All week I've been thinking, trying to parse recent events, horrors, tragedies, inexplicable darkness casting a pall upon the global landscape. I've not been successful. I've not come to conclusions. I've found myself able to do little more than vacillate, an eternal back and forth, a putrid smoothie of emotion: rage, horror, crippling morosity, deep […]

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’
- Isaac Asimov

What is our obligation as climbers, as humans, when big goals are at stake? Do we help others, or continue on to a summit? Some thoughts on summits, ego, and humanity on K2, Everest, and in life in this Thursday Thought.

Note: I've not yet seen the new movie, Oppenheimer, but hope to soon. It will doubtless cover it's namesake's famous quote, discussed below, and his experience of the aftermath of Trinity, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. As the film comes out today, and this is something I've thought much about for decades, here's a Thursday Thought on […]