My new climbing partner

I love climbing with women and by the nature of my work, I do quite a bit of it but this winter I was blessed with a new climbing partner…a cute, humorous, 39 year old, unavailable, cop from Crested Butte. Quite the package deal wouldn’t you say.  Practicalities aside, I was certainly ready for a little excitement in my life…especially since he let me do all of the leading.

So here’s the deal, when I turned 50 I didn’t feel as if my life was suddenly passing me by or I needed to head on some major adventure that would put me on top of a symbolic summit to my soul. Instead, I felt grateful for my life and the fact that I’ve always done exactly what I wanted to do.  Even so, I still  felt like a total looser for not setting any “goals” for this milestone. With that said, I quietly decided it would be fun to lead all of the major backcountry ice climbs in the San Juan’s and ski some of the classic north faces of the peaks I gaze upon everyday.  Somehow the simplicity of this goal, close to home, sounded perfect and besides, I found a new belay slave. Sweet.