K-Bone and The End of a Journal

I am finishing a journal today, one that has recorded some of my deepest thoughts at times, and at others, just a place to vent. I think I'm going to take this blog down soon as well, and replace it with a new site. Many of the stories that originally were published here are going to end up in my next book, The Great American Dirtbags, slated for release later this year.

The last thing I'm writing about in the journal is the passing of my friend Kevin Volkening aka "K-Bone". He died in a climbing accident in Clark's Fork, Wyoming on August 30th. I found out about his passing while mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed, and was shocked. I'd just hung out with him weeks before at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, and met his wife, Marge.

Death is a difficult thing to write about, and I'm making sure I write down some of my brief memories of Kevin; he was a kind man, a light, the kind of person you would point to as the example of a great climber.

Here's the words I got on paper: A Legend Passes On

Additionally, here are a few articles I've found online that I'd like to share and a couple photos I took of him while hanging last month at Outdoor Retailer, featuring his great spirit wolf shirts, that he would wear every Friday.

In Loving Memory of Kevin Volkening on Black Diamond's website

Lewiston Tribute Obituary

Article from Rock and Ice

Kevin's blog, A Vertical Life, In A Horizontal World

(L-R) Shaun, Kevin and Marge.

K-Bone's "spirit shirt" 

peace,
Luke