On May 5th of 1997, I drove to Montana and took a solo canoe trip down the Upper Missouri River through the White Cliffs area which Lewis & Clark passed through in June of 1805. On the weekdays in early May, there is no river traffic. The immensity of the American West comes to you when you are on foot or traveling by small boat , crossing its vastness. More recently, the Lewis & Clark series on PBS helped flesh out the route further for me.

In early 1998, friends and I went to the Renoir show at the Art Institute of Chicago. My favorite artist, Renoir said "For me a picture should be something likeable, joyous, and even pretty---yes, pretty. There are enough ugly things in life for us not to add to them." A collection of his works is at the Web Museum.

Attached is a description of a 1994 climb I took with my friend Nate Beckwith on Lost Arrow Spire, Yosemite Valley, CA. 

In August of 1999, Josh Simma and I drove up to British Columbia and met up with Nate and Dan. We had plans of climbing in the Bugaboos but ran into rain and snow. So, I took a drive thru the southern half and the province and took in the beautiful country side. I also explored the upper panhandle of Idaho and the western border of Montana.

In August of 2000, Nate and I headed back to British Columbia and climbed in the Canadian Rockies.

The "Into Thin Air" craze of the late 1990's was sort of funny. How can a bunch of rich yuppies, getting messed up on a vanity climb on Everest be classified as "Tragic"? War, the death of a child, inborn character defects (as in Shakesperian plays) are tragic. Accidents happening to informed adults who volunteer for extreme adventures whether on mountians, at sea or in the arctic/antarctic are not tragic. Similiarly, the Explorations of Robert Scott, Ernest Shakelton and other arctic explorers are very interesting to me, but never would I classify any deaths that occurred as a result of these activities as Tragic. Here's a link to a thought provoking article on Arctic Exploration.