know, but I can't help to wonder.

Second Impressions of Hawaii

I may have been a bit quick at forming an opinion of this culturally educational place in my previous post. Hawaii has much to offer and I'm finding that 'the people' make this land wonderful in many ways. Once outside of Waikiki, a whole new world exists. And we have been lucky to be able to experience this new world from a relatively local viewpoint thanks to Anthony, Brian, and Amos for helping us out. They have shared with us many of the local secrets and because of them we have been accepted to a certain extent as being more than tourists from the main land.
The Hawaiian and Polynesian Culture is so immensely beautiful it puts me into a state of shallow depression thinking about the extreme lack of culture the Western civilization has. In many ways they are losing their culture as well, but many are fighting to keep it alive and thriving. This is hard to do in the modern world we have created, but the necessity of it will prevail over the modern entanglements we have created.
Today we worked with traditional ancient Hula Dancers (a mother and daughter) and with a traditional Polynesian Dancer. Every dance position they perform has to do with the Earth and Nature or as a recognition for their tribe from the little I have gathered. They respect Nature through music, dance, worship, and living everyday with awareness of its many gifts. We also worked at a Hawaiian emergence school. Michael photographed the tiny classroom with all of the students from that class piled in. This school and the educators working there are working hard to keep giving breath to the Hawaiian culture. They teach and communicate in the native language. The teachers also share many cultural stories along with the many other subjects needed to succeed in the modern world.
While being here and witnessing such beautiful history it is hard for me not to think about our lack of culture. Sure, we share certain holidays and celebrate certain achievements but we don't wake everyday and dance with the Sun, Sky and Earth the way traditional Polynesians or Hawaiians do. Although I'm sure many from this culture do not practice their heritage either, many of them do, and are seeking ways to bring it back into their daily lives. As American Mutts, what customs from the past do we even have that we could include in our daily lives? Which customs do we have that make us recognize and pay tribute to the Earth around us and the awe of it all?

Hawaii

An interesting shock leaving Alaska and arriving in Hawaii 16 hours later. Not sure what to think about it. Not really sure what to think of Hawaii as a whole yet either. My first impressions are less than satisfactory minus the amazing people we have been meeting. But in general Honolulu doesn't interest me in the least. We are staying at a fancy hotel/resort type place in Waikiki that feels much like Miami, and I hate Miami. The atmosphere is phony and stuffy while the many vacationers here are cold and stiff lacking the thrill for really living by consuming meaningless happiness. The resort atmosphere is so out of touch with the purity life can provide that it is difficult for me to see any positive energy I'm sure is there,.....somewhere.We have been fortunate to travel outside of the city to a few beautiful places along the East coast and along the North Shore, but again the entire island is saturated with resort development which destroys the view of the mountains and ocean. But they are still there and surviving, showing us their immense beauty. The few Natives we have met are amazingly generous and warm. Today we had the great honor of meeting a Tahitian Chief who thoroughly continues to practice his Polynesian culture and religion. We have also met a few other Native Hawaiians who are working hard to keep the Hawaiian Culture alive and thriving amongst children and adults alike.It will be interesting to see how my views and opinions of Hawaii develop over the next 9 days. Fortunately, we will be working with some amazing people everyday making for a good visit. As long as I can look through the phoniness of it all and see the true Hawaiian Culture and people who live it, I will have a unique and exciting journey.

