Summer fitness?

From http://www.skintrack.com/



"Q: I think we should discuss summer training for skimo racers on two levels – for occasional racers and those that like to keep fit (REC category), and for the elite athletes shooting for spots on national teams and those seeking ultimate performance for their goals in the mountains (ELITE category).

In all cases, the emphasis is on efforts on less than 3h and the peak performances are expected to occur between January and March.

Do you agree we should address both groups specifically? If not, propose a better differentiation or none at all."



Answer: I definitely agree that both groups should be approached differently, simply because their ultimate goals are different. Because of that, their preparation will be slightly different.

As an elite athlete myself, preparation is something that I absolutely love. I treat racing as puzzle, where you have to scavenge around to find the right pieces to achieve your ultimate outcome.

It’s that process of scavenging for what I need to do to arrive on the starting line of my goal race as prepared to compete as I can be that I thrive on. It’s a trait I learned from Simon Whitfield, one of my closest friends and someone who’s sporting results on the day speak for themselves."







It is a good read. More here:



http://www.skintrack.com/skimo-racing/skimo-racing-summer-training-interview-adam-campbell/

Prickly Pear Cactus

This is our local wild prickly pear cactus and a blossom with a green bug in the center.

Lake Dorothy ..

The lake

Jennifer and I went for a mellow hike to Lake Dorothy. This is a highly maintained trail. (Lots of stairs.) It has an elevation gain of perhaps 1000' depending on how far you go and it is only about a mile and a half to the lake. Once at the lake there are numerous campsites and toilets for staying overnight.

Stairs and large downed tree.

Lake Dorothy is one of the larger lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and is nearly a mile and a half long. We walked to the halfway point where Jennifer got a swim in, while I rested on shore. Then we continued to the far end of the lake before turning around and heading home. You could continue on the trail generally south until you reach the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River as well. But at that point you would need a car shuttle.

Jennifer was looking for a nice mellow trip to start hiking again and this proved good for that. Although we both wound up tired at the end and had to stop at the Sultan Bakery for a snack to make it home.

Fungus on tree stump

Also, it was quite crowded for a Monday. I presume it is a mad house on weekends.

I wonder, were they happy?

Recently I scanned some miscellaneous documents for a project for my local genealogy society. Among them was this one. . .

"July 29 / 95

Mr. Wm. H. Magley will please give to Charles O Hess the propper papers to make him self and Miss L. E. Jones happy.

Yours truly
Ed Jones"

Wm. H. Magley was the Whitley County Clerk of Courts in 1895. That's the office that issued marriage licenses. Recorded in Book 5, page 343: Charles Oscar Hess married Ella Jones on August 1, 1895.

According to the transcribed records, Charles was 24 years old and the son of Peter S. Hess. His mother's maiden name was Creager. Ella was 17 years old and the daughter of Edmond Jones. Her mother's maiden name was given as Diller.

A check of the cemetery transcriptions showed that they are buried in Adams Cemetery, Troy Township, Whitley County. Their names are recorded on the same stone. Charles Oscar (1871-1927) and Lucy Ella Hess (1876-1967).

Gunks Routes: Commando Rave (5.9) & Dat-Mantel (5.10b)

(Photo: Maryana starting the crux section of Commando Rave (5.9).)



Last Sunday was a gorgeous day, with highs in the mid- to-upper sixties. In other words: sending weather. High season, baby!



I was meeting up with Maryana for the first time in a while. She had been forced to take an eight-week break from climbing because of a cycling accident in the city, which had left her with several fractures in her back. This was a heartbreaking blow for her, coming as it did right in the middle of a great climbing year. Before the accident Maryana had led some truly impressive Gunks 5.10's (like Birdcage, for example). But now she had to rebuild. I was climbing with her on only her second weekend back in the climbing game.



We started with a nice warm-up. I led both pitches of Son of Bitchy Virgin (5.6) in one, running it all the way to the GT ledge. I'd never done the first pitch before. It is okay, but after the initial 5.5 overhang there isn't really much to recommend it. I think the second pitch is quite nice, but it is better approached via the Immaculate Conception variation.



