Today is my 703rd day of nursing you. Both. I didn’t set out to nurse you at all, or not to. When you were growing in my belly I told myself I’d have no expectations for this—that I’d let our path be our path. Back then I never dreamed our path would take us to your being 1 month shy … Read More
Seeing the Whole Mountain
Close your eyes and think about the mountains of the world that hold a place in your heart and mind. Did you see people? Did you see the people that call those mountains home? Or, were you like me and did you simply see faces of rock, snow and ice, new adventures, and new routes to climb or hike or … Read More
And Then There Were Two
My Next 40 Years
Dear Kaz and Irenna, Today I turn 40. That’s old, or young, depending on whom you ask. But I don’t care about what anyone else thinks about the relative age of 40. I only care about turning 40 in respect to you two. Today you are three months and one week fresh in this world. And while you can bet … Read More
Harald, Maude, and the Himba: A letter to the twins
Dear Harold and Maude, I know, I’d promised new names. We will get there—we still have five weeks to come up with them. Five weeks until you launch yourselves into the outside world. Five weeks until I hold you in my arms instead of in my belly. Back before I knew I was having you, or even sure I wanted … Read More
Coming soon: 20 tiny toes and 2 big hearts
Dear Harold and Maude, Those aren’t your names—don’t worry. I promise we will have better ones picked out by the time you make your debut in June. You’ve been living and growing in my belly for 18 weeks, I just found out that you’re a boy and a girl, and it seemed the time to write you your first letter. … Read More
Graduating a Class of 28 Disruptive Conservationists…and Yourself
Blurry Photo Route Choices: And other choices in merging climbing, science, and conservation in Mozambique
Exactly one month ago I tightened the last bolt in the last hold on the first-ever climbing boulder in Mozambique—and then climbed on it with over 1,000 Mozambican school children. Tonight, over dinner in Central Mozambique, I made a promise to climb a 12-pitch run-out granite slab with a Mozambican farmer named Elias who’s never roped up in his life. … Read More
Open-Sourcing the Brain Power of Future Leaders in Conservation
In seven days I will be back in Mozambique. Me, my five-person team from Additive Adventure, and 35 emerging leaders in the field of disruptive conservation. Disruptive? You bet. It’s disruptive because it’s a new model for building community-driven conservation in some of the world’s most remote and biologically diverse places in the world. Mount Namuli, the site of my … Read More