Cold Truth: First Winter Ascent of Deborah and a Linkup to Remember.
Darkness. My moms eyes were still open, but all she saw was darkness. I was not even with her the moment she died, but I had watched her life end slowly over the previous weeks and months. The expression on her face was not peaceful like you see in the movies. Her dried mouth was open in an expression of shock, her eyes were the same beautiful hazel they had always been, but now they looked milky and saw nothing. Had her death been unexpected or sudden, I would have been crying, but her death was a relief. She had suffered for weeks, and I had suffered with her, helpless. Nothing left to do but keep on moving… More »
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
I tried to find a partner – I really did, but problem one was that I don’t know very many strong skiers in SoCal. Problem two was that the few people I knew strong enough to ski it, weren’t too keen on earning their turns from the bottom up. Problem three? The two I did know who were strong enough and “willing” were busy, and this was the last weekend of winter and the only weekend I had time for it. 3 strikes, I guess it’s solo time…
The Northeast Ridge of Lone Pine Peak in Winter. This route rises 6,900 feet from the valley floor. Over three miles of knife-edge ridgeline lead to the pyramidal summit of Lone Pine Peak. From the moment Scotty suggested we try it, this route appealed to me. It’s so simple. Start on the desert floor. Get on the ridge. Climb all the way to the top. 
