Conan. NYC, Home

I survived the Conan show and so did Conan despite his best efforts--he chose to "summit" the mock iceberg, which had the producers a bit freaked out as that wasn't planned and there was no padding on the far side of the wall, so Conan's head was about 15 feet off the concrete... Conan is actually a decent athlete and didn't fall off, impale himself or me with an ice tool, break a leg, in short the long list of concerns the show's producer went through with me at length and with intensity just before I walked on didn't happen.


Doing the show was as intense as anything I've ever done, I can see why people get addicted to the pace and glam factor of big-time media--I did my normal comp or hard climb warmup before I went out, I needed to get rid of the bats flapping around my stomach. Backstage was pretty fun, I got to meet some "real" famous people--the actor Ty Reece said he might try ice climbing one day but not anytime soon. Kate Blankinsett (sp?) is indeed pretty damn hot, but she didn't show much interest in the guy ripping up the floor with his crampons on while waiting to go out (that'd be me). I had a pose-down contest with the actor playing the Incredible Hulk, I did not win that one, going to have to work on the old double-bicep pose some more (read, I'll need to get some biceps and he definitely has some.).

It was full madness, as was the evening with some friends in NYC after the show. I went straight from the show to Chelsea Piers climbing wall and got a great session in on there with Ivan and his bud Rex, thanks for the pump! My old friend Les runs the Chelsea walls, good to see faces from my sport climbing past still at the game. We did a tour of bars in Manhattan afterwards, somehow the Red Bull guys had amazing hookups. I of course missed my flight yesterday morning and felt like ass all the way home, but it was worth it.

I'm now back home in Canmore, it's a spliiter blue day and time to get outside and give 'er a bit. I'll publish some photos from the Conan show when I get 'em, should be some fun stuff there...

Workouts: In the midst of all the travel and general chaos I've actually managed to keep some degree of climbing fitness with bouldering and climbing gym visits, sent my first really hard rock (for me) route last week. It's been hard to find the time/energy with everything that's been going on, but climbig keeps me sane when everything else isn't. I'm definitely addicted to just slapping chalk on my hands, I care less and less about where, just going climbing on something is what's most important to me these days.

NYC, Late Night With Conan O'Brien

Somehow I'm in New York City to do a show on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." I feel a bit like saying, "Um, you know I'm not exactly Adam Sandler?" I bring that up 'cause I'm watching Conan's show right now and Adam Sandler is the first guest (Figured I should do some research before going on the show..). I'm probably going to get bit by Triumph the Insult Dog, a sock puppet sketch gag Conan uses. Triumph alienated half of Canada when he insulted all of Quebec a year or so back with some pretty over-the-top (OK, I laughed at it...) comedy at Quebec's expense. I don't think I'll bring up why I went to NYC when I return through customs in Calgary on the way home, they'll probably strip search me or something. Anyhow, I'm pretty nervous about the whole experience, I haven't done this sort of thing before. Conan's back from break and there on the screen interviewing Adam Sandler again, who is actually funny, and funny is what people on the show want. What the hell is funny about climbing icebergs, which is apparently what we're going to talk about? Icebergs rolling over with me on them isn't too funny, or even if they rolled over on Ben Firth, who I did the iceberg climbing trip with. So I'm pretty nervous about it all--I'm fundamentally a dirtbag in need of a haircut, here I am in NYC in some monster hotel suite getting ready to do a TV show that's broadcast world-wide. I'm going to have to remember not to swear, not to fart excessively loudly, no picking my nose, in short it's going to be just like going to visit my grandparents when I was a kid. So I'm nervous.

I just noticed that everyone on the show is wearing nice clothes. I brought two dirty T-shirts and some chalk-covered Arc'teryx pants 'cause I want to bust it to the climbing gym tomorrow night after the show. Doh.

OK, now Conan has got some freak wrestler on the show, a guy named John Ceena or something. He's at least wearing a T Shirt, but has the steroid-enhanced frame to make a T-Shirt look good. I've got arms like a 10-year old. This show is giving an inferiority complex already, my hands are sweating like I'm 20 feet out on bad gear. I'm gonna have to chalk up and send it. I tape from 5 to 6 tomorrow night, Conan just mentioned that I'll be on the show, jesus!

