Broken Thumb (Couloir)

After my mom's maladies this past year, we decided to go out and get a "Broken Thumb". Okay, that's not really fair to my wonderful mother, but I thought it would be a fun play on words. the Broken Thumb we sought out is a couloir (steep, narrow gully) on the north side of a peak call 25-Short in Grand Teton National Park, so named because it is 25-ft short of 10,000 feet in elevation (9975-ft above sea level). I've had my eye on this line since the first time I heard about it: relatively easy access, not extremely committing (I suppose this is relative, but you have to admit that it is in the shadow of the South, Middle, and Grand Tetons...), and not extremely high in elevation. I saw it as a great warm-up to Teton ski mountaineering and since the snow isn't great anywhere and avalanche concerns are low, President's Day weekend was the time to give it a shot.


Alli and I, along with our friend Tom, struck out Monday morning from the Bradley-Taggart trailhead. After a short stint of loosing the skin track at the beginning, we reached the top in a little over 3 hours. It was beautiful outside. The sun was shining, it was warm, we were in high spirits. We geared up and set off for the couloir. I have to stop and admit here that it gives me a feeling of studly-ness when you put on a harness with gear on the top of a snowy mountain, amid many taller peaks, about to put skies on your feet. Go out and try it sometime!



The descent to the "squeeze" of the gully was really wonderful snow. The three of us leap-frogged down through the trees and into the throat of the gully. The section immediately above the "choke" or crux of the route, is a no-fall zone above a cliff, so our skiing slowed as we descended to the rappel anchor. We set up our rope (70 meters) and one by one walked back over into the unknown. Okay, it wasn't that dramatic, but it sure sounds good, eh?

Snow at the bottom of the rappel was steep and stiff, keeping us on our toes for another 500 feet or so until it opened up to an apron of softer snow. Then we rode the icy luge track out of the draw, across Taggart Lake and back to the car. What a fun line to grab under blue skies and sunshine in the middle of February. Happy Valentine's Day and Presidents Day all wrapped into one. Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.

March Ice

What's cooler than being cool? ICE COLD! 

 -Outkast

I've been writing a lot about an upcoming trip to Nepal: preparations, fundraising, culture...but what's going on in the rest of my life? Back in March, right at the end of the ice climbing season, I had a flurry of days up in Hyalite Canyon. Great training and team building for Nepal (okay, I had to make it relate somehow).

The first of the two days I have pictures from I went out with a fellow Nepal team leader Jeff and his daughter. We had a stellar afternoon in the sunshine amidst some fresh snow. Jeff is shown above leading the first pitch of a climb called "Hangover."

One of the things I love about ice climbing is the feeling. There is just something about walking around with sharp things on your feet and sharp tools in your hands that makes any outing feel like an epic adventure! Here Jeff and Aime are walking around a rock outcrop on the way back to the truck. If I were able to crop out the tree, it could be a ridge somewhere in the Alaska Range or high in the Himalaya, right? Like I said, epic feeling. 

Another thing about ice climbing that adds to the "epic" feel is the weather you go out in. Sometimes it feels like an all-out blizzard. This picture is kind of deceptive though: it was probably 32 degrees while it was snowing. 

Here are my buddies from the next Friday after climbing with Jeff: (l to r) Chris, Brett, and Josh. Great group of studs just out for a morning jaunt on ice. 

And I love climbing! Swinging tools and working with ropes is an incredible experience. If you ever get the chance to get out and climb, please do so for me! Even for those of you less attracted to the vertical world: get into the fresh air of the mountains. Or at the very least watch some kind of climbing video or documentary.

I'll leave you today with a quote from John Muir:

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

Inspiration from a Friend

I received an epic email this week from a college buddy (and Wingman in my wedding) updating people back home and requesting prayers while he is working overseas in Liberia. I wanted to take the time to give a plug for him and what he is doing. He works for Samaritan's Purse, an amazing organization committed to meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world. What they are committed to doing with WATER in Liberia and the rest of Africa is incredible! Check it out here.


In his email, Alex spoke of experiences he is having with different people: talking to people while riding the bus, partnering with Peace Corps workers, leading Easter sunrise services, and conversations with security guards. At the end of his email he stated apologetically that he would send updates on the work with water he is doing. "Trust me, I am working hard out here!" he said.

I was struck by the thought that we have it all wrong. So many times, when we are first getting to know someone, we ask the question, "What do you do?" On the surface it's a question about someone's profession and how they spend their time during the work day. However, on some level (particularly with men, I feel) what we are really doing is sizing someone up, how do they compare to us? Do they enjoy what they do? How much money are they making? We want to make our jobs or our work define who we are.

What if we have it all wrong? What if the things Alex wrote about in his email really are the things we should be working hard at?

