The Angles of Eternity

Upon closer inspection, these are loafers. What a busy last few weeks it has been. New job, new place, new weather patterns, new pants. Our previous soujourn from the wicked wich of the grey and rainy has ended. Not only do we find ourselves in a perpetual state of reinforced depression reigning from the sky to ruin all our outdoor fun, but things done changed! (once again). Change is good.

Steph and I have removed ourselves from the confines of our cabin by the sea and relocated, for the summer, to a incredibly spacious one bedroom loft. Don't worry, we can still see the sea. On top of moving I have left my job as a paraeducator at the elementary school and now find myself gainfully employed (again, for the summer) as a deckhand for a local charter fishing company. What a whirlwind! I am, as always, filled with conflicting emotions and overall incredibly psyched to be where I am right now. In other words I feel very lucky. The psych to climb could not be any higher. Unfortunately I haven't done ANY climbing in the last three weeks. GAH!!!! Unless you count climbing with your eyes. I have been blown away by how motivated I can stay on the table scraps of other peoples climbing adventures. Nick, Jimmy, and Dom, have kept me pining away for Northwest rocks and continued progression in strength training. I get by with a little help from my friends ya'll. Not to mention the countless videos from DPMclimbing.com; yes, its true, I became a member so I could watch those videos on 'The Stash'. I just hope all the time I've spent watching people climb translates into myself being able to actually climb. I did however take my first step towards beginning a climbing oriented training regime. I finally hung the metolius finger board my friend Nick gave to me before he moved to the far East (that would be D.C., not Japan). Plus, I've scoped out one of the most incredible pieces of unclim,bed rock I have seen so far. A stunning orange and brown arete that juts out from a small hillside practically screaming to be climbed. Its not exactly on public property, nor do I have a crash pad, but trust me, I WILL climb it!! There is a ton of rock here, its just always an access issue of one color or another. Not to mention a lot of it is just plain hard to get to. My time is measured in days now, beofre I will be working 12 hour days 7 days a week. I was hoping to get out climbing a ton before I started my new job but as I mentioned before the weather is just not cooperating. I have read a number of good books lately, Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and Chipp Kid's The Cheese Monkeys. Plus I finally jumped on the cultural band wagon that seems to be set aflame by the success of the series and subsequent transformation of literature into motion pictures and started reading the poorly written but highly entertaining Hunger Games by Suazanne Collins. Snowboarding has tapered off a bit only because of the same reasons everything tapers off here and that would be weather related. Still, we continue to get snow in the mountains becasue of the weird fluctuations of temperature that occurr at night. The snow isn't great though, mostly soft wet snow that's only good to run when it is either cold enough to make controlled turns or thick enough to land in.

The last trip we wnet on was a week ago when we had the good fortune of getting a huge group of people together to head out to Kruzoff island, home of the volcanoe Mt. Edgecumbe. The trip was nothing short of epic!!! Our friends Ivan and Tasha water taxied us out there, a mere 10 miles from Baranoff island. Once we hit the shore it was a four mile hike to the shelter where we would spend the night, and then in the morning we made a three mile hike to the summit of Mt. Edgecumbe which is only 3,500 feet above sea level. Not a monster undertaking in terms of summits but a monster committment in terms of transporting a snowboard, clothes, food, water, and sleeping bags a very long distance. The weather cooperated mightily. We got to the shelter Friday night, and Saturday morning we were standing on the summit letting the snow fall lightly onto our red faces.

The motley crew

Jeremiah and Me

Giving Tasha a small pep talk before heading down. It was the girls first time snowboarding! The run down the mountain was awesome, wide open, good snow up top, and fun easily moved around snow at the bottom. The entire run was about 1.5 miles long. The next day I was wiped. 14 mile roundtrip hike with loaded pack, epic snowboard run, and beautiful almost primordial scenery and environment, and a bottle of Crown Royal and a case of Reineer was enough to set anyone's weekend ablaze with epic goodness. Well, that's about it. I'll let you know how my initiation into the fishing culture here goes.

The view from the slope of Mt. Edgecumbe. I'll leave you with a link to one of the most inspiring/helpful blog posts I have read in a long time. Sonnie Trotter on climbing and keeping it simple when it comes to trainng. Sonnie Trotter has never been someone who gets a lot of press for his ascents, although he should, and you definitely won't see him being whored out across the running banners on 8a.nu, but the guy knows his shit!

The Sunday paper

The best part of wakin' up, is Foldgers in your cup!!
It's nuts when everyone is asleep and the world just stops. You are nothing but a small light in the distance. A lighthouse if you will. A small candlelit room, or a flashlight and a book under a blanket. Whatever IT is YOU are, Sunday mornings will remain the same. Unchanged. Unphased.











The super secret 'Crag X'!!! PSYCHED!!!! I'm already thinking of Gilligan's Island themed names for the routes...

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Yawn


Puppy!!


Da bluffs!


Its Scooby Doo!!!!


The shoulder on the Stove, SICK!!!!


Sweetness in the distance...


I'm...so...fucking...PSYCHED!!


I love Saturday evening's almost as much as I love Saturday mornings.


An after hours type of run. The kind of snow you want hit hard and fast.


At one point or another the North Ridge became the hot spot. Maybe it had to do with the view?


It's getting a tad warm in the mountains.


Keep your ass tight!


Worst snow ever, best view ever. The backside of the Stove, definitely where the wild things are.

