The best of the cascades

For those of you who remember that hilarious moment in Sunriver several years ago; I found this recently in a Bend newspaper.
"QUIT STARING AT MY BACKFAT!"

So yea, responsibility just smacked me upside the head this week. I am engaged, deep in the throes of planning a wedding(no bridezilla yet!), got a real job that pays really well, stopped smoking herb, don't have internet or TV at home, and have a new pet ferret. My only fear about these changes is how it will affect my climbing schedule...Holy Hell!
Speaking of the wedding, the official date is June 21st 2008(summer solstice). It will be outside of Redmond (sounds like a weird place for a wedding, I know, but it is a nice place, Really!) Besides, if it is in Redmond, you can come to the wedding and then climb at Smith the next day! You should be stoked we are so considerate of our guests! For those who don't climb, we are going to have a bunch of other fun stuff to do for the day before and after. I feel like such a dork, wanting to tell everyone about wedding stuff, but then I have to remind myself that that is just chick stuff and no one really cared how easy it was to get the location or how great the event is going to be. That is all chick stuff anyway right? Ok, I will try to keep a lid on it, unless you ask. Don't tell anyone I am geeking out about a wedding, k?
My summer out here is drawing to a close and I figured that since I have seen some of the most incredible terrain that Oregon has to offer I should share it with the rest of you. Hikes to add to the "To Do List":

Spring:
Metolius River East and West; Two trails travel from where the river emerges out of the ground from under Black Butte through INCREDIBLE wildflowers from may to July.
Park Meadow; a long day emerges into a large perfect meadow with views of all the Sisters and Broken Top.
3 Finger Jack/PCT; See the B&B Fire rejuvenate itself and get excellent views in every direction as you climb the ridge to the base of 3FJ.

Summer:
Lava Camp Lake to Scott Pass; Hike a steep trail through massive old growth western hemlock and emerge amidst two alpine lakes nestled in the craters of several geologically recent lava flows. Overlooks EVERYTHING! (Mary's Peak to the Ochocos, Mt Jefferson to Mt. Thielsen)
Tam Macarthur Rim; Start at a large alpine lake and gradually hike up a rim trail that puts you atop a thousand feet wall directly above where you started. Continue on to the base of Broken Top's jagged peaks to add another 2 miles.
Green Lakes to Soda Creek Trail; If you can survive the crowds on Green Lakes trail, continue on 1/3 of the way around the base of Broken Top through alpine meadows and drop back down to the parking lot on Soda Creek Trail. This trail is unique for its flower diversity and longevity because numerous springs emerge along the trail allowing wildflowers which arent usually found in the area to grow in giant colorful fields. One of my absolute favorites!

Mountain Biking:
Deschutes River Trail: Offers easy riding in a gorgeous setting.
Mt. Bachelor to Lava Lake: Winding trails allow a lot of fast riding.
Mrazic Trail: The "best" according to the locals. 3,000ft + elev. loss
Bachelor To Bend: Some of the most varied riding I have ever done. 3,000ft elev. loss

Oh, and if you are cooped up in a big city, or weather has got you down, or are drunk want to get a workout, try "Table Traversing!" This was introduced to me by Logan and some friends of his. What you do is lay on top of the table and traverse over under and back over the long ways of the table without touching the ground. It is Intense! I highly recommend trying it at home.

It rained on Mt Rainier

Well, snowed really at the higher elevations. Several of us tried to summit Sat night but got turned back by gnarly winds and several inches of snow. Greg and Kalin were the only ones sane enough to stay in their tents while we went out in the storm. We woke up at 11pm to start the climb from camp Muir, left at midnight and were back in bed by 4:30 am. My body has no clue what happened. Maybe it was all just a bad dream. Well, we did eat pretty well. We had 6 boxes of Annies andI think there was nearly 7 lbs of 4 different types of cheese for the 7 of us to mix into the various meals. Yum!

