With much joy, I have eventually summitted Mount Shasta, completing my quest to summit the five highest peaks (Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta, Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount Baker) of the Cascade Volcanoes! Adding to the excitement, this marked my second successful one-day push to the summit of a 14er. My previous endeavor, also in the golden state of California, led me to the awe-inspiring heights of Mount Whitney.

TL;DR by ChatGPT: We hiked up Ruby Mountain with mixed snow conditions, encountering icy sections and limited snow cover. Despite the challenging terrain, the view was spectacular. We look forward to returning for better snow and exploring more backcountry options in the North Cascades.

I have been reading the lonely planet series for more than a decade. The first lonely planet book I read was Europe, before the exchange vacation program. During those days, smartphones were just in the cradle, far from being called ‘smart’. And my computer was soaked with Germany’s winter snow. The sole information source I could rely on was the Lonely Planet Europe book. With maps, hostel addresses, and tourist attractions, this book guided me through the entire ten days.

Recently, I have been playing the game Elden Ring for almost 200 hours. I enjoy playing games with open-world settings like this quite much. The first game of this genre that I played was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was exactly 10 years ago. (I landed in the United States 10 years ago and immediately I bought my first MacBook Pro and installed that game.) One major reason these games are so intriguing is the ‘freedom’ of roaming around the entire world without being tightly restricted to a single linear questline. Multiple events happen simultaneously in all places and the gamer can hop between different storylines and experience the intertwined plots at the same time.

很久没有读这么长的小说了，上一次也许还是阅读三体的时候。这次依然是一部科幻小说，但与其说是科幻小说，不如说是打着科幻的幌子的一部战争背景下的”小人物“画像的历史小说。小说虽然有两本（diptych），且分开出版，但只是分为上下册，实为一部完整小说。小说很长，近1200页，叙事很多条线相互交织在一起，又有众多的登场人物，在各个不同的时间节点推进着各自的剧情，阅读体验着实有些疲惫。作为一个时常登山的耐力选手，我觉得读完这两部大部头小说，也的确算是今年一个不小的成就。转念一想，如果把阅读上下部比作爬山的上下山过程，倒也不无道理————会有疲惫需要停下来歇息的时候，也会有因期待后续而加快脚步的时候；会有经过无数重复景色时的单调，也会有发现绝美风光时的欣喜激动。