Gnar, Gnarly and Gnarlsberg

When reading from a back issue of American Whitewater I came across the word "gnarly" printed boldly in black and white.  On the cover.  

Fortunately I went down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon earlier this year with three whitewater kayakers who spat out words and phrases like "shredding the gnar," "are you ready for the gnarlsberg cheese," "gnarlsberg and crackers," and listened to them use "bro" as an adjective.  For example, "that surf hole/wave/ledge hole/pour over is totally bro."  

Gnarly/bro whitewater

Therefore the adaptation of strange slang vocabulary used by brotastic athletes in extreme sports is completely familiar to me, especially since I started climbing two years ago and began hearing or using odd terminology. "Burl nugget" being the strangest, don't even ask me what it means, and "psyched" being the word I probably use the most.

On another note I seriously want to get back into whitewater kayaking.  Hella.

Axis of Output: Featured!

As part of my final undergraduate project I made a series of wet-plate collodion negatives and printed them digitally on oversized photographic paper.  They look and smell like darkroom prints.

The output center where I had the images printed has a great blog and here is a brief post they made about my prints.  Thank you Service Bureau!

Other wet-plates I made:

Patagucci

A local outdoor retail shop is going out of business and all their Patagonia clothing is 40% off.  I was impressed with the remaining selection and ended up walking away with two pieces of capilene and a black nano puff - all for a very reasonable price!

My jacket obsession has prepared me for crisp fall weather.

Rogue River

Last week I had the pleasure of running the wild and scenic Rogue River in Southern Oregon with nine high school students.  I was fifteen the first time I ran the Rogue with my family, the same age as some of them, but this trip was completely different.

Scouting Rainie Falls

We ran the middle chute, far left

It occurred to me during dinner on the first night that some of the students had never been camping before, let alone on a three day river trip.  Someone completely out of their comfort zone might be worried about us running out of food.  I became aware of this as I watched people taking more than enough food to fill their bellies.  As usual on our river trips, however, we had way too much to eat.

Lunch!

Bag by headlamp

Morning of day two

Take out at Foster Bar

"Tacondo"

Every time I come off the river I feel like I am leaving part of myself behind and last week was no different.  There is always a point at which I could just keep going.  Last week several things became very clear to me and I will not forget that anytime soon.

Mountain Bounty Farm

This past Saturday I went to Mountain Bounty Farm for their Harvest Festival.  Tasted fresh figs, cucumber, tomatoes and watermelon while a group of determined children whacked a radish shaped piñata to pieces.  Sustainable farms of this nature are not uncommon along the San Juan Ridge.

Let's hear it for fresh vegetables!

Climbing Alone is Lonely

Yesterday I went climbing by myself for the first time.

Brought George to keep me company.

He is really good at spotting.

Decided I need a new camera.

Managed to send on the second try.

It was a good day.

Grand Canyon White Water

I recently looked through my pictures from the Grand Canyon trip earlier this summer and only one rapid is represented.  House Rock.  I remember that rapid very well.  It was the first major drop and all of the water rushed around a sweeping bend forming a huge hole at the bottom left.  I almost walked it.

After that they only got bigger.  Hance, Sockdolager, Horn Creek, Granite, Hermit (the waves in Hermit are twenty feet tall) and Crystal.  Most of the Gems.  Even Fossil, Dubendorf and 209.  Our raft nearly flipped in Dubendorf.   Lava.  A smooth Lava run should last 20-29 seconds.  My uncle told me he unintentionally swam Lava once.  The force of the water pushed him to into the hole that could swallow a school bus where he brushed against the bottom of the river bed and was flushed downstream without a scratch.  The same uncle always celebrates ABC - Alive Below Crystal - with a cold beer every time he makes it through the rapid upright.

Attempting to describe a rapid to someone who has never ran it is impossible.  Experience is everything.  So I chose videos of rafts flipping in an effort to show how serious and how absolutely exciting white water can be.  We didn't flip any rafts in the Grand Canyon.  We were lucky.  But that feeling that comes over you as the raft slides through the silky tongue and plunges into the roaring foam will never be translated accurately.  Not through video not through images and not through words.  The only way to understand is to live it.

Fixed Gear?

Two out of four years I lived in Chicago were spent speeding around the city on a fixed gear bicycle.  The bike was easy to maintain, cheap, orange and yes, trendy.  I too was once obsessed with fancy bike parts that I couldn't afford and didn't need.  But somehow I managed to get a job riding around residential neighborhoods delivering sandwiches on my bike.  I rode Critical Mass.  I rode in two alley cat races, one of them being the Chicago Sadie Hawkins where my partner and I placed 15 out of 60+.

One of the best nights of my life

During the summer we spent several mornings a week riding up and down the Lake Shore Bike path along Lake Michigan.  During the winter we piled on water proof gloves, jackets and face masks.