After our warm-up Maryana did an excellent job leading Dry Heaves, a challenging 5.8. Then I got down to business with one of those 5.9's I still hadn't gotten around to: Commando Rave.



Dick Williams suggests in his guide book that Commando Rave is a polarizing climb. He says some love it and some hate it. I guess the hate springs from the lack of pro before the crux. The climb begins with some nice moves up a seam. Then comes an unprotected thirty-foot (!) traverse, but really this traverse is so easy it is barely fifth class. For most of it you are basically walking on a sidewalk. And about two-thirds of the way across I actually got a big blue Camalot in the crack at my feet. After that the rest of the way was well-protected.



The crux is really fun. You angle up and right through some overhangs to a left-facing corner. The hardest bit comes as you reach the end of the roof at the corner. You have to hang in to place a bomber piece, and then it takes a balance move out right to escape the corner and reach up to the good hold.



Once through the crux the belay tree is just a couple of moves away. Commando Rave is good, featuring a solid 5.9 crux. It is a quality quick tick, and totally worth doing. It isn't amazing, and it certainly isn't bad. I really can't imagine loving or hating it.







(Photo: Heading up to the big roof on Dat-Mantel (5.10b).)



I felt pretty good about Commando Rave, and afterwards thought I might get another quick tick, this time of a 5.10. I jumped right on the nearby Dat-Mantel.



This was a climb I'd aborted leading with Gail. On that occasion I was just getting up to the roof when I realized I needed some big gear I'd already used below, and then it started raining. After abandoning the lead I sent it pretty easily on toprope on the first try. Pissed to have found it so easy, I resolved then to try to come back and get the redpoint on lead before was out.







(Photo: Getting ready to attack the roof on Dat-Mantel.)



This time, on lead, I wouldn't say it went easily, exactly. I fumbled about a bit before figuring out how to reach the bomber horizontal above the roof. Then I was psyched to place two good cams above the roof, one for each of our double ropes.



I got set to throw a heel and pivot over the roof....



And it worked out. It took a few tries. It wasn't pretty. I remember standing right up over the roof when I did it on top rope. On lead, by contrast, I ended up basically pushing my whole leg and hip into the rock before I could pull myself over the roof. But I never weighted the rope, and I made it! I'll gladly call it a victory and put it in the bank.



Dat-Mantel is a good introductory 5.10. The crux is short and the pro is great. You should be careful as you figure out how to reach the horizontal over the roof. There is good pro at the back, where the roof meets the wall, but until you can plug that horizontal over your head a fall will send you down onto the slab.It wouldn't bea dangerous fall, but it would be unpleasant. Once you get your fingers in the horizontal, however,there are great placements left and right, and you can try the roof move over and over again without falling onto the rope.



After Dat-Mantel my day was as good as done. With a new 5.9 onsight to my credit plus a successful 5.10, I was content to coast. Maryana proved herself to be the comeback kid, leading two more hard 5.8's: the wonderful first pitches of both Carbs & Caffeine and Airy Aria. I then got to end our day by combining the beautiful second and third pitches of Airy Aria into one lead, a fitting finish to a glorious day of climbing.



I love sending season.

Mendenhall Glacier

Thursday, August 26th - - Mendenhall Glacier, a short drive from downtown Juneau, was first named Auke Glacier in 1879 by John Muir. In 1892 it was renamed to honor Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1841-1924) who served as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1889 to 1894.

The Mendenhall glacier flows for 12 miles down the Mendenhall Valley to its terminus near the visitor center. The ice flows forward at an average rate of 2 feet per day, but at the very same time, it wastes away at a slightly faster rate. Waste occurs through melting or when large pieces of ice break off the face of the glacier. When the rate of melting exceeds the rate of flow, a glacier recedes. The Mendenhall glacier has been receding since the late 1700's and currently retreats at a rate of 25-30 feet per year.

Mendenhall Glacier as seen from the rear of my campsite at Mendenhall Lake campground in the Tongass National Forest. The full face of the glacier cannot be seen from this vantage point because it is blocked by the bit of land jutting out from the left.

