Meet the Peak Posse

These are the original Posse members. You will see them on our expedition videos and read about them in our stories.

Tyler (Meercat)

Tyler was on the expedition up South Sister that started the whole thing. He was part of the Posse before it even was the Posse. I have known him for many years, and our relationship is one of constant belittling and put-downs. Whenever Tyler is on the trail with me, I can count on being called out in front of the whole group for something, and I will return the favor in a hearbeat. We wouldn't have it any other way.

One thing about Tyler, he has some pretty serious fear of heights. It's been

cool seeing him face his fear on the mountains we climb. The first trip up South Sister, he stopped short. A few years later, he stood up with shaky legs at the top of that beautiful mountain. He came upon the name Meercat from our very first Trio expedition up Mount McLoughlin. The summit was a snowy spine and he was very content with poking his head up to see it rather than walk across it to the true summit. (See Picture above) It was only a few feet higher than where he sat, but I let him know about it from time to time.

When Tyler says he is going on an expedition, the fun factor is increased exponentially. Look at that, I finally got to use the word exponentially on this website. Good times...

If you watch one of our videos and hear me and Tyler going at it, remember, it's our love language.

Aaron (Tanka)

It's not often that you meet someone for the first time on a mountain and go on to become friends, at least not in my case. I met Aaron just above Moraine Lake on that fateful day when we first climbed South Sister.

He is the most experienced of the Posse and I have learned many things from him throughout the years.

Without a doubt, I have spent more

miles on the trail with Aaron than anyone else. The picture above is the first Trio expedition up Mount McLoughlin. We have been up quite a few since then. When I was forty eight I found out the tallest mountain in the lower forty-eight states is Mount Whitney. On a whim I proclaimed that I would climb Mount Whitney when I was fifty, cause it kind of rhymes. Last year, Aaron stood with me on Mount Whitney. Not bad for a couple of guys that first shook hands on a mountain. If I ever get Alzheimer's, I hope I recall my wife once in a while, sure hope that moment on Whitney makes an appearance in my jiggly brain every so often too. It was a bucket list moment.

Aaron already had his name, Tanka, before I met him. He takes after his namesake. Might not be the fastest but he is relentless. He took to the Appalachian Trail a few years ago. I have enjoyed hearing his stories from that adventure. We have already decided that the Pacific Crest Trail is happening when I retire. Nobody else I would rather walk that thing with than my brother, Tanka.

Jose (Uno)

Jose was also there on South Sister on the day it spanked our backsides and sent us home to think about how miserable a mountain can make a person. He didn't join us on the first trip up McLoughlin year one, although he did make it up during year two. His first official Trio expedition was on Middle Sister. I was surprised he went because it

seems to me that he vowed to never climb a mountain again after what South did to us. And yet, there he was. He went on to stand atop Middle and many more mountains since then. The top picture is at the summit of Adams and just above is our Eagle Cap expedition.

Jose has extraordinary amount of will. He has been a source of inspiration to me. If you can get past his rugged good looks you will find a person that knows how to dig down deep and get the job done.

His name is Uno because when we were camping out after the Crack in the ground expedition, we played uno. Jose made up these crazy rules that made the game more fun, but he also one every single hand. He laughed and laughed as he cleaned us out of every ounce of uno pride that we had.

If I were to make a short list of people I would choose to climb a mountain with, Jose would be on it.

Joseph (Speed)

Joseph has been a part of the Posse from the beginning. He was at the first winter meal, and he was there on the top of Mount McLoughlin on that sunny Spring day. If we knew then what we know now, we wouldn't have been up there without crampons and ice axes. He began living up to his name that day. I thought I was moving at a good clip when all of a sudden at the steepest traverse, Joseph floats by me. He was the first

to reach the snow covered spine at the summit. (See above picture) Crazy he had only one trekking pole. On Mount Adams he must have ran from Pikers Peak to the summit. I could see the summit when I learned he was at Pikers Peak, as soon as I sat down at that rag tag shack at the summit, Joseph came strolling up. Speed is his name, running up high altitude, steep terrain is what he does. One memory that always comes to mind when I think of Joseph is how selfless he was on the Valhalla Canyon expedition when things went all kinds of sideways for the Posse. Plus he has the right kind of sense of humor that makes for good times on the trail.