Snow fell from the inside of our tent onto my face to wake me up. Condensation from our breath formed ice crystals on the walls and ceiling of the tent. When the wind shook everything, the ice rained down onto me. It's hard to sleep with ice falling on your face.

Today we woke at 3am for our move to 11 camp. We broke down our tents, packed up everything and stepped off just before 6.

Breakfast was goatmeal. Oatmeal with some crunchy granola bars mixed in. If I write a camping cookbook, that one's going in it. The texture variation helps make it a little more interesting.

At 3:45am the guides delivered hot water to our tents. It was quite cold before the sun was up but I was warm enough in my sleeping bag. I was starting to learn the dance of getting dressed slowly as I worked my way out of the sleeping bag so I didn't get too cold. Pre-warming items inside my bag before putting them on worked very well. 

"You don't climb up Denali, you camp up it" - 2-Sleep Mike.

What does that mean? This mountain is not climbed quickly. We had to take our time, working up from camp to camp. Shuttling gear, food and fuel to higher camps while giving our bodies time to acclimatize. Furthermore, camping on a glacier, especially in Alaska is no easy task. Snow camping has some great advantages. There are no bugs to swat. Everywhere is a fridge, so you can bring better food. You also have to stay warm, learn to sleep on snow and get comfortable using the bathroom in windy blizzard conditions. Learning to not just survive, but thrive in the Alaskan backcountry was the most important lesson we learned. 

This is not a post on "How to climb Denali." While I was climbing, I journaled each day. I wrote about the experience, what we did each day, what we ate each day and how it felt to be isolated and focused solely on one goal. Many hours were spent in our tents, waiting for the weather to clear or resting from a big move. I also took a lot of photos. A lot. 

Our group had 6 climbers and 3 guides. We chose Alaska Mountaineering School as our guide service and I have to say I was super impressed. "2-Sleep Mike" Mike Gardner was our lead guide, along with Clark Henarie and Peggy Fluvin. All three of them are legit bad-asses. The other folks on my trip included Dave "Rhude Dog" Rhude (my tentmate,) Canada Mike, Brad "Doctor Strange" Cobb, Brian "California" Giangardella, and Sam Sidiqi. 

Here's the tale of us climbing "The Great One."

Here are some photos from my trip to Mexico in 2018

Inspired by The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg, my interest grew in learning how to handle this grain. Rye is a temperamental mistress, she forces you to work at her pace. If you mix up the temperature or pH, then she will reward you with a brick instead of bread.

Once my wife got sick of all the rye bread I was baking, she asked for an oatmeal loaf. I made a few of those, and then started looking for an oatmeal rye combo. The internet provided nothing. So, I set to developing my own recipe.

To keep it simple, I had 3 goals:

Walking around I'll often find signs and other items that make me smile. We recently spent two weeks in England and Scotland. England, to visit family, and Scotland to drink whisky.

Sometimes the last minute shoots are the most fun. No time for prep, just grab your go bags and head out.

"It's waterproof up to 60 feet" he said. That sounded like a challenge. 

Taking pictures outdoors means weather. Adventure photography usually means I'm outdoors for a long time, exposed to far rougher weather than some headshots in a park. My two main digital camera options these days are a Canon 5d, and a Sony A7. The biggest issue with my Sony a7 is the lack of weatherproofing. The Canon 5d, while very well weather sealed, is a heavy beast.