Leaving Alaska

5:53pm. 10 minutes ago the plane raced its engines down the runway in Ketchikan and took flight South towards Portland. I forced all of my attention out the tiny window to soak in my last views of the Alaska I have so long wanted to see. At around 6,000 feet, the aircraft entered the Sea of Clouds leaving my now beloved Alaska behind.
It seems to be a sad day, however I am not sad in the least. Instead, I am filled with hope, passion, adventure, and mostly the excitement and anticipation of returning.
Now above the clouds, and entering the deep twilight of blues, oranges, and several hues between, I think about fully participating in the many great moments in our lives and the art of taking nothing for granted. Because all great experiences and moments are fleeting. They live the rest of your days in the memory. Maybe this is why I love photography. Making images helps me freeze these moments into just a bit more than a fuzzy thought often altered by the mind as the years come and leave.I will experience Alaska and the many awe-inspiring people, landscapes, animals, colors, waterways, peaks, glaciers, and valleys soon. Something about these things sets my passion free to flow through the very being of a life void of limitations. This is only the beginning of my journeys in Alaska.We get into Portland at around 10:30pm where we will repack until about midnight or so for our 8am flight to Hawaii for 12 days. What madness and splendor......

Last Stop.....Ketchikan

Our flight from Anchorage to Ketchikan left at 8am allowing us to see a spectacular sunrise on the many Peaks and Glaciers of the Glacier Bay Park & Wilderness Area along the Alaskan Coastline. Today was my first view of such immense glaciers stretching from mountaintop to Ocean in one expansive and powerful flow.
We flew on the mail route which meant landing in Juneau and Sitka for mail drop off and pick up before making our way to Ketchikan. It is impossible for me to put into words the emotions running through me while looking out the small window from my seat at the many snow covered peaks, glaciers, scattered islands, and thick forests. What I do know is that I will be visiting this wild place many times more in my life somehow. It cannot be experienced or understood in such a short trip. A lifetime couldn't deliver a full understanding of such a place.
After landing in Ketchikan, Linda our local guide and driver picked us up form the airport. We took a quick ferry ride over to the town and up to Nathan Jackson's carving shop. Nathan is one of the world's great totem carvers. His personality fills you with energy making you want to be the best at whatever you do. His contagious laugh is worth the trip to Alaska. We were also gifted with the privilege to see him carve. When brilliance happens before you, it is easy to see. Tomorrow, we will set up at his carving shop and Michael will craft a photograph of Nathan working and living his daily lifestyle. Nathan is also a talented Harmonica player and if we are lucky, he may play for us. I'll try to learn all I can in such a short time.

Quick Day in Wasilla

Our late flight into Anchorage kept the mountains out of sight. For the first time on this trip I found myself in a so-so state of mind. Anchorage seems to be just another hustle and bustle city in my eyes but I know that great beauty and landscapes sleeps near. Tomorrow we will see this great beauty.

And after a few miles in the typical urban jungle we found great beauty. The Chugach Mountain range filled our smogged senses with a fresh wind. A strong wind indeed. We drove North on Hwy 1 to the Knik Arm near Wasilla (and yes, sarah palin is from Wasilla, and fortunately we didn't see her). The tide was quite low and the Earth was dusty with Dirt Devils swirling all around us. We explored the location we would be shooting at while keeping an eye peeled for Moose. Unfortunately, we saw no Moose on this trip. The shoot went well and we ended relatively early for once.
Michael found a fantastic brewhouse in downtown Anchorage called the Glacier Brewery. A nice way to end our quick visit to this part of Alaska.

Last day in Barrow Video Clips

Last day in Barrow

I'm writing this morning from my room in Anchorage. This will be a quick post that I may add to later. We arrived around midnight after another enriching day in Barrow. It was sad to leave when there is still so much to learn from the people, animals, and the Arctic Tundra itself. I'm sure I will make a journey back here during the whaling season. I would like to note that I am writing usually quite late after working all day and not able to take the time to check my facts, and a few of them have been wrong.....way wrong. For instance, we are no where near the Bering Sea but instead the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea inside the Arctic Ocean. There were a few more of these mistakes that I have since corrected. I'm sure there will be more. There are several hi-moments from my last day in Barrow, but here are a few that will stand tall in my mind when I'm an old man. Firstly, on our way out to the location towards Point Barrow we witnessed an Arctic Fox dragging food across the road and stopped to observe him as he ran to a safe distance from us and watched casually. He burrowed himself into the snow for camouflage and then started circling around his tail as if bedding down. Completely confidant and unaffected by our huge white van 70 yards away. I then got to work with Richard (our talent for the photograph Michael was making) and learned a great deal about their culture and lifestyle. Rita (our patient and gracious driver for the past 2 days) brought her son Reese to the location who entertained us all, especially when driving around Barrow. After a bit shooting in the morning, we headed to town for a few hours and to the Inupiat Heritage Center. Wonderful place filled with too much Native Culture to take in so quickly. Next, we headed back out to shoot around the last light of the day which proved to be worthy, warm, winter light. We were all pleased with his decision to come back. There was much more, but I'm running out of time this morning. Hopefully tonight I will be able to include more.
Thanks Rita for giving us the perfect Barrow tour, for sharing your family with us, and mostly for your company. Hope to see everyone here in Barrow in the not to distant future.

