Date: June 25th, 2009
So much fun! Thanks to Becky, Shane and Jeff for a super fun run and taking these pics.
Yesterday was a quick evening session on the Kanbezi. Finally nailed a mystery move in the dreaded Widowmaker that had me gasping for breath by the time I came up. A mystery move is where you get the current of the river to suck you down under the surface for some period of time. Strangely, a successful mystery move means staying completely underwater for a really long time… It
seems so logical when you’re doing it, but explaining does seem kinda weird.
And it’s still raining in Canmore…
WG
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 23rd, 2009
Water is the best invention ever. We really, really need it. Pure, fresh, water. But it’s not a given. I always start thinking about water quality when I kayak. I’m in the water, drinking it whether I want to or not. We ran the Skookumchuck over in BC on the weekend, and it’s a great river–seemingly crystal clean, beautiful granite boulders, fast, super fun run with a good crew. Not so “rad” but an all-time great river. The take-out is right beside some huge plywood factory or something. I have nothing against plywood really, I use it regularly for what passes as renovations around here, but seeing such a huge industrial facility so close to a river made me wonder. Maybe the plant does nothing to the river. Maybe it does. I think I need plywood. I’ve probably bought plywood from that plant. We are all hypocrites from an environmental perspective, but it’s these little juxtapositions that make me think. Like pumping gas in the middle of winter to drive 1000K to go ice climbing on a climb that hasn’t frozen recently, maybe due to global warming… Hmmmm…. Pump those dinosaurs man!
I like clean water. No real point to this post, just running a pristine river and then seeing industry made me think a bit. Not too much, I’m a pro athlete and all, but a little bit… Might look into some water quality issues.
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 18th, 2009
Yeah, I know I said wheels are the best invention ever a couple of weeks ago, and they are great, but kayaks are the real dream machines. I had one of my all-time super-fun kayak runs early this week with a few friends, Cataract Creek, in the southern Rockies. I haven’t been creek boating much in the last ten years, but it sure was fun!
The day started off with a seal launch into a 20-foot plus waterfall. Now, if this were to occur in the middle of the day it would be cool, but it’s a bit much right off the bat. I was fired up though and went for it, made it clean but landed a bit hard after boofing like I was in an old-school boat that doesn’t boof so well…
The rest of the run was big smiles. We all ran the final rapid, “Leviathan,” and had good lines. It was a bit of a mental push for me, but I felt good about it and ran it clean with a nice deep low brace at the end to keep the hair dry.
Cataract Creek is a great run both for the whitwater and beause there are no roads near it–it’s a full wilderness experience, just bopping down a beautiful river valley with some friends. The big drops all have good lines, which I love.
All the sports I do involve “lines.” Lines connect together to take you places whether it’s on skis, rock, ice, in the air, or on a river. I think river lines are the most interesting to me because you can only see the surface of the river; it’s all really a mystery, but there’s enough going on visually to give you clues. Paragliding lines are also cool because they are almost totally invisible; you have to rely on very subtle clues and then feel the line with your senses as you’re on it. Come to think of it, kayaking a big drop is a little like flying a rowdy line in the sky–you have to feel rather than see, and react smoothly rather than jerkily. Ski lines are more visible, strips of white between rock walls, or meaningless in a way, as in skiing a big bowl full of deep powder. Ice lines are a big reason I still ice climb, they just go through such insane terrain…
It’s really all about the line in any of these sports I think.
Here’s to “lines!”
WG
PS—and after a couple of weeks of kayaking, mountain biking and flying my elbow already feels better–I think it’s mainly the kayaking, lots of motion without super-high gripping or curling forces. I’ve cured almost every serious elbow or finger injury I’ve ever had with kayaking, it sure works great!
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 15th, 2009
I’m now on the Kayaking rehab program. This is what I do when I get injured–go kayaking. It’s the first sport I truly discovered on my own, and in some way will always be my “first” sport. Check this article out, I think it does a good job of explaining why I like kayaking.
