Gothics from below summit of Saddleback
"The pleasure of risk is in the control needed to ride it with assurance so that what appears dangerous to the outsider is, to the participant, simply a matter of intelligence, skill, intuition, coordination... in a word, experience. Climbing in particular, is a paradoxically intellectual pastime, but with this difference: you have to think with your body. Every move has to be worked out in terms of playing chess with your body. If I make a mistake the consequences are immediate, obvious, embarrassing, and possibly painful. For a brief period I am directly responsible for my actions. In that beautiful, silent, world of mountains, it seems to me worth a little risk."
-- A. Alvarez
Lu Blanchard is semi-retired and spends free time with family, reading, dancing, singing and enjoying outdoor activities.
Dianna Morris lives in Marcy and fell in love with the woods as a young girl. She finished climbing the Adk 46 high peaks in August 2012, and is now working on finishing the Northeast 111 - climbing the mountains over 4000 ft in NY, NH, VT, and ME.
Harold Pier taught chemistry at Utica College for 40 years and was an avid biker, hiker and skiier after retiring in 2000. He contributed to this blog from its inception in March 2012 until his death in October 2012.