The hike up was pleasant.
The whiteout hit us just before camp muir.At camp gearing up the afternoon before the summit attempt.we consoled ourselves by climbing in crevasses on Sunday.I don't know if we could have timed the wildflowers any better.CMFs! (charismatic mega fauna)

Col survived

yea, she is ok, as we all knew she would be. It is just relieving to hear it for sure. I will let her tell everyone about it when she gets home, TOMORROW! Woo hoo!
*Ian does a little dance around the computer*

major Peruvian earthquake

Peru just experienced a 7.5 quake today(huge). It was centered off the coast of Lima and seems to have shaken that city pretty badly. I wanted to let folks reading this know that after doing some figuring, Colleen is probably out of harms way for now. She was six(?) hundred miles southeast near lake titicaca and I am hoping that that is far enough away from the epicenter. Keep your fingers crossed that we will hear from her soon.

Holy Hell! I got a ferret. Is that really the pet that you imagined me getting as a first pet? No. But the little guy needed a home because his original owner decided ferrets weren't her thing. My roommate had Sid (I added "Vicious" for a last name) for a while but I saw what was going on there and that ferret was going to end up dead or lost by the end of the month if Vanessa kept him. So I took over the little bugger. I really like him. Yes, he likes to get in trouble ("Trouble" is his nickname). The first night I let him stay in my room out of the cage, he tipped over a full glass of water onto my head at about one in the morning. It was all I could do not to strangle him. And living up to the ferret reputation he likes to hide things. His favorite items seem to be my crocs, a baggie of change, the kitten's hemp mouse, and best of all, my dayplanner. I love the little guy though.

I am finally getting a little burnt out on hiking. I was wondering how long I would make it this summer. I still haven't started the new job. This hiring process is getting a little too drawn out. I have verbal confirmation that I am the guy, but havent signed anything yet. I met my new boss last night for dinner when he was passing through Bend and that was nice to connect up with him again at least. I am going to be busy this winter though; I have a 400 question test that I have to take to get my herbicide consultants license and the study materials came in a big box. I thought I left school so I could make fun of Colleen for having to do work at home. Now I am getting it. Although, I guess I am going to be working from home part of the time. *big smile*
(wow, I managed to start almost every sentence of that last paragraph with "I")

On Friday Logan, Dev, myself and some others are heading to WA to attempt Emmons Glacier route on Mt. Rainier. I'll let you know how that goes. Thats all for now. I have more pictures but cant post them from the work computer. They'll get up eventually, I just had to post something so you wouldn't think I was dead.

china hat burns

So, um if you were planning on going caving any time in the next week or so out on China Hat Rd.; don't. someone just lit a fire out there today and it is growing in a hurry. I went up to Lava Butte this evening and watched it burn over Bessie butt and continue southward got some sweet pictures of the planes dropping retardant on it too.
If anyone is ever in the Bend area and wanting to go backpacking or hiking or just find some really sweet places to check out for an afternoon, give me a call. I think what I haven't made in social contacts out here, I have made up for in mother nature contact. I have gotten so much "local" knowledge of the mountains around here after such a short time it is incredible. And I am getting paid to hike! I rule.

The biggest step

I suspect that many of you have already heard, but to make it official, I shall tell you all about my engagement to Colleen. :)
First off, I had to pick up the ring that morning and the only way I could think of escaping from Colleen for a few moments was to say I got a call from work to go in and fill out a time sheet. Once I had the ring I had to make sure that this was a total surprise, (by the 20 or so "Oh My GAWD!"s that Colleen let out, I think I accomplished that objective) but without a backpack for the hike we were going on I had nowhere to really hide the ring. The logical spot? -Colleen's backpack! She unknowingly carried it with her the whole hike up ;) We hiked up to a small alpine lake near South Sister in the Oregon Cascades and enjoyed a nice swim in the roasting heat first off. We managed to borrow my roommates dog for the afternoon so that was also a good source of entertainment. After the swim we were having a really mushy conversation and she gave me the perfect segue so I decided to go for it, did the whole kneely thing and proposed!
Man, I thought there would be a several day/week grace period before wedding talk started up, but damn! She was right at it within 5 minutes! Look out for next spring as a possible date... Whoa, I am engaged. Weird, I dont feel different... yet I somehow know that I am, well We are.
I also suggest reading Colleens Blog to get the real details because she will give much more in depthe info I am sure.

