Date: April 26th, 2006
I’m in Atlanta, Georgia for a couple of days, nice to see all the green grass and full spring. Spent this morning doing a talk for Dr. R. and the staff at the Atlanta Medical Center, and then toured the hospital a bit with Dr. R. Very interesting to see the “inside” of a hospital, there are a lot of very talented and dedicated people working very hard. I definitely felt a bit selfish–I climb and fly, write and teach, but these men and women are genuinely making a huge positive impact with each person wheeled through the doors. I generally only see hospitals when visiting friends there, it was educational, thanks to Dr. R. and his staff for the experience–one of the things I love about speaking is that I get to meet some very different people, I sometimes feel I’m the one who should be paying for the experience. I’m hooking up with some local paragliders and climbers for some activities later today in the Atlanta area, should be fun!
Risk:
Here’s an interesting article on risk, it does a good job of explaining something I’ve felt but not clearly understood: People change their behaviour depending on perceived risk.
Another sad accident on Deltaform (near Lake Louise, Alberta)
There was a sad accident on Deltaform last week involving two climbers from the US. I had corresponded with one of them about Rockies conditions before they came up, then found out the man died a week later. Both partners succeeded on Deltaform but were caught in a bad slide on the way down. One climber somehow lived despite the slide, bad injuries and spending a couple of nights out with those injuries. I’m always sorry to hear of accidents in the Rockies, the emails asking for information were positive and showed the climber’s excitment. Risk and reward, life and death, joy and pain, these pairs of experiences are so closely linked. The deceased sounds like a good guy just hitting his stride in the mountains, I wish his friends and family some peace. Spring snow conditions in the Rockies are dynamic and highly variable, play safe out there.
Workouts
Did the plane sit program yesterday, but it’s been a good month, the rock fitness is coming back as well my lungs, spring just fires me right up every year.
Posted in: Blog
Date: April 24th, 2006
The weather here in Canmore is incredible, blue splitter days with low winds, warm temps, perfect for all recreation. Hiked up Lady MacDonald, the local Canmore paragliding site, for the first the time yesterday, it’s so good to get back into the air. Flying in these mountains is just so damn good when it’s good, today also looks good, yeah!
Here’s some humor for all you monkeys.
Workouts: Climbing lots, hiking up a big hill with a paraglider, running, even mountain biking finally. This time of year is great, all these new sports open up again, yeah!
Posted in: Blog
Date: April 22nd, 2006
A few weeks ago I was thinking about Spring, and it hit me that it’s been a year since my friend Chris Muller died. I marked the date on my calendar not with a heavy heart but with a, “Hey, remember the good stuff” feeling. Today my calendar reminded me again, and the cold, snowy spring morning seemed to fit with the mood. I love seeing fresh snow, it always seems so hopeful and full of promise to me for some reason, and that’s how I often felt around Chris.
So here’s to Chris and my other friends and family who make life better! I’m going to go for a run in the snow, the sun’s coming out, it’s a good day to remember and celebrate both the soul-shaking glory and impenetrable darkness of life.
-April 22nd, a good day to remember.
Posted in: Blog
Date: April 19th, 2006
Busted out the drive from Moab to Canmore via Salt Lake City over the last couple of days. I like long drives, scenery passing by, a 10-hour drive is far better than a 10-hour flight.
The final two days in Moab were good fun, we had trashed our hands so thoroughly that we had to spend another day up in Mill Creek, a decent old-school sport area above Moab. It’s supposed to be a secret ’cause, “if word gets out the whole world will show up!” Well, the whole world was already there plus their dogs and it was still fun. Mill Creek is a fun area but a bit aggressive on the fingertips–perfect for balancing crack pain out over the rest of the hands. I survived some brutal local sandbagging and had a great day out with a horde of people. I learned that one of the routes that beat me up was actually rated 12c/d, and that another “12a” I’d onsighted was 12c. The more I climb the more I laugh at grades, it’s all a mess in any form of climbing. I’d like to be good enough to just climb whatever lines looked best and ignore the numbers, maybe by the fall I will be, although paragliding season is likely to turn me into a doughboy again…
The highlight of the last couple of days was a great run up above Moab in wild evening desert light. It was Jeep safari week while we were down there, I ran by a bunch of jeep heads beating hell out of their vehicles–that was a surreal contrast with the general silence and colours of the desert. Later they passed me as I did a yoga session in the dirt beside the road, I think I was more alien to them than they were to me–I can get my redneck on, but a guy in tights doing yoga in the dirt sure perplexed them.