Friday the Right Way

Adam enters the first crux on Sitka Sounds (5.11a/b)






Friday night climbing sessions are back!!
Man, I have missed the community crag vibe for a while now and this past Friday I got a chance to indulge. At least half of the entire climbing community here in Sitka represented at the Whale Wall this past Friday evening and I was more than stoked to once again be surrounded by people who are all psyched on the same thing: climbing!
What was even better was seeing people climbing and figuring out the climbs I had cleaned and worked on for so long. It was great to share beta, talk climbing, and sit back and spray for a while. I had a good session repeating all three main lines on the Whale, Sitka Sounds (5.11a/b), Whale Song (5.11b/c), and Shit Ballz (5.10d). My endurance is absolutely shitty right now and I need to do a lot more training specifically for climbing before our move to Bishop. What the session did instill in me is a strong will to start cleaning more of the cliff. We are working with the Access Fund and the State of Alaska BLM dept. in order to get things legit and rolling to start bolting this small roadside crag. I really could not put in to words what it would mean to me to successfully bolt this crag. Well, we shall see...

It's Time

Warmer, warmer, warmer, HOT!
The climbing temps have meant disaster for the snow coupled with a very small amount of precip over the last two and half weeks. These combining forces have put a kibosh on the fluffy, inviting, powdery powder that has been such a lovely coating for the mountains lately. The snow is still there, but it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi? It has become hardpacked and spreadable like butter; mmmmm...country crock.
In the mean while I have rekindled that old flame. You know the one, it had something to do with rocks and climbing up and/or over them.
Steph and I got out a couple of times over the last week to bathe in the glorious rays of the sun and do some sweet rock fondling. I managed to warm up and do a couple laps on the classic of the wall 'Shit Ballz' which goes at a whopping 5.10c/d. My forearms were so pumped I felt like I had just come down from my first redpoint of Technorigine. It was real nice to lay fingers on stone once again. My interest in climbing had waned for a little while there as the snow commenced to do its little dance amongst rows of eager onlookers amidst the foliage of my mind. But the embers had never been extinguished. I love climbing, and have been following the latest climbing news like a bloodhound. Since I'm not in a position to do any 'hard' climbing it has been a real struggle to read about all of the climbing adventures everyone has been going on. With all of the good weather we have had lately an all too familiar itch has been rising up in my soul. So, as a tribute to my climbing enthusiasm I have made it a goal to start cleaning the right side of the crag. It will be a bitch, but could definitely turn out to be worth it. For example, there is a sweet arete I have been eyeing since I got here, as well as a ton of moderate looking climbs. For now, here are a few pics from last weeks attempts at climbing:


This is me nearing the chains on Shit Ballz (5.10c/d). I found a nice large loose block and threw it into the abyss.


The last ten meters of this line is truly amazing! The movement alone is classic and the holds are all small crimpers and finger jugs except for one sidepull that you get to do a huge drop knee off of. This is subsequently the first line I did on the wall. To the left of me there is at least three independent lines all ranging between 5.11- and 5.11+.

Frantic

Makes me tear up just lookin' at the little guy...

The oscillations in temperature lately have left last weeks feast reduced to mere table scraps. Not to mention, the recent heat wave has awoken the bears. Whilst adrift in my own world set in the back country I became numb to such threats of wilderness. Needless to say the giant bear track I saw on the Stove trail yesterday was more than enough to strike fear into my heart of hearts. In fact my entire sympathetic nervous system was getting ass-fucked by the dramatically over sized shot of adrenaline it received by the realization that I might become a giant dog's dinner. This realization was followed by the flailing of arms and frantic, almost reckless retreat I made down the mountain.
This would come to be known as the 'second' time I have had to retreat in fear from the top of the Stove. The first time involved bears in a very roundabout and self-fulfilling prophecy kind of way.


Sticky albeit steep snow on the north ridge of Picnic Rock



Other than that, things have returned back to normal. Spring break is officially over, school is back in session, and the snow is shit!! Hopefully we can get some more inches before the real heat gets here.


The north ridge is sweet. Steep, featured and very wide open right now. The sun set alone was worth the fear that came later.


Evening time right outside our little home front.

Spring Has Sprung

The magnificent bowl of the Stove! I'm a tiny dot near the center of the picture.

Its true, we have actually had five consecutive days of blue bird weather here. Its jaw dropping, really. Tomorrow is the last official day of EMT class where we will be engaged in practicals all morning and then taking the state written exam in the afternoon. I'm so psyched!!!!!

The week has been sprinting past me while at the same time thumbing its nose at my futile attempts to grab hold of it's shirt tails and be dragged along for the last few days that remain of my spring break.



Since the weather has been popping off sunny like gangbusters I have made it my quest to try and get out snowboarding as much as humanly possible. Turns out that 'as much as humanly possible' for me equals about three times in the span of four days. My knees are screaming at me like some queen of the harpes monster and I find myself taking 'old persons' naps that last as long as normal sleeping routines. Its cool though, I need the exercise, and the down time in between mountainous romps.
I did have a particularly nice day up on the Stove on Wednesday. I had the good fortune to hit the bowl and do some lines I hadn't had a chance to do yet. The chute was particularly nice and even though the snow was a bit crusty up top, the sunshine and the exposure more than made up for it.


The avalanche danger has been ridiculous for a few days. We had almost a foot and half of snow in the city, which means almost 3 feet in the mountains. All of this followed immediately by sunny days, slightly warmer temps, and lots of wind loading (I even noticed some hoar crystals one day).


This is a new drop I hadn't tried before. The runway to the drop sucked but the landing was pretty deep and fluffy.




My fave.

Today is my second rest day, and it looks like we will be heading out climbing today! Psyched!! There is still a lot of work that needs to be done on the Whale Wall and we almost have all of the permits and paperwork in place to start bolting. I just applied to a deckhand position for the summer so I'm feeling good about my options for work and play. I have one more day left in my break to get up and shred so now all I need is some fresh powder in the mountains and its a go.
I hope everyone else is having a good spring break, or soon will be. Look forward to hearing all about your adventures!