100 times... I’ve easily gone to Snoqualmie Pass over a 100 times, it’s a mountain range situated about 45 minutes from Seattle, WA. I’ve learned how to hike, climb, mountaineer, splitboard, and this past weekend I learned how to backcountry ski. I have so many good memories here with friends over the past 18 years. Yet when I found out that the @boealps backcountry ski seminar would be here, I was disappointed, I knew the weather would be bad, I know the approach would be hard, and the scenery would be stale because I had seen it so many times. It's 5am and I am rushing to find my gear, beacon, shovel, prob, it’s been a while since I’ve wandered into the backcountry. We start skinning up hill on a trail I’ve been on countless times, a dense fog makes me question if we were even on the right path. As we kept going uphill, a break in the clouds appear and the sun starts to show. I can finally see what’s around me! As I age, I am learning that I can see more deeply, feel more profoundly, and love more passionately. The peak on the left is called Chair peak, I’ve climbed to the top of it many times. Igor, Hiro and I climbed it as our annual ice climbing trip. Dan, Mike, Cody and I used to rip skins and shred our way towards source lake below it. Jason, Lex and Angela learned how to sport climb here a few exits away. I taught mountaineering students for years how to kick steps and get to the top of adjacent peaks here. There comes a time in every person’s life when his/her memories become more important than their dreams. Today I was with Liz and Sarae, I took out my phone and snapped this picture of them, because I wanted to remember this moment, this feeling of immense gratitude for all the times I got to explore this area with the different people in my life. The one constant in life is change, nothing stays forever, the next time I come here will probably be with someone else. Then I realized that’s why I’ve been here over 100 times, it reminds me of my friends and thats important...