The pictures (finally)

South Sister (and my current desktop image)

The Fam.

Darrell surfing on the Deschutes.

Deschutes River antics.
yes, thats 5 people in a 2 man IK
I hiked the right side ridge for a solo evening jaunt (no one else wanted to go with me) and had a wonderfully introspective time. The view was incredible from the top too.

A rap into a cave near Arnold Ice Cave.

Fireworks on Pilot Butte (note the fires on the side)

Giardia! Learn about it.

Visits

My mom and little bro came out to visit this weekend and we had quite the interesting time. We went to the public houses of the local breweries (which I am ashamed to say, I still haden't done to that point) and got entertained by a huge street fair in downtown for saturday evening. Oh, yea, and the afternoon before I watched the Cascade Cycle Classic downtown leg and watched the front runners all pile up right at my feet during the last few laps. Broken bikes and blood everywhere! Ok, tangent over, back to the family. So then I convinced my mom and Fritz to go up South Sister with me (see, I told you I couldn't take rest days) on Sunday. Got everything all ready the night before, parked, handed out water bottles, food, and started up. At 8500 feet, they both realized that, oops, they forgot their water bottles! I had 2 liters and they had one liter that I had put in their pack the night before. I handed the bottles to my mom at the car and she promptly put them back into the car. Genius! Luckily for them, I brought iodine tablets so we were able to finish the climb, but I bitched at them to no end for being so dense.
Work update; In about 4+ miles myself and one other guy cut out 140+ lodgepole from the trail. Now this might not be that incredible, seeing as we did about the same thing in 6 miles of trail with a chainsaw several weeks ago. But the 140 we did this week was all cut with a 3 ft. crosscut and 16 in. hand saw. I have several days in the running for "hardest day of work ever," but I think this one might take the cake. Our boss expected that to take 3 days. We did 3 days work in one 11 hour day. I have started taking 6-10 200mg Ibuprofen per day on the trail though. I am filling out an inury report form tomorrow regarding my foot. Something in the big toe tendon feels like it is bathed in IcyHot. Not so good.
Random other news; last week I forgot to mention that on the PCT I met a throughhiker who knew Greta! He said they hiked early on in California. Sometimes those "shot in the dark" questions do work out. I think when Greta comes through here, I will have to meet up with her and hike a bit of the trail.
Some of you may know who Michael Reardon was. He died in Ireland yesterday while soloing some sea cliffs. Unfortunately though, he did not die soloing, rather he got taken by a rogue wave while at the base of a climb he had just finished. RIP Reardon.

must recoup

I think this weekend needs to be spent relaxing. My body is starting to give out. Yesterday was the hardest day I have had to endure in a really long time. we hiked 7 miles in 95 degree temps in open lodgepole forest clearing trail of downed logs. I stopped counting cut logs after 150 and we had 140+ to go by the time we had to stop and hike out. My feet hurt most, but everything hurts really. There is no easy way to carry a chainsaw for 7 miles, trust me, I tried every orientation I could.
Everyone at work thinks I am crazy for continuing to recreate after work (there is still 4.5 hrs of daylight left to play in after work!). I haven't really taken a weekend to slow down yet and it is starting to catch up with me. My days off have been filled with hiking, climbing and boating and I just cant take it anymore. This weekend I am devoting myself to drinking and movies. Yea, screw Ariel and Rachel's detox thing, I am swilling grog until I cant stand on a slackline anymore. (See that! I cant just let myself sit on a couch and drink! I have to be doing something!) It is hard work being an Ian.

The best place to get a haircut

I got a haircut today that was unlike any other. No there was no balloon animal man, but there was beer. I have been in need of a haircut for the last 2 weeks or so. I found 3 different places in downtown, but they all had hours that conflicted with my work and or recreation schedule. I finally made it in today and apparently I picked the correct one of three. I walk in and first notice that they obviously only give guys haircuts. There is "guy" stuff on all the walls and not a single shampoo bottle in sight. Then I get told to write my name on the whiteboard and pick a beer from the list! Yea! Lemme tell ya, I didnt mind waiting a half hour one bit with a Cascade Lakes 20" Brown in one hand and a Calvin and Hobbes in the other. I noticed shortly that the 3 barbers pretty much know everyone who came in and people were happy to sit and wait 45 minutes before getting a cut. The conversation was different to, instead of lounge music with awkward conversation here and there, there was heckling. The barbers and customers were talking shit to each other! When my name was called, the two main topics of conversation were Smith Rock and fishing. They had a poster of Karate Crack on the wall even! I found the single best shop in Bend. They even vacumed my head and neck (after a single bladed razor shave) to make sure the hair bits wouldn't fall down my shirt. WOW. Bend: I am impressed.

