Peter Anthony - June, 2008 - pbanlca@msn.com

I first met Monte when he was doing a presentation in Cleveland. That summer I went to Skinner Brothers. What an epic place. Monte, Ole, Courtney and Bob were all there my first year as a camper. Brad Wrentz was my counselor. My eyes water every time I think of the lessons I learned and the friends I made both with the Brothers and with other campers. I can hear Courtney saying, “There are no strangers in the mountains - just friends you have not met yet.”

The Skinners are by far some of the best people I have had the pleasure of knowing. Their camp was meager but the message was anything but that. I wish I could remember the stories they would tell when we were sitting around the fire at night on the pack trip or at base camp. I could never figure out which brother I liked the most because as different as they were, the more alike they became. The lessons I learned are definitely more valuable then the price my parents paid to send me to Pinedale and into the Skinners’ trusting hands among the most breathtaking back drop in the world - the Wind River Range.

Peter Anthony