My journey to find Akitaya has led me to some unexpected delights. One of the people whom I hoped could provide a path was Shinya-san. He turns 80 years old next year and has been - to oversimplify - the avalanche and mountain weather forecaster (link) in Niseko, Hokkaido since
(originally published in winter 2026 The Avalanche Review) It was towards the end of the 2002/2003 winter when Utah Avalanche Center forecaster Evelyn Lees wrote that the Wasatch range was like “A cake decorated by a child, where they put frosting on top but they forgot the sides.” That
Even though I lived and skied in Japan (northern Honshu and Hokkaido) for a couple years in the early 1990s, I remain an outsider. I've been looking for Akitaya for quite some time. Some history. On April 2, 1961, a number of large ground avalanches broke out almost
I used to believe that we were nothing without God, but I also believed that God was nothing without us. Now I believe the opposite is true.
It was mid-winter 2010/2011 and Wendy had just accepted an offer to forecast for the Chugach Avalanche Information Center. At her going-away party in Salt Lake, long time avalanche hunter Tom Kimbrough and I arrived late, hoods on and carrying a bottle of Woodford Reserve. At the time, my
Whenever people ask me, Are you working right now? (I get asked this a lot), my answer is always the same: To the untrained eye, it may appear as if I’m not working. But at the heart of the matter, I’m getting paid to pay attention. This, of
The writer Brian Doyle writes occasionally about times when he gets down on his knees and prays like hell. He's an unapologetic Catholic and makes no excuses for Catholicism, but when he says Pray Like Hell, I think he means it. And so I will do this, and
Thanks again for subscribing to Meditations. This wraps up the 5th summer of writing. I'm too lazy to count, but perhaps 130? 140 Meditations over that time? None of them are perishable; feel free to look over some of the old ones. To me, it's a
The Ego will protect itself until End of Times, even until the End of our own time. In other words, have we not seen the Ego destroy its physical being to protect itself? And this says nothing of "Other". It's a tall task to live well
A long time ago, a friend of mine in Montana was fired from his job due to a safety violation. It amounted to him totalling a work truck on a state road after he crashed into a retaining wall. The investigation showed that a nail on the road had punctured
Summer's End Still in straw hat and sandals. See you next week -
A bee staggers out of the peony. His most recognized work is Narrow Road to the Deep North...also translated as Journey to the Interior. A Buddhist, Basho was often mistaken for a priest while on the road in the 1600s. But it was the banana tree at his home