I got the Job!

I am so pleased with myself right now. I got off the phone with my future boss and he informed me that I am officially in with UAP. GPS, ArcMap, more hiking, and computer work is in the cards. Greg Cox (heh, my boss is named Cox) also said I will be kinda like a salesman for the herbicides the company sells as well but that will come later after I have worked there for a while. He said he is still pushing paper around so it might be a few weeks before I start but I AM IN!

I guess what I will be doing initially is being a field guy for the upcoming projects UAP is undertaking and then (assuming they havent fired me) I am transitioned into learning the bigger business. Basically the company is a 5-10 person operation that in years past has just sold herbicides and filled spraying contracts. They are now trying to corner a new market of Federal contracts in wildland rehabilitation(post fire rehab specifically). This entails spraying for invasives and then replanting with natives. Things in the near future: New work truck (20% of total mileage can be personal use), a new laptop, lots of frequent flier miles, full benefits, 401 k (company matches 60+%), $37,000+ salary, and I can work from home when not on the road. So pretty much this is when I let out a loud "FUCK YEA!" The only real bummer is that I am gone a lot. most of the travel is during the summer months but averaged out over the year he said he is away from home about 3 days a week. I havent told anyone here about it yet (I am sure FS is going to be pist) but I guess I can tell the roommates here now about it. I am so excited!

For the 4thmy roommates and I had some folks over and got really shitty wasted. They are all quite beligerent drunks. We then went onto the roof to watch the annual "Burning of the Butte". This is a tradition where the fireworks display is of of pilot butte and inevitably it catches fire somewhere nearby. Apparently this year I was witness to one of the larger fires in recent history. within 2 minutes of the show starting, 3 fires were burning. one at the base torched off some junipers really fast and creeped into someones backyard before it was under control. Then a small one torched off and spread throughout the show to the majority of the hillside we could see. it would die down and then flare up really spectacularly and seemed to flare almost intentionally with the grand finale. High quality entertainment. I love the 4th not only for fireworks but also for the photos. I got some really wonderful long exposures but cant post them on this computer.

Facebook

I havent had interweb at home and thus havent been able to check email very frequently these last few weeks. This has given me a lot of free time to spend doing other things like living. Facebook occupied a lot of time on the interweb in the past but the times I have been able to check email (usually at work) I havent been able to check facebook at all because it is blocked at work. I am at the library now and checked Facebook and low and behold, there was a new group on there devoted entirely to me! Is creating a facebook group the new way to really express profound love to someone? Maybe I'll create a Colleen Pallari facebook group to show her how much I love her. Well, I guess I wont because she isnt even on there, but if she was, I would. wait, no I wouldn't because that would just be weird. Unfortunately, her potential facebook following could never be as big as mine.

Man, I am getting lonely out here. I just got a quick email from her today, first contact since she left. Boohoo, poor me. But you know me, I'll make it. I'll go climbing, that will make me feel better. Yea.

