My name is Scott Stevenson. I would like to think that I am a fairly average individual. Blonde hair, blue eyes, less than average income, and an interesting hobby: I have become addicted to climbing mountains. I love it.
It all started about 2 years ago when I summited a peak called Middle Palisade. I had just moved to Salt Lake City after graduating from Boise State University and basically spending the majority of my life living in Boise. I was ready for a change.
Growing up in Boise was a lot of fun and I made some good friends. Among many other hobbies growing up, I backpacked and went camping fairly often and have gained a love for the outdoors since I was very young.
When I settled into Salt Lake City, a few friends that I met invited me on a backpacking trip to Sierra Nevadas. Of course I was in! We began the hike that took all day to get to the “base camp” that we decided to stay at. In preparation for the summiting day we all enjoyed each others company and stories around a campfire.
We retired for the evening at about 1am to be woken up a few hours later by the guy who organized the trip. At 4am we began the trek to the peak.
Not really knowing what I was in for, I packed lightly and soon realized the extent of this summit. It included the crossing of a very large glacier and an exposed, 2000 ft+, class 4, hand-and-foot scramble to the peak. I had never been so terrified, but also had never felt so alive. We returned to the base camp around 8pm… 16 hours of rigorous climbing left me dehydrated (I drank water directly off a rock), sunburnt, hungry (I brought no food to the peak), and physically and emotionally exhausted to a point that I cannot explain.
Something about the feeling of pure defeat has stuck with me. And oddly enough, I strive to reach that same feeling with every mountain I summit. But with that sense of defeat comes an amazing sense of accomplishment that I also cannot explain. The combination of these feelings are the recipe for the sport I have come to love.
I decided to start this blog in an effort to put my thoughts about mountaineering on paper and maybe motivate others to join in this somewhat ludicrous sport, to help people know what equipment I use when I climb, and to maybe get some support from outside sources to help me achieve my dream of summiting as many mountains as I can on this planet. And so I begin a new journey…
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