Climbing update

Been awhile since the last blog. This'll be short, but finally a picture of me on the ice. After Sarama got spayed Winter and I hit Silverplume. Nothing fancy, but did a Figure 4 just to see if I could. This last weekend we went back up to Rocky and I got a shot at Jaws, a pretty classic climb. Notice the huge horizontal cracks.The right pic is me leading it. Should've put a long runner in about 1/3 of the way up. Live and learn. After I came down this one lap a piece of ice the size of a dinner table came off the right side. We left. On the hike in we saw a little waterfall that might go and it turned out to be the toughest lead yet. Very narrow, committing ice, but at least it was good... for me.


By this time it's pushing noon and 50 degrees. We're ice climbing: I don't think I need to go into the math. Poor winter had his stance blow three times. Between the groans, fuck this, fuck that, and enough God damnit's I'm surprised the whole mountain didn't collapse on us, he finally made it up. Between the sketchy ice and the hard lead the beer went down very easy. Estes Park brew pub makes a tasty porter.

Sementi's into town this weekend for the trip to Ouray. If you want to see some big ice, possibly the best ice in the world, check this out: http://www.ourayicepark.com/

Next blog: The State of the Science: a review of the Mismeasurement of Science.

Spayed

Had Sarama spayed yesterday. This was not a pleasant experience. I went to a different vet (highly recommended by some folks at work) to save myself $100, but it was tough leaving her with people I didn't know. I don't think I'll go back to this particular vet. I only was able to say hello when I checked in and spent the rest of the time dealing with assistants. Nothing makes you feel confident about a procedure like some high school kid, too embarrased to say vagina, explaining to you about how the surgery went and the care procedures. I went to pick her up after class (in which I had just aced my first exam) and she was totally out of it. The anesthetic kept her pretty comatose all night. This morning she was fine mentally, but is reminded with every quick step that something's not quite right. She definitely doesn't like the cone. It's sad and funny to watch her walk around bumping into stuff. She'll be fine though.

Heard from the auto shop yesterday and they're going to replace the rear window of the topper. What a relief! I'll pay to get the side ones done so should have basically a new topper when the truck is done.

Also, been pretty sick all week. Almost everyone at the superbowl party ended up with something. I fought it off for awhile, but got hit pretty good monday night. Luckily it's almost done with as I've got just a little congestion left. Poor Bobbo's has been hacking for almost two weeks now. Everytime he's on the verge of getting better he decides he's good enough to work and comes back way worse. Hopefully by the end of the weekend everyone at the house will be back to normal. I, of course, blame Eli Manning. Ol'dumbya as well. Why not?

new topics

alright, I've had a few complaints about the lack of variety of these posts so I'll try and think of something different. Just briefly though here's what Winter and I did this weekend. I lead up this beat up 25m, WI4, which is the toughest to date.

On to other topics. I saw an interview with ol'G. dumbya tying to drum up interest with conservatives about McCain and it occurred to me that when his terms over he may be on the television more than he has been the whole time. So not only will part of my paycheck go to his huge retirement package, the world will still have to listen to his idiocy. Maybe somebody can assasinate him next year and do the rest of us a favor. I'm still left wondering what kind of political game the GOP is running; are they really trying to get support from conservatives (who history has shown will vote republican based solely on the fact that that's what they always have done) or are they trying to lure independents and liberals by flouting the fact that McCain isn't conservative enough?? The Republicans, I think, are definitely bringing their A game back for this election. While the Dems quibble about which is their candidate the Reps have time to build a solid base around their obvious choice. I'm obviously not voting for any Republican. So, who do I think is the better; Obama or Clinton. I think it'd be awesome if they ran together for Pres and VP the trick is who should be who. In the end I think it won't have to do with where they stand on issues. I don't think they can run it as Obama for pres. and Clinton VP because then you're just saying a woman is only good enough to stand behind a man. The other reason I think they'll have to run Clinton for pres, Obama, VP is that Clinton is more middle of the road and should be able to pull more votes. Obama was just recognized as one of the, or most, liberal senator we've got and I don't think America's ready for somebody as progressive as him. A minority, a woman, sure we're ready, but somebody free thinking who I think really wants to do good for good itself, not this country.

hookin

Yep, the corners weren't too friendly this weekend. For some reason everyone was trading needles. My joke about how if I had a needle for every STD I had I'd have just as many needles didn't go over well. Business was slow so at least the euphoric rush following each needle prick made the night go by quicker. But I digress.... this post isn't about THAT kind of hookin.