Gatherings

We just finished up with Karen McNeill's memorial. I went into it feeling sad, that's just how it is and has been. Life moves forward, but there's always a sad presence in my mind. Today I listened to the stories of Karen's life, and they lifted my spirits through remembering hers. There are friends from all over the world in town, and it's good to see so many people connected with Karen. She spun a big web of friends, and I'm happy to have been a small strand of that. Some of the Morley First Nation's people attended, and added some deep drumming, along with some wild art from the classes she taught at the school there: life-sized paper pants painted up to match Karen's infamous choices for clothing. I "stole" a pair, they will hang with pride in our house. I was impressed with how diverse Karen's web is--at times it would have been hard to believe the speakers were talking about the same women. Perhaps one measure of a well-lived life is how broad a spectrum your friends span; Karen's was one hell of a rainbow.

Sue was also there in my mind, I'm going to miss her too. Many of us at the memorial knew both women, and they are linked in all our minds for their climbs together and what a friend called,"Putting the girly back into climbing." I always respected Sue's opinions, even if we were both sure the other was a taco short of a combination plate at times. "Fiesty" was an oft-used word when describing Sue, and I will miss that energy whether she was talking about climbing or whatever was on her super-charged mind at the time.

I wish that these gatherings of the community happened under "better" circumstances, but they are also an opportunity to see the web in tangible form, even with some strands missing. The web of life will be there long after all of us are gone, Karen and Sue helped the web shine in the sun for me. Mt. Foraker is about the most beautiful resting place I can imagine, and I'll always look at photos of it with the knowledge that Karen and Sue are now part of that beauty. Peace to the families and friends of both women.


WG

Memorials

I've had a bunch of people email and ask about the memorials for Karen and Sue, here's the info.

Karen McNeill: 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20th, at the Canmore Seniors Centre located at 600 9th Street in Canmore, Alberta.

Sue Nott: A Celebration of Life for Sue Nott will be held at the Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado on Sunday, June 18, at 1:00 PM.

WG

Karen and Sue, Yukon

Karen and Sue

The rescue mission for my friends on Foraker has officially ended, as the rangers believe there is realisticially no hope of finding the two women alive. I've felt this way for some time, but really hoped I was wrong. The rangers will continue to fly with the hope of possibly recovering their bodies or at least gathering some more information on what went wrong. I would like to commend the Rangers and Denali National Park for a job well done both on the rescue and conveying information to the public and friends about what was happening with the search. It's very easy to let a slight mis-wording or piece of bad information turn into something confusing for everyone during a high-profile rescue, yet the rangers kept it very smooth. The rangers also gave a lot of information quickly and accurately; I had some inside information, but was always impressed with how quickly that information was availible publicly--usually within minutes of the families hearing it. I have full faith that the Denali Rangers and everyone else who worked on the rescue did a great job, and that is very comforting. I know Karen and Sue's friends from around the world who followed the rescue on the web appreciated the information even if the news wasn't good. No rescuers were also lost despite hours and hours of dangerous high-altitude flying, which is a testament to the skill and dedication of all involved. Good job and thanks to all who worked on the rescue and conveying information to all of us.

Plans for the memorials to both women are near-finalized. If, against the longest odds imaginable, my friends do somehow show up it will be a joy to cancel their memorials.


Yukon

I've spent the last week up in the Yukon researching the flying there for a possible paragliding competition the locals want to put on next year. I felt almost guilty at times for chasing thermals while the fate of my two friends was still undecided, but I'm certain that both Karen and Sue would have heckled me mercilessly if I had cancelled the trip because they were missing. That's not a very logical thought, but damned it it doesn't bring a smile to my face.

I'll write something up on flying in the Yukon once I get my feet back under me here, but the short version is that the Yukon has some great flying based on a very active and enthusiastic group of local pilots. Despite being a bit distracted with Karen and Sue I had a fantastic time both flying and "parawaiting" with the locals. Two hours before my flight yesterday afternoon I cored a last thermal, that's how it works in Whitehorse. More later.