Sure, we want to use our gifts or talents or training or knowledge to make a living or to make a difference. This is especially true when we are being paid (as an employee or being paid a wage) or supported (evangelical or missional work); we are accountable to other people. But what is really true and good and lasting is the impact we make in people.

In my own life, I am really encouraged by what my friend is doing: looking for any and all opportunities to share Jesus with those around us, whether it is someone sitting next to you on the airplane, someone you ride the bus with, someone you work with, someone you go to school, or someone you with whom you recreate in the mountains. I am so excited about Nepal and experiencing the excitement of sharing Jesus with people who may or may not have ever heard about Jesus before (such a contrast to our American culture where people are either jaded about Christianity or hurt by past experiences). However, my team and I need to remind ourselves that Bozeman, MT is as big of a mission field as Nepal and that our efforts here do not stop just because of a trip planned in May.

Please Pray: Pray that our team won't let opportunities to serve and share the love of Jesus pass by because we are too focused on Nepal.  Pray that we would use the excitement and enthusiasm for an event like backpacking in Nepal carry over into the atmosphere of our daily lives right here where we live, work, and play.

Easter Son-rise Service

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

He has risen! He has risen indeed! 

Good morning!  One week ago, Easter Sunday, Alli and I along with a couple of other friends got up before the sun and rode the lift halfway up Bridger Bowl ski area for a Sunrise service. We sang several songs of worship together with maybe 100 other people and listened to a message about faith: how it influences our decisions about whether or not we should ski as well as how faith is an integral part of living.

It was so amazing to be out in God's cathedral, in the heart of his beautiful creation celebrating the greatest moment in the history of the world: Christ Jesus rising from the dead, going to be with the Father forever, and be in relationship with us, living in our hearts and guiding us to love more and more every day!

My favorite part was the leader read from John 1: 4-5, and turned around and pointed at the ridge behind him to the east and the sun popped over the top. God, how radiant you are!

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his GLORY, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:9-14)

Successful M Summit

Successful M Summit event for all of us Nepalers! The weather held very nicely, none of us had injuries, and everyone reached their goals. That's what I'm talking about!

And that's not all: we had a table with water and gatorade set up at the trail head. Our efforts on the trail today sparked many a conversation with people out for a Saturday hike, both at the water cooler and on the trail. You get a lot of shocked looks when you tell someone you are working on your 7th lap up to the top.

And kids (adults too, for that matter) loved figuring out that they had seen you before on the trail. Everyone was impressed and wanted to hear about why we were running and what we were going to do in Nepal.

What a great group of people I get to travel and work with: everyone has a upbeat personality and is pumped for the trip. And everyone took ownership of this event to raise awareness, raise funds, and train for hiking in the mountains.

As I mentioned earlier, everyone reached their goals. I was personally able to hike/run/scramble up to the M ten different times. A rough calculation in my head tells me that our group summitted the M at least 80 times! Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support.

Kyler was such a trooper: she ran 5 laps with me and kept up for the most part. She and I were pretty tired and hungry when we got home. Right now, both of us have had food in our bellies and a little bit of rest. Now I'm off to the shower, cheers!

Performing a Wedding

About a month and a half ago, my roommate and his girlfriend asked me to perform their wedding. After I got over the initial shock of the unexpectedness of that request, I happily accepted the honor. Just so you know, I have the ability to perform weddings now in several states (at least Wyoming and Montana) and would happily offer my services should the need arise. My specialty: eloping with parents to beautiful mountainous landscapes. 

It was quite the experience and I learned a lot. Matt, Sacha, and I did some pre-marital counseling (thanks for the advice Walter!) and worked together to plan their ceremony including vows, ring exchange, and message. The ceremony itself was held in Grand Teton National Park among the old buildings and barns of Mormon Row. Attendees of the service included Matt's parents, Sacha's parents, two bride's maids, a best man, and bride and groom. With me it totaled ten people! Very personal and special. 

And photogenic! We had a couple of days of amazing weather, the first for a camping trip and a hike and the second for the wedding itself. The Tetons practically begged to have pictures taken of them and I hardly put up a fight. Some of the best are shown below.

The wonderful couple out on our hike the day before their wedding. The Grand Teton in the background.

Wedding party (minus Matt's bro) photo at the top of Inspiration Point overlooking Jenny Lake.

The Treager family, up from Georgia, loving the mountains.

It was a little cold for Sacha's home-made wedding dress. The thoughtful groom came through!

Bride and her attendees, accented by the Tetons.

Kiss pose...go!

Weddings are a great excuse to bring people together to celebrate life and love and happiness. In the past couple of weeks, at first Tim's then Matt's weddings, I've gotten to meet a bunch of really cool people. And in the preparation of the wedding I looked a lot at what love and commitment is: how Christ shows us the way to service, submission, and love in all our relationships, but in marriage especially. I feel like more marriages would last if each individual tried to out serve their spouse. For those of you married folks out there (and those of you thinking about getting married) it's never too late. This is my charge to you: to serve each other more than the day before and try to outdo one another in service, submission, and love.