Stopped by BD to check out new designs and gear, saw some very cool stuff. Just when I think everything is evolved as it’s going to get it all changes… Kolin has been doing some research on used slings and biners, check this out. I like the fact that most of the people at BD are truly climbers–Kolin started doing this to check his own safety on used gear, good information.
Also stopped by Superfly, always good to see Chris, Jeff and the real mastermind, Beci. Greg and I started driving home in a raging snowstorm, fully ‘pine conditions, then cruised into Canmore on a warm, sunny day. It was like Canmore was south of SLC and not the other way around.
Thanks to all the Canmorons and Moab locals who made the last ten days so much fun, great trip!!!
Posted in: Blog
Date: April 15th, 2006
There’s nothing like calling home and hearing that it’s snowy there… Still sunny and warm here in Moab, although we had biblical winds last night that turned our campsite into a garbage mess and ripped up a few tents. Sand everywhere, it reminds me of a theory I read once that the Anasazi commonly died young because their teeth were too worn down from eating sand-filled food. I can see the truth in that idea after munching sand for a while, I’m starting to notice flavour differences; desert patina, Cutler vs Dakota, they all taste different… Not really, but sand is a integral part of the culinary experience here.
We had to take a break from cracks on Thursday and went into Mill Creek with the ever-psyched Lisa, who pointed a team of us at various routes. Mill Creek is a great place to climb, a lush oasis (still some snow down there despite the new leaves and sun) after the starkness of Canyonlands. Lev is close to senind “The Bleeding,” an old Noah Bigwood route that hasn’t seen a second ascent despite some good efforts, he again came close but no chains. Good to see him and Lisa as always, we had so much fun that we destroyed our fingertips, so it was back to Canyonlands on Friday, a hot day.
I talked to two of Moab’s more prolific crack climbers last rest day, and they told me their secrets to climbing hard cracks: Aspirin and tape. Yep, even the pros find the harder cracks painful, it’s not just my wussy ice climber skin and feet…
We were going to head up to the Optimator buttress but it was in the sun, so Greg, Ben and a new arrival, Nathan, and I headed to whatever buttress is across the drainage from Optimator. A couple of Aspirin, lots of tape, and a fun 5.10 corner later I was fired up to try something a little harder. Greg and Nathan had both had a go at a supposed 5.10+ just down the way, and then I had the battle of the trip on it, green Camalots on bad rock (we trundled a small car out of the start) to Red cams (OK). I got up to where it was supposed to turn Gold cams (good hands) and found another 25 feet of overhanging green cams, of which I luckily had two. I got excited and sent it with some choice words, definitely the hardest thing I’ve succeeded on this trip. Ben made me feel better by also using self-encouraging words on it. It felt like an exam or something, I was happy to get by with a pass if not an A for technique. The tape and Aspirin are essential, thanks to Dean and Steph for that info, I’ve never used Aspirin for rock climbing before, it’s key for nasty cracks.
We then had a cool hike contouring around the drainage to the Optimator buttress; it was cool because it’s very shady, lots of green grass, little seeps under huge soaring rock buttresses, I’ll remember that hike for a long time. The contrasts in the desert are what make it so special I think, green and red, blue and white, the boundaries between the colors are sharper down here.
At the Optimator buttress we found a very cool overhanging crack on the back of a big block, Annaki or some thing (I don’t have a guide down here, just climb what looks cool, so all names are phonetic guesses based off what people are saying). Annankai is the best single-pitch crack I’ve ever climbed, steep, good pulls, good gear, not painful. Ben and I both sent it first go, then did a few victory laps on it ’cause it was just so much fun to monkey around on the steep jams. I’d spend the rest of my life climbing cracks if they were all like that! You’ve gotta do that route if you’re ever in the area, it’s stellar!
Today we’re thrashed, we’ve been 2 on, one off cycle since before leaving Canmore, time for a rest day. It was a bit sad breaking down camp this morning, the Canadian Invasion is splintering apart. Steve and Paul are on the road for a while longer as are Ben and Sarah, Erica and the other Sarahs have headed out. We’re all headed to Castle Valley way in the morning for one last day of crack-whacking, then who knows, Greg and I are likely heading to Salt Lake City for some flying and bouldering/work. I need to turn some circles on my glider, I’ve been dreaming about flying a lot and the itch is turning into something immediate…
Posted in: Blog