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 12th, 2009
It’s finally warm again here in Canmore. Yesterday was a perfect day, one of those days with blue skies, little fluffy clouds, yeah! I ended up shooting video on a local peak yesterday morning for a reality TV show. A few of the west-coast rigging crew organized a really cool swing sort of stunt, and I was climbing camerman. This meant hanging on the side of a cliff until my legs went numb while wrestling a Z1 into submission (those who shoot in the vertical world with that camera will know what “wrestling” means all too well). Lots of fun though, I really like shooting and have done more and more of it over the last five years. I’m now to the point where I can actually keep the camera focused, exposed and on settings for most of the time while hanging in some silly place. A sort of 5.10 cameraman. I really enjoy shooting, it’s mentally challenging to do well, there are always problems, it’s just a big puzzle to solve especially in tough environments.
The shoot location was up high on a local peak (can’t talk too much about the shoot as they have had problems with paparazzi, no kidding), and happily no one seemed to notice or care too much that my paraglider was in the tail of the machine on the way up. The shoot wrapped at 3:30 or so, and the sky was perfect to fly into. The only problem was finding a decent place to launch–lots of big rocks, big scree, not ideal. But right on top of a the ridge I found this perfect little patch of walnut-sized scree, and was in the air within five minutes. Pulled the glider up, YANK!!!, no need to turn to gain a couple of thousand feet in under a minute, flew all the way home and landed in my local school yard an hour later. Flying sure is fun, that was my first real flight of the year. I flew my older Rebel, which is a rock-solid DHV 2 machine, a lot easier to fly than my normal comp gliders. I had no vario, GPS or even watch on to tell me how high I got, but plenty high–swirlies of cloud forming around me, peaks WAY down there high. The snowy peaks were stretched out all around, with the lush green valleys below. I love flying in the spring!
The only problem I’ve got right now is my right elbow. Yep, blew it out somehow again… I want bionic parts, I really do! I’m so determined to fix this problem that I’ve done something really radical–quit nicotine. Those who know me well will be laughing, but I’ve got a serious habit. It started with Skoal years ago, then I quit that and chewed a oil tanker’s worth of Nicorette over the years interspersed with Norwegian Snuss. But mainly nic gum–let’s just say that I’m hip too all the Nicorette deals out there. Of course occasionally I’d run out of the nic fit gum and get back on huge quantities of Norwegian Snuss or the lip-buster. Anyhow, nicotine delays wound healing and doesn’t seem to help inflammation either, so if I’m going to beat this elbow hassle it’s no more nicotine. It’s been almost three weeks now. The elbow isn’t getting better, but I am staying off the dang nicotine gum. It was either that or take up smoking to get off the gum, only half-joking. Whoever thought up the idea of selling nicotine-loaded gum to get off nicotine was brilliant.
Have a great weekend, another nice one here, out the door…
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 8th, 2009
Sometime in the last few weeks Johnny Copp died in an avalanche in China, likely along with Micah Dash and Wade Johnson. Johnny had spent some time in the basement Hilton at our house, and I’d known him for a bunch of years. I’d only met Micah a few times and didn’t know Wade, but I’m sorry to hear that all three are permanently out of the great game of life. They added to it in a hugely positive way.
Every spring I involuntarily think of the springs of 2005 and 2006; during those two springs seven friends died in clusters only a few months apart. None of them died of old age. The older I get the less sure I am of the glib responses and justifications I’ve always used for living a risky life. I still believe that for me it’s the only path I can ride, but the odds become more and more obvious as I age. I recently wrote about the odds of dying while climbing in
Explore magazine (can’t find a direct link to that story on-line, will look later). My conclusion was that climbing and most mountain sports are a lot riskier than we like to think they are. Sport climbing on good rock is probably the only form of climbing one can expect to do for a lifetime and actually die from something other than climbing in the end. And even in the controlled “sport” environment almost every long-term sport climber I know has hit the ground at least once, always in a “fluke” accident. As I read the on-line forums about accidents and death I keep hearing the words “Fluke” and “Tragedy.” Both these words are nonsense when applied to accidents in mountain sports.
