Our focus is creating a great group of guys (gay or straight) to test our endurnace and limits by pushing ourselves all the way to the top! I’m often asked, “What do you do for fun?” I can’t say writing or drawing because that’s work. The one thing I take from this world that is pure fun, is Mountaineering. Though I grew up in central Utah where being surrounded by mountains was all I knew, I nev
er climbed. While my teen years proved to be a bit on the darker side, my artistic outlets were as I described before; “work”. I had to escape from my own head from time to time and that escape was video games. Impulsively, I bought a game called, “Tomb Raider”. Needless to say, that game became an obsession for me. I played it over and over as well as every sequel that came out. As I entered my 20’s, video games were no longer enough. I wanted to live it. On a random weekend drive up Big Cottonwood canyon near Salt Lake City, I noticed a hiking trailhead. For some reason, this trailhead, out of thousands I had seen in my life, was calling out to me. I spent the next week thinking about. The following weekend, I made the decision to climb it. It was that first climb that I realized what I had done to my body. I was young and lazy. I smoked a pack a day and didn’t exercise at all. I reached halfway up that mountain and the burning in my chest was too much. My muscles were sore and I felt ashamed staring at the summit that looked almost disappointed in me; more than I was in myself. I made the decision that I wasn’t going to give up. I fought and trained. I quit smoking and dedicated myself to that mountain. 1 year later I was standing on that summit and for the first time I realized I could conquer anything I set my mind to. The next year, I was standing in the freezing cold with strangers, watching the sunrise on the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan. My love for climbing has not diminished. It has influenced my life as well as my writing. I wanted to share this feeling with others that were not afraid to push themselves to the very edge. In 2008 I founded the group GMAH. Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of summiting peaks among great friends that pushed themselves further than they ever dreamed of. It’s an amazing feeling and I look forward to keeping up the tradition of hardcore and intense climbing that is not for beginners!
