Climbing Delecate Arch: What do you think?

I'm not quite sure what to think of it. I guess some were outraged. Most don't care. There is a need to protect national monuments. Does climbing it do any harm? Probably a little, but does it warrant the furor?

One thing is for sure: Patagonia, Dean Potter's sponsor, needs to come clean and stop pretending to be a "green" company. The "green" thing is pure marketing with little substance.

Josh the Wasatch Sasquatch Strikes Again, on telemarktips.com

Yup, Josh is now famous.

-w

Hiking the Gulch With Praying Strangers

Last week Lis and I went down south with a group of about ten folks to do some hikes and backpacking in the Escalante National Monument. The group was a little different that I am used to. It included Lis' father and cousin, and an assemblage of others who, as I came to learn, did not know each other well. Lis' father, Lamar, is an avid backpacker. Aged 69, he can outhike those one-quarter his age. Lamar loves the desert and started backpacking in his forties. He has lead many groups of scouts down there and loves to share with others the wonders of the desert canyons. The others in the group were an odd group of folks whom it seemed were only halfway having any fun. It was odd because many in the group were not very talkative or lively. This is of course relative to myself who could be described as a regular jabermouther who has his own blog and everything. Besides the lack of loquaciousness I found the four-times-a-day prayer gathering a little alienating, but mostly it was the frowns and the stony silence that was a drag. I dont mind thanking god (in lower case) for the food in my bowl, good health, asking for world peace, for ending of human suffering, and compassion. But anyway...

We arrived in the afternoon for a quick hike up to Calf Creek Falls. To the climber's right of the falls there was some very wet and slippery 20-degree slabs. After a quick look-around and obligatory tourist photo-ops I got to work on sending the slabs. Using my chacos, cinched down tight for security, I found small dimples in the rock surface to gain footing. After brushing away moss and dirt I put my tips and finger nails on micro fisures. One slip sent you surfing down the slabs like a slip-n-slide. After many failed attempts I found a line of weakness going to an obvious ledge



I'd give the route a solid 5.7 difficulty rating. Decend the route by surfing down the slope at excessive speed, tripping over a sand bank at the bottom and diving into a somersault, and almost colliding with a tree.

We spent the next two days hiking Coyote gulch by way of crack in the wall to red well. For dinner Lis and I had cous cous with curry powder, shalots, carrots, and cashews. I think the frownypatnsers had those microwave noddle thingys. The scenery was beautiful and all that. I definitely reccomend checking out Escalante if you havent. The canyon was cool and shady, lush and green with numerous arches and interesting formations along the way...





For last day we hiked up brimstone slot, which is next to Peekaboo and Spoky. We didnt make it far up the slot before serious chimneying and wading through sesspools was required. It did not matter though because we had to turn around because team Prozac wanted to leave for home by lunchtime.



All in all it was a good and interesting trip in a naturalistic and anthropological way.

Amen.

NYT article on Doug Coombs

taken down.

west slabs?

Anyone interested in the West slabs of Olympus this weekend? Early start out of the sun. I know nothing about what I'm getting into. It's a long rock route, I think it is pretty easy (5.6?) for Saturday. Sunday is the paddle festival at Little Dell Resivoir. (actually it happens Saturday as well, but I'm only going Sunday) let's see if anyone actually reads this.
Cheers!

New Big Rock Lyrics

Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
all the climbs are ten pitches long,
the approaches all five minutes,
and you're always feelin' strong;
the protection all is solid,
and the jams are bomber hands;
there are bolted slabs
with cans of Pabst --
you can clip the rope,
and then pull the tabs
in the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
the ice is made of beer.
You can stop and take a sip,
it takes away your fear.
The campgrounds all are empty,
the ranger's gone away.
And there's a stout
old Becky route
nobody ever knew about
in the Big Rock Candy Mountains.


And for those of you who haven't heard
What'd'ya do with a Drunken Climber?

