Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship by Tom Ryan is published by William Morrow. It tells the story of my adventures with Atticus M. Finch, a little dog of some distinction. You can also find our column in the NorthCountry News.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Excuse The Heavy Breathing

This is a little video I did on the last bit of the approach to the summit of Lincoln. I post it for the person who recently emailed me and said, "You make it look so easy." Believe me, it's not easy. At least not for me. Part of what makes this good entertainment I think is that if I can do it pretty much anyone can do it. Think about it: I'm middle aged, have a double chin, am not an athlete; he's a small dog, one-tenth my size and about one-seventh of Brutus, the Newfoundland who was the first dog to climb them in winter. I play this video in the interest of letting you know that no matter how many of these peaks I climb I still feel like I'm going to die. But that all goes away once we get to the top and find the treasure awaiting us. My weak point is climbing but I do have staying power. I can usually keep going for quite a while, as you are about to see in the coming weeks as we get into the longer hikes, commonly known up here as "Death Marches". Enjoy the video and please excuse the heavy breathing.