WG

Karen and Sue

Karen and Sue

Two friends, Karen and Sue, are missing in Alaska. They left basecamp on the 12th of May and and started up the challenging Infinite Spur route on Mt. Foraker on May 14. A rescue effort started about a week ago when friends became concerned that they had not been seen on the descent route, which faces Denali and is pretty easy to see with binoculars. At this point the details of where and when they were last seen, tracks, and gear found at the base just do not add up to a good outcome. The pair likely ran out of fuel and food over a week ago, and without fuel there’s no way to melt snow for water. No water means no life. There are stil lingering thoughts of hope along the lines that they have descended the back side of the mountain all the way to tree line and are, to quote a friend, “Roasting porcupines and wondering how the hell to get out of the woods.” If the two are in fact alive it would be the survival story of the century, and I would love to get the good news. But reality is harsh on hope most of the time in these situations. Friends are starting to plan memorial services, and personally I ache for the families of both women.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time with both Karen and Sue over the years; Karen has always been generous with her research, time and smiles. Karen had started to really make her climbing life work, yet remained very honest about what she did and how. Some “Professional” climbers seem to be on a quest to support their own egos, Karen was on a quest to climb in stupendous places with close friends, and did so with a modesty that was as refreshing as sticking your head in a glacial stream. I just realized I wrote the above in past tense; I would so love to be wrong!

Last year Sue and I, along with a couple of other friends, had a long discussion about alpinism. She sat on the steps in our house and just went off, it was impressive. Her energy and bounce were all out of proportion to her size, in the best possible way. I also remember Karen sitting on those same steps at a party with glitter all over the place, those two memories make me bust a smile right now.

I’m feeling very conflicted about alpine climbing at the moment. The sublime beauty of the mountains is absolutely worth exploring them, but mountains are so damn big and oblivious to the small human ants scurrying around on them. Karen and Sue are yet two more friends I miss deeply. I so hope they are instilling fear in the porcupines of Denali National Park, but know intellectually that this just isn’t likely. Peace to their families and friends around the world.

WG, up in the Yukon.

Rat Race Task Two

This morning looked grim--foggy, windy and building high clouds. Somehow it all cleaned up by about 12:00, and a short (42.5K) task was called. Waiting for the start in the air was interesting--it was very windy above about 7,000 feet (I use feet in US meets to keep it simpler), we kept drifting downwind at high rates of speed up high. But the cloud flying was amazing--I think there was some sort of wave action, we were able to surf the front of clouds at least 1500 feet above base, a rare treat in paragliding.

The task was a couple of laps around the local Wood Rat valley, then off into the small hills of the Rogue valley. I had a solid start and hammered around the first two laps in the lead with Eric Reed, the conditions were really nice with smooth glides and fast climbs. Eric and I were able to glide the first two laps with only one thermal, but had to use a lot of bar on the into the wind legs. Most of the field wasn't far behind us, which lent motivation to pushing on the speed bar. We then headed out into the Rogue valley and got slowed down--Bruce Goldsmith, Bill Belcourt and a couple of others caught us, and we all climbed together in a weak thermal. I was sure that there had to be something better and left to go find it. I thought the hills were going to work better than the flats, but got flushed out of them and very low, about 200 feet above the ground, but I could just tell it was going to work and sure enough I was able to slowly grovel back into the sky. Unfortunately Bill and the others had gone on glide to goal by then, with Bill into goal first. I'm pretty sure he won the meet as he also did well on the first task. I played it conservative into goal, once I've lost the lead I'd rather be solid in getting to goal than land early as many pilots did. In the end there were probably 20+ pilots into goal, amazing given how the day looked. I don't know where I placed but had a great flight. It's always better to end a meet with a good day of flying!


Workouts:

Last night I hit the Rogue Rock gym again, and started out by learning how to slack line instead of climbing for about 45 minutes, super fun. I've only tried slacklining a few times, I'm going to have set one up in my yard for the future. Got a good session of bouldering on the crew there, we ended up in keeping the gym open to beat ourselves up on a cool hard route into the night, a great workout. I really like visiting different gyms as I travel, I always meet good people and have a good time. The Rogue Gym is a good gym if you're ever in the Medford area, well worth a visit.

Rat Race Rain

The last three days have been rained out. It happens.


Workouts: A fair amount of drinking, running, climbing in the Rogue Rock gym, Yoga and drinking has gone on and been fun.

