The unDefined Blog

Inspiration and stories from the mountains, cultures, peoples, and perspectives of our world.

Morromico Bay, Chocó, Colombia | July, 2018

Featured Posts & Collections

Trek Virtually to Everest (and more)

I had just been revisiting photos from my time with him in Khumbu in 2012 when I heard the news that Jim Whittaker sadly passed away on April 7 at age 97. I'd been going through photos, looking for a specific one, of a specific peak, when I went down a rabbit hole. Photos of […]

Read More...
Big Jim Whittaker: 1929-2026

Big Jim. A gentle giant. A gem of a human, and a loss that will be missed. Jim Whittaker, who passed away at 97 on April 7, was - to say the least - an amazing person. Like his twin brother - Lou Whittaker, who passed two years back - Jim was a massive man, […]

Read More...
Earning Respect

“Don’t get happy!” came the thundering voice from the sidelines. It was a classic saying of the late Norm Walker, my football coach, English teacher, poet, wisdom-giver, and wonderful man in high school at Holderness School. It sounded strange at first blush, but made sense the longer one played for Coach Walker: he hated cockiness, […]

Read More...

Subscriber Supported. Creator Appreciated.

Your patronage makes everything here possible. 
Thank you.

Subscribe now, cancel anytime. No spam, ever.

No thanks, but I would like the free newsletter!

Sign up for free

More articles and essays…

Hands

November 24, 2005, Nimaj, Rajasthan, India It was impossible to capture him. His face was topographic, lines etched deep, a storybook of years spent smiling and laughing, toiling and struggling, living under the blazing sun of central Rajasthan. Wende and I were back in India, this time taking our mothers on (what was then) an […]

MOUNTAINS OF MEMORIES PHOTOGRAPHY

, ,

Read More
Are there any survivors?

As I wrote Tuesday’s “Mountains of Memories” post Do Hard Things, the photo of my friend Peter atop Bienn a’ Chruliaste made me think not just of the beauty of wilderness solitude, but also the loneliness and isolation felt by me - perhaps by many - during our current challenging times. So, a Thursday Thought […]

ESSAYS & INSPIRATION

Read More
Wild & Remote & Exclusive

This post was written a couple weeks back, but I mistakenly saved it as a draft rather than publishing it. So, here it is, belatedly! Yesterday, I pored over photos from a decade ago, high in the remote, wild Picket Range of Washington State, stitching together a 350-degree panorama of these magnificent mountains from Luna […]

ESSAYS & INSPIRATION MOUNTAINS & ADVENTURE

Read More
Do Hard Things

September 28, 2023, summit of Beinn a Chrulaiste, Glencoe, Scotland. A client and good friend of mine - we’ll call him John - has a motto: Do hard things. For most people, it would be just that - a motto, a slogan more political than practical, more aspirational than actionable. But not for John. In […]

ESSAYS & INSPIRATION MOUNTAINS OF MEMORIES PHOTOGRAPHY

,

Read More

More from Jake Norton:

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram
Send this to a friend