Transitions

Well, this place has turned into something of a dead zone lately, hasn't it? I had all the best intentions, and yet... Well, at any rate, much has changed. Here's a rundown on where we're at.

Suki the Wonderdog relocated in August. She now happily resides in Seatac, WA, a little south of Seattle. Her new mom, we'll call her KC, is a joy of a person, with a spacious yard and all the time and love in the world to shower on Lady Su. Don't get me wrong here, I love that dog and it was incredibly hard to give her up, but our lifestyle left very little room to do right by her. I miss her like the devil, but I smile every time I see her and KC living their best lives on social media.

I took and passed Remote Medical Training's REMT course, which was a month-long exercise in remembering why I always hated finals week in college. It was an incredibly valuable learning experience, albeit an intense one, and I would highly recommend RMT: the medical education is top-flight, with a rigorous curriculum, high standards, and extremely qualified instructors. So, I'm now a Wilderness EMT and also hold an MCPIC certification. With this new skillset, I'll be functioning as the team medic for myself and Sketchy going forward.
 
After my REMT course ended, Sketchy and I switched gears for a couple of weeks and headed to Japan for a vacation. We spent two weeks exploring everything from temples and shrines to museums, tech expos, and more, and we enjoyed all kinds of delicious and different things to eat. Our journey included Tokyo, Aomori, and Akita, and it was a pretty jam-packed couple of weeks. It was an amazing trip, definitely worthy of its own post(s), so more on that later (and there are LOTS of pictures!).

Upon returning from Japan, we hired on with Fiorini Ski School at Snoqualmie Pass, so we'll be teaching weekends there through the season. Wish me luck - I'm tasked with turning a batch of little humans into little *skiing* humans, so we'll see how that goes.

And that more or less brings us up to date as we begin the next chapter: preparing for Denali in June.

My intention is to make Denali the primary focus of this blog over the coming months. We're planning on an independent, unguided, 2-person ascent via either the West Rib or the West Buttress. (Final route selection will be made shortly.) From training to nutrition, to gear, sleep, psychology and on and on and on, there's a ton that goes into making a climb of this scale happen, and I'd like to share it with you! This will be as much a record for myself, a journal of sorts, as it will be something of a roadmap for those with similar ambitions. Or, I guess, maybe just good entertainment if you're into that sort of thing. So here's to a new chapter and a new year!

Onward and upward!