Alaska Range 2023: Why?

On each difficult expedition, though I don’t allow myself to think of it much, I miss my life next to the wood stove, in a warm bed and sharing tasty food with good friends.

So why go?

It’s not easy to leave…it’s almost harder than the task ahead but what is life always living in wait of warm bread out of the oven each day? There is so much to lose either way. But being complacent especially at 61 is not for me, movement towards adventure is life, exploring around each corner is life, feeling crisp wind biting at my nose is life.

Yet I stand to lose the fruits I earned in life; a cozy home, good friends, future dreams. I love life! Most often, one needs to be on the edge of losing it to experience the most of it - it’s the big yin-yang; We have one life, on this little blue planet, to hold back is a waste.

It seems the older I get, the more precious life becomes. Maybe it’s because the clock is ticking. There’s a lot of things you have left to do in life. At the same time, I’m not willing to take those risks of my youth or that I did even a few years ago. I now go forward with a higher degree of safeguards.

I’m currently in the Alaska Range in an attempt to solo Mount Hunter in winter. This is my 6th try. I fly out in a couple hours. If you wish to follow along, there will be audio updates and live tracking.