Holy Crap

Wow. Today is the second time I have checked my email in 2.5 weeks. There is a lot in there. I am going to ignore all but the most important things and get to more importanter things, like blogging. My roommies aren't actually crazy, and the house now has 5 people living in it instead of 3. Much better environment. As far as the house goes, we still have no internet, but progress was made on the 3 months worth of garbage stored in the garage(apparently ordering a pickup service is too complicated). That was kind of an ultimatium they got when I saw it.
I got a Cinch device, so I have been rope soloing at a short climbing area down by the river that has really sketchy toprope anchors (the bolts are wiggly, but equalizing 4 of them is ok right?) I also found some five star basalt cracks up tumalo canyon while working on a trail last friday. there are toprope anchors on them and some other spots along the river so I have to go try them out tomorrow afternoon.
Also managed to go rafting on the deschutes this weekend with 20 or so from various parts of the area. We managed to be the "drunk boat" and appareantly pissed off the churchies in their boat (not sure how) so I never really met them. Everyone was too drunk/tired/antisocial in the evening to do anything so I went for a hike/climb up the canyon wall that was a lot farther than I thought, but it was really nice to get away from it all and stumble around in the dark for a few hours. Quite a nice view from the canyon rim. Ok, I am going caving with some friends I met.
Oh, and I think I got a job offer. It starts in 2 weeks so I might not be employed by the FS by the next blog. The guy said to call himn next week with a number I want for an annual salary, and I get a new truck. Sounds fun!
Peace

My first 14-er!

Greg and I both quit our jobs last week so we planned to go to Leavenworth this week but realized the weather might not be very ideal. So we ran south for three days and had a very leisurely time on Shasta. It was his second time and my first on the mountain but neither of us had done The Avalanche Gully route before.

After a short hike up in the snow we arrived at the Sierra Club Horse Camp which has a large shelter built in 1922(?). The club owns 740 acres inside the wilderness area and makes the land available to hikers and climbers. We hung out with the camp host and her friend for the evening and watched the weather rage on from the comfort of the lodge and a bottle of Southern Comfort. The only incedent at night was having to convince Greg that he was having a nightmare and the tent was not collapsing. The next morning we hiked along Olbermans Causway (singularly the oddest thing I have ever seen in the backcountry) which is a 1/3 to 1/2 mile long stone pathway that was erected by an old cabin caretaker back in the day for climbers heading up the mountain. We camped at 10,400 that evening at Helen Lake (no lake) and planned for the next morning. Next time I climb Shasta, it wil be in two days instead of three because Greg and I had to kill a lot of time in the tent and we were really bored the whole time. After playing Hold 'Em with rocks, reading every label we could find, taking pictures of everyting we could think of, and considering trying to order a pizza to 10,400 ft, we finally passed out. We woke up at 2am, chased a mouse out of our brekke, and started up the hill by 3am. We moved fast and climbed a small chute to gain the Red Bank before rock and ice fall started. The sun came up shortly after, but not before we both lost feeling in out toes and fingers for a short time (shouldnt have stopped moving). After chasing two disappointing false summits we finally found the real one and got to hang out on top in 5 mph or less wind and sunny skies. On the way down we passed 4 other parties several hours behind us. Couldnt really glissade because all the new snow had filled in the track. While we were heading back down, Greg had two comments I found to be quite funny. One was "I didn't feel like I was going to die once on this trip!" and "Wow, I didn't even swear off mountaineering once this trip!" That really sums up the mountain for us. I highly recommend this route to anyone who wants a mellow mountaineering experience. Great beginner route.

There are more pics at www.orst.edu/~rothi if you are interested.

below Red bank

Greg climbing a chute through Red Bank

Above Red Bank

OMC; alive and kicking at 14,162 ft

The Sierra Club cabin

A Brave New World

Now begins another one of lifes little transitions. Moving one's life to a whole new area is quite a change and one that I am a little apprehensive about. At least I am moving to a place that I am generally familiar with, but it is still going to be a little lonely not having my usual group of funholes around to keep me entertained (and my god, what are folks in Corvallis going to do for entertainment without me around?!?). I don't even get to bring Colleen along on this new adventure. At least she can come visit, but that really isnt as good as just having her around all the time! The last time I did this was 6 years ago and you all can see how that ended up! (drugs, alcohol, sex, and climbing are really all that has come of my last big life transition)
I guess a little change every now and then is good for the soul, so I might as well jump right in and enjoy myself. Hell, at least everyone speaks english where I am going and there is no such thing as fan death in Bend!