Rat Race Day One

A good task, a good day! Len won, something like 45 people in goal, fantastic! Good to see so many friends again, it's a gathering of the winged tribe for sure.

I had a very mixed day--somehow mis-timed the start and was a bit low when it happened, but high enough. The strange thing was my GPS didn't flip at the first turn point, and I didn't check it until I was about 3K past the point--I knew I'd flown right over it from the comp last year, but the GPS didn't switch, so... I flew back, got it for sure, then continued on the course but 15 minutes behind the leaders. Comp experiences like that are mind-taxing, it's easy to let the negativity of making a stupid mistake ruin the day. I was pretty much last on the course after my additional turnpoint, but managed to rally enough to make it into goal about 20 minutes behind the leaders. The whole time I figured I was in dead last, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the good flying, and it was worlds better to at least fly the course rather than blown up mentally. As happens so often, I ended up doing OK but forgetting the comp attitude and just flapping. I think it's important to compete a lot to be in practice, I haven't competed in a year and my systems were not tight. We loaded up my flight last night and I did indeed fly directly through the first turnpoint, but for some reason my GPS didn't flip. I should have been paying more attention.

Keith, Rob and Grahame all made goal, Nicole missed it by being a bit late and geting shaded out. Still a very good showing for team Canada.

OK, we're heading up the hill right now although the sky looks like grey.

Rat Race, Medford Rock Gym

It's been a fast-paced few days. On Friday Kim and I drove up to Jasper to wish my Mom a happy 60th birthday (happy birthday again), followed by a drive back to canmore, mad packing, then to the Dom semi-invitational suffer fest in his home gym that night. It's always a wicked event, thanks to the Dom family and all the other people who poured sweat, chalk and blood on the holds all evening, I always crawl out of Dom's garage. Then the party games started, which I suck at but lots of good energy from all the folks. Knut put me up at his house in Calgary that night, then up early to fly to Medford, Oregon, for the Rat Race paraglding competition. I got a great Yoga session on in the Portland airport, I always expect to get hassled as a potential Jihadist or something for doing yoga in US airports, but all cool, and it helped work out the kinks from Dom's desperate comp. Finally made it to Medford, amazing how much can happen in such a short period of time.

Today was one of the best flying days I've had in a long time--the area around Medford is just made for paragliding, awesome flight out to Grant's Pass and back--I didn't have to turn for around 30K straight, just blasting along at and above cloud base, amazing. Flights like that are why I fly. There are over 100 pilots down here, it should be a very competitive comp and conditions look stunningly good...

After flying all afternoon and doing a tandem in the morning Keith and I hit the Rogue Rock gym in Medford, it's a good gym, still worked from the comp but had a good time pulling on plastic. The comp starts tomorrow and it's late now, time to wrack and get fired up in the morning, yeah!

wg

Rat Race, Everest, Training

On Sunday I'm off the annual Rat Race, a high-level paragliding competition in southern Oregon. I did it last year and had a good time flying with friends, looking forward to it this year. The photo is from Bo Criss from last year. Paragliding competitions bring out the best and worst in flying; the best when the flying is good, and the worst when we end up sitting on the hill all day waiting for good conditions... I'm fired up to fly, but if the flying is no good I'll be able to climb at the Rogue Rock Gym in Medford, which wasn't open last year. I'm actually maintaining a pretty good climbing fitness so far this year, I do not want to go through last year's hell of getting strong again after sitting in my paragliding LaZboy chair all summer...

Everest:

