Devils Tower is a magical place-a lot of who we are today was spawned on the cliffs of this magnificent piece of stone. It was my first proper multipitch climb and it is where I became interested in guiding. In 2011, I came here for inspiration as I was formulating the groundwork for starting LivingVertical prior to Project365.

Coming back with Stef has been a wonderful rekindling of past memories-and coming here to meet Martin, my good friend and climbing partner (and T1d partner) has given me ideas and inspiration for the future!

We took an easy day to warm up on Monday, during which time I found out that all of the video editing I have been doing over the last 4 months hasn’t helped my climbing…I’m woefully out of shape.

Nevertheless, Martin was looking to test himself on some climbs so we decided that I would lead a pitch or two and follow his lead on the rest and together we would reach the summit! So yesterday, TeamLV headed out to get it done-Martin, me and Stefanie. It was hot. We weren’t moving rapidly-just taking our time enjoying the freedom of having some air beneath us.

Unfortunately the same was NOT true about the weather. By the late afternoon we were spitting distance from the summit and black clouds were rolling in fast-the wind was starting to howl and we had to make a decision to go for the summit and take the risk of getting into a bad situation on the descent-or bail and come back again later in the week.

We agreed to bail, rappelling off 500 feet or so to the ground, and not a moment too soon! So we will be back to attempt the summit probably tomorrow.

Meanwhile I had to cut back my basal a lot…I was just going low all day without even taking any fast acting insulin-I had a lot on my mind yesterday afternoon during that storm and descent!

Huge thanks to my partners Stef and Martin for keeping cool in a tough situation-further proving that we CAN take our diabetes anywhere we choose, and that diabetes isn’t the biggest challenge we can face in our lives!