High Sierra Topix

Cool Quote...


"As I walked up a mountain to timberline, I felt a renewed sense of simplicity and understanding. Here was life reduced to bare essentials, a place with fewer species, fewer interactions, and so little vegetation that the bones of the land stood out for all to see."

Galen Rowell

Very cool quote. I haven't read too much of Galen Rowell's work but am a great fan of his photography. I did stumble upon this section recently of mountainlight webpage where many of his articles from Outdoor Photographer are posted. He was definitely more than a photographer, but a very good writer as well.

I am huge fan of Galen Rowell, both for his superb photography and his writing that I think was somewhat overshadowed by his photography. I confess I regret that I never had a chance to meet him in his Bishop studio as many Sierran enthusiasts did. My dad, a fine photographer in his own right, always purchased Rowell's books, and I remember enjoying them in the home in my teen, college years, and thereafter. I remember well some of the more memorable passages in his "Throne Room of the Mountain Gods" (book about K2 and Karakorum). Most of all, I remember the photo and his story of that muscular mountain goat doing the 5.8 crack. Rowell's premature passing was a loss for us all.