It’s that time of year again, when we choose the most perfect moments and reflect on them, hold on to them, to validate to ourselves that they were something special. We choose these memories because they are the way things should have been, would have been, had it not been for, well, life. In these snapshots, the moments are unwarped and golden. The views and sensations are in fine detail: wildflowers dancing in the breeze, rainfall streaming down my face, legs overrun by a burning sensation from pushing myself hard, and hills being conquered until there’s nothing left to ascend. The finest detail, though, is in how I felt: I was laughing, we were sore and tired and relaxed at the same time, and we were always dreaming about the next adventure.

I learned many lessons throughout the year, including Twenty Things Only Adventurers Would Know, but the most important of all is attributed to what the mountains taught me:

For a wild place, where anything can happen, I never feel more in control than when I’m in the mountains.

Read More