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

Tracee Metcalfe: No Creation Myth Needed

I remember when I first heard the term. Charley Mace and I were a couple pitches up a mellow, fun route in Clear Creek Canyon, trying unsuccessfully to outclimb thunderstorms, and talking about climbing, ego, and the like. One mutual climbing acquaintance kept coming up, one whose ego had come to define his persona, his […]

Read More...
Juneteenth Greatness

My paternal great-great grandfather, James T. Norton (1844-1883), was a man of few words. Or, at least that’s what his journal from 1865 indicates. It’s been sitting near my desk for years. I’ve scanned the pages, faded scribbles in pencil recording minute datapoints about each day with little fanfare: weather, movement, rations, commands, engagements. Even […]

Read More...
Xenon and Zen

Mesmerized. There’s no other way to put it. The scene unfolding before me was captivating, subtle hues of warming a jagged Himalayan sea, blues morphing, glimmers of amber and crimson flashing on distant ridges, shadows etching an impossible landscape. It was still frigid here, sunlight not yet penetrating the frigid shadows of the West Ridge […]

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…

I Am Sorry.

Genealogy fascinates me; it always has. Maybe it’s a nod to my childhood cemetery tours with my grandfather in Alton, Illinois, him pointing to carved blocks of granite and recounting stories of the bodies that lay beneath. For me, those “tours” were a roadmap of the past, a means of understanding and comprehending my history […]

ESSAYS & INSPIRATION

, ,

Read More
Pandemic Optimism from Nature

“Let us… seek peace… near the inland murmur of streams, and the gracious waving of trees, the beauteous vesture of earth, and sublime pageantry of the skies. Let us leave ‘life,’ that we may live.”
- Mary Shelley

ESSAYS & INSPIRATION

, ,

Read More
In Memoriam: John Evans, 1938-2020

Note: The following is a memorial I wrote for the American Alpine Journal in memory of John Evans, a climber, hero, mentor, and good friend. You can find the original in the AAJ here. “You should come have dinner with my brother, John. He’s done some climbing,” Rick Evans said in a meeting one day. […]

MOUNTAINS & ADVENTURE NEWS

Read More
Hunting for Old Camps

The 1924 Camp II was the last of the pre-World War II camps on Mount Everest I had yet to find and visit. After some legwork, Sid Pattison and I were able to locate it.

MOUNTAINS & ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY

, , , ,

Read More
1 35 36 37 38 39 53

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