Back from the Mountains

The middle of August is here and I made it back from the mountains safely. Two groups of Men from Colonial, an in between adventure and now it's back to school time for me. So what did I learn this year? We had incredible hikers and climbers. They did great--in spite of a downpour on the very first acclimation hike. We wondered what would happen the next day, God gave us great weather, and Pastor Paul Parsons showed up to climb with us. Glorious. The second day, 16 of 19 went climbing--an all time high percent! Everyone made at least one summit and many got both Grays and Torreys. Congrats, gents. The Snowmass adventure was just as much fun, even without such great success. Six of us started an eight mile plus hike 2500 vertical feet up a valley about fifteen minutes before it decided to rain on us. My rain pants dragged me down, the puddles made it hard to walk, my pack was too heavy and I was pooped. We camped partway up the trail and completed the hike on the second day. On Friday, as we climbed, I found an easy bail out space and let the others attempt the summit. They got turned around by the weather. We all got rained on, hailed on, and there were plenty of crack-booms!!! The hike out was a quick four hours and get in the car looking for a triple cheeseburger with bacon. The second climbing trip was also superb. Wonderful weather, almost everyone summited Evans, some good second day climbing and even an attempt on Quandary by moonlight. Crazy-talk. And what did I learn??? That the Lord is far more in love with us than we will ever be in love with Him. He draws us to himself. He woos us. He calls to us. He delights in us. He is sufficient. And I will follow Him. You can check out some photos at my photobucket page, right here.

Next week, I'll get the words for my song up!

grace

Dan