For me I’m never going to use the word “tragedy” in reference to a climbing or mountain sports accident again. A tragedy is when a whole family gets killed by a drunk driver. A tragedy is when a little kid gets abused. A tragedy is when a 30-year old mother of two young kids gets cancer and dies. Dying while climbing, kayaking, paragliding, BASE jumping or any other form of outdoor recreation isn’t a fucking tragedy, it’s a clearly predictable result of doing the activity. If I or anyone goes out while doing our sports with a clear understanding of the game we’re playing then let’s have a drink, cheer for the life lived, and move on as best we can. I know it’s not that simple as death leaves huge craters in life, but I think that’s the only sane response I can give to the continued and voluntary mountain carnage I keep seeing year in and year out. To celebrate the rewards without clearly understanding the risks is not only bad math but blatant self-deception.
So here’s to all my friends who went out with their boots on. And to my two friends currently in the hospital, you’re goddamn lucky, and I’m glad you were.
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 4th, 2009
Booty, and not the junk in the trunk kind.
I spent a lot of my early climbing years on a continual quest for “booty” of all kinds (both the climbing and not climbing kind, but focusing on the climbing here). Most of my early racks were made up of carabiners, nuts, cams and other stuff that I’d found or worked for up to a day to extract. I learned from two master booty retrievers (Fitz and Dave)–Fitz in particular had mad skills including special little socket wrenches and shims for popping stuck cams out. To this day I get a thrill out of extracting some perma-fixed piece off a crack, even though I likely already have ten of the exact same sized piece in various stages of rusting decay. It’s just the idea of getting something for free…
When I first started climbing back in the early eightys I was taught the booty game. It was supposed to be fun and honorable. the rules went something like this.
#1 Any gear that you lose due to incompetence, getting spanked, fear, lack of skill , retrete, etc. becomes booty the moment that you give up attempts to recover said gear. The exception would be if you let it be known that were returning the next day at first light to resume recovery attempt. Once you give up on recovery attempts it is in fact BOOTY;)
#2 Gear left in the parking lot is lost and found, NOT booty.
3# Any gear left in the process of a rescue is NOT booty and shall be returned to the rightfull owners or next of kin.
#4 Finders of booty may offer to return booty to the spanked party but you will lose face if you accept the offer.
#5 it is extremly poor form to ask for lost booty to be returned to you. If the finders offer and you refuse the offer and they offer again then you may acept the return of the booty but you will still lose face and owe them a debt of honor. This debt may be eased but not completly erased by a gift of beer. (You and they will know that you are their bitch) It is best to suck it up and just say, hey, thanks for offering but you guys earned it.
The booty game is supposed to be fun and a way for strong poor climbers to build their rack at the expense of rich weak climbers. As soon as someone gets hurt it is not fun anymore so everyone should pitch in, help out and try to get everyones gear back at the end of the day.
The best form is to solo up to snag the booty gear or lead up but rapping in is acceptable provideing that all recovery attemts by the loseing party have been exausted.
I am sure that its different by region but that is how we felt about booty in the north east.
Supertopo is full of self-righteous posing by has-beens, wanna-bees, desk jockeys and poseurs (I include myself in all of that), but occasionally a good gem such as the above sneaks through the usual commentary on republicans, guns, abortion, religion or the ever-popular 1,000-post bolting discussion. Worth checking out. Thanks to whomever tradmanclimbs is for that post, yes. I still keep a map in my head of where to retrieve some kind booty…
Posted in: Blog
Date: June 1st, 2009
In the last 72 hours I’ve had a lot of fun with wheels. More fun with wheels than I ever thought possible…
First off, I was just out in Vancouver to do a show for the Arc’teryx sales meeting. The show went well enough considering it was four p.m. on an absolutely stellar day and I was the only thing standing between the reps and freedom! Great to catch up with some old friends too. Anyhow, immediately after the show a plan developed to go do a classic North Shore mountain bike ride. One of those take the car to the top and rip it down rides Vancouver is famous for (I think it was called CBC or something for those who know the area). Arc. had located some hefty but not insanely huge mountain bikes for the outing, and soon we were off. Or not–it turned into a cluster for a couple of hours until the more HDD types eventually lost it and we went blasting off into the woods.
