Zero five-hundred comes early. Burgers, beers, friends, and whiskey quickly turn twenty-three hundred into zero two-hundred pretty quickly as well. I guess that is why…
Tag: NOLS
24 July 2017–The waning gibbous moon provides ample early morning light as our crampons crunch on less than hard snow. Despite the ample ambient lighting,…
Editors Note: This is a blog post I wrote back in the Autumn of 2012 during my first sojourn south to New Zealand. Though slightly…
Read the PostSeven Months In Advance (on being a NOLS instructor part VIII)
They are the best of times, they are the worst of times, they are places of wisdom, they are places of foolishness, they are places…
The following is an essay that I wrote shortly after returning from my first NOLS course as an instructor. I am posting it here, today…
(Editors Note: In the summer of 2013, I worked a course with Adam Swisher and Peter Nichols. For some reason we became infatuated with our…
As usual, I wished for rain. It is always easier on the ego than feigning a case of the Sphinx Sphincter or Gannett Gut, things…
27 November 2013–Ambivalence mattered today. Jim and I have passed the planning torch over to the students. They are working in groups of two to…
How can something so beautiful be so, so… unforgiving, or maybe unwelcoming? The mountains of New Zealand are cruel mistresses. They tempt me with their…
“Why do we have to go so early? Will it be a long day?” Hannah asks. “That is a good question” I think to myself.…
“I like the sound of rain on the fly” Jim says, half prone in his red, mummy bag. “It is especially good when you know…
Torrential sheets of rain fall loudly on onto the tin roof of the McCoy Hut. I have set our small cook pot outside under the…
Read the PostThe Pay Scale (on being a NOLS instructor part VII)
Twenty-four hours ago we waded, almost thoughtlessly, across the calf deep McCoy Stream, climbed the stony embankment and walked to the small hut on the…
October 1st 2013 1100 — “Man, sometimes the group decision making process drives me insane” Sean utters as he crawls into the vestibule. One hand…