Minnesota Wedding

The weekend after Memorial Day, I left Wednesday night for Minnesota for a high school buddies wedding. My friend Tim, a ski buddy mentioned in posts before, married the love of his life Emily on June 2nd. The road trip of 15 hours both directions was well worth it; it was so much fun! I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time, sharing stories of the golden years.

Wedding party rehearsal photo bomb.

This is one fun, amazing couple!

One of the jumping photo attempts.

Recent Adventures

In this post are some photos of my recent adventures in an effort to catch up my blog to my life, not a whole lot of in depth stories or profound writings, but hopefully I'll get back into a rhythm of writing that will foster more creativity.

Climbing at Practice Rock in Hyalite Canyon before the road opened to vehicles. On this spectacular day, Alli and I road our bikes up the road to climb for most of the day. Kyler enjoyed hanging out with us at the rock. 

Later that evening after climbing, Alli and I went to a swing dance sponsored by Bozeman's Senior Center with my roommate and his fiance. This was a 3 wheeled electric car in the parking lot, affectionately named Kermit the Pod. I was super intrigued and actually talked to the electrical engineer who designed the car at the dance.

Group photo after the dance. Two good looking couples if I don't say so myself. 

The next day, Sunday afternoon, I got to hang out with Ryan of Lion's Ridge and some Young Life buddies climbing at Allenspur in the Paradise Valley. Great climbing, wonderful weather, entertaining conversations, and DQ Blizzards to cool off afterwards. Amazing! Reminds me a lot of climbing in Texas actually. 

Another beautiful day in paradise! Alli and I road our bikes up the Hyalite Canyon road to the reservoir two days before the official opening of the road to vehicles. Stupid or not we road from town and racked up a round trip of 35.5 miles in 2 1/2 hours. Mummy Peak in the background. 

Just last weekend, we climbed to the top of Mt. Baldy, the southernmost high point in the Bridger Range. Round trip 9 miles with about 4000 ft elevation gain and lost. Jon and Alli shown with Baldy in the background. 

At the Summit! We were tired puppies by the time we got back to the pickup. 

Life is good here in Bozeman and I feel really blessed to be living and working and playing in the Gallatin Valley this summer. This will be the first summer since High School where I haven't had to move from one town to the next for school.  I am doing Civil Engineering research for the university through a group called Western Transportation Institute. Research has been both physically and mentally demanding, but I'm having a blast! Look for a future post of my lab. 

Cousin Visit and Home for Easter

My cousin Luke flew in from California this Spring to check out MSU. I tried to do my best to show him all that Bozeman had to offer in an effort to convince him that he needs to come to Montana to go to school. We'll see if my efforts pay off.

Luke throwing down on the Gallagator Boulder, a 5 minute walk from my house. 

We went skiing on Saturday down in Big Sky, and it was raining. Poo! I think we were soaked before we even got out of the truck. And the snow conditions were icy, visibility was poor...yuk. So we went inside, ate some snacks and had some hot cocoa, before venturing out again when the rain seemed to abate a bit. 

All smiles and excitement in the lodge at Big Sky.

And wouldn't you know: it turned out to be an amazing day! Great spring snow conditions and we ran into a friendly Big Sky local, Karen, who gave us a ripping tour of the upper mountain. We wound up skiing until 5 in the evening. Not bad for such a crummy start.

Luke hanging out on the chair with our new-found friend Karen. We met her on a ride up a triple chair and she was willing to ski with us most of the day, giving us a tour of a lot of highlights of the mountain. Lucky to run into her. 

At the top of our last run. It got washed out but Lone Peak was finally shining through the clouds.  Such a good day: after leaving the truck in a rain shower, it only got better and turned out to be difficult to leave.

After skiing at Big Sky the night before we ate stacked enchiladas and watched A River Runs Through It that night. So the next day I had to take Luke to some of the scene locations from the movie. Luke is here messing around on the steps of the "Missoula Police Department."

Easter means a three-day weekend for us college students at Montana State, and I took the opportunity to travel home for the Parental visit. I was hoping to ski at Big Mountain, catch up with good friends, tour the sites of the Flathead Valley, and share them with someone special. 

This might be breaking news for some of you that I haven't had the chance to talk to recently, but I am dating the coolest gal I have ever met. You might be thinking, "Colter has a girlfriend?! I thought he'd never find a girl." Well, you're not alone, I thought that for a long time too. I've had pretty high criteria, high standards, that no one seemed to be able to attain. Then Alli came along and knocked me off my feet and my life will never be the same again. She came home with me to meet Mom and Dad and find out more about my past. Luckily it seems like she likes what she found.

Viewing the Flathead Valley from Lone Pine State Park. 