I’ve been a recreational mountain biker for a lot of my life, and sorta thought I knew how to ride. I can bunny hop curbs, and have the scars to prove that I’ve spent time on the trails. But I’ve never ridden a full-suspension bike with six inches of travel or more front and rear, big tires, full-face helmet, etc. And I’ve never even seen a trail like the one in the Vancouver woods, much less ridden anything so totally insanely fun. It was like a legion of gnomes had spent entire lifetimes in the woods building with rocks, trees, and magic. It was a sort of giant Gerbil maze (remember those things?) for humans, all put together with the same painstaking care that I’ve seen in centuries-old German cobblestone roads. The quantity of work is just truly incredible. Put a big, full-suspension bike on that kind of terrain and it’s just mind-blowing what you can ride down. I was giggling within 50 feet, laughing within 100 and screaming like a mental patient in the throes of a full-fledged hysterical fit within five minutes. And it only got better.
A lot of the fun is in the trail’s construction–there aren’t all that many surprise obstacles to take you out, unlike on more natural trails. The trail is built to be ridden–you have to fall to fail. But the trail is also hard; skinny logs a meter or more above the ground that you have to link up to other logs, all kinds of little ladder systems in the air, just so much fun! It took every thing I knew about riding to keep moving, and I had to unlearn a lot too–the downhill bikes are really laid back, so you can ride much steeper stuff without going over the bars. I kept hitting the brakes and looking down some drop that I probably couldn’t walk up, and then just rolling off… It was full-on, a lot of “I’m gonna die!!!” moments every few seconds, stellar. And that was before we came to the jumps.
I used to really like jumping my BMX bike, but mountain bikes weren’t tough enough to really huck on so I gave up on that program 25 years ago. Sure, little hops, but not straight off six-foot drops–that would break the bike and me for sure–I’ve broken enough rims to know that… Then I saw our fearless leader huck it, and it was game on. I haven’t had so much fun in years. I’ve never ridden off anything higher than a couple of feet; six feet looked like a pitch of climbing to me, then you huck it and it’s just so nice. I just found a brand new drug…
The only problem is now I need a new bike! And I’m maybe going to have to move to Vancouver. A sunny day there is truly fantastic, a work of art. If the weather were just a little better in winter I’d move there, but I can’t handle the swamp aspect of things in winter. But the biking sure is good, maybe…
Also hit the Grouse Grind with some free time, and a quick bouldering session too. I’m pretty sure you could ride down most of the Grind is all I’ve got to say–my mind sure has been expanded.
Hit the Red Bull X-Fighters on Saturday night in Calgary. This is freestyle motocross competition, meaning Red Bull built a bunch of insane jumps in the bottom of a big stadium and invited the best freestyle motorcycle guys in the world to come session. Whoever does the raddest stuff in a minute and a half or so wins. I’ve seen a lot of rad stuff over the years–BASE hucking, kayaking, surfing, climbing, but nothing comes close to what these nut cases can do on a motorcycle. There’s a ton of video out there of the X Fighters, check it out. I’m really glad I didn’t find out about this sport when I was younger, I would have been right into it. Yeah, moto X isn’t the cleanest sport environmentally, but damn is it cool to see someone hanging by their knees from their handlebars 50 feet above the ground while a stadium full of people goes off. A friend said moto X is the most accessible action sport going to the general public, and I agree. Climbing 5.10 or 5.14 all kinda looks the same to the public, but a backflip 50 feet in the air without hanging onto the handlebars? Yeah, that’s harder than a straight jump…
So here’s to wheels: Best invention ever!
Posted in: Blog
