Updated June, 2006

This is a site in transition now. I have more real-life "friction" to deal with (but a wonderful friction it is, the demands of my small twin boys), so things will always move more slowly here, at least for the next 15 years or so.

As a family, we've embarked on an adventure, talked about for years but finally made real: to move to a foreign country for work and life. Our Dolomites vacations of several years ago were so much fun that we wanted to be near the wonderful South Tyrol, and Munich seemed like the best nearby city. We've been here 6 months now and life is full of surprises, almost all of them good. I'm very lucky to live a 5 minute bike ride from work, and right across the street from a wonderful park for the kids (The English Garden). We are glad we followed up on our dream.

In my spare time I will continue to explore the mountains. I miss my mountain friends from Washington very much. You don't just "find" someone new who you feel comfortable with simul-climbing a long alpine route. I never before realized how much gradual development of trust and experience goes into such wonderful partnerships as I've had. Maybe I'll do a lot more hiking that climbing for a while. I really enjoy travelling light and covering ground.

I'll work to give the web site a more "Bavarian" theme. I'd also like to post trip reports in German, too, at least for my own practice. Until the next update, --Michael Stanton, summer 2006

Welcome to Cascadian Mountain Adventures! My name is Michael Stanton, and I'm an avid climber and hiker living in Washington State. Here you will find reports of all my trips to the mountains since 1997. Why do I go through so much trouble? Because the mountains are so much fun that I want to remember everything about a trip. At the same time I am a fan of reading trip reports on the web, and want to contribute to that body of work.

You may be frustrated if you are looking for directions to trailheads or detailed topo maps. What you'll get are my very subjective impressions of a climb or hike. What's more, is that these impressions change as I learn more about climbing. Something hard in 1999 might be easy in 2002. You could either be disgusted by the dramatic prose applied to something you know as easy, or feel sandbagged by my blithe assertions of simplicity. The former is more likely, given my skill level!

I tend to use climbing jargon (pitch three, 5.7, grade IV, nut, bolt, runout) in the reports, which can be frustrating if you aren't a rock climber. I intend to build a glossary for this kind of thing eventually. On climbs considered “hard” I favor a pitch-by-pitch description. My awareness was so high that the smallest detail seemed very important.

I have a whole other life outside of climbing which I don't need to record on the web, so periods of inactivity can be expected (“and encouraged,” I can hear Kris say!). Lately it's gotten harder to make timely updates to the site, so I apologize in advance if you are waiting for something. Of course, this is the great folly nurtured by the web -- the notion that thousands are waiting for my latest update. In reality I have three regular readers, all personal friends. The rest are probably spiders; crawling and indexing while we sleep!

That being said, even if you are a spider, thanks for reading this far! I understand that the nation is being swept by the “scrapbooking” craze. Millions of people (mostly our mothers, I guess) are purchasing supplies at craft stores to preserve precious memories. They are really onto something, knowing that memories fade.

It's better to record your adventures now, while they're fresh. Share them with us, because telling your story is the greatest gift you can give to strangers. Of course, you shouldn't include your social security number. Unless it's an important part of the story.