When the author began his career as a volunteer mountain rescuer with
the Alpine Rescue Team in Colorado seventeen years ago, he was a
clueless Youngstowner fresh off the interstate from Ohio who didn't know
Gore-Tex from Tex-Mex. He had a lifetime of ridiculously dangerous
pursuits and backcountry sins to atone for, so he became a Rocky
Mountain rescuer with the intention of repaying the massive karmic debt
he had accumulated. This is the story of how a career in volunteer
service to others transformed a self-absorbed Rustbelt redneck
adrenaline junkie into one of the nation's leading voices in technical
rope rescue.