Hubba Hubba Herd

The skiing has been a huge disappointment this year, with the lack of fresh snow. However, the good news in Washington state this year is the thick waterfall ice, which, in most years is thin and/or covered in copious amounts of snow.

So to celebrate our 9th anniversary, we decided to climb Hubba Hubba in Leavenworth. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. Thankfully, we were able to get right on the climb, while the separate groups of climbers -totaling 10- chatted and laughed on a little slab route to the left.

Happy 9th Anniversary!

Of Men and Mountains

I picked up this book by William Douglas -copyright 1950- and really enjoyed his writing on his explorations & experiences in the pacific northwest mountains.

"I stood in the silence of the gathering night, charting my course by it. Then the words my father had spoken came back: 'If I die it will be glory. If I live it will be grace.'

That was his evening star --a faith in a power greater than man. That was the faith of our fathers --a belief in a God who controlled man and the universe...

Man's age-long effort has been to be free...We can keep our freedom through the increasing crises of history only if we are self-reliant enough to be free. We cannot become self-reliant if our dominant desire is to be safe and secure; under that influence we could never face and overcome the adversities of this competitive age. We will be self-reliant only if we have a real appetite for independence.

Dollars, guns, and all the wondrous products of science and the machine will not be enough...

We need a faith --the faith of our fathers. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. We need a faith to which we commit our lives. We need a faith for which it would be glory to die. Only if we have such a faith are we free to live."

~Excerpt taken from pg. 329 of Of Men and Mountains