Hello Barrow

Another experience of experiences in Barrow. What to say in such short order. Hopefully the few images and video at the bottom will give you an idea of what I took in. This place is home to some truly beautiful people and culture. I met several amazing Inupiat Natives today with little interest in abandoning their traditional methods, and instead embracing them fully. This is a harsh and wonderful place to live and survive in, however the men and women who reside here move effortlessly amongst this Arctic Tundra. I met a couple of Whaling Captains who are both passionate and carry an authentic pride about their culture. I also learned several things about the traditional skin boats (made from Bearded Seals) they use to hunt the whales from. And we were incredibly fortunate to be able to handle the skin boats and help in the process of getting them rigged, ready, and delivered to the launch location.
I am most amazed at how happy and kind the people are who live here even though it seems to be a depressed area at first sight to the standards of typical Western Culture. They seem perfectly content with less and seem to worry little. For instance, Herman, one of the Captains put the bow of his aluminum boat through his back window on our way to the shoot location and told us the story with a smile and chuckle saying "oh, my wife won't be too happy about this." Also, when asked what they do during the long dark hours and how do they get through it, they smile and look at you as if confused by your question. Barrow is a damp city (no alcohol can be sold here, however it can be purchased outside of Barrow and brought in) which to many seems crazy that a "night life of partying" doesn't exist. I'm not sure if this is something they would rather have or not, but I do know that many of the Natives I have talked to moved to this area by choice and have had many other opportunities to leave but have decided to stay.

No Polar Bear sitings yet, but I am hopeful that tomorrow could be the day. Many Bears are in the area and seen daily, many times, monthly in fact, in downtown Barrow where the police are called to chase them away. We have seen other birds and plenty of tracks from Foxes to indicate that wildlife thrives in this harsh land without the many layers of artificial warmth I wore today.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Barrow. We will be catching our flight at around 8pm after a day of work down to the city of Anchorage for 2 days. This will be a shock, wish we could stay here longer instead.

Hello Alaska

Today was a day of days, for my first few steps into Alaska has finally happened. I'm writing from the Top Of The World Hotel in Barrow at 1 am, the most Northern city in America. What a privilege I have been given. I have been asked to help on a photography job for the 2010 Census here in Alaska for a week and finishing in Hawaii for 12 days. I will be working as a digital tech and photography assistant. We are making images to advertise the 2010 Census to the Native populations in these locations. It will be an honor to gain a tiny glimpse into their way of life amongst this arctic land. The cloud cover was thick on our entry into Anchorage, but a small window opened up just big enough for me to catch an eyeful of snow and mountains below. That small glimpse was enough to tell me that I was now amongst some of the most spectacular giants in the world. After a brief transfer in Anchorage we flew to Fairbanks for a moment and then continued to Barrow. Our driver Rita took us out to the end of the road North to scout our first location which is about 2 miles south of Point Barrow and although it was completely dark we could feel the power of the Beaufort Sea to the East and the Chukchi Sea to the West. The spit of land we stood on was only 300 yards or so wide between the two seas. I should get some rest but it is truly hard to sleep with so many new things to see. 10:30 tomorrow the sun will dip above the horizon and show us the Arctic Tundra I'm incredibly anxious to see. The first image we will be working on tomorrow will be of a group of Whalers setting out in a traditional skin boat on the icy shores of either the Beaufort or Chukchi Sea.

