No matter where you are at in your climbing career this conversation will resonate with you. Doug Shepherd has been a long-time friend, mentor, and climbing partner. He was always my first call for taking on big objectives in the mountains. I learned a ton from Doug about climbing when I needed his mentorship the most. Doug was always the most comfortable committed on a big face in the mountains. Doug made a name for himself scratching around Rocky Mountain National Park in the early 2000s while going to school and doing his Postdoc.  After losing several close friends to the mountains, Doug decided to take a pause to evaluate his relationship with climbing. After nearly 3 years of not climbing he made a trip to visit me to throw his tools and sink his toes into the ice. We talk about how it feels to be back climbing and what he learned from taking a step back from his climbing career.