My hunt for a Dall ram in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska

became an epic adventure and stretched me beyond my limits, or so I thought. High on the rocky face of a steep mountainside, I found myself both physically and mentally spent. Exhaustion and confusion are a dangerous combination in a spot like that. Sweat stung my eyes and ran off my nose. My heartbeat pulsed in my ears and my arms and legs were limp with fatigue. I reached deep for a little more grit and climbed on. At the top of the next pitch I found a flat section of grass about the length of my body, an oasis and a reprieve from the misery. Life altering epiphanies come at a price. Amid the northern nights in the Chugach Mountains I found a bigger world than I’d ever known.