Wait a minute, where did the last few months disappear?  Seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was in Europe playing in the snow, and here I am now baking in the sun in the desert in Central Oregon!

In April I was lucky enough be one of three receiving a grant to fund an expedition to go  high-alpine ski mountaineering along the Haute Route in the European Alps.  The Haute Route, a ski traverse from Chamonix, the centre of Alpinism in France, passes through probably the finest high-alpine scenery in the Pennine Alps, steps briefly into Italy, and descends under the North Face of the Matterhorn to Zermatt – the centre of all the early mountain exploration in Switzerland.  It is about 75 miles longs, crosses 23 glaciers and has a total ascent and descent of 10,000 m.  While the terrain was technical we certainly did not rough it in the evenings.  The Alps have huts scattered across them which means that it is possible to travel with just a daypack with your mountaineering gear and emergency equipment.  The huts provided bunks and blankets, meals, and if you are willing to pay the price they had plenty of beer and chocolate.  The money spent on those huts was well worth the freedom we gained in skiing with a light pack.   We were backcountry for 8 days, and also enjoyed the ski lifts in Chamonix  and a little sight seeing in the area.  Europe was absolutely beautiful and the people we met in France and Switzerland friendly and welcoming.  The expedition challenging and humbling, technical enough to get plenty of adrenalin running through my system and remind me how good it is to be alive! 

Since we returned mid-April I have been busy with work at Outward Bound.   The job brings plenty of variety and I can only compare the question answering and problem solving as being in a fast-pitch batting cage.  The staff here is awesome and I continue to be inspired by the philosophy of this not-for-profit organization which has programs around the world.  It is worth taking a look at the website http://www.outwardbound.org , 

Well, that’s the news and views from here……..until next update, and looking forward to reading your news updates, Love Lou.