The cover. Soft, supple, brown Italian leather. The closure system. A strip of the same Italian leather that secures the flap over the top of the cover, wraps around the journal twice, and tucks in underneath itself in the back. The paper. Two hundred eighty-eight pages of unlined white paper on which to record my climbing thoughts, adventures, revelations, strategies, beta, and experiences with fountain pen, pen & ink, pencil, pastel, conté crayon…any medium that fits the task. I want this climbing log to be a most special volume that can be looked back upon and bring back to life the very thing it conveys in the context of its workings for anyone who thumbs through it, especially me. I want it to capture and inspire, to draw in and cause one to breathe fresh air and feel the nature of climbing – a call to action and adventure and skill and determination, a call to pure joy and the expression of the human spirit. My goals and dreams will go into this log, as well as my achievements, progress, projects, ascents, and failures. A part of my soul – the part of me that is ever-so-alive – will go into this climbing log and others will feel it when they pick up this most unique of memoirs, a series of which will exist throughout my lifetime. This is only the beginning. Only the beginning…
