Not counting Linda Leydon — who I kissed in the back of the bus in third grade — or Crystal Waters — who I sent a love letter to when my family moved from Long Island to the Finger Lakes and never heard from again — my girlfriends were few and far between. Then there was Sally ...

Back in my day, the 1970s, I didn’t have to walk through snow uphill both ways to school, but I’ll tell you what, backcountry skiing was a lot more challenging than today. Instead of metal-edge, lightweight skis with high-tech bindings, climbing skins, and plastic boots we had skinny ...

On these subzero winter days, reading is sometimes wiser than going outdoors. A reflection of my age, no doubt. To ward off cabin fever, I’ve been rereading some of the mountaineering classics. I decided on the oldest mountaineering book in my collection. Robert Bates’ “Five Miles ...

The compass has been around for over 2,000 years and is a simple device. If you put a sliver of magnetized metal on a small piece of wood and float it in a bowl of water, it will always point north/south. While the compass itself has gotten much more sophisticated over the years, the concept ...

What’s learned on the mountain shouldn’t stay on the mountain Every year, 10 or so NCCC veterans of the college’s 33-day fall expedition would plan and then go on a two-week winter expedition. It was one of my favorite classes. The students had spent the previous eight weeks planning ...

Recently, I heard from my college friend Jim Glover, a regular reader of my column and who drops me an email every once in a while. He let me know that he was blogging and asked for some tips to help spread the word. I told him I didn’t know how much help I could be. It’s not like I have ...