Chorus:
Way-ay up she's climbin'
Way-ay up she's climbin'
Way-ay up she's climbin'
Ear-lie in the mornin'

What do you do with a drunken climber?
What do you do with a drunken climber?
What do you do with a drunken climber?
Ear-lie in the mornin'


Put 'im on a boulder 'til he's sober
Put 'im on a boulder 'til he's sober
Put 'im on a boulder 'til he's sober
Ear-lie in the mornin'

Chorus

Make 'im belay your A-four pitch
Make 'im belay your A-four pitch
Make 'im belay your A-four pitch
Ear-lie in the mornin'

Chorus

Throw 'im on lead on a five-twelve arr
Throw 'im on lead on a five-twelve arr
Throw 'im on lead on a five-twelve arr
Ear-lie in the mornin'

Chorus

Rope 'im together with the ranger's daughter
Rope 'im together with the ranger's daughter
Rope 'im together with the ranger's daughter
Ear-lie in the mornin'

Chorus

Vote 'im Prez of the A.A.C.
Vote 'im Prez of the A.A.C.
Vote 'im Prez of the A.A.C.
Ear-lie in the mornin'

Chorus

Fix 'is friends and clean 'is nuts
Fix 'is friends and clean 'is nuts
Fix 'is friends and clean 'is nuts
Ear-lie in the mornin'

Chorus

Logging some miles

Stacey and I had a great tandem-riding day last weekend (April 29). We rode from my parents' farm in New Hampshire to Billy and Katie's house in Biddeford, Maine, where Crowder is living for the time being. We faced a fierce headwind on the 40 mile trip there, but the sun was shining and it felt great to be cruising down the road on the long bike. The scenery was mostly rolling woods and fields. We got to B&K's and hitched Crowder to a leash and led him as we rode down to the bike shop where Billy works, 5 miles down the road. Then we rode into Kennebunkport for lunch, back to the bike shop where I got to try out Billy's new tallbike, and then we reversed our course, five miles back to B&K's with Crowder on the leash again, and back home by way of Durham. I was bonking by the time we got to Durham, so we got some cheese and crackers at the grocery store. Although we had good breakfast and lunch, we neglected to pack enough carbs for the road. We had really hoped for an icecream cone, too, but the dairy bar was closed by the time we got there. A quick 3 miles back home brought the day's odometer reading to 96. We contemplated zooming around the block to get an even century, but that thought did not last long in the face of dinner suggestions.

So this weekend, I decided to keep up the momentum and get in some more road miles. Riding from Boston provides some interesting limitations, not the least of which is that there's no room in the apartment for more than 2 bikes apiece. So for a touring bike, I choose between a singlespeed mountain bike (34x19 on wide 26" knobbies) and my fixed-gear commuter (48x18 on 25mm road tires). For riding down to Providence, RI and back I naturally chose the latter. The bike is not equipped with any sort of "rack system", so I stuffed my commuter bag full of a change of clothes, my bike lock, a quart of water and some trail food. Off I rolled on Saturday at 1pm, after a hearty breakfast. I think I covered about 50 miles, maybe a little more, arriving at Mike's house in Providence around 6pm. The roads were mostly flat and smooth and wind-less, so I blame my routefinding on both ends of the trip (getting out of Boston and into Providence) with some delay. And yesterday (Sunday), Mike and his friend Josie escorted me northwards along the Blackstone river bike path, nearly to the Massachusetts border, before heading back and sending me on my way back home. I was on the road for over six hours yesterday, but I think that way was a bit longer, maybe closer to 60 miles. I was careful to stop for food (and icecream) along the way to avoid the bonk.

On another note, in case anyone is still reading this, there's a guy in Cambridge who looks just like Ben. Same hair and beard, orange messenger bag, rolled up pantcuffs, bike shoes - but we figured it must not be him after we saw that his fixed-gear was blue and he didn't stop to say Hi to us outside the grocery store.

That's all for now. I'm going to go home and take a nap.

Superiority Complex

Robert's job description I think says that he spends most of his time staring longingly at the broad and inspiring face of Mt. Superior while wishing to ski it, and also helping kids off and on the rope tow occasionally. Well, last Wednsday Robert finally got to ski it.

The team: Rob, Ben, John, and Yours Truly.


We woke up early and booted up the 3000+ face, gaining the summit right as the spring corn was softening up. Crampons and ice axes were the order of the day. The skis sat astride our backpacs.

Avalanche debris littered much of the face. Skiing down, we picked our way in between old slide paths to find the untouched sections. The spring corn skied so well it seemed mostly effortless, like on the rope tow where Rob works, but steeper and longer.


All told it was a great day if it wasnt for feeling so gosh darn tired.

Mountaineering: Walking uphill slowly in the snow while not feeling well.

-w