Before I left Chicago I sold the bike and had almost forgotten about fixies until I saw some on TV last night.  Someone at an advertising agency caught on to the fixed gear frenzy.  A television commercial for a BlackBerry phone shows a young courier in San Francisco riding around in plaid, sporting a ironic mustache and a brakeless bike.  I used to see people exactly like him riding around the streets of Chicago.

Remember Jared Leto from Requiem for a Dream?  His band 30 Seconds to Mars has an 8 minute music video all about the "fixed gear culture" of Los Angeles.  They call it The Ride.

Is that an Aerospoke I see?

UPDATE:  Five Ten has a category called Fixed Gear in their shoe line.

All of this is incredibly hilarious to me.  Partly because I was once involved with track bikes and partly because even when I was involved it was still hilarious.

Long Lake

This weekend I joined my family on a spur of the moment backpacking trip to Long Lake.  We spent one night under the stars, making it the shortest backpacking trip I have ever been on.

From the far left: Anderson Peak and Tinkers Knob

George's first backpacking trip

The Wild Trees

I knew nothing about the arborists and botanists who climbed giant costal redwoods before I read The Wild Trees.  At first I struggled with Richard Preston's writing style.  It was abrupt and seemed to contradict the mystical, fantastical and truly epic subject matter.  My opposition to the writing led me to criticize Preston at times when it was not necessary.

I found that the author used rock climbing to translate the equipment and techniques used in tree climbing for the reader.  Instead of bolts or traditional protection tree climbers use various knots and branches to ensure their safety.  At one point he even describes a carabiner in layman's terms.  There are many paragraphs dedicated to describing climbing terms and the mutual trust that two climbers must share.

"Marriage is a rope you tie between you.  It's like a rope that joins two climbing partners and keeps them from falling.  Marriage is about rope management.  You have to take care to avoid knots and snarls in the rope that joins you together.  You can't keep the rope too tight, but you can't let it get too loose, either.  Each of you has to give your partner enough slack for freedom of movement, so that you both can reach the top together."


Despite my initial reactions to the book I enjoyed it very much and now that I have finished I would have no problem recommending it to a friend.  The work is not perfect but it is compelling and I believe it would light a spark within someone who may not have previously cared about our temperate rain forests or the earth's biosphere.

"I'm afraid that our work trying to understand the redwood forest might just turn out to be documenting something magnificent before it winks out."    - Steve Sillet

Organic: Bouldering Mats

Many, many thanks to BLOCHEAD for the two brand new crash pads.

Hip strap included!

This merits some seriously fantastic bouldering in the future.

Something Pretty

 M O O D 

From the Front of the Classroom

When I was in middle school I had an eccentric math teacher.  His classroom walls were lined with drawings by M C Escher, Pink Floyd posters and math jokes.  Math was never my subject, and it never will be, but I will never forget that man.  Just as I will never forget the other memorable teachers I've had over the years.

More than once during my time in his classroom I heard him mention the name of his book, were he ever to write one.  It was to be called, Things I  See From the Front of the Classroom.

I have spent my years as the student, until now.  Now I am the one standing at the front of the room and I am amazed at what the students think they can get away with.  Was I that foolish when I was in high school? Definitely.  If only I could say, "I know you aren't doing your work when you make eye contact with me every twenty seconds."

Technically speaking I am not an instructor.  Rather, I facilitate and monitor.  But I see the notes, the drawing, the random internet surfing on laptops and I understand what Mr. X meant when he told us about the title of his book.  Bad listening does not equate to stupidity.  Someone who distracts themselves easily by chatting to their friends does not make them malicious.  Quiet does not always make a successful student.

The dynamics of the classroom are complicated and each group of students is completely different.  They may not realize this but I am learning many things from this experience.  From how to deal with unique personalities to discovering the balance between strict, rigid and respected.

And now for my cliché of the day:  My time at this school is limited, I have only five more weeks until I pack and up move on, hopefully north, but I intend to make every minute count.  At least it is the complete truth.

Welcome to the Library

My project for Labor Day Weekend is now complete!

The soon to be library floor will never look this good again, once the students begin tramping all over it.

Yosemite: Tenaya to the Valley

I go to Toulumne Meadows almost every summer.  This time I backpacked from Tenaya Lake to the Valley via Sunrise, the JMT and the Mist Trail.  We had bears in our camp every night.

Unicorn and Cathedral

Tuolumne River

Summit of Clouds Rest

Clark Range

Banks of the Merced

Standing on the top of Clouds Rest looking at the Clark Range for the second time confirmed the fact that I must see those peaks up close.  Perhaps that will be my next backpacking adventure in the high country.

Marmot: Never Summer

Yesterday I checked the shipping status of the sleeping bag I ordered and it read something like this:

Delivered On:  09/01/2010 11:14 A.M.
Location:  LEFT WITH WOMAN

Sure enough I came home from work to find a box filled to the brim with my new 0º bag.
Freezing to death in Hueco this winter is no longer an option.