Mt. Lincoln: tough approach to crappy ice. It's about a half-mile slog to the first belay and the last few hundred feet are a scramble. Tough enough when the trail is well trodden, harder when pushing through 6 inches of new powder and the trail is snowed over. Usually the pace is step, step, breathe, step, step, breathe, ... Saturday was more like post hole, crawl, gasp, stand, post hole, swear. We finally get up and the first pitch is nice WI2-3 rope length. The next pitch was the least fun so far. There was lots of air in the ice here. Every swing kicked out a saucer of ice and after 6-7 swings you had a bowl that deep enough you could hook. A less than desriable placement with ever more anxiety on lead. This pitch was only half a rope of WI 3-4 to some nice bolts for a couple laps. We moved over thinking the ice could be a little better. It wasn't. I got two laps in, Winter said pull it, and we started down. We were spent, the sun had gone behind the clouds, and the wind was turning our 8 degree day into something a might colder. Aside from not getting much climbing in I tweaked my shoulder in a new spot and it's murder today. I may take this weekend off and do a bit of camping.

bigger lead

Did a bigger lead on Sunday up in Clear Creek. It was only 2 pitches so I took the hard lines, basically right where the rope is hanging in the picture. The first pitch was about 100 ft, followed by a short scramble to a short curtain above. From the description at moutainproject.com I'm guessing we did Coors Lite. I set an anchor at the top of this and we just did laps. Winter's great; all he wants to do is belay. I get three sprints for every one of his and he could care less. The guy drives, let's me climb as much as I want, and brings beer; could there be a better climbing partner? Some longer runners would've been nice so I'll need to hit the gear store and grab a few more runners before this weekend. Winter says I'm ready for some bigger ice up at Mount Lincoln. It's a great place for leading since you can take a hard line for as long as you want and then if you're getting pumped just step off onto something easier.

No word on the truck yet. Took it over to the body shop and ironically they were already working on a tacoma that'd been rear ended and I got to see exactly what they were going to do to my truck. The guy pointed out the clunking I was hearing before was just the bent up exhaust banging against the suspension. Thinking the truck was much safer to drive I decided to drive over to the topper place to have them estimate the damages. On the highway the truck started to shudder and when I got off the E-brake inadvertently engaged. Yeah, that was fun. Every stoplight thereafter I'd have to fight the E until it finally popped loose. The next time I drive the truck will be to the shop, in a couple weeks.

ice cream

Oh yes! The Samoan Girl Scout Cookie ice cream is back in the stores! Stock up, it won't stay around forever. BEST ever.

Incidentally, I may be saying good bye to my truck. On the way to yoga Weds. I got rear ended by some high schooler. At first it just looked like the bumper got bent down. On closer inspection the hinge on the shell door was practically sheared off, the trunk and side panel were dented pretty good and the headlight jammed between my rear axle and the frame was not a good sign. I drove it home, but the skittish ride, tilting hood, and clunking makes me pretty sure the axle took most of the blow. I'm hoping the tilting hood is a product of only a bent axle and not a bent frame. Wish me luck.

Back to school day

Today it's back to school. Ol' calc 2 one more time. I aced Calc I last semester in trying to get ready for a PhD. I think I'm still a few classes away from being ready to officially start and should be ready to start seriously I'm thinking Spring of 2009. I was going to take a Java class this semester, but really need to bone up on my knowledge of water resources in Washington.

Had a great weekend. Spent all day Saturday reading a book about ice and mixed climbing and went to the gym. Got up Sunday at about 4:30 to meet Winter for some morning climbing. We went back to Silverplume and I did my first lead on ice. In the pic from a previous post on the left there's a swath of brown ice and some rock showing at the top. I lead the white ice that ends on the right side of the rock. Some easy WI3 stuff, but it was a lead. Got home and watched some playoff football. The Patriot game went as expected. Those Packers, on the otherhand, really disappointed. What was up with those penalties and I really expected Eli to do his turnover thing and not Brett. I'm definitely rooting for the Patriot's now. Got monday off and went skiing at Breck with Bock. The long boards were fun in the trees and it was cold enough that we had runs to ourselves pretty much all day. You know it's a good weekend when you wake up for work tired and sore. I can't wait for Yoga today.