Category Archives: 2018

When the shepherds were told they’d find Christ the Lord wrapped in swaddling clothes, they probably didn’t expect to discover a black dog swaddled inside a thick green blanket. But dogs are pretty redeeming creatures, and even dogs get cold, so why not? Orbit was recently swaddled … Continue reading →

“Jenna!” I yelled, my voice echoing off the surrounding ring of 3,000-foot-tall walls soaring up to Katahdin, the tallest peak in Maine at 5,269 feet. No response. I was halfway up what Rock and Ice calls “the most remote alpine climbing arena east of the … Continue reading →

If you like ice cream, then you want to be a Hillionaire, which is when you eat ice cream at all nine Ample Hills ice cream shops in New York and New Jersey in a single summer. Jenna and I really like … Continue reading →

Oh, the irony. On the same day that the Washington Post called Vermont’s four-mile-long Colchester Causeway “one of the country’s most spectacular bike trails,” a May storm devastated this thin spit of land that dissects the waters of Lake Champlain, rendering it impassable… and throwing a wrench into … Continue reading →

Following on my first and second write-ups about Yosemite, here is the finale. Chapter 6. Half Dome, Fully Done The same morning that superstar climbers Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell were lacing up their La Sportivas in preparation for an unthinkable new speed record on the 3,000-foot-tall Nose of El Capitan, I … Continue reading →

Following on my first installment about Yosemite, here’s Part II. Chapter 3: Half Done When my alarm sounded at 4am, I looked at Half Dome and spotted two climbers several hundred feet up the Regular Northwest Face, each wearing headlamps. While they’d asked for permission to … Continue reading →

To climb the 8,839-foot-tall northwest face of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, you need a lot of gear. Aside from a rope, the leader’s harness is weighted with around 20lbs of quickdraws, alpine draws, wired nuts, and camalots (cams) used to create … Continue reading →

“What’s the temperature inside this frigid cabin?” “What’s the fastest time running up Mount Washington?”* “What’s the difference between a wet cup and a dry cup?”** This is what we talk about when we talk inside Doublehead Cabin, an uninsulated … Continue reading →

The Shape of Water, a movie about a lady who falls in love with an aquatic beast, has been hailed as a movie promoting diversity. And I’m very confused. “‘The Shape of Water’ Wins Best Picture as Oscars Project Diversity,” said The New York … Continue reading →

Photos by Jenna Cho (@TheDailyCho) “It has to be here!” I yelled. Jenna looked at me incredulously. “It could be anywhere under the snow,” she said. I kept scouring the ice-and-snow-covered rocks. We’d been awake since 6 a.m., wandering for … Continue reading →

The thermometer hovered in the single digits as Jenna, I, and Orbit hiked along the Metacomet Trail into Ragged Mountain in central Connecticut. The snow had that rubbery texture and squeaky sound that only comes with very cold snow. Ice … Continue reading →