Ian update v2.0.0.7

Ok, I am moving to Bend next week. How sweet is that! Go me! An address is still up in the air but hopefully I can straighten that out in the next day or two. I looked at 2 houses and one was in one of the new "sterile" neighborhoods, while the other is in the old mill district near Galveston and 13th with cool roommates and 5 minutes from downtown. The only problem with that is a current roommate's sibling has priority over me. Grrr. I will be working trail crew for Deschutes NF but the really important thing about this move is that it is getting me 30 minutes from Smiffy! Hooray for Tuff Love!

Sasquatch not eat you OK?

We went to The Gorge this weekend for some music at the Sasquatch Festival, and of course, climbing. In our campsite at the Feathers we had friends from Alaska, New York, California, Washington and Oregon all converge for 3 days. Friday we just lounged around, climbed, smoked A LOT and drank ourselves silly. I have never seen such a diverse group of people(or so many) camping in one place. There were the climbers, the hippies, the rednecks, the hitchhikers, the yuppies and their puppies too.

Highlites include:
--Creating modern art with toilet paper in the 25 mph wind gusts and having a crazy hippie come hang out with us and ask for some TP but then try and take our whole roll (enviro-hippie maybe?). Either way, the chick just was weird and silently hung out with us for 5 minutes to make sure that we werent wasting any more precious earth resources (come on lady, TP is easily biodegradeable!).

--Making a very potent batch of special brownies for the trip, and then miscounting and giving them all away before Colleen and I got them. (I am a freakin genious!) The disappointment was horrible when I found a baggie with only crumbs left. Apparently they worked though. Kevin reported being "all fucked up" and not being able to walk, Mike, Sasha, Aleta, Farah, and Aleta's BF(?) didnt have anything to report because the brownies put them to sleep within 1.5 hrs (and they wouldn't have been able to remember anything even if they could have kept conscious).

--Climbing an 11.a(/10.c IMO) that I have looked at for a few years. Though only 4 bolts long, it was intimidating because the rock it was on was HORRIBLY loose and the bolts were in the middle of this choss. I really can't get it across in words how loose this route was. I pulled off at least 5 fist sized holds on the route and after inspecting the new bolts on rappell, decided that the bolts definitely should not be fallen onto. Lovely

--Chillin with me homies from Cali. It is always good to see old friends. I was really stoked to be able to show them around my neck of the woods for a few days.

Colleen in her first chimney
The show
Sending

One mountain just isn't enough!

I was feeling particularly motivated last week and decided to try out this whole, punishing physical activity that Will G and Colleen seem to love so much. So, my torture of choice was climbing mountains. I fenagled some folks to climb Hood saturday morning and we were slow(Mikel's asthma was really bad at higher elevation) but made it to the top by way of West Crater route. I gotta say, I dont know why anyone bothers with the Pearly Gates because WC is a WAY better route in my opinion. We descended and on the way down watched a party of 5 still on the way up (hogsback at 1:00pm). Those are the folks you may have heard about on the news. They made a very bad decision to continue because when we passed them it was starting to snow (a very clearly forcasted weather system was moving in over night). They all got off OK but they were still stupid.
Then Colleen Dev and Rhiannon met us in Portland and we continued on to St Helens to Ski In A Dress For Mothers Day! We woke up at 4 am to rain so we went back to sleep till 6 or so and it was finally slacking off so we started up after a very leisurely brekke. About 400 people turned out for the event. It was like a huge anthill with no more than 50 feet between any one group. We all made it to the top, and then got the enjoy a very pleasent bluebird ride down. Wonderful trip. I am stoked I pulled off both mountains. 11,000 ft. in a weekend. I can do better.

St. Helens pix up later(or you might be able to look at Cols blog for pix)

I got a new job!

Woot! I will be spending the next 5 months or so in Bend, OR working on trails in the Deschutes National Forest. Unfrtunately I will have to take a 15 cent pay cut from my job now, but hey, I am still coming out on top because now it doesn't cost 60$ to get to Smith! I will be working 4 ten hour days per week all over the forest. I am on a 5 person crew which is responsible for maintaining 2000+ miles of trail in the woods (I have my work cut out for me). Some of the projects my new boss was telling me about are coordinating volunteer groups, building 2 new XC ski shelters, some backcountry work, and possibly fire training/work. Should be sweet!