Skiing while it was snowing at Big Mountain. It's hard not to smile on a day like that.

Dying Easter eggs Saturday night.

Alli and I heated our ski boot liners for a better fit. Cinderella can have her glass slippers, my gal would rather have perfect fitting ski boots. Does that give you a picture of why I've fallen for her?

We got to see my sister Larkin while on our way back to Bozeman. Wow, aren't I lucky? Flanked by two gorgeous gals, smiles all around!

The Spring Semester of school wrapped up well, with vacations and trips like Spring Break in DC and then Easter in Kalispell as highlights. The final push juggling teaching, research, and coursework was pretty rough, but I passed everything with flying colors and transitioned into full-time work for the summer. Who'd have thought that working 40 hours a week would feel like a vacation! Now it's on to climbing, fishing, running, biking, hiking, and paddling. The problem will forever be deciding which activity to do...

Spring Break to DC

Spring Break from grad school this year saw me flying across the country to visit Washington, DC. I'd never been to the east coast before and with several friends that I needed to see in a similar location and the ski season in Montana in sorry shape, it seemed like a great plan to me. Overall: amazing trip, incredible adventure, and more love from friends than I deserve.

Highlights of the trip: 

• Baltimore: Ft. McHenry, Inner Harbor, Edgar Allen Poe's house and gravesite, Charm City Circulator!
• Church and picnic lunch with my best friend Alex, seeing his cousin David and D's wife Kara
• Meeting new friends: Liz, Laura, Mark, Grandpa Dick, and Gma Annie
• Overview of DC: metro riding, Air and Space museum, old Post Office and Federal Triangle, Georgetown Cupcakes and University (priority in that order...)
• Lazy summer day in Annapolis, sea food lunch (first time having oysters!)
• Smash and grab tour of DC monuments: spent all day walking around covering a lot of ground and checking off a list of monuments and museums; Natural Hist. museum, Amer. Hist. Museum, Korea, WWI, WWII, Lincoln, Jefferson, Korea, Vietnam, Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, and more!
• Navigating the Metro to catch an early morning flight home and losing my driver's license, if you are nice enough TSA takes pity on you and you can get through security without it...wouldn't recommend the stress though!
• Breakfast in Minneapolis with another high school bestie: Tim. Lorax pancakes at IHOP are highly recommended. 

Picture highlights are below. Hope you enjoy!

Goofing off at the Ft. McHenry National Monument.

Leaning against the supporting beam for the original American flag that flew over the Fort during the War of 1812 and inspiring Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner." That was especially cool since I'm taking a Foundation Engineering class this semester: perfect for Geeking Out!

Hanging out in Baltimore with some good food and good friends. Funny how often that combination seems to happen. I was so fortunate to be able to catch up with ACU friends like David, Abby, Bonni, and Marc.

At the cemetery where Edgar Allen Poe was originally buried. This is a slab of rock that was featured on Ripley's "Believe It or Not". 

Sunday afternoon picnic-guitar-frisbee-convo session with my High School bestie Alex and his girlfriend Susan. I feel very fortunate to not only be able to see old friends but be able to share their lives with them. I even got to go to work with Alex one day during the week.

Cliche photo waiting for the train into DC to come. 

Washington monument in the background, we are hanging out in the bell tower of the old DC post office. Alex is on the far right with his friends Mark, Liz, and Laura. Mark and Alex met Liz and Laura in Georgia while on a road trip promoting MANA. I lucked out and got to meet them while they were up visiting DC on their Spring Break. 

Washington Monument. Welcome to 'Merica, 'nuff said.

We tried to visit Barack, but he was regrettably out of town watching an NCAA basketball tournament in Ohio. Oh well, at least I got to see his white house. 

Arlington National Cemetery at the eternal flame. I hadn't realized it was burning at the grave site of JFK and his family. 

Tomb of the unknown soldier from WWII and beyond. We timed if perfectly (coincidence really) to see the changing of the guard on the hour. Impressive coordination and for me a really interesting site. I couldn't help but see parallels between this and the monument of the unknown god at Mars Hill in Athens back in the day. 

All of the states are represented like this at the WWII monument. Funny story: a guy walks up while we're taking this picture and asks me where I'm from. Me, being the naive honest person that I am, replied "Montana." That's apparently not what he wanted. Turns out he was from Libby and wanted to know where in Montana I was from. Well, he should have asked that from the beginning if he was going to get all huffy!

The new Martin Luther King, Jr. monument. It's huge, and you have to walk through a channel to get to the statue of him, it's supposed to be as if he is cut out from another section of rock and slid forward. The caption is something like, "Out of the mountain of despair, comes a rock of hope...". We were there right at sunset: it was beautiful! And to top it off we got to hear a touring college singing group sing a beautiful acapela song.

Hanging with my buddy Tommy. The ultimate Renaissance Man