Sunday, July 18, 2010

Ghostly Daydreams

I had the luck/good fortune/joy of joining some friends on a climbing adventure in the Ghost River Wilderness area on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies. We had an excellent time...

The Owen's, Very good company. Dinner was an amazing pasta with bacon, sausage, spinach and other goodies. A nice organic Malbec accompaniment was also enjoyed by people wearing patagonia.
Erin on the super-ultra-mega-classic, "Consolation" on the Wully Wall, Ghost River.
Ms. Urton making the moves on the arete look easy.
After Consolation, Rob and I teamed up for a 2 hour car to car ascent of the classic Cyclops. We literally ran up the trail in spots, racked up in 5 min and did this amazing almost pure crack climb. Both pitches delivered and we were pretty stoked to get this in that night! On the way down to the car while trying to slam a beer and again running I must have slipped a dozen times. The ladies had an amazing dinner and campfire waiting for us when we came back.

The next day we slept in, lounged around and did a couple of sport pitches in the area before driving home.


A very good time.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Home and Away Team


Well it is great to be home. I have had the chance to revel in the vastness of it all over the last few days time. Doing some climbing, going on a great solo road ride, being with friends and partaking in thunderstorm espresso sessions. A couple of things have come up that may or not be of interest to you, dear reader:

Claw-Hand
I had the great pleasure of having a Back of the lake day with Drew on the weekend. It was a high motivation day where our goal was to climb 10 routes in the hallowed halls of quartz climbing. All was going well, the standard "re-onsighting" of known routes and classics, getting pile driven on moderately thin clip ups and generally having a reeeealy good time. The moment came to do one of my favourite pitches of all time, "Duck of Death". I tied in and casted off. By the 3rd bolt my thumbs started to conjure mutiny on the high seas as they locked into my palms and refused to budge, save for my efforts of forcing them open by pushing them against the stone or leg. Yikes! after a stormy battle with the claw on route, I clipped the chains and lowered. After a small rest we warmed down on an easier route where I once again enjoyed the subtile nature of the claw. Drew found this all very entertaining and as he was also pretty much done from a great day, we ventured forth to Lagaan's and the awaiting espresso and baked good combo. After a bit of net research it appears that dehydration is the key factor. I hadn't had a lot to drink that morning and the day before I had an hour long hill session on the road bike. I will be more cautious of this mysterious condition from now on! 8 routes completed.
The National
Recently bought another National Album, the Virginia EP. It is blowing my mind with the thoughtful and captivating lyrics over the usual melodies and sweet guitar licks from this talented band. It has been my soundtrack over the last few days.

Mastering the Art of living
I have been thinking as always about this, some recent thoughts:

- Focus completely on your conversation's with people, I find I never regret this. It is easy to be distracted. A hard one.
-Simple things are the best. Dog walks with your significant other, the perfect shot of espresso, moonlight on your arm while driving in the desert...
-A good Mary Oliver Quote that resonated:
"To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go"

Hope all is well friends.