The Shortcut Is: There Is No Shortcut
byHere’s something that didn’t happen: Tommy Caldwell, in the days following the first ascent of the Dawn Wall, being interviewed by a journalist about…
Here’s something that didn’t happen: Tommy Caldwell, in the days following the first ascent of the Dawn Wall, being interviewed by a journalist about…
I sit on a rock along the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park, assembling a camp stove and filling a pot with water…
I went to a memorial for the son of some friends this past weekend. He was a climber and a skier, and died in…
Don’t argue with people on the internet. Use your car horn to communicate with other drivers for emergencies, not to communicate your frustration with…
If you talk to people about drinking coffee, they will often say things like “I just love the ritual of making coffee,” or “I…
Hilary and I drove four hours to stand on a gravel road north of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for two minutes of magic on Monday. A…
A couple weeks ago, a friend shared an opinion piece by David Brooks titled The Golden Age of Bailing. The first comment was someone…
Dear New Guy At The Climbing Gym, or lady running around the track at the park for the first time, or person trying out…
It happened again yesterday, like it always does, about three-quarters of the way through my run: I started to try to talk myself out…
I tried counting all the ways someone could contact me the other day, and I stopped at 22 different methods. That includes e-mail, Twitter,…
A few years ago I was at a coffee shop and I started chatting with the guy next to me about what I do…
I plodded my way up the Hayden Trail, headed up toward my fifth “summit” of the day as the sun coasted downward. I had…
“A lot of the young doctors I hire work for me for a year or so and then they want to get out and…
My friend Jayson and I were out trail running on Saturday, for long stretches exposed to a 50 mph wind. It was the kind…
At 5:55 a.m. Denver is dark and fairly quiet as Syd and I have an excited conversation about new movies we’ve seen as we…
About five years ago, my friend Tommy told me what I thought was an insignificant thing: that he’d taken a ceramic mug to his…
Note: I first wrote and published this post on December 29, 2011, calling it “Make 2012 The Year Of Maximum Enthusiasm.” Every year around…
No matter what you think of 2016, from “Wow, I’m glad it’s over soon,” to “It just flew by,” you can agree on one…
Here’s the thing about women: It is possible for a woman to be stronger than you. It is possible for a woman to be…
Dear Phone: I love you. I mean, not in that Joaquin Phoenix-falling-in-love-with-his-operating-system way. But maybe in the I’d-probably-hug-you-if-I-hadn’t-seen-you-in-a-few-weeks-and-we-finally-got-together-for-coffee kind of way. I mean, I…
Last Monday, my mom and I stood behind a fence at Arches National Park and took a couple photos of Landscape Arch, the longest…
The Q train clicks and groans across the Manhattan Bridge, half-full of passengers on their way to Brooklyn on a Saturday afternoon, everyone’s eyes…
That’s right, it’s fall, aka autumn, aka your favorite season, that fleeting changing of colors, temperatures, clothing layers, and footwear for northern hemisphere humanoids….
I was sitting at the counter of Higher Ground in Salt Lake City back in 2012, tapping away on my laptop, and I overheard…
Thanks for your email. I took the morning/afternoon/day off to ride my bike, or go rock climbing, or go for a jog in the…
On all the stops on my book tour this year, I show a slide that’s a list of reasons people don’t do things: bad…
I sat at the counter of a Mexican restaurant in Pinedale, Wyoming, a couple Saturdays ago, and watched two guys in their 40s approach…