WE BEGIN our two-day trek in the Swiss Alps after a family lunch at a charming mountain café. My brother, my two adult kids, my partner, and I then say goodbye to the rest of the family and peel off to start our climb. We hope to reach the Swiss Alpine Club hut near the Col des Chamois, where we’ll spend the night, before the sun goes down. Hiking in the Alps—with its well-marked trails and the occasional farmhouse café offering local wine and cheese—may be more civilized than hiking in the Rockies—where I live—but it’s no less challenging a climb. The sun grows hotter and the trail becomes steeper as we hike up the mountain....
Hope & Sherpas
posted by Zach Roth
KICK-STARTED by the desire to give something back to the people and communities of unsung heroes in the Khumbu Valley, the Khumbu Climbing School started nearly 10 years ago. A non-profit named in honor of beloved climber Alex Lowe, the organization fulfills his wish to bring education and...
Shoe Shopping In Del...
posted by Teresa Louis
OUR FIRST MORNING in India, my grown kids—whose father is from New Delhi—and I go shopping in the market nearby for chappals (sandals). The air is new-morning fresh with a hint of burning trash. Around us, shopkeepers are unlocking the padlocks on their shop fronts, rolling the garage-like...
Horses
posted by Marty Brodsky
Once in this vast old country, a man could ride forever on his horse. No more. The rest of the world’s gone and filled in the map, fenced in the plains and closed up the range. The land’s been cut up, for strip malls and subdivisions, fast-food burgers. And the horse has gone and trotted right out of most peoples’ mind. But there’s something between us, people and horse, that runs deep. Too deep for the modern world to make disappear all together. See, horse brings it back to the beginning, when man got new legs. Great civilizations rose up on the back of horse, great distances crossed. The lives we live were born on...
Descent Into Beauty
posted by Jenny Wehinger
The tail of the rope made a snapping sound as it hit the ground after being pulled from the anchor. I glanced down canyon, a rush of excitement and anxiety mixed in my stomach. Once that first rappel rope was pulled, the only way out was down and through. We gathered the rope,...
The Taj Express
posted by Teresa Louis
I stand in the open doorway of the train, watching the dusty villages and bright yellow mustard fields of India whoosh by. My soon-to-be husband and brother-in-law have finally given up on trying to get me to sit down with them in the seats we snagged when we got on the train earlier that day....
Here Comes The Judge
posted by Karen Douglass
In 1998 I was too inept to drive a harness racing horse, too poor to own one, too green to train one, but I was pretty good with details and a good observer. In May I was licensed by the United States Trotting Association as an Associate Race Judge. Of our fifteen-member licensing class I was...
Speaking Chinese, Al...
posted by Dawn Rinken
Last week I had my first, scheduled, online discussion with “Amy” from Rosetta Stone. When I finished, I wished I knew how to say “Oy vey!” in Mandarin. A “scheduled online discussion” in Rosetta World means that for thirty minutes you get to talk to someone who is a native speaker...
Reflections
posted by Haley McNabb
Without thought or agenda, the earth inhales and exhales, extends and breaks down, meanders and reflects. Glassy lakes naturally mirror the shore-side trees and mountain peaks, offering an alternate view of the leafy branches that reach over the waters’ surface, as roots navigate the soils beneath. An opposing view and a change of perspective: a way we can look down, rest our eyes and observe again. Slow down, reflect. The trees do not need to be reminded to be calm and think; they grow steadily and with purpose. The mountains are not told to remain steady and strong, but still dominate our landscapes. However, the importance of gratitude...
Climbing High in Mal...
posted by Charissa Rujanavech
Mallorca, Spain– a small island just off the coast to Barcelona– is a premiere winter climbing destination for anyone looking to catch some sunshine and climb some of the raddest limestone cliffs in the world. There are oceanside cliffs, mountainous caves, and crags dotting the...
Danger! The Airport
posted by Annie Shustrin
Overall, I’m a pretty cautious traveler, though an adventurous one. I like to research my destinations and know what I’m getting myself into. Learning about what to do, what to not do, places to see, and what to watch out for can be helpful when heading to a new culture in a new part of...
Weathered Woods
posted by Marty Brodsky
In the high country of Colorado, the weather affects everything–it is inescapable. From the growing of crops to raising cattle, ranchers make nearly every move based upon the weather, taking it as it comes. Where is the history of the the seasons? It’s in the leathery...
Ode To A Season
posted by Ryan Sullivan
The crackling sound of fallen leaves under foot seems deafening, each step threatening to give away my position. The moisture in my breath crystallizes as it leaves my mouth, just another reminder that the warmth of summer is quickly retreating along with the hours of sunlight. The quaking...
Lost And Found In Th...
posted by Nik Mirhashemi
What can I say, this was one hell of a birthday. Most people in their early twenties like to spend their birthdays ten beers in, locked in the bathroom for most of the night. Here I am hundreds of feet up a seldom visited sandstone wall, both hands and feet pulling and pushing on questionable...
Above The Clouds
posted by Eric Carlson
Up above the clouds there exists a plain, wooden sign. It is simple in nature, merely decorating the border of states conceived long ago in the heads of our forefathers. It also serves as an adequate landmark for a Kodak moment that one day will be forgotten. The states mentioned above are...
Max Patch, NC
posted by Marty Brodsky
Long ago, a patch was cleared on a 4,000 foot mountain in the Appalachians of North Carolina. A horse named Max used to graze there and keep the forest from taking it back. He also gave the place its name. After Max passed on, biplanes used the bald as a landing strip, as it was the largest clearing anywhere around. But for us, a band of dirty thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail, it provided quite the place to spend one beautiful and rowdy evening. The Appalachian Trail runs 2,100 miles from Georgia to Maine and each spring thousands of hikers attempt it in one fell swoop, or a thru-hike as it’s known. People shed their lives...
Monsoon Watch
posted by Jan Ferrer
I am fully preparing to jump into a monsoon in two weeks’ time. That is to say, I will be traveling with sixteen fellow backpackers and Calvin Sun, whose rousing story and headstrong travel philosophy –-’monsooning’-– were recently featured in USA Today. The trajectory of...
Rumney Crags
posted by Charissa Rujanavech
Rumney, New Hampshire is one of the most famous sport climbing crags in North America, featuring hundreds of sport routes on high quality schist rock cliffs. Ranging from vertical faces to technical slabs to over hanging pump-a-thons, the crags have sport routes for climbers of all abilities....
Life Through My Eyes
posted by Hunter Cruz
I am 14 years old, born in Boulder, Colorado, raised in Frenchtown, Montana. And this is life through my eyes. I have been raised with a very loving family, and everything I could ask for: a house, a sport to love, the support to do it. Photography is not about having the DSLR camera, a five...
Climbing Without A Rope
posted by Hillary Messner
Derek Hersey came to the States from England and fell in love with the rocks of Colorado. The sport of free-solo climbing is one that draws gasps from anyone who witnesses it. The 60 minutes story on Alex Honnold brought it to the attention of a much larger audience; but Derek Hersey had no interest in climbing for fame. In this documentary, footage collected over his decade of climbing is strung together to reveal the character of a man who was driven by a passion to live free—-and high up in the...
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