The view from the Visitors Center. We are seeing only a very small portion of the glacier as it extends 12 miles back down the valley.

A little bit closer.
An awesome waterfall flows down from above. Another waterfall can be seen in the far distance to the right of the glacier.

A ride on the lake gets you a little closer to the face of the glacier.
Some of the larger icebergs floating in Mendenhall Lake. Icebergs are created when the glacier calves (chunks of ice fall off the face of the glacier).

I couldn't resist picking up a chunk of glacial ice that was floating close to the shore. It was crystal clear and many, many years old. And it was cold...

Hooded Mergansers

We've been treated with visits from Hooded Mergansers nearly every day for the past month. I think that letting the pond edges go untrimmed in fall and winter has helped in that regard. (Brings in lots more sparrows too.)

-----

Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus).
A.K.A. Mergansters, in silly bird names lingo.

Refurbishing Vintage Bicycles: Different Perspectives

[Manfred Dittler collection, image via waffenrad.at]

It has been so nice to see more and more people revamping vintage bicycles over the past several years, riding them, and sharing pictures with others. Seeing vintage bikes actively ridden and lovingly cared for feels as if history is "interacting" with our contemporary lives - reestablishing a sense of continuity that has been ruptured in many ways over the past several decades. But as the use of vintage bicycles grows more popular, it is worth noting that not everybody holds the same views on refurbishing them. For me, discovering these differences has been educational, and I will try to describe some of the approaches I have come across:



[Panther Damenrad, image via waffenrad.at]

The Full Restoration Approach

To "restore" a bicycle typically implies bringing it back to its former glory inasmuch as possible. If the bicycle is not in great cosmetic shape, then this may include re-painting the frame in a colour painstakingly matched to the original, finding new-old-stock original decals or replicas, and taking the trouble to locate well-preserved versions of the components and accessories, if the original ones cannot be cleaned up sufficiently well. The end goal is for the bicycle to resemble as closely as possible what it looked like when it was sold as new - be it the 1970s or the 1910s.



[Manufrance Hirondelle, image via collectvelo]

The All-Original Approach

In direct opposition to those who restore bicycles, are those who prefer to keep them all-original - meaning in whatever condition the bicycle was found. The reasoning behind this approach, is that a vintage bicycle is a piece of history and should be preserved in its found state. Some who adhere to this method will clean up the components and frame as much as possible - as long as it does not involve repainting or replacing anything on the bike. Others will take things to the extreme and literally leave the bicycle as is - including any dirt or rust that has accumulated on it. Somewill perform repairs, as long as the components remain original; while others believe that if the bicycle is not ridable without repairs, then that is how it should stay.



[somervillain's Shogun touring bike, image via lovely bicycle]

The Period-Appropriate Approach

This approach is somewhat similar to restoration, but is considerably more relaxed and is done with the intent for the bicycle to be ridden, not collected or exhibited. Those who prefer this method, typically clean up and refurbish the bicycle in a way that keeps its appearance period-appropriate without going so far as to replicate the original components, accessories and colour scheme. For example, the bicycle above has been repainted a soft blue - a traditional colour choice for vintage touring bikes, but not the original frame colour. The components selected are also traditional for the time period the owner wanted to evoke, but they are not the components that originally came with this bike. The period-appropriate approach is popular among those who want the bicycle to suit their tastes and riding style, while still paying homage to the era from which it came.



[Motobecane Super Mirage, imagevialovely bicycle]

The Updated Remix Approach

Some cyclists prefer to fit vintage frames with modern components - either in part or entirely. The reasoning behind this, is that while they may prefer the looks, ride quality, craftsmanship and other aspects of the older frames, newer components tend to be more comfortable and more convenient. This can include anything from using a modern style of handlebars, brake levers and cranks, to fitting the bicycle with clipless pedals and new high-tech lights. While the newer components are not even remotely original or period-correct, some owners will attempt to make the overall look of the bicycle harmonious. To others this does not matter so much, and they regard the vintage and modern mix as purely utilitarian. If I had to classify the current fixed gear modification trend (whereby parts of the frame are filed off and the bike is fitted with super-modern wheels and colourful components), it would go in this category as well. The degree of consideration that is given to the original frame is up to the owner.



