Preparation as an act of love
Happy New Year... and congratulations on starting this new lap around the sun!
Allow me to say, "Thank you," for the time you've given me over the years, and for this new moment you're sharing with me now.
It is my honor, in this first newsletter of 2025, to share some key lessons I learned from a profound and heartfelt piece of writing by my dear friend, Beth Hartsoch.
Beth recently published her deeply personal story of losing her husband and their boys' father, Jake, in a climbing accident on the North Twin Sister mountain.
Beth and Jake have been Ski to Sea family to Heather and I going back over 15 years.
Jake and I raced together for a decade on Beaver's Tree Service, including in 2016 when we took the overall win as a Whatcom County team.
He was one of the area's most respected, skilled, and passionate outdoor athletes, as well as a coder, a poet, a creator, an overall community ambassador and icon.
On Sunday, September 8th, Jake set out early on his bike from their Columbia neighborhood home to ride then scramble on foot to the summit of the North Twin -- a less-than-10-hour round trip he'd done many times.
He was alone. He was completely capable and comfortable. Yet he wasn't to make it home.
Beth’s journey in navigating this unimaginable loss has left me profoundly moved.
In her grief and reflection, Beth uncovered lessons about preparation, responsibility, and the acts of love we can extend to those who depend on us.
I want to share a summary of those lessons with you, not to dwell on tragedy but to inspire thoughtful action in the year ahead.
We all take risks.
We can all take a measure of responsibility to those who love us, by learning from Beth’s story.
Thank you in advance for reading, and sharing.
"Mountains were as necessary as air for Jake"
Beth opens her piece by writing about Jake's extensive time in the North Cascades, and on the North Twin in particular.
It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Jake had a strong case of mountain fever.
Glance through his Instagram account and you'll feel like the photo editor of Alpine magazine, as image after image of Jake with others and alone, in summer and winter, show him in the most beautiful places Whatcom County's mountains offer.
Beth wrote, "...over the years, I pushed him to take responsibility for the risks inherent in adventuring in wild places.
Between Jake’s adventures, we prepared, and I’ve come to think of this preparation as an act of love.
Jake’s practical acts of love made the tragedy of his death easier to navigate and less traumatic for his family and friends.
We mourne Jake’s loss, but I feel no resentment or regret, and I don’t have to uproot my kids and sell my house."
In her writing, Beth weaves together her acceptance of risk, of Jake's fate, and she offers these "lessons learned as someone with a lot of experience waiting for an adventurer to return home."
Documents of Love
“Jake left a signed durable power of attorney, healthcare directive, and a will.
If you are an adult, the first two are a minimum, and will relieve your loved ones of having to guess your wishes if you are incapacitated.
There are a number of free downloadable templates [linked above] specific to your state and in Washington the forms need just two witnesses.
If you have people who depend on you and/or you have assets, write a will."
She goes on to write that Jake had fortunately taken the time to simply designate beneficiaries on most of his financial accounts.
"Funds in accounts with designated beneficiaries are disbursed before a will is even consulted."
Beth shared that a single account was left without a designated beneficiary, which by itself triggered the need to open probate.
Another account named their boys, Quinn and Nolan, as beneficiaries rather than Beth, creating a lot of extra hoops and paperwork for her.
It takes mere minutes to log onto your various banks' and financial accounts' websites and click through the beneficiary designation steps.
Are you sure they're completed and up to date?
Is it worth scheduling a focused hour to double-check?
Beth shares similar advice about having a term life insurance policy, with paid-up premiums and a copy of the policy in a known, accessible location.
Jake had done this, and it prevented putting the family "in a financial crisis, having to move to different housing, or worse..."
Communicate your plans
Beth writes of earlier outings and long, uncertain hours spent waiting for Jake's return... that ultimately led to their agreeing to a communication plan.
"I required Jake send me a text message before each adventure with four points.
Destination and planned route
Expected return time
Time when I should call emergency response
Who I should call for emergency response
On the morning of Jake's death, he had texted the first two:
Beth wrote that, as she began sharing details of how she and Jake's two climbing friends Peter and Ingmar, would begin searching for him when he failed to show up...
...even that minimal information was gold that night."
After finding Jake's bike at the start of the climbing trail t 9 p.m. -- 5 hours after his planned return home -- they called 911 to initiate formal search and rescue (SAR.)
They would not hear back from SAR, due to a communication breakdown between 911 dispatch and SAR sheriff's deputy, for 10 hours.
"Had Jake and I not made an emergency plan, had I just called 911 and waited, or driven to the trailhead alone, or had to stay home with small kids, I can only imagine the frustration and helplessness I would have felt that night and the regret I might feel now."
With no response that night from SAR, Beth detailed their plan of action:
"Instead, Peter, Ingmar, and I became a team.
"At midnight, we began the hike in, ready to keep Jake’s spirits, hydration, blood sugar, and body temperature up through the night with gummy bears, Coke, mini donuts, and warm sleeping bags."
Beth lays out in her writing the experience that night of searching for Jake, of waiting for the arrival of SAR on foot or by helicopter.
She shares that, in wild places with minimal or no cell reception, the best device for staying found or communicating with the outside world may be the pocket-size Garmin inReach.
The <$300 device has multiple modes of functionality and helpfulness.
It can transmit an SOS signal (equivalent to a 911 call) and your GPS coordinates with the push of a button -- if you're conscious and able.
More proactively, it can be set to track the user, log a route and specific locations, and auto-send them on a set interval via GPS versus often unavailable cell towers.
Jake had not brought an inReach on this outing.
His Apple iPhone (models 14 and later) also had the ability to connect to emergency services through the Globalstar satellite network, and could have shared his location and other info.
That would have required Jake to manually initiate it and step through the process, though.
That was not something he could have done.
A Legacy of Love, Adventure, and Responsibility
Despite searching all night, tracing Jake's known route, including a 3 a.m. arrival at the summit of the North Twin, Beth, Peter, and Ingmar were unsuccessful in locating him.
Search and Rescue ultimately joined the search for Jake at 7:30 the following morning.
He was eventually discovered by helicopter, having taken a fall that would not have left him suffering or awaiting a rescue.
Beth writes: "Not everyone is so lucky."
She concludes her writing, which I encourage you to read in full at this link, and to adopt its wisdom as well as sharing it with your loved ones, whatever level of risk and adventure they undertake:
"Love the people who await your return from adventures by taking responsibility for your actions.
Work with them to honestly evaluate and mitigate the risks to their wellbeing.
Organize your financial life, make SAR plans with your people, communicate your adventure plans, make yourself easy to find, understand how official SAR works, and give your loved ones the gift of knowing how to look for you.
Then go be alive in the world."
If you do nothing else, do this…
We all know adventurers; some of us are adventurers ourselves.
Certainly we all eventually go to that big playground in the sky, or whatever your beliefs hold.
"I have plenty of time," is the biggest myth we tell ourselves.
The truth is, none of us know.
Yet, all of us can prepare.
Take the easiest next step: Scroll back up to the links for the basic documents, click, print, and fill them out.
Sign them in front of two adults, and store them somewhere safe.
If you're feeling extra responsible, double-check your beneficiary designations.
Knock it out today, as a New Year's Resolution that you will then be DONE with!
Don't do it for yourself; do it for your loved ones, like Jake did.
Then pat yourself on the back, and "...go be alive in the world."
I'll see you again later this month.
