We begin a new series on WildSnow: Photo Story. The idea is to tell a story with minimal words and an image or two. If you have something in mind you’d like us to consider, feel free to ping us with an email.
There is so much beauty in the world. Much of it, perhaps, lacking in this gear explosion within the confines of a rented room in Bozeman.
I’m swinging through to help my 19-year-old head out on his first Alaska adventure. The beauty is the child, his love for the mountains, and his raw excitement; not the gear explosion. I’m always the parent. He’s got about 12 hours to get it together.
Below, Chris Labosky illustrates that oftentimes the gear explosions coalesce into only what you need.
![](https://wildsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_2430-e1652378578944.jpeg)
Chris Labosky (@chris.d.labosky) illustrates that oftentimes the gear explosions coalesce into only what you need. Photo: Aidan Whitelaw.
Jason Albert comes to WildSnow from Bend, Oregon. After growing up on the East Coast, he migrated from Montana to Colorado and settled in Oregon. Simple pleasures are quiet and long days touring. His gray hair might stem from his first Grand Traverse in 2000 when rented leather boots and 210cm skis were not the speed weapons he had hoped for. Jason survived the transition from free-heel kool-aid drinker to faster and lighter (think AT), and safer, are better.