Made the news yet again as a double amputee and about 40 other people choose to summit rather than try to help a dying climber down the mountain. Who knows what actually happened, but it's clear that Everest is a circus that continue to amuse the public, and justifiably so. The summit is now more highly coveted by the public than by climbers, it would be a funny situation if it weren't so deadly. Climbers get incensed when every accountant or car dealer who summits (or doesn't?) makes the local newspapers, while far more "epic" ascents on other mountains receive no mention. I have to laugh at this a bit as what climbers are really saying is, "Hey, pay attention to MY climbs!" I also have to agree that climbing Everest by a standard route with good Sherpa support isn't all that much of an accomplishment, perhaps more of a financial accomplishment in gathering the money than a sporting event. Sharon Wood and the other Canadians who climbed a difficult new route on the way to the summit of Everest 20 years ago deserve their press and respect for sure, but reporting every summit climb is starting to get ridiculous, like reporting who won the local golf tournament as front-page news. Today in the Calgary Herald there's a story about a local woman who is attempting to climb what she defines as all seven summits. This is not news, it's not a sporting accomplishment, but there it is, front page. In one sense I'm happy to see climbing get any press at all, but surely the new route Raphael and Scott climbed last week on Andromeda is more worthy of front-page news? Maybe if Raph or Scott was brain-dead and blind then it would have been more newsworthy? As someone who plays the media game and has also worked at various magazines I feel I'm qualified to say that the media, even the climbing media, doesn't really understand climbing, climbers don't understand the media or the public, and the public will never understand climbing as its portrayed in the media (I sure don't). No wonder everyone is confused, and the resulting mix is so very strange, as it is today in my Calgary Herald.

Training:

It's an odd time of year, where I'm trying to climb and also trying to fly and do all the business stuff I ignore in the winter months while climbing. I've been slipping in high-quality if short workouts at the end of the day. A couple of days ago David and I had a great workout after I ran some errands in Calgary, we went to the University of Calgary and spent a couple of hours bouldering on the outside wall of the PE building. Back in the early nineties I spent days on this long wall of flagstone bricks, it was a serious physical flashback. We finished the workout by going into the dungeon at the U of C and climbing on Murray's old inset brick wall, and on the even earlier plywood and two by four wall. I spent literally hundreds of hours in that basement hallway years ago, it was actually super fun to try some of the old problems. I even got low blood sugar just like the old days when my diet resembled that of a rabbit (we used to think any bodyfat over about three percent was a serious hindrance, how times change...). Anyhow, a great "Nostalgia" workout as dD called it.

I've been mountain biking some this spring, including a great ride with "buzzsaw" Joe in K-Country. We rode around Barrier mountain, an epic ride, it really fired me up to do more riding in K-Country. Yesterday I rode with Mark for about an hour, then went for a short run with Chili dog, followed by a good yoga session. I'm slowly gaining more flexibility, although public reaction to my attempts at Yoga generally involves laughter. So what, I figure I'm not getting any stiffer at least, plus Yoga is good for the head.

Lady Mac

After ten days of trying we actually got a good flight in off of Lady Mac above Canmore. Josh, Kim, Jerome and I hiked up, moving slow due to Josh having a blown knee. Cruised along, ended up launching at about 1:00, I got yanked into the sky. It was interesting flying, fairly windy at base (about 3,800M), but with big thermals to block the wind. It's always fantastic to get to fly in the Canmore area, big peaks with snow, love that action! The photo is looking east toward Calgary, Cougar Creek is the main drainage. It's officially really flying season again, finally!

Skaha, Hedley, the Muppet Show

Back home. It's been the spring of road trips, partly due to shite weather here in Canmore and partly just to listen to the tires on the road. I'm trying to shoot with photographer Jerome for the Gin catalog, but we've really flown only one day in the past eight, too windy the rest of the time. We did get a short flight in at Hedley, but it ended quickly when Jerome flew out into the valley and went backwards for a bit. He wisely choose to side-hill land in the lee to escape the valley wind. I watched all this while thermalling above him, then did the same. The air was not friendly. Later I learned that Keremeos, the name of the next town up the valley, means "really windy place" in the local native language (seriously). The Hedley valley is a relatively V-shaped valley surrounded by high plateaus; you couldn't design a better place for valley winds. It will have exceptional flying some days, but in general it's not a place I'd recommend for inexperienced pilots unfamiliar with valley winds and how to escape them. That said, our three days in Hedley were great; fun locals, lots of climbing, kayaking, hiking, gold mine tours, it's just a great town and one I look forward to visiting more in the future. The options are endless.

