The Call
I was living in NYC and had this growing itch for something that felt hard again. Work was intense, but it didn’t leave me beat up in that satisfying way.
I missed shared suffering — the late-night Caltech grind, the doubleheaders, the team energy.
“I wanted something hard, and for a few hours, I got it.”
The Climb
Mount Washington seemed like the right start: cold, unpredictable, serious but not fully extreme.
I mostly heard “no” when I asked people to come. I ended up with John Rudio and his friend Chris — both ex–special ops — which was not exactly a gentle introduction.
We arrived after work, slept a few hours in a motel, and met the mountain in daylight: big, rounded, and very clearly cold.
The Grind
The first mile was chaos for me. It was around 15°F, and I had no idea how to move efficiently in that kind of cold.
I was sweating, stripping layers, sliding backward, and generally looked like I had gotten in over my head.
The Turn
Then we broke out of the trees and everything flipped.
We hit steeper terrain, put on crampons, and the movement suddenly made sense. The effort had direction.
Tuckerman Ravine opened up and it finally felt like the environment I had been searching for.
The Summit
Higher up, the mountain delivered exactly what I wanted: cold, exposed, slightly extreme.
The summit weather station was completely iced over, chained down like it might get ripped off the peak.
Like a scene out of The Day After Tomorrow.
The Descent
The way down felt easy; I’ve always had strong legs. What stuck with me wasn’t the summit photo.
It was showing up underprepared, adapting on the fly, and still finishing with a small crew.
At the car, Rudio told me he hadn’t expected me to make it after that start — then said he respected how I finished.
