Tony Burfield

Headlamps

2 AM awake. We’re up, strapping on all the gear for our first attempt at the summit. Two hard-boiled eggs each, two liters of water each. The trailhead crowded with headlamps, stars, true early coughs and high above us, the wind. Sweat, breath, more sweat and the layers come off in the dark, treeline lingering in dreamscapes. But breaking out, out to the crags, and I swallow hard at the vertical relief.

krummholz at sunrise
far below the city
lights