Having not swam, taken off my shirt, or been somewhere without climbers and snow, I took a 3 day detour to the French Riviera.  Not a very “me” sort of place, but the change of pace was nice.  For extra challenge, I hitch-hiked half my day from Chamonix to Annecy where I caught the train to Nice.  Three rides, and apparently one illegal hitch-hike just outside of Geneva got me most of the way.

Convinced anne to ski the N Colouir of Col d’Belvedere with me. 2 raps in, and great steep line. Kinda sucky skiing though because everyone slides it out .

Sometimes a moment happens to you that grips you down to your very core and shakes your very being.  I’ve had a few of these moments in my life, and you never see them coming, but their effect is profound.  I had one of those moments while at my brother’s wedding on Saturday.

Standing behind my brother( as I have done much of my life) and listening to my mother sing I was suddenly struck by something I had forgotten.  I had forgotten the beginning, how I got here and more importantly why I was here.

Our family hit rock bottom when I was about 13; Dad left, permanently.  My mother declared bankruptcy.  Our ship was sinking and my dad hopped in his raft and paddled away; it was the best thing he ever did for us.  Somewhere in getting my brother into a college and feeding two children mom managed to take me skiing.  She did it to show me that there was big adventure to be had in life and there was so much more out there than what was in the confines of our city life in San Francisco.  Hardcore Bram was born!  Nothing changed my world view quite so poignantly after that until I took my brother’s challenge to backpack out of the country for the first time, solo, in 2004 for a month.

Let’s return to the present.  Mom doesn’t quite relate to my habit of hanging my life off of small pieces of steel & nylon thousands of feet off the ground and the last time I took my brother skiing I took him down a narrow tree run in deep powder at whistler after which he vowed to not ski with me anymore.  We don’t exactly share the same interests that we once did.  Our lives took different directions somewhere in adulthood. As I progressed the beginning faded and the here and now became huge and important.  The past IS important though, and I had forgotten to pay attention to it; at the wedding I was sharply reminded of that.

So I add my past to the puzzle I’ve now entitled “Bram’s Grail” which I’ve dauntingly placed at the end of this book I’m writing called “Bram’s Adventure”. Go watch this video and take a wonderful glimpse into my brother’s story and happiness.  Unlike him, I am not yet ripe, and were I to follow in his footsteps I should be ripe in 4 years.  Will I be ripe in 4 years?  All I know is I have completed a chapter in my book.  The three months I have taken to write this chapter have unshackled my mind from the life & habits I once clung onto so dearly and am preparing to embrace something new.

Had a great pow day with Silas Wild and Zack Jessel.  At the end of the video is the open bowl underneath and due 300 yds west of Big Chief Mountain.  Great turns had over there.