Today I met a Greek ultrarunner. Coming down a dirt fire road, I was approaching the back side of the low mountain I had walked to the top of the previous evening after arriving inRead More
When I entered the country on 17 June, Serbia was doing really well, but shortly before I arrived the government had relaxed controls and the Covid-19 infection numbers started rising again. I was worried notRead More
A thunderhead still brilliant white, shadowed grey, boils upward like a nuclear explosion over the mowed fields. In the northeastern sky a bolt of lightning slices down through the bright sunlight; a few seconds later,Read More
For three hours I walked up the steep mountainside through thick fog, the last hour with no track to follow or way to get my bearings, instead following my instinct. Just as I thought IRead More
The mountain commands my attention out this open window. I see WH Murray up there, clinging to a buttress, balanced, rope dropping downwards from his waist; or crossing a glacier, intent on scaling the rockRead More
I climbed a path I knew well from Valcanale through forest and past an abandoned ski area to the tumbled stones of a broad moraine. For another hour I picked my way up the moraine,Read More
Kopaonik in June … thunderstorm wild. The thunderstorms glide in every day, amassing ever blacker as one waits in anticipation, the air growing thicker with heat and humidity, the insects furiously buzzing from flower toRead More
I spent most of winter 2017–2018 in South Wales. It rained every day except for the eight days it didn’t rain and the few days it snowed. One of the snowy days, I went forRead More
Being wide open emotionally, sensibly (of the senses), allowing all to penetrate to one’s soul, makes it difficult to live. . . . Dealing with the exigencies of daily living makes it difficult to beRead More