-The Sharp End-
life, technology, and the pursuit of adventure

I came out of the moun­tains to the news that a friend died. She was 32. Com­pletely shocked and sad­dened, I won­dered why life is full of so much death. I re-questioned all the risks I take in life. Climb­ing is a dan­ger­ous sport. Even though I work to mit­i­gate those dan­gers, acci­dents can and will happen.

Per­haps death is there to remind us about life. What is life with­out some risk, with­out pas­sion to do what you love, and liv­ing to do it? We all must mea­sure what accept­able risk is. A walk, a ride, a climb, a jump. A per­son can be struck dead cross­ing the street. The real­ity is we have no idea how long we have and in many cases, it’s shorter than we think. If I want to take away some­thing pos­i­tive from an oth­er­wise tragic end, it’s that every moment is pre­cious — so seize it, because you may not get that sec­ond chance.

Let death remind us of life … that every moment is precious.

Rest in peace, my friend. You will be missed.