First Post

MountainQuest is yet another in the roll of blogs out there, put up and maintained on days when obligations, distance, money, or ultimately, willpower get in the way of a day in the mountains. 

From my earliest memories, I've been mesmerized by everything mountain--weather, inhabitants (whether human, animal, vegetable), geology, topography--but most of all, by the "feel" that is unique to high lonely places.

So this blog is my opportunity to share my relationship with mountains, and the adventures and people that I find there.

Who am I...? Kid who grew up in the Intermountain West, dropped out of college, joined the Marine Corps, went back to school at the University of Utah and became an officer. A guy who has a wife, four kids, and a bucket full of responsibilities who nevertheless has found ways to keep one foot in the mountains. I've had a great run in the Marines--got sent to SLC to finish school, stationed twice as a trainer at the Marine Corps' mountain warfare training base in the Sierra Nevada mountains, halfway between Mammoth Lakes and Reno, served in the mountains of Kosovo and did a two year tour as an exchange officer with one of our allies, which took me to winter training in Norway, mountain training on the flanks of Ben Nevis, and specialist training among the peaks and glaciers of the Swiss Alps.

Now I am stationed in Southern California, and even with a family, a wife with a job, and the responsibilities of command, the mountains remain an important part of my life.