Choices and journeys

Well, where do I begin? The length between my posts seems so far apart that I become overwhelmed with what to share. I keep telling myself that I'm going to develop into a better blogger and sharer of experiences. Maybe this post will finally be the beginning.

Even though I haven't written about 2009 much yet, it has been an adventurous one indeed. In a nutshell I have attempted to climb a new route on Mt. Hood with my good friend Nick Wagner and we had to enjoy the mountain from beneath its summit due to inclement weather and poor visibility. Several of our close and irreplaceable friends joined Gina and I for a weekend at Shakti Cove Cottages on the Longbeach Peninsula in Washington. Then I traveled through Southern Oregon for several days working on a jeep/dodge/chrysler photography job with Brad Stanley. Jim Hashimoto then asked me to teach a photography workshop to his 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students from DaVinci Arts Middle School during a field trip to Mount St. Helens. After that Kari Lyons put together a Mt. Shasta climb where 4 out of 8 of us summited and all of us enjoyed an amazing weekend playing on a giant. Shortly after coming home from Mt. Shasta, Duke and I geared up for a month long journey across the Northern portion of America back to my parents and my youth. We made it back to our home in Oregon during the last week of June and, shortly after, joined our friends Carlin and Miranda for a 4th of July celebration on the Oregon Coast. Next came a much needed journey to the North Cascades and a summit of Eldorado via a knife edge snow ridge, truly breathtaking (e-mail me to see a movie of this trip). The following weekend Nick and I made a maiden voyage to the Goat Rocks Wilderness and after 1 unsuccessful summit attempt on Saturday we found Curtis Gilbert's rocky summit on Sunday. The area was so beautiful I wanted to return the following weekend and this time Gina and Duke joined for an 18 1/2 mile loop with 5100' of elevation gain. The following weekend came quick with a mountain bike trip to the Lewis River Trail on Saturday and the Ape Canyon/Plains of Abraham Trail on Sunday (e-mail me to see a movie of this trip). Gina, Duke, and I headed out for another weekend wander to Jefferson Park at the foot of Mt. Jefferson. And at the end of August, I joined Terry, Mac, and Brian for a trip into the Enchantments and a successful rock climb up the West Ridge of Prusik Peak. That pretty much catches myself up with everything I have forgotten about due mostly to the inability for my mind to process all that has happened.

September rolled in fast and also slowed my pace down significantly. I found much more time to stroll through the forests and enjoy their being instead of racing through them to satisfy my adrenaline need. This time of year always causes me to reflect on my real purpose for escaping to my true home amongst the wild places. Living primarily amongst tall buildings and "civilized" culture makes it hard to keep focus on the necessity of wilderness. I look forward to the day when my front door will open to a wild forest with her arms wide for as long as I continually respect her.

The near future holds 2 destinations I have yet to explore. Work will be taking me to Alaska for a week and Hawaii for 12 days or so. Because of the work, I won't have much time to explore but I will do my best to embrace each available moment to experience these places. I have wanted to enter Alaska since I was a boy. I'm finally getting that chance thanks to Michael for calling me up. I'm scheduled to leave October 26th first to Alaska then Hawaii until November 12th. My plan is to find enough time each evening for updating this blog with my first impressions.

