Weekend at Pony Hill

We went to stay at my friend Conor's cabin for the weekend, somewhere near Cle Elum. The plan was to go bouldering, but it snowed too much. So we drank and played and saunaed. 

Boone for Thanksgiving

I only had a few days in town, but I wanted to climb as much as I could; because nowhere in the world is as good as Boone, when it's good...

Day 1: Matt D took me out to 221, this is one of the coolest looking rocks around. The wide angle shorten's it a bit, it's probably 15-18' tall depending on where you're standing.

I've always looked at this prow and wondered if anyone's climbed it. It looks like it goes, but it would be scary. And if a car comes at the wrong time you're either coming down or holding on for dear life.

The next day Erich took Patrick and me out to an area near Grandfather. 

Patrick almost got this cool V6, I didn't know he was that strong!

We did a couple cool lines, but the main goal was Erich's project which neither of us sent. 

My third and last day we took a trip to Grandmother and got on some stuff I'd never really been on. I finished two lines that were hard for me, that I'd never really been on before. 

Tilley on one of them.

And Erich looking strong but finishing weak on his project. Next time. 

Christmas in Bend

Instead of making home to the East coast for Christmas, Veronica and I met up with Patrick in Bend to ski, climb and drink. None of which are as good in Boone or Seattle right now. 

Too much snow for me to handle.

Someone on her way to a 15 minute snowplow session down the green. 

 My face is so numb this is me smiling. 

"Yeah, I totally know how to lead belay."

45 degrees in the sun, pretty cold the second the sun went behind a cloud or then set.

Hopefully we can make it home after it snows 8 inches tomorrow though...

Pics from me, Patrick, or Veronica. 

10.30.12 Pro photo!

While in Squamish last, I happened to be working a V7 right beside some boss working a V14 with a full camera crew. Michele Francia was cool enough to volunteer to take a picture of me on "chicken lips and assholes."

10.30.12 How did the Hipster burn his mouth?

A few more pictures from my friend Will's intelligent phone. 

Top rope heros. 

Moonshine Dihedral, so hot right now.

Nothing like splitter 5.9 trad to get me pumped and scared. 

Koala rock.

Last route, last day, last butt shot.

He couldn't wait for his coffee to be cool. 

10.25.1986

For my birthday we cut off work for Friday and took a trip to Smith.

Not a bad view from camp. Included with camping are hot showers and flush toilets!

While checking out the view, a couple bald eagles landed on this pine in front of us.

That look of fear in her eye? About to learn to clean the anchors. Way out on Koala rock, this was a cool area to go and not see anyone.

Cold mornings mean slow starts mean late hikes out. 

5 Gallon Buckets. For real.

photo credits to Veronica

10.22.12

Last roundup of pictures from Squamish. Alon's site, sick as it was, isn't really there any more.

Free camping at its finest.

Not the prettiest part of town, but how cool is it that the smoke bluffs are a few hundred yards from here?

Bear devouring apples right by the trail.

Conor on Mosquito.

Smith this weekend!

10.21.12

Laughing Crack "so good you'll be laughing all the way to the top."

Squamish Texture.

From the top of Laughing Crack-it never gets old.

10.19.12

First route.

First splitter.

Group dinner in the shelter during the rain.

City Lvn

Part of the package with a cool old building, with a trendy restaurant downstairs.

DEAD

City Living Thoughts

Urban Food and Biking

I recently watched this video documenting the success of the bicycle network in Vancouver.

Inspiration for the rest of North America

I moved to Seattle, frequently recognized as one of the more progressive cities in the United States, expecting this sort of forward thinking attitude and action. Seattle is no Dallas, but recently it has been cited frequently as falling behind in alternative transportation in comparison to many other North American cities. Vancouver is probably the only city in North America that is wetter and maybe colder than Seattle, yet they have achieved miles kilometers of separated bicycle lanes resulting in a safer and frequently used  network. Watch a view seconds of the video and think about how much every city would benefit from this sort of infrastructure.

-image from thestar.com 

On the plus side, one of the coolest things I've heard of in a while, and it sounds like it will actually happen.

Beacon Hill Food Forest

-image from http://beaconfoodforest.weebly.com/

Seattle Food Forest

The idea is simple and awesome. A food forest providing free to everyone produce, on 7 acres of Beacon Hill, is being planned and will hopefully arrive within the next few years. 

"People worried, ‘What if someone comes and takes all the blueberries?’ That could very well happen, but maybe someone needed those blueberries. We look at it this way—if we have none at the end of blueberry season, then it means we’re successful.' ”

Squa7mish

Maybe if i stay here for a few years, I will start to become numb to what a paradise Squamish is, when it's dry.  Veronica and I spent two days in the Smoke Bluffs (Maybe I figure out how to get a design office in that neighborhood!), we climbed Banana Peel on the Apron, and spent some time bouldering in the forest. It was Labor day so there was a pretty big crew to hang out with from the gym. 

The view from the top of Laughing Crack.

The main goal for the weekend was to cruise any and every crack with good protection from 5.6-5.9, and that's what we did.

Looking down Laughing Crack. From my book, "so good you'll be laughing the whole way up."

We walked back to the Chief campground at the end of the day, and saw this guy hanging out up in an apple tree. 

Snagged this on the way back, mostly for Erich. The Snalke follows the big dihedral in the center, Banana peel would be on the far right, coming up to those trees visible on the top right.

 

Veronica right before starting her first multi-pitch, after the two guys doing the Ultimate Everything told me they would rather climb 11c slab than do Banana Peel again, and how scary it was. 

Veronica after we topped it out. I've heard other people complain about how intimidating the route was, but I can only recommend as a gentle introduction to multi-pitch at Squamish.  

 Number 35. Dierdre 

Some bokeh for your day. Veronica with the next leader catching up. Busy popular route.

These pictures don't do this problem justice. Definitely recommend it-Timeless.

Besides not having confidence in my anchor building ability, I felt pretty good leading runout slab, especially at that grade. We met up with the bro's afterwards, and decided to get in a quick bouldering session. The variety of what's available within 10 minutes of base camp at the Chief is awesome. We got on Titanic, Timeless, and Hoop Wrangler. I thought Hoop Wrangler woudl be a good finish since we only had one pad left at that time. I sent it, but topping out, realizing I couldn't hop off, and continuing up the mossy slab in the dark was scary enough to not be fun. There was just enough light to see how far I didn't want to fall, but not enough to see what was a foot and what was a block of moss. I feel good about it now, but this was the first time in a while I've felt like what I was doing was a bad idea. Woudld I do it again, probably. But if I had a headlamp it would be more fun, and Bryan said he could have taken a sick picture.

Pre-send, before it gets dark.

The topout looks like it would be possible to hop off, but once up there it's not really possible. So you have to continue up the arete out of site, with a bad looking fall to the right of where the crash pad is now.

From the anchors, out to town. Maybe I could call myself Canadian for a while? I don't think it could get any better than living underneath some granite cragging like this. 5 minute walk to town, 5 minute walk to this route. If they ever open good public transportation to Vancouver from here, I'm in.