Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Cozy Winter


It’s funny—whenever I stop travelling, and settle down somewhere for a bit, I also stop writing blog posts. I guess that’s because, in a superficial way, life feels a lot less interesting when you’re bedded down in one location. Whether I’m living in Utah or Montana, I’m less inclined to take photos, and also less inclined to share anything on the blog.

But I realize that’s a strange and inaccurate way to look at it. Because in the last 3-4 years—even though I’ve been to a bunch of places, and climbed on a lot of random rocks—the lifestyle I’ve been living is pretty monotonous—even if it was pretty sweet for a while!

Climb, rest & work, repeat. Always chase dry weather, and never spend too much money. Work in a café all day, milking the purchase of a single drip coffee. Add in a bit of “getting rained out,” “camping and cooking in really cold weather,” and “sleeping uncomfortably,” and the picture gets a little less idyllic.

So here I sit in Bozeman, having not touched a real rock in nearly two months (gasp!). And, though it would be a total lie to say I don’t pangs of nostalgia looking at friends’ climbing photos, it would also be a gross untruth to say that I’m bored or even well-rested.

Since coming to Montana in November, David and I have had a great time opening our lives up to the Wonderful World of Non-climbing Adventures! We’ve been getting outside to sled, run and x-c ski. I’ve been working a lot, and doing it in a comfortable spot right by the wood stove. And this winter, we’re actually really psyched every time it snows.

We’ve been building problems at the climbing gym, and even getting to know some of the folks there. We’re eating better than ever, with easy access to a grocery store and a fridge. We've been spending lots of time with family! And we’ve recently both committed to the mandatory half-year contract at the local MMA gym, where we’ve been mostly taking Brazilian jiu jitsu. Sweet!

From a climbing perspective, both David and I are really excited about the chance to have an entire season to focus primarily on training. Yes, yes, we train during climbing season—but the honest truth is that, even if we train regularly during climbing season, the training always takes somewhat of a back seat. Naturally, I’m having somewhat of a hard time avoiding a mental dip not knowing what I’m training for… but I also think it’s totally natural to fall into a slump during this cold, dark and cozy time of year.

So, in a nutshell, that’s why I haven’t been posting anything. But whatever! I’m sure I’ll get outside and climb a rock at some point in the future. And I'll take a picture of it, and post it here for you to see. Meanwhile, it’s wood stoves and indoor climbing for me!



Monday, July 23, 2012

Work Trip to Utah: 15 hikes, 80 walking miles, 17,000 vertical feet and 2,000+ driving miles

I'm still writing a book on hiking in Utah and, though we took a big research trip to southern Utah in March, I still had something like 70% of the book's hikes left to do. So a few week ago, we took another trip to Utah to knock out another several hikes. We had a lot of other things to take care of on the trip, and it was brutally hot (triple-digit highs), so I ended up only getting 14 hikes finished. Still, I covered a lot of miles (~2000 in the car and ~80 on foot) and took a lot of photos.


1 .  Waterfall Canyon, Ogden: 2.4 miles/ 1200' gain/ 94 degrees F




2. Indian Trail, Ogden: 2.7 miles/ 800' gain/ 94 degrees F





3. Skull Crack Canyon, Causey Reservoir, Ogden Canyon: 4.7 miles/ 700' gain/ 96 degrees F




4. Ogden Overlook, Snowbasin Resort: 5.3 miles/ 1200' gain/ 96 degrees F




5. White Rock Bay, Antelope Island: 7.3 miles/ 700' gain/  105 degrees F!!!




6. Frary Peak, (the tallest point on) Antelope Island: 6.6 miles/ 2200' gain/ 105 degrees F!!!




7. Wheeler Creek, Ogden Canyon: 3.9 miles/ 720' gain/ 102 degrees F




8. Mt. Aire, Millcreek Canyon, Salt Lake City Area: 3.3 miles/ 2200' gain/ 102 degrees F




9. Dog Lake from Upper Big Water, Millcreek Canyon, Salt Lake City Area: 5.2 miles/ 1300' gain/ 102 degrees F




10. Notch Loop, Uinta Mountains: 5.7 miles/ 1040' gain/ much cooler




11. Lake Country Loop, Uinta Mountains: 7.5 miles/ 1000' gain/ much cooler




12. Amethyst Basin and Lake, Uinta Mountains: 10.9 miles/ 2600' gain/ much cooler




13. Notch Mountain Trail from Bald Mountain Pass to Trial Lake Trail Head, Uinta Mountains: 9.8 miles/ 1000' gain/ much cooler




14. Bald Mountain, Uinta Mountains: 2.8 miles/ 1205' gain/ extreme! wind and blowing rain on the descent





slira