Getting ready to take off for our flight over the braided rivers

Trying to keep it cool on our rim-to-rim-to-rim run in the Grand Canyon - AZ

Approaching the summit of Mt. Shasta in full bandit attire after forgetting the sunscreen - CA

Mount Kilimanjaro with Ter - Tanzania, Africa

El Cap days - Yosemite, CA

Road trippin'

Auntie Michelle with her one-year-old nephew, Alex

Basecamp for Lobuche East - Nepal, 2010

Spring skiing in the Colorado Front Range

Chilaxin in Pokhara, Nepal - 2010

Florida fun

Oh how she loved the Red River Gorge

A fresh finish of the 2007 Pikes Peak Marathon (2nd in the 40-44 age group)

Climbing The Nose on El Cap - Yosemite, CA

How did I meet Michelle? I met her at the Pikes Peak Marathon in 2002: I congratulated her on her placement (10th overall woman) while she good-naturedly deflected on her success, grumbling good-naturedly about the weak competition that year and momentarily forgetting that it included me, pleased to have finished at 18th. I had recognized Michelle as being a really strong climber at the gym but hadn’t realized until then that she also loved mountain running. It was in winter that year or another soon after, when on a snowy run with Michelle up Green Mountain that we (coincidentally? purposefully?) ran into Dan along the way--I met him for the first time then. They know the story better than me, but I thought at the time that I hoped these 2 appealingly off-beat people that seemed destined for each other would be my friends for many years to come. We all seemed to share a deep need to be outside in the mountains and the elements and to put ourselves in these places where we could feel fully alive. To this day she inspires me to get out and run even when I’m weary. Though I may be trudging away on a dirt road doing a maintenance run or nursing an injury, I can still in my mind’s eye imagine us flying along on the trails around Chautauqua like when I last was in the US, or just being on those trails we loved running in Rocky Mtn National Park—from the east to the west side of the Park across Flattop, the North Long’s Peak trail, the lakes circuit around Mt Wuh. I’m far from home now, and fires and floods have intervened to change the landscape and more people crowd the trails. But it’s the feeling of the years slipping away and the pure joy of us running like gazelles, that I like most to remember about when I last saw Michelle.

So many good memories of Michelle!  Getting to know her at Kelty, climbing in RMNP, attempting stuff in the Sangre de Cristo’s, Shelf Road and having her support for my one and only Pikes Peak Ascent and supporting her on the Marathon the next day - yes she was like top 3 for her group, what else?  So many nights at BRC!  She was a kind, warm, welcoming, supportive friend and I will miss her.  My deep condolences to Dan, her family and all her friends.

In the homestretch ready to descend Buckskin Pass and complete her solo trail run that circumnavigated the Maroon Bells via the Four Pass Loop - Aspen, CO

Crafty Kranz using her wind breaker jacket as a pair of pants for an unplanned glacade down the Timpanogos Glacier, UT

Topping out on The Flying Buttress with Dirk and Nancy - Mt. Meeker, RMNP, CO

Cruisin' Kranz - City of Rocks, ID

Romping in the Palisades - Sierra Nevada, CA

We are so sorry, Michelle was an amazing person. We always enjoyed when she came to SF to visit and will miss her greatly.