Wow....just wow

Check out some of fellow mt. clubber Tyler McPherson's pictures from Patagonia. I already knew I needed to go there. Way to make it worse dude...

....make that cool place on the earth I must go to #5412

Pre-finals Snow school

Before my finals next week I took the time to head up into the hills near Hoodoo ski resort with Richard and his friend Max. The idea was to practice some mountaineering techniques so I could actually use the ice axe I bought all those years ago when I lived in Washington. I also wanted to stop procrastinating on being a badass, as I've told people it's what I'm majoring in. Something tells me the latter is a lost cause, but I still had a blast. Max imparted a great deal of knowledge on the two of us, and it was a hell of a lot of fun just playing in our "self arrest chute". Though I did find out that attempting a self arrest with a water bottle is quite difficult. Good luck on finals people!

A couple NZ Photos

Why do I keep posting pictures of New Zealand even though I am months removed from the place? Part of the answer lies in the beauty of that country. Another part is I just got my hands on some of Greg's pictures. The last part is that I keep forgetting to bring my freakin' camera when I go to smith or on mt. bike rides. And there's no excuses either, as I now have 2 cameras. The second is a sweet Olympus that my Aunt and Uncle graciously gave me, and I am aching to give it a whirl. Here are a couple of photos to hold myself over until Red Rocks in a couple of weeks.

1080 and the letter G, you haunt me to this day

Ed doing the mandatory no Hands rest

Inga on the beautiful rock at Pohara

Dead Week

I went up to Portland yesterday to go boulder at the Circuit gym with some fellow mt. clubbers. It was a great time and after that we welcomed back Ariel and Rachel from South Korea with some beer and music.

Next week will be "Dead Week" or the week before finals. Of course all OSU students are aware of this fact, except for a few of my former flatmates at the old Chi Alpha Fraternity (I'm not too sure what those dudes do besides play video games). Yep, for a the better part of the term I have been living in a former Frat house that now has a Christian Fellowship downstairs. Moving there was one of those 'get back from Red Rocks with only 2 days before school starts decisions', so I have no one to blame but myself. Living there... how do I say this... sucked. It was the kind of place you felt you had to call Hazmat if you touched the wrong thing. The one saving grace of the place was that it was right across from campus. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I could sleep in 'til 7:59, throw on some clothes, and scoot my way across Monroe avenue to my 8 am class. Going "home" for lunch was pretty easy.

Anyways, I just moved out of the place and moved in with my buddies Zack, Carl (known as Hot Carl) and Shaun. I've lived with these guys before, and they are all big Mt. Bikers. Once I had moved my stuff in I counted 17 bikes in the garage, which, by my calculations is 4.25 bikes per person. There is a tandem there I think, a fixed gear bicycle (the pedals are deadly at high speeds), a bunch of single speeds, and some of the nicest full suspension bikes I have ever seen. Since there are lots of bike thieves here, my new address is: 12345 Fake street, Nobikeshere, OR.

The house is killer for other reasons. They have a tree house, some chickens, and a huge garden. It should be a cool place to spend the rest of my time at OSU.

While up in Portland, I finally got my hands on Greg's pictures so I thought I'll post a couple next time I'm online. Looking forward to spring everyone! Take it easy.

On school and stuff

The other day in my Geology 202 lab, we performed one of the coolest experiments I've ever been privy too. For about 2 hours, our group of six got to play around with a stream table. Hydrologists use them to model fluvial processes, and on top of just being plain fun, it was very informative as well. Instead of sand, our professor used plastic granules about 0.05 mm in size. Apparently when you scale a river down to a 3 meter long box, you have to scale down the mass of the sediment too. Above is a picture of our stream table, taken on my crappy cell phone.

The box is slightly raised on one end so the water source (a hose) flows down to the drain at the other end. We put a few meanders in the basin and placed Lego "houses" where we thought they would get annihilated by the streams erosional power, just like a kid who builds a sand castle too close to the waves. I was surprised, however, by the amount of river structures actually appeared. Where the stream entered the lake a braided river channel formed a delta. And at one point, we actually had an oxbow lake formed after the river cutoff a meander. Pretty cool.

