About this last time last year, my husband Steve and I began planning an epic, albeit ambitious, trip: two weeks in France and Switzerland, with objectives to climb Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and the Eiger (plus Mönch and Jungfrau, why not, while we were in the area!). We had been training together with the Mountain Tactical Institute's "Alpine Rock Climbing Training Program," and we were feeling good, strong, ready! Those weighted step-ups, sandbag get-ups and DW Specials were worth the suffering!

While I can appreciate hucking laps on classics at the local crag or visiting new areas for the first time and seeing how my onsighting skills have fared since my last trip to a brand new crag, its really the route that becomes a project that temporarily scratches my eternal itch.   Every year I have to look a little bit farther from my home base in Burlington, Vermont.  But every year I continue my stubborn, hard headed quest to find new rock climbing projects that kick my ass, humble me and force me to get fitter in mind and body to eventually succeed.