Our outdoors family (2014)

Five years ago, I was grumpy about living and working in Peaklessburg — I mainly complained about the heat and humidity in the summer and the lack of snow in the winter. Natalie and I didn’t have any kids yet and I wasn’t climbing. Reading about the adventures of great climbers while riding deep underground in a subway tunnel was testing my interest in my career in public policy and advocacy — the reason I was living in Washington, DC.

Five years ago, on April 2, 2010, I started writing here on The Suburban Mountaineer. Today, I don’t call home a derogatory name (Peaklessburg) anymore. Natalie and I have two kids and I climb at the local gym whenever I get the chance. I have made friends with the authors of the books I read during my subway commute and I have made friends with many of the climbers themselves. The subway ride is no longer a place to brood, rather it’s time to be productive and inspired. My job is satisfying and it has its place. I have also realized that the mountains are physical and far away from home but that they are also spiritual and their power can be summoned.

This blog was all Natalie’s idea. She doesn’t get enough credit for the things she does for me and for our family: She’s a creative thinker, an successful entrepreneur and designer, and — at the same time — a remarkable mother of a freethinking Wunderkind and an enthusiastic Schnickelfritz.

So I will get back to my series on the Boldest Ascent in Alaska next week… It has been impossible to write for fun these last couple of weeks; I was busy presenting at a conference all last week and this week I have been busy between follow-up tasks at work and catching up with my family. But thank you checking in regardless, and thanks…

• Thank you for being a loyal reader.
• Thank you for commenting and sending me emails, Facebook messages, and Tweets.
• Thank you for reading my piece in Alpinist.
• Thank you for subscribing to The Suburban Mountaineer.
• Thank you for believing that climbing matters.
• Thank you for bearing with me on this journey.
• And thank you for embracing your life as adventure… especially if you live in a Peaklessburg.

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