Now when I was a kid, seeing some water running through some sand meant one thing: Dam the hell out of it. So when our group had some time, we created Hoover dam. Unfortunately, this clogged the drain with sand and we had trouble getting water out of the system for a little while. Of course, the innocent Lego town built below the dam was decimated. All in the name of science!

It's robot fightin' time

The Bro posing on some slickrock

The reason I keep going back to Red Rocks on climbing trips is that each time the place seems to have more to offer. Though the grades are said to be soft by some, and the sandstone soft by others, it's hard to leave the area without a wicked case of chronic perma-grin. The kaleidoscope of colors you see at the canyon are beyond belief and are a photographers dream come true. And, as I've stated before, it has everything from long easy trad routes, great sport climbs and as Richard, Timbo and I found out, some killer bouldering too. I consider Las Vegas to be the armpit of the Universe and Red Rocks Canyon being so close to it has created a bit of a dilemma for me. The quality of the climbing and past fun times I've had there far outweigh any bad vibes I get from the "city of Sin".

The trip started out like it usually does, with a long drive from Oregon or Norcal that stretches into oblivion. Sooner or later we arrive, triumphantly... and crash at the BLM campground. The days are usually organized as such:

-an easy and sleep in late day

- hard sport day (read, feel inadequate because Lauren Lee is right next to you flashing 12.d's),

-boulder day to get rid of the gibblies you got from that whipper yesterday

-long trad day in order to go easy on your thrashed tendons (doesn't work as you invariably get off route)

-Rest day, or, in Timbo and my case: get absolutely spanked on everything you try

-Get drunk/rest day

-Spend day mostly scraping your knees on a cryptic red rock approach hike. Do one pitch. Your camelback runs dry on the way out and you start to realize the worth of showering around this day.

-Try "must do" project day. Key word is try here.

-Drive 22 hours home bragging about your conquests and sends.

We skipped a few of those last days as we had to rush back to Oregon for other reasons, but we followed the basic blueprint. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Here are some highlights.

The dudes: Richard (with the snazzy hat) belaying Tim

Richard stylin' an 11.b

One of the burlier falls I've seen anyone take. Flying upside-down for a few meters, my brother left some red discoloration all over the previously tan rock.

V hard or bowel movement? You decide, though the patched pants lead me to infer that this has happened before

a fun little slap

One of the best problems I've seen, over at the kraft boulders (I believe it's called the Monkey Bars)

I know my enemy and its name is The Pearl, V4

I have no idea...

Chimneyfest: 2007. The boulder was probably 60 feet tall and split perfectly down the middle.

End of a long day

A gorgeous, clean 12a that proved a bit much for me. I've always said that red rocks can turn an average photographer into a good one. This climb showcased some desperate slaps and a stem in a featureless corner.

Good times

Well, it's been a busy few weeks (errr month. I mean year. whatever) and it is about time for an update. Since I'm back on the quarter system again, we students here at OSU are about to get blasted with some midterms. But such is life. On to some fun stuff. Last weekend I got the opportunity to spend some time in Bend with the bro...

(yeah, that guy). Last Friday was my friend Gretchen's "owie" party, and good times were had by all down in Eugene. G is healing fast after her auto accident, which is great, but I missed a perfect opportunity to ditch this bottle of Arbor Mist she and Richard gave me and leave it at their place. Seriously, the stuff tastes like a combination of ox piss, hippo sweat and that grape fluoride at the dentist you hated as a kid. I'll get 'em later.

Among other events last weekend, the Oregon State Mt. Club's got a cabin in Sunriver for the holiday weekend. It was great to catch up with some people. Now I wasn't around for this, but some members did a little ice climbing a Saturday ago. That's right, it's been cold enough in Oregon for there to actually be some frozen waterfalls. Greg and Ian have some nice shots on their blogs, and I recommend you check them out. I think it might be time for me to actually get some hammers and some crampons. Speaking of cold, we got our second snowstorm since school started. Apparently, we have a pretty significant La Nina this year. Here's a (bad, I know) pic of the library the other night on my way to the climbing gym.

Since I have my camera back I'll post some pictures of Timbo, Lord Burton and myself on our red rocks trip sometime soon. Actually the climbing shots were just OK, but the pictures of all of us screwing around ended up being pretty freakin' funny. Like I said... good times. Take care everybody!