Author Archives: jeffkinsey

I spoke to my dad for the last time this past Father’s Day. He died three days later. As I imagine is the case with most men, my father had a tremendous influence on my life. What may be less typical is that I had a fantastic, close relationship with him for nearly all of […]

One of my favorite things about backpacking is the amount of time I have to think with such little distraction. One of the things that can get really annoying when backpacking is what I can say to myself – over and over, and over, again – with all that time to think… [up next, Part […]

“Well, we’re not going back THAT way,” my good friend, fellow Trojan, and current hiking partner, Dan O’Brien says, matter-of-factly. Dan was in from California and I was introducing him to the world of Colorado’s 14,000′ peaks. The primary routes for most Fourteeners are crowded with Peak Baggers so we chose to climb Mount of […]

I am violently pried from my zero degree sleeping bag at the crack of dawn.  The culprit is a gust of wind strong enough to blow the blockaded door of the storm shelter open, and along with it, bring several shovel-fulls of driving snow into my quickly devolving reality [What may look easy one minute could […]

Agility is the ability to be nimble in real time. In a physical sense, as conditions and circumstances change (which they always do), how quickly are we able to respond – appropriately – to those changes?  My winter passion is backcountry snowboarding, otherwise known as splitboarding. One of my prized possessions is a locally made […]

I had an amazing insight while mountain biking the other day … when in the midst of dangerous circumstances, our thoughts just get in the way.  I realized that when I’m riding fast down a steep, twisty trail, I don’t hardly think at all. I’m moving too fast and there are just too many decisions […]