Tonight I’m heading back up to the mountains to ski into the middle of nowhere with a large pack on my back.  The trip will involve approximitely 18 hours of driving, 2 red bulls, 4 Van Halen albums, 48 hours of exhausting ski touring and climbing, 7 GU packs, one long trailless and manzanilla-choked canyon, a beautiful snow-laden couloir and a 14,000′+ summit.  Early season conditions will surely be challenging, and some serious suffering is on the agenda.  Why do I drive such long distances only to hurt?  Maybe it is best said by the bumper sticker I once saw — “My Best Vacation is Your Worst Nightmare”.  Another perspective is seen here, in an article I wrote for Couloir Magazine a few years ago.

Enjoy the suffering!

If there were a cage match to determine the baddest animal of all time, which would you pick?

Barry Bonds
Cape buffalo
Alaskan brown bear (grizzly bear)
Lion
Hippopotamus
Tiger
Porcupine
Elephant
Giant mutant badger
Bigfoot

Check out outdoor writer, Tom Stienstra from SF Chronicle, for his breakdown of this hypothetical match-up for survival.