A lot of what I love about road-tripping comes from the people I get to travel with. In Hedley we met up with the full "Muppet Show" from the west coast. I think the name started with my bud Jim O, as we are indeed muppets on strings when flying paragliders. Anyhow, the Muppet Show varies in size and composition but includes an incredible chef, AKA the Dingo. The Dingo cooks at the best restaurant in Whistler, and travels with coolers of top-notch food and the ability to put together the best food I've ever eaten. But the real highlight is watching the Dingo cook, it's a Cirque de Soleil style festival of speed, alcohol and general culinary madness that only reaches fruition when the food hits your mouth. Thanks to the Dingo!! The rest of the Muppet show knows how to erect a nylon refugee camp in ten minutes flat using vehicles, kayak paddles and whatever else is handy. There's an art to nomadic living, and the Muppets have it down to a joyous science. Many of my best hours have been spent camping in apparent squalor but with a standard of life far higher than I find while occasionally staying at the fanciest hotels in the world. It might seem a bit trite to say, but I always return from trips with the Muppet show reminded that real life is best found outside with friends.

On Wednesday Jerome and I stopped off at Skaha while driving to Lumby and shredded ourselves running from route to route. Skaha is a hobbit land of fun climbs; we stoppeed climbing only when our skin was bleeding and the sun faded into a blue evening. I was so worked I couldn't even climb a relatively easy route, I love that!

Thursday was spent in the company of Randy at the Lumby Air Park, always a pleasure, and we even flew twice betweeen rain storms. Lumby offers the most reliable soaring in Canada I think. It's not the best place for competitions due to the variable weather, but those variations almost always produce at least a couple of hours of soaring conditions, it's amazing. I've spent months there over the last four years, it's starting to feel a bit like home thanks to Randy and the good scene there. We had to seperate from the Muppet show and head up home at night, now Jerome and I are back in Canmore and watching the wind howl yet again. I really hope we get to fly the next couple of days!

WG

Hedley, BC

Hedley is located in the middle of nowhere, also known as southern BC. It might be worth taking the time to look it up on a map--Hedley is one amazing place. In the last two days we've done some excellent granite bouldering, crack climbing (10-foot roof with a wild crack) plus some kayaking and nice mountain running. The town is full of characters and loose nuts shaken here by various storms, a nice change from increasingly homogenous Canmore. We've been treated very well by the people here, I know I'll spend more time here in the future on the basis of the people I've met.

No flapping for the last two days but, but lots to do so no stress. Today doesn't look too special, but you never know!

wg

AIR

Jerome Maupoint, author of the beautiful paragliding book "Stolen Moments" is in town shooting for a week or so. Yesterday we flew Swansea near Invermere, fantastic day, four hours of turning circles above very snowy peaks. Light winds, good lift, it was about as good as it gets in the spring. Josh flew the Zulu, I flew the new Boomerang Sport.

My favorite part of the flight was playing over the top of a ridge down near Fairmont--the tops of the ridges still look mid-winter, big whipped cream rolls of snow everywhere, plus the snow mellows the thermals out a bit making it more reasonable to fly close to the ground, a rare treat and something I normally avoid like the plague in the Golden-Canal flats area. It wasn't even too cold at altitude, but I was dressed in Himalaya-style clothing in anticipation of suffering. Thanks to Tobias and the nutter mountain bike crew for the lift up the hill too.

The Sport is one silky and intuitive glider. It normally takes me a few flights to figure out a new glider, but I felt totally at home on it after only a couple of hours of thermalling. I flew several DHV 2/3 gliders a few years back and liked them at first, but ultimately decided DHV 2/3 gliders mainly offered the performance of a 2 and all the danger of a 3. So far the Boom Sport provides enough feel of the air for me to keep it inflated, without requiring nearly as much attention as the full comp Boomerangs. The Sport feels more like the Boom III than the Boom IV, especially on the speed bar where it seems to "firm up" and remain stable. We had to use a fair amount of bar to get back to Swansea, my 5020 said the performance stayed relatively good on bar. The "feel" was good too, the Sport stays pitch stable when cutting through chop upwind, that's where the difference between a comp glider and a DHV 2 is usually most apparent. I'll write a bit more about it after I get some more hours on it.

I'll post some photos later, we're out the door to have at it again today. I love spring flying!

Atlanta, back home

Houseboat on Lake Lanier, Bruce photo.

Atlanta: wore me out.

It’s been a great couple of days here in Atlanta, with a lots of new experiences. Giving a “alpine start” show at 7:00 in the morning was a first, but I didn’t see too many people nodding off, and I’m still thinking about my tour of the hospital with Dr. R, it was educational.