I'm grateful for the many opportunities I have been given these first 26 years of breathing. It all started with my parents teaching me to dismiss fear and embrace living. Plus a fair amount of money to keep me afloat when I spent too much time in the mountains and not enough time in the "civilized" insurance required world (I'm getting better at this). I thank them for all they have given me. But for far too long I have neglected the responsibility to share my fortunate experiences with my fellow humans. Hording the stories and photographs I gather serves no other purpose for the greater good of both man and nature. My challenge starting today will be to share more and inspire more. The reason being to benefit the natural world foremost as she has shared and continues to share with me more than I could possibly ever give back. And to hopefully inspire you to seek and protect wild places more. To us all attaining many stories and adventures amongst the wild to share.

peace, love, wild places,
kyle

Sauvie Island Found

I awoke around 5am on two fine mornings last week to spend the sunrise exploring a new location with, hopefully, new photographic opportunities. Wow! What a place I have pushed off far too long, Sauvie Island. Quite remarkable in many ways. 12,000 acres of wildlife areas nestled only moments from Portland. Completely unfamiliar with the rules and regulations of this new world and utterly focused on the beauty surrounding me that morning, I strapped my camera bag to my waist and launched aggressively with large eyes past the gated road towards the unknown. I now know that humans are forbidden in this particular area from mid January through mid April due to federal wildlife regulations installed to protect the wintering migratory birds. But it is good to be naive occasionally, for I walked upon a land void of humans and filled with several species including Canada Geese, Wood Ducks, Tundra Swans, Blue Herons, Egrets, and 2 Bald Eagles.

The first lake (Steelman Lake) I stumbled upon was filled with 1,000's of various species co-mingling in the morning light. A bit shaky, I crawled on my belly through the tall grass hoping to get close enough for a decent photograph. I moved as silently and slowly as I could alongside the lake searching for a nice location to start looking through my camera. Just as I started to lift the camera to my eye, in one rush of energy the sea of birds lifted skyward. Maybe they spotted me, probably, but it didn't matter because the sight and wave of energy was inspiring. I watched for several minutes as each bird searched for their respectful place amongst the crowd in the sky and fell into formation.

I couldn't bring myself to sit still and wait as a well disciplined bird photographer would. There was just too much to see and explore in this morning light. As I drifted deeper into this land of water and birds I realized the privilege I have allowing me to experience these amazing places. We live in an intensely fast paced world of survival and indulgence and many times forget to breathe in wild places that may be a short car ride or even a brief saunter away. It's difficult to express in words what a place like this does to your mind and spirit. The sensation is simple to have but difficult to notice.

The annual parking permit rests on my dash awaiting many more explorations and adventures needed to fill my lungs with relief from the heavy air only minutes away.
http://www.sauvieisland.org/

OBAMA!

Woo! Hoo! What an amazing and historical event. President Elect Obama is now simply..... President Obama. I think it's safe to say that most of us are excited about this historical and much needed change in our Government. A celebration was necessary. Gina and I decided to join a group of friends at a venue in town known as Holocene. Lots of dancing and whooping it up took place. Click on the picture below to view more photos of our victorious celebration.

Also check out this link to view portraits I made on November 4th, 2008, Election Day...

A leuthold Couloir Day

The first weekend in December Brian, Nick, Jer, and I decided to explore the West side of Mt. Hood. Not sure what to expect, we set out at around 5am, or maybe it was 6am. Anyway, we loaded up our cumbersome gear and started up the paved path, yep...paved, not that much snow around Timberline lodge. A bit of cloud cover and interesting lenticulars blowing from the summit but mostly clear. We saw a beautiful firey sunrise. The firey part could mean stormy weather a bit later but currently spirits were high and we stayed focused on getting to illumination saddle.

Personally, I was having a difficult time staying focused on the mountain and the task at hand. During this time, I was having interesting chest pains that would come and go randomly and without much purpose except to put me on the defense. My mind wandered all over this issue throughout the morning. But soon I came to understand what Muir meant when saying that lowland problems vanished when sauntering amongst giants. Once we arrived at Illumination Saddle and dropped over the steep approach to the West side, my mind sharpened on the terrain and experiences in front of me. I should also mention that I had some lowland stomach issues up to this point as well, but after finding a nice boulder to rest against with a view of the climbing sun, my stomach shaped up.

