[JimK]

I saw a WTA report by Michael Stanton, mvs on this board, noting he is moving to Munich. I hope his excellent website, mountainwerks.org, will survive his move. I had the pleasure of meeting him at one of his Ptarmigan Traverse slide shows. Good luck to you Michael!

[mvs]

Hi Jim, thanks for the well-wishin'! It's been so awesome to live here. I've been here 8 years and in that time learned so much about the mountains and Washington. Met so many friendly hikers and climbers who are now life-long friends. Good luck to all, and be safe. Every now and then I'll check in. I'll keep updating my web site with trip reports of course, only they'll be less relevant on a day to day basis to life here. --Michael

[polarbear]

Best wishes mvs. I didn't meet you but attended your slide show. Fabulous pictures! Maybe you will need to take some yodeling lessons.

[Scrooge]

Damn! I met Michael one weekend at Lake Ann (Shuksan). Aside from his mountaineering and photographic accomplishments, he's one of the nicest guys you could ever run into. He'll be a real loss, to us and to the area. Yeah, you Mike. So what's Munich done to deserve you? David

[mvs]

ouch David, since you are poking me with the stick I'd better answer Well, the reasons are "manifold." (manyfold? oft-folded?). We've got 11-month old twins now, and I'd like to go as a family on those cool "hut to hut" hikes that Kris and I experienced on vacations in the Dolomites a few years ago. You can walk across the whole alps that way, with just a pack lunch and a jacket in your pack. Pretty cool! Also, I finished a big project at work here and was looking to do something' new and different (well, still computer programming, but different bits). I was lucky enough to find an interesting small company in Munich that would hire me despite fairly poor german language skills . A family desire to go on a little adventure. Just living day to day in another country will be "high adventure" for us. The lifestyle will be very different: I'll be able to walk or take the subway to work, we'll have to function in a foreign-language world (lessons!). At my current job, I was always impressed by people coming from China, Europe, India, Brazil and getting a crash course in U.S. culture. I kind of wanted to experience that. It might be good for the chillin' too. Six weeks vacation doesn't hurt . The mountains are really accessible, which is great for a busy dad. There is less of what we'd call wilderness, but still oceans of solitude in high places. It will certainly have it's rough days. No more 1 am post-SNL runs for tacos and a Slushee. Peanut butter is hard to find. Population density: pretty darn dense! But last week I was in Garmisch-Paternkirchen, in the country for just 3 days to get our apartment. I didn't have time to hike until midnight, but I silently climbed 3400 feet to the summit of Der Wank and looked down at the sleeping town far below. The Milky Way was as bright as I'd seen in the Okanogan, and the mountains were dark all around. I thought "it's worth it." I'll post a dispatch now and then, especially in the summer. Thanks for everyone's kind words! --Michael