Additionally, if you know anyone looking for a roomate in Bend, please tell me. I can't camp at the grasslands all summer. :)
The forest:

StreamRipper

stream ripper is a handy(and simple) liddle tool that allows you to turn straming audio into mp3 files. Shwing! So lets get started. Visit http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6172 and download the latest version under "file releases." It works in conjunction with Winamp so get that too if you dont have it(best media player ever anyway). Basically once you install it, the streamripper(SR) will hang out with winamp and when you are listening to streaming audio, just click the "rip" button and it will go to work turning otherwise unrepeatable musica into mp3s in a folder you specify. Thanks to my buddy Kevin for showing me this. :)

Revamping

My blog sidebar was having some issues so I got a whole new template, and in the process noticed that blogger spiffed up their interface a little. It is a hell of a lot easier to add/change blog elements. Check out the new stuff in the Template editor. I lost my links, so if you have a blog that I forgot, I can always add it.

Camas blooms:

More about Red Rocks

Ahhhh, life has finally slowed down for a little bit. I just got back from Red Rocks (you'd think I would be bored with that place by now!) with Darrell, Greg D. and Rob. The plan was for a day of sport climbing and then long routes the next 4 days with the last evening in a hotel on the strip. I had a great trip and felt really good about my climbing. The first day I redpointed an .11c sport route at Dog Wall that I had been projecting for 2 years now. Apparently that meant that I was ready for some heavier stuff, so I followed Darrell on a mixed 4 pitch .11c on one day and then we hiked in to the base of Levitation 29 for an early start. Levitation is a 9 pitch 5.11c and the supposed "best" route at RedRocks. I had looked at it in books and pretty much dismissed ever climbing it but Darrell convinced me to go and WOW! what a climb! I led a .10 and a .8 pitch and Darrell led the rest up to pitch 5. The rock quality is just incredible on the whole route, it protects very well, and the climbing is incredibly diverse along the way. The coolest feature in my opinion is the big roof on the second pitch that has some huge jugs in it. Way gnarly! Unfortunately, it was also snowing for a good portion of the day (in April!?!) so we bailed after the crux pitch. I will have to go back and finish that at some point. It is just too good.

While we were camping up the canyon, we saw the most interesting wildlife. I spotted eyes in the shadows watching us so we lit it up and there was a little Ring Tailed Cat. It looked exactly like a ring tailed lemur which was kinda creepy but it was way cuter. There were also several herds of Bighorns up the canyon. Oh, and Perigrines too. There was a nest near the route and I got to see a few of them up close. And Greg caught a scorpion trying to enter our tent. I guess that is the one plus of winter there; no arachnids.

Ever notice that it snows on trips alot if you are an OMC member? It really is kind of a guarantee that you will see some snowy weather on OMC trips. So Rob thought up a new slogan for mountain club. "Oregon Mountain Club: Get Snowed On!" I think on a sticker it would work nicely.

I officially lose my job on June 5. Man, job hunting sucks. Among others, I got 2 apps in to a place in Corvallis in March and called the other day to see what the deal was and they said the hiring comittee made its decision early July. Sooo, now I am looking again. Maybe I will just hang out with Greg and go climbing for all of June. If you havent heard, Greg quits Target June 1. Way to go Greg!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but here are some from the trip and a few from the past weeks.

I fucking hate Rob!

Rob Hernandez can suck my ballz!!!!!!!!!!! That fucker has bailed on so many trips it is amazing. And this is the final straw! Greg, Darrell, Me and Rob planned 3 months ago to meet in Red Rocks. Rob was going to drive the westfalia down from Utah and we were going to camp in that. Easy right? Not when the car blows a head gasket. LAST MONTH! he had a whole fucking month to fix it. I talked to him and he assured me it would be good to go by the trip. Money wasn't an issue. But now, a month later, it is not working and I just got a call from Greg saying he is a no go. I think the solution is not to count on Rob. Ever. ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Stat counter

I put a stat counter on the blog recently, and I am surprised by the number page loads this blog sees. Try it if you have a blog. It takes about 5 minutes. Search "statcounter" in google.

Here's another old pic I found buried in the computer. Congrats Paco and Rach on finding a job!