Now with the slog up the Palmer behind us and new territory ahead, (new territory for all of us except Brian, who has been on the West side a few times already) we search for our line through this slightly crevassed and snowy land. Two ropes were laid out for us to strap our confidence onto before crossing the Reid Glacier. Fortunately, this time of year reveals the crevasses quite thoroughly, leaving us with little chance of slipping into one of them. I took the sharp end and explored a path a short distance up to the foot of what Brian called out as a possible shortcut we should explore. And that we did moments after removing our safety lines. We then went up a steep, puckery, but short climb to gain a ridge. According to Brian, the typical approach to Leuthold would have caused us to lose much more altitude in order for us to drop beneath this ridge we climbed up. Ha! and there it be, the couloir we have set our hearts on. "Which one?", I ask Brian, "The one with all of the shit raining down it?", Yep was the reply. I then reached up to my helmet strap and pulled the tag end a little harder.

We made a short traverse to the feet of the couloir, and all wondered what those chunks of ice were going to feel like on our knuckles. My mind dug up all of the stories that have been told to me about losing cameras, getting the wind knocked from your lungs, knuckles slowly oozing blood, entire limbs being ripped off and deposited in the Reid below us, etc. I grabbed the helmet strap and pulled one more time while waiting for Brian and Nick to make a run for it. "BRIAN!? DOES THIS MUCH ICE USUALLY RAIN DOWN!?" pause....."YEAH, IT'S FINE." Then, Brian disappears into the chute, then Nick. Now my turn, the adrenaline picks up and I think I might have even cracked a smile. I hear "CLEAR!", from Nick, I think. I swing in with face positioned down and,.....PAUNK!! My head jolted, thank you plastic. Breath in........Breath out.....ok...go.

The climbing was good, solid, perfect crampon ice with a thin coating of rime. Besides the excitement of getting paunked with ice pellets every now and then, the climbing through the couloir went smooth and quick. We sort of zigzagged our way through, keeping close to the sides and staying out of the line of fire as much as possible. There were moments when our faith in the ice proved strong enough that we would remove our ice picks from their respectable homes, stand fully erect, and break out into front point sprinting across the ice funnel.

The exit was grand. A huge field of hard rime ice surface that seemed to fan out for miles appeared. You could still hear the whizzing of ice pellets flying inches, ...no millimeters from our faces. THUNK! Brian takes a chunk to the chest. Still feeling that one today I'm sure. My guard was lowered momentarily as well, probably mostly due to the exhaustive nature of staying alert. I noticed a noble chunk of wintery debris dislodge itself from high on the ridge to our right. Immediately I turned to warn Jer about the excitement about to rain down on him. As my face turned back up mountain I felt a cold and ruthless sucker punch to the center of my chin. My body flung down and forward, opposed to falling back and down, going for a long and painful glissade. I cupped my hands in front of my mouth fearing that most of my teeth were planning on falling out, fortunately they all remained in place. Instead, nothing more than blood fell from my lip and the spot of impact on my chin. I've never been punched by another man, but I can imagine that it would feel like a romantic love touch after experiencing a mountain fist.

Brian rubbing his chest, Nick feeling like a sailor just set to sea, Jer searching for more oxygen, and I, along with needing supplemental oxygen, nursed my newly clicking jaw as we approached the summit rim. And then,.... the wind said hello with a throaty gust. The rim seemed a bit narrow combined with the mighty wind. Nick finishing with a sprint skips along the ridge utilizing the wind to carry him a few extra feet each hop. Brian moved equally strong but stayed a bit crouched down to stabilize himself for impact. And I drunkenly staggered and crawled toward the summit. Jer's large frame swayed like a palm tree in a hurricane across the rim a few moments later.

All smiles, all good, and all tuckered out we started our descent with a rappel through the Pearly Gates off of a bollard and down climbed to the Hogsback. Shared some fuel, tugged on Nick's Santa beard he packed in, and made our way down the South side. The descent was quite slow due to the hard snow which required crampons all the way to the paved sidewalk. Hood was good to us on that day allowing us to witness her West side all the way to her summit.