Join us in doing the thang!

In an avalanche education class in a small room above a ski shop in Truckee. Alex signed up a week before, snagging the last spot. He was taking his buddies backcountry skiing the following weekend, and wanted to know how to read the mountains; he thinks his friends are pretty cool and didn't want to see them washed away in a wave of snow. Hannah decided to join the weekend-long course the day before it started, partly because she was throwing bombs for avalanche control most mornings and thought it was probably wise to learn more about the snowpack, but mostly because she was burnt out from ski patrolling and wanted a couple days to just sit inside. She was over shoveling. A patrol co-worker of hers was the instructor and let her be a +1. As typical, Hannah was late to class the day the course started, and slipped into one of two open chairs in the back. She was wearing a down jacket and beanie - she was thawing out after months of being in blizzard upon blizzard - and she was slumped over the desk, physically defeated from hard labor on the hill. 5 minutes into the teacher's intro, she heard someone enter. She thought, "Hmmm who is this special person who's later than me?," and slowly turned around. The special person was Alex. Hannah thought, "Ima marry this man." Alex took the unoccupied chair next to Hannah, immediately intoxicated by her beauty - black beanie and all - and, from the moment she introduced herself to the class, her accent. They giddily partnered up for some class activities, never wanting them to end. Hannah returned to ski patrol, telling her friends, "I've met this magical human, but he's too good for me." Alex told his friends the next weekend in the backcountry, "I think I've found the one, but I'm pretty sure she's out of my league..." They were in love, and they hadn't even gone on a date yet...

Hannah's not the outgoing type, and she's super independent. But she's not foolish. She was afraid Alex would return to his sea of babes (aka San Francisco), leaving her heartbroken, so she accepted, without a millisecond of hesitation, to go backcountry skiing with him. It was a Tuesday - her day off. Usually shy, Hannah felt more comfortable than she'd ever felt with Alex. They talked as though they'd known each other for decades, not days. They bonded over their shared interests (they literally share all the same interests, except Alex likes science fiction movies), that both Alex and Hannah's brother were born in Sharjah, and that both spent a chunk of their childhoods in Europe. They were the same person, in different bodies. The backcountry skiing adventure was amazing: it was sunny, and the two of them ate sandwiches on a warm rock, overlooking their lines. Hannah hadn't really fallen all season, but of course yard-saled on their first decent. She was just too distracted by Alex's hunkiness. Alex packed meaty lunch foods, and Hannah, the vegetarian, was so blissfully in love she ate them. They shared melted Reece's and skied on, never not swapping stories and laughing.

See "How We Met."

Last November, we travelled to India & Nepal to see the sights and spend time with Alex's parents, Jeannette and Matt (before they returned to the states after 3.5 years in Mumbai). India was chaotic, not just because of the cacophony of honks, but because we visited a new city every day for five straight days. We even conveniently visited the Taj on World Heritage day - the one day a year the entire world can enter for free. And enter they did. Laugh away. After three hours of playing hackysack, waiting for a flight that was eventually cancelled, and thus enduring a six-hour drive we thought was going to be the end of us, we reached Nepal. There, everything seemed so peaceful. There was no honking. We proceeded to fly into Jomsom, an uber-remote village tucked into the mountains, on a tiny prop plane, navigating the 10th and 7th tallest mountains en route. Between the ruggedness and the simplicity, Alex knew he'd found the place. After dropping our bags in a room so cold we could see our breath, our guide took us on a hike. We headed up goat paths, and ended up at a sacred lake. There, we turned to each other and said, "We HAVE to jump in," but our guide quickly shut down that idea because..."sacred." Apparently only some snake god could hang in the water. The lake was so piercingly aqua it was mind-boggling, and the snow on the tips of the mountains was blowing off into the warming sunshine. Everything looked like it'd been made digitally. Alex suggested going for a walk, to which Hannah said, "But what about the guide and your mum? We should wait for them, no?" Oblivious. Hannah was just like, "La, la, la, ooo photo time, la, la, la." Alex's goal was to reach a nearby temple, but we found ourselves fenced in. Again.. sacred lake. Realizing he couldn't take Hannah back to the group without popping the question, he turned to her, started saying amazing stuff neither can remember, and got down on one knee. Hannah blurted repeatedly "ARE YOU SERIOUS!? YES!"