Chaco Day

I am so excited to be wearing Chacos again! Tis the season! This is the first day I have worn them this year and it really is a symbol of spring for me. I considered breaking them out during a heat wave last month but March was just too early. And besides, I need to make these guys last. They are going on their sixth season after all! I have been limiting their use over the last few years to river trips and perfect days so the bottoms and webbing wouldn't wear out any faster than absolutely necessary. Both are paper thin at this point. Cheers to Chacos!

Californigonian

I am so an Oregonian now. No reason for the declaration really. I just feel like one much more so than a Californian. Bunch of fuckin hippies in california anyway. End of statement.

Oh, but some people in Cali are cool. But just barely.


Oops, almost forgot the tick count.

Ticks found: 20
Ticks embedded: 0

The great and mythical, Friday!

Its friday. Well, my friday. I ran out of stuff to do at work, so my boss wished me a Happy Friday. I was stoked and took off as any person would. He wished me Happy Friday pretty much the same way you would talk about any other yearly holiday/birthday. It is like it is some incredible holiday, but no, it is just like any other day of the week. I bet prisoners in jail talk about their release dates like we talk about Friday every week.
I find we start thinking and talking about Friday pretty much starting Monday morning. If someone who didnt know what a "Friday" was, they would hear us talking about Friday and probably assume it was a great god or at least Santa Clause.
Friday can also be a goal. Friday can be the day you have to have something done, or want to Making it to Friday is another reason to really keep at that job for just one more week. Keep telling yourself that you can make it till Friday.
God, after working for 40 years I cant imagine how incredible Fridays must seem.

It is the day that keeps on giving! (once a week to be exact)

Note: I wrote this a while ago but forgot to post it, so here ya go.

God I hate Blogger.

I had this really nice post all written up about my trip to CA and forgot that this computer and blogger photo post dont play well together. So blogger decided to delete the post when I moved a picture around. So here is your abbreviated version:

California was fun. I did all the usual things you would expect one to do while visiting family and friends. Don't go to Hooters(wasnt my choice), everything about it sucks (the dumbass waitresses too). Pets are good for taking pictures of.













At work we started a huge burn pile with 30 gallons of gelled gasoline(napalm), 8 gallons of diesel and leaf blowers. Then it went out because everything was too wet. We had hotdogs and marshmallows.

Ticks found: 18
Ticks embedded: 0

The latest threat to my insanity

Ticks! They are disgusting little creatures that like to pull a vampire move on any part of your body they can burrow into. And spring is the season for ticks. I have counted 6 ticks on me at work in the last week or so and 3 today (none have burrowed yet). I can honestly say that I enjoy watching them die an agonizing death when I torture and then kill them. I find no other animal more repulsive than a tick. I even recently heard (true or not, it is gross) that a guy had a tick burrow into the inside of his colon and stay there until he got some sort of paralysis. Took the doctors a long time to diagnose that one I am sure. Be careful out there America; ticks are comin' for ya!
I also had an excellent weekend in portland at Graham and Greta's wedding. Loved seeing all the old friends and really loved seeing Graham in the gutter in downtown portland thursday with a homeless lady at his side. I really felt like a true friend standing around laughing at his comatose efforts not to puke. Apparently he doesnt remember a thing from the latter part of the night (and I wont spoil his new marriage with the details). Cheers Graham!

Snowboarding

Sometimes I find I get bored with going to the mountain. Just zooming down the hill penis* sometimes can get a little monotonous when you already know the hill like the back of your hand. Groomers can only be done so many times. Just when I was starting to question whether it is really worth it to pay the money to get hoisted to the top of a mountain repeatedly, a day like I experienced last weekend comes along. Lots of powder was laid down by the mountain gods on Mount Bachelor all week and then I got to ride in it all day Saturday (unfortunately Bryan tore his MCL and he was our ride home so we left that night). It really made me realize how much fun it is to snowboard again. A price cannot be put on first tracks. I see now that I really just need to time my snow trips better so I get the most out of my money. God I love powder days!

*Colleen inserted this while I was away from the computer. Gawd, I wonder what is on her mind.