Two years ago, in November 2023, I returned from climbing Cholatse in Nepal. That climb had been a bit of “bonus expedition,” on top of the many climbs, including Everest, that I did during my self-proclaimed “gap years” in 2020-2022. The past two years have been filled, happily, with serving on boards, skiing, sailing, day…

I am now back in Kathmandu. When I last posted on November 7, Holly had just left the Cholatse expedition and the rest of us were gearing up for our attempt on the summit. In a typical component of high altitude mountaineering, we were eying the weather forecast waiting for the winds to drop. It…

When I last posted, I was getting ready to trek to Cholatse base camp to meet Holly and our climbing team. I just needed to find the camp. Expedition Leader Phil Crampton had been a bit cryptic about its location, but assured me I would locate it. His basic directions: “look for the yak huts…

Five days ago, I left the most visited and civilized aspects of the Khumbu behind and headed into more remote valleys. The morning I left Namche, the owner of the lodge, Mingma, surprised me with a ceremony to ask the gods for good luck on Cholatse. It was the same ceremony he performed for our…

I am now on Day 3 of my extended solo trek to Cholatse base camp. My couple of days in Kathmandu passed quickly. Holly arrived by bus from the Annapurna region and we had some fun meals together. I got all my gear sorted out. The second afternoon, I took a taxi to Boudhanath Temple,…

When I returned from Everest in May of 2022, I pronounced my “gap two and a half years” officially over. Then I turned to figuring out how I wanted to spend my time going forward. I knew I wanted to re-engage with some nonprofit boards, and to serve on a corporate board I was in…