Whitney Fan, I couldn't agree with you more. I miss Laura's posts tremendously - particularly her eloquent and highly visual TRs.
And you're also right that many of the newcomers to the boards see Laura's name mentioned from time to time, or her screen name of MooseTracks, and wonder who this woman is and why she's not currently present on either board.
The best intro to Laura for those who don't know her is her past posts. There is a ton of good reading to be had with Laura's 2009 and 2010 TRs here. Click "User List" above and then "M". Moosetracks is the first name you'll see. Click on her name, then "Show User's Posts". In particular, take a look at her last post (8/10) and you'll get a sense of who Laura is.
In a nutshell, Laura first became intrigued with mountaineering in 2006 and moved to Bishop to pursue that interest, which quickly became a passion. That was just over 4 years ago. Last year she became the first woman to ever complete all 10 ultra-grueling, consecutive days of the annual Sierra Challenge. I believe the stat was that no woman had ever completed more than 5 of the 10 days of the Challenge before Laura entered the competition last year. In her first attempt at it she aced all 10 days, and scored pretty doggone high in the overall standings.
She's out in the mountains every weekend - and I mean every weekend - year-round. Snow and ice are magnets for her. It takes some seriously bad weather or an injury to keep her out of the Sierra during her free time. Postholing up 3000 feet of deep snow at the end of a 10,000 foot winter day-climb doesn't faze her at all. She wears orange. Often. And when she summits a particularly challenging or fun peak, she loves to break out the (bright orange) "DO EPIC SH*T!" tee and don the floppy moose ears. Both are signature Laura effects.
She's one-of-a-kind.
Why don't we see her on the boards any longer? That's complex and only she can really answer that with any accuracy. Bottom line, my take is that she prefers the "Freedom of the Hills" - being out in the mountains rather than on the boards (or anywhere else for that matter). Laura is one of those rare people who has found their true calling in life, and is making the absolute most of it.