A week ago I was climbing cracks in Indian Creek, Utah, where I had to shake the sand out of my sleeping bag with bloody hands before bed; in Atlanta I’ve had to eat the mints on my pillow to get into the thick sheets of the Ritz Carlton, real hardship, but I’ve managed. Plush hotels always feel mixed to me--very nice, but the reality is that my sandy sleeping bag was at least as luxurious as the Ritz, and the morning caffeine went down easier with a view of red rocks and the possibility of a day grinding yet more skin off my hands. Luxury for me has nothing to do with thread count or valet service; luxury is waking up with an easy mind and a wide-open day. Still, the mints were tasty...

Wednesday’s outdoor activities were curtailed by rain here in Atlanta, but in the evening I went to the Climbing Shop/ Wall Crawlerz gym and met up with one of the owners, Tim, to get a boulder session on. I’d also had a box of the new Scarpa shoes shipped there, I always love opening big-ass boxes of new gear. The new Scarpa climbing shoes look wicked, definitely the best rock shoes I’ve seen out of Scarpa in a long time. I’ll write some more on that once I’ve used them a bit more. Tim and a few locals beat the hell out of me in Wall Crawlerz for a few hours, it’s got great bouldering and a motivated crew of locals. The high humidity (the locals said it was low…) conditions destroyed my skin quickly, but good fun. Went out for beers with Tim and Dr. Dan from the AMC and his family, Atlanta is a rocking city at night in comparison to Canmore, good fun.

Thursday was a “perfect” three-sport day. I hooked up with a couple of the “Bad Apple” paramotorheads, led by Bruce. Bruce has a really nice houseboat on Lake Lanier, we ended up flying his motor near the lake and having a great afternoon of it. Perfect smooth 400fpm thermals, warm air, hell yeah! Thanks to Bruce and Worth, that was one fun afternoon! From there I drove over to Stone Mountain with the idea of getting a run and quick solo up the 500-foot rock dome on. Stone Mountain is Yosemite-style granite dome about 20 minutes from Atlanta, I’d always wanted to climb it, and figured there would be some good trail running around the base. It was a bit weird when I got to Stone Mountain—no climbing anchors, no trails to the base of the wall, weird. I ran around for about 30 minutes trying to find a way to get to the base of the cliff, but was thwarted by bush and poison ivy. Eventually I worked my way into the cliff and soloed an easy but fun slab line in the perfect evening light. Strangely, there was a line chipped into the cliff at about 100 feet off the deck, but there’s also a huge chipped carving in the middle of the main face so I didn’t think too much of it. As I topped out and hopped over the mesh fence a guy came up and said, “Ah, there’s no climbing allowed here, you can be arrested for that! Didn’t you see the “no climbing line?” Oh, so that’s what the line was… It all worked out OK, but I think it’s insane that climbing is illegal on public lands. The top of the dome has almost alpine-style vegetation (and a tram), it's definitely worth a visit. Finished out the day with another session at Wall Crawlerz with Tim and the Thursday night boulder crew, some strong youths there! I was left barely able to hold my beer glass.

Back home in Canmore now, thanks to the many good people who helped out in Atlanta!

Workouts: Steady bouldering in the gyms (thanks to Tim, Zach and Wall Crawlerz), one day on the rock, lots of Yoga and running. Finally getting some finger strength back, it sure does take more time than it did when I was 21.

Atlanta, Rockies Accident, Risk

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia for a couple of days, nice to see all the green grass and full spring. Spent this morning doing a talk for Dr. R. and the staff at the Atlanta Medical Center, and then toured the hospital a bit with Dr. R. Very interesting to see the "inside" of a hospital, there are a lot of very talented and dedicated people working very hard. I definitely felt a bit selfish--I climb and fly, write and teach, but these men and women are genuinely making a huge positive impact with each person wheeled through the doors. I generally only see hospitals when visiting friends there, it was educational, thanks to Dr. R. and his staff for the experience--one of the things I love about speaking is that I get to meet some very different people, I sometimes feel I'm the one who should be paying for the experience. I'm hooking up with some local paragliders and climbers for some activities later today in the Atlanta area, should be fun!

