Book excerpt: Aperture Alike began when the author first walked into a rock-climbing gym, and soon after, a community, more than a decade ago. A community held up by friends, mentors, and unlikely prophets of the steep, which quickly presented a fantastic, intoxicating path; a lifestyle without equal. While the sensational, rugged, and itinerant chapters - from high peaks to depraved inner landscapes – of the outdoor life came together, one facet soon became clear. The inner journeys of those friends, mentors, and homely prophets far exceeded any outward feat of will. Aperture Alike attempts to shine light into the deeper realities, the inner character swings and the unplanned arcs of those who have both devoted themselves to an outside craft, and to defining themselves apart from it. Aperture Alike is a collection of short stories about community, about people pursuing their own immutably holy center point, in the midst of a life defined by trials and tribulation.