I sat with my back to the rock, wedged into a small ledge and took a deep breath.   Boulder was below, clear, beautiful, alive.  The sounds of a band welcoming in a weekend of CU football drifted up, birds circled above and below me.  I was halfway up the First Flatiron nestled into a natural rock seat with no gear.
I took another calming breath, smiled at the world, wiggled my toes, and turned around continuing the climb.  The freedom was exhilarating, no harness, rope, belayer, or mental thickness.  Despite my …

I stepped off the edge.  My mind accelerated into my body as together we slammed into the moment of ‘now’ with the intensity of fear and love, and the excitement of doing something the body was not designed for, but that the spirit craves from the deepness of the soul.
 The force of the collision pushed a shriek out of my lungs, and yet, when that shriek was finished I was still flying through the air, accelerating downward and outward, and so I quickly filled my lungs and let loose another.  …

 
I adjusted the angle of the light and it caught something reflective as Andy hauled himself across the untensioned highline back to the access tunnel. The smell of rust and the reverberating echoes of friends rigging the line filtered through my concentrating mind as I adjusted exposure settings on the camera. What a wild place!

The steel launch doors high above were painted red with sheets of rusted metal peeling off. Andrew sat on a stairway to nowhere surveying the operation; his shadow powerfully projected on the ceiling. Although no protection …

 
Falling… head first, arms spread, feet trailing, heart accelerating, universes close in dangerously fast. Past-future, fear-exhilaration, up-down, life-death, love; all collide in a kinetic snap of adrenaline as I hit the apex of my plunge. I’m disoriented, dangling upside-down as my eyes search to find something recognizable to focus on. City lights, dark rock, flashlights, sky, all whirl by as I spin, stop, and slowly right myself.
 
Whew, I sit… b        r              e                a                  t              h    .                .                        .                and watch the light of Golden below me as my heart slows a …

Today finds me sitting at home in Boulder Colorado watching the rain fall and freeze in a surprisingly swift partnership of grace and poise: each drop pausing in time when it touches earth, car, or grass. Yes, I’m back in western world, and as I slip back into some of my old habits, my mind reflects on its journeys over the winter.