Risk:

Here's an interesting article on risk, it does a good job of explaining something I've felt but not clearly understood: People change their behaviour depending on perceived risk.

Another sad accident on Deltaform (near Lake Louise, Alberta)

There was a sad accident on Deltaform last week involving two climbers from the US. I had corresponded with one of them about Rockies conditions before they came up, then found out the man died a week later. Both partners succeeded on Deltaform but were caught in a bad slide on the way down. One climber somehow lived despite the slide, bad injuries and spending a couple of nights out with those injuries. I'm always sorry to hear of accidents in the Rockies, the emails asking for information were positive and showed the climber's excitment. Risk and reward, life and death, joy and pain, these pairs of experiences are so closely linked. The deceased sounds like a good guy just hitting his stride in the mountains, I wish his friends and family some peace. Spring snow conditions in the Rockies are dynamic and highly variable, play safe out there.

Workouts

Did the plane sit program yesterday, but it's been a good month, the rock fitness is coming back as well my lungs, spring just fires me right up every year.

Aviation and primates

The weather here in Canmore is incredible, blue splitter days with low winds, warm temps, perfect for all recreation. Hiked up Lady MacDonald, the local Canmore paragliding site, for the first the time yesterday, it's so good to get back into the air. Flying in these mountains is just so damn good when it's good, today also looks good, yeah!

Here's some humor for all you monkeys.

Workouts: Climbing lots, hiking up a big hill with a paraglider, running, even mountain biking finally. This time of year is great, all these new sports open up again, yeah!

A good day to remember

A few weeks ago I was thinking about Spring, and it hit me that it's been a year since my friend Chris Muller died. I marked the date on my calendar not with a heavy heart but with a, "Hey, remember the good stuff" feeling. Today my calendar reminded me again, and the cold, snowy spring morning seemed to fit with the mood. I love seeing fresh snow, it always seems so hopeful and full of promise to me for some reason, and that's how I often felt around Chris.

So here's to Chris and my other friends and family who make life better! I'm going to go for a run in the snow, the sun's coming out, it's a good day to remember and celebrate both the soul-shaking glory and impenetrable darkness of life.

-April 22nd, a good day to remember.

Back North

Busted out the drive from Moab to Canmore via Salt Lake City over the last couple of days. I like long drives, scenery passing by, a 10-hour drive is far better than a 10-hour flight.

The final two days in Moab were good fun, we had trashed our hands so thoroughly that we had to spend another day up in Mill Creek, a decent old-school sport area above Moab. It's supposed to be a secret 'cause, "if word gets out the whole world will show up!" Well, the whole world was already there plus their dogs and it was still fun. Mill Creek is a fun area but a bit aggressive on the fingertips--perfect for balancing crack pain out over the rest of the hands. I survived some brutal local sandbagging and had a great day out with a horde of people. I learned that one of the routes that beat me up was actually rated 12c/d, and that another "12a" I'd onsighted was 12c. The more I climb the more I laugh at grades, it's all a mess in any form of climbing. I'd like to be good enough to just climb whatever lines looked best and ignore the numbers, maybe by the fall I will be, although paragliding season is likely to turn me into a doughboy again...

The highlight of the last couple of days was a great run up above Moab in wild evening desert light. It was Jeep safari week while we were down there, I ran by a bunch of jeep heads beating hell out of their vehicles--that was a surreal contrast with the general silence and colours of the desert. Later they passed me as I did a yoga session in the dirt beside the road, I think I was more alien to them than they were to me--I can get my redneck on, but a guy in tights doing yoga in the dirt sure perplexed them.

Stopped by BD to check out new designs and gear, saw some very cool stuff. Just when I think everything is evolved as it's going to get it all changes... Kolin has been doing some research on used slings and biners, check this out. I like the fact that most of the people at BD are truly climbers--Kolin started doing this to check his own safety on used gear, good information.

Also stopped by Superfly, always good to see Chris, Jeff and the real mastermind, Beci. Greg and I started driving home in a raging snowstorm, fully 'pine conditions, then cruised into Canmore on a warm, sunny day. It was like Canmore was south of SLC and not the other way around.

Thanks to all the Canmorons and Moab locals who made the last ten days so much fun, great trip!!!