Yesterday was perfect weather for climbing- 21° and clear. The trail up Bear Mountain was basically sheet ice under a couple inches of snow. Even so, it felt good to be out. Even with crampons I had to step carefully going up and even more carefully coming down. Choosing our steps carefully is one of the great secrets of successful people. When Christ is at the center of everything- when honoring ...  Read More

By the 2nd month our pattern was established- 5 AM climbing Bear Mountain or 5:30 AM climbing Mount Baldy. On a light week we'd climb three times, on a busy week seven. I was getting stronger. My climbing was getting less painful, but I wasn't losing my extra weight. I was actually consuming more calories now that I was working hard in the early morning. I was becoming more disciplined in one area...  Read More

I 'bit the bullet' and purchased mountaineering boots, crampons and other gear. The rigid sole of the mountain boot maximized the effectiveness of the crampons and was a game changer for me. Tom taught me how to 'French step,' and the more vertical chutes- while still a battle- became more 'doable.' The right boots with crampons also made coming down absolutely stable. I had never imagined that I ...  Read More

Tom was so patient. My first climb was VERY slow. I was out of shape and out of wind. To say that he had the gift of encouragement would be an understatement. He was also a great teacher and literally taught me to breathe and how to step on those near vertical slopes. He distracted me with 'mountain climber' conversation, and always wanted to talk about the Lord. When we finally got to the top, we...  Read More

A man I knew but had never spent time with soon became one of my very best friends. It all started when he said to me after church one Sunday, "When you're tired of being fat and lazy, why don't you come climbing with me?" I made excuses why I couldn't climb in winter, but he wouldn't let up. The next morning, he was at my house at 5:30 with an extra set of crampons and we climbed Bear Mountain. W...  Read More

It was the most unbelievable night of fishing I'd ever had. Being in the middle of Alaska's interior in the middle of June, it was light all night and we fished from 11 PM to 6 AM. I went to the same spot on the same date a year later with a different friend, and we didn't hook a single fish. My partner the second year was an exceptional fisherman and had much better gear than me. It didn't matter...  Read More

By the time we quit fishing at 6 a.m., my dad and I had each kept one giant king. The limit was one each, so though we caught many, we were releasing these huge fish to continue on their way to their spawning grounds. Catch... and release. Once again, we have a picture of the Christian life. Jesus tells us to 'fish' for men. But this isn't so that we can gather a huge collection of followers for o...  Read More

After an epic battle, my dad landed a 45 pound king. Over the course of the next hour and a half he landed a second, then he landed a third, then he landed at fourth, set his rod down against the raft, sat down and said, "I'm all done." He was utterly exhausted from fighting those fish. That lasted about 15 minutes. Watching us hook and fight fish was more than he could take. He was 'compelled' to...  Read More

It was around midnight when we pulled our rafts into a gravel bar, hooked up our oki-drifters and began fishing for Kings. It couldn't have been more than a few casts before my dad hollered, "Fish on!" The other three of us reeled in our lines and stepped out of the way so that he could fight this salmon in the strong current. For me, this made all of the time and work worth it. This is exactly wh...  Read More

My dad has always loved to fish, so after picking him up at the airport, we stopped to get him a license and then, drove hundreds of miles with a raft and gear to get to a river. I had two friends meet us there with their own raft. The road did not go next to the river, so we had to portage rafts and gear trip after trip to get to the riverbank. By the time we pushed off into the water, it was 11 ...  Read More

It was a short, perfect stalk, and I soon had my first antelope with a bow. The statistical odds of being able to stalk an antelope with a bow and arrow are remote. I knew how fortunate I was. Sometimes things just work out. I had resigned my teaching position the previous spring and enlisted in the Army, but I had delayed my entry until after hunting season. I wouldn't necessarily say that I LIVE...  Read More

I was hunting in central Montana with my bow and arrow. I had tags for elk, deer and antelope, and was hunting in country that had all three. I was an 'instinctive' shooter. I had never shot a bow that had sights. In those days our arrows were very heavy, so between 30 yards and 40 yards my arrow would drop over a foot. Estimating distance properly was the most critical piece of bow hunting once y...  Read More