Building Character.

This guy would appear to be completely out of his mind. Wandering out on a cornice atop a sheer 1000 foot drop could be hazardous to your health. Actually I think we probably were out of our minds sometimes. We gave up the warm confines of our homes in winter and trudged through snow, ice and cold to camp in frozen tents up in the Beartooth Mountains. Actually the above photo wasn't as bad as it looks, we looked over the situation closely and Caseys' left foot is on solid ground. I climbed over to the adjacent peak to photo his "insane " act. It was a very long way down though.

Cooke City was a favorite destination of ours in those years. We would spend a 10 hour day climbing/snowshoeing to a summit, camp the night and ski back down the following day in less than an hour. 10 hours of exhausting climbing for a 1 hour free fall down the mountain. It was definitely character building stuff. I recall being so exhausted that I swore I would never put myself through this again, only to go back out in a couple of weeks and repeat the scenario. This photo shows myself, Terry, and Casey. Terry was a tough guy. He had numerous health issues. Bad feet, bad ankles, bad back, etc. He would be in absolute misery at times but would always fight through it and return for more. I always respected him despite his complaining.

Another Beartooth trip took Casey and I to the summit on the Beartooth Highway. We had planned a 5 day snow shoe / ski trip over the passes to Cooke City in February. Unfortunately we picked the coldest week of the winter. Our first night at the summit we bottomed out at over -20 degrees, and that was in our tent. The outside temperature was lower and was graced with 30-40 mile per hour winds. We packed and headed over the east summit only to be greeted by complete white out conditions with the high winds and snow. Luckily our common sense out weighed our egos and we returned down the mountain to Red Lodge. I never really understood hypothermia until that day. Character building stuff.

This last shot was heading to the summit of the Silver Run Plateau. Wonderful day, good weather and fantastic scenery. We witnessed the trails of huge Elk herds which crossed the area in the night. We never saw them but early in the morning we came across their tracks. Those winter expeditions always stick in my mind as great times in my life. Pushing ones self to extreme limits highlights existence. Being in such remote places with only your own wits and strength really brings your mind to a focus point. Life becomes quite black and white. The hostile mountains are an unforgiving place which offer no second chances if a wrong step is made. Whenever I look out and see the Beartooth Mountains I see places I have been from fifty miles distant. About as close to heaven as one can get. I watch the Everest climbers and watch in awe at their character building experience. My experiences pale in comparison.