climbing
When you visit as many stores as I do (note to accountant -- it's retail research, not shopping), you begin to see patterns and trends emerging, and New York this year is no exception.
The climb to and on the glacier was grueling. It took three hours to climb up the glacier and 1.5 hours down. The sun beat down on the ice and practically baked us in our climbing gear.
In July and August, an estimated 200,000 people climb Fuji. It's so easy that many make the climb at night to see sunrise from the summit.
I look for a toehold, plant my hands on a boulder, and push myself up a few feet. I am climbing Gros Piton, a twin mountain along with Petit Piton on the western coast of St. Lucia.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
I knew that the trip to Joshua Tree would change my life. But I never even imagined that the gear would too.
As we approach the 21,000 ft. mark, I'm moving slowly -- a laborious three breaths per step. A once-dull headache has blossomed into something seeming more serious.
Unlike many peaks, there is no "escape hatch" on the Matterhorn. Not much room for error, which is why more than 500 people have died there, thrice the fatalities of Mt. Everest.
Of my excursions to the dark continent, perhaps the most interesting was to Namibia.
Chuck Kroger used his special gifts to create the Via Ferrata, which can get even a non-climber or a novice climber to a breathtaking route high in the mountains.