Downtime

Believe it or not, it's not all glamor and high adventure. Sometimes even mountain guides have to sleep, get over jetlag, recover. So what does one do with a week and a half off?

Well, mostly sleep. And unpack, do laundry, repack, email the expedition team, stop by the office, spend time with one's partner, sort through mail, etc. All the things everyone has to do, just on a compressed time schedule.

We were fortunate enough to have two beautifully sunny days here in the Northwest recently, so we decided to go camping. Yes, camping - not climbing, skiing, scoping a route, or training, just camping. Bellingham has a few small mountains just minutes away with lots of trails and actual designated campspots, so we packed a minimum of gear and hiked up in jeans. Yes, jeans! Laid our sleeping bags out by a small lake, had cocoa and went to sleep, enjoying the quiet and surrounding nature. Woke up, had more cocoa, laid around appreciating that we didn't have to be anywhere, and hiked back down as dayhikers started to arrive on this beautiful Saturday.

So there you have it. In another week I'll be back on a glacier, but for now it's nice to just be here, now.