[Jeunet porteur, image viasomervillain]

Over the past two years, I have spoken with vintage bicycle owners whose approaches run the full spectrum of these categories, and have at times been amazed by how strong views on this topic can be. Restorers are criticised for recklessly altering pieces of history. Those who keep vintage bikes original are criticised for not giving the bicycle a chance to "live again". Those who take the trouble to set up their bicycle in a period-appropriate manner are perceived as obsessive "retrogrouches." And those who put modern components on vintage frames are accused of butchering or "not caring enough" about vintage bikes. Personally, I can see the benefit in all methods, and I think that quite a lot depends on the bicycle itself - how rare and historically significant it is.The Co-Habitant and I have used the "updated remix" approach at least to some extent on most of our vintage bikes - but none so far have been historically valuable. What is your take on this, and what approaches have you used on your own bikes?

Where's Waldo?

Every kid has played that game I suspect.









I spent just over half a decade to the exclusion ofeverything including climbing, physically tracking down and findingmen and their financial fortunes. The thrill of the chase,finding afugitiveand where he had hid his moneywas as much sport as soloing 5.11 cracks and steep ice.






I'm thinking this is a guy likely guilty of something ;)

A long over due bar bill at the Fairview maybe?




Finding aBrit from the '80s, SimonMcCartney, should be easy by comparison. Easy because wehad some things incommon.



"Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world."



Well that was mythought process anyway while on a 18hr non stopdrivewith Jack Roberts.Simon McCartney had been Jack's partner on two amazingly difficult and dangerous Alaskan climbs from the late '70s and early '80s era.



I met Jack later in life. Still a wild man on any sort of terrain even with totally trashed and painful feet. He was good at his chosen craft. But when he and Simon climbed the Timeless Face on Huntington, they were my climbing heros. And at least to me, much larger than life.



Roberts and McCartney? Hell even their names made them sound like rock stars!



Quoting tea bags, Aldous Huxleyand suffering seemedas natural ascold hardice to them. Or so it seemed by the trip reports.



Anyone who climbed seriously at the time will never forget Tobin Sorenson's, "Witlessly Bold, Heroically Dull" in CLIMBING magazine .Thestory ofJack's and Tobin's climb on the GCC,Mt. Kitchener, in the dark of winter."Cold had already taken our light. It had taken our strength andit was trying to take our lives". Grim stuff indeed from a guy known to do some pretty hard climbing on the "edge".



Gave rein to wrath and drown'd them in the Flood.

Teeming again, repeopled Tellus bore

The lubber Hero and the Man of War;

Huge towers of Brawn, topp'd with an empty Skull,

Witlessly bold, heroically dull.

Long ages pass'd and Man grown more refin'd,

Slighter in muscle but of vaster Mind,

Smiled at his grandsire's broadsword, bow and bill,

And learn'd to wield the Pencil and the Quill.

The glowing canvas and the written page

Immortaliz'd his name from age to age,

His name emblazon'd on Fame's temple wall;

For Art grew great as Humankind grew small.

Thus man's long progress step by step we trace;

The Giant dies, the hero takes his place;

The Giant vile, the dull heroic Block:

At one we shudder and at one we mock.

Man last appears. In him the Soul's pure flame

Burns brightlier in a not inord'nate frame.

Of old when Heroes fought and Giants swarmed,

Aldous Huxley



Jack was around. He was easy to find guiding in Colorado or Chamonix. Or at any Ice Fest mid winter representing a climbing company or twoand while gladly introducing new players to the sport..



But Simon was lost. Not to befound! Shortly after theill fated trip and a new difficult route on Denali, Simon had "gotten lost". Or may be he was just hiding out from Jack. What ever happened on that trip, Jack still wanted to climb and Simon was done with it. No hard feelings on ether's part, just a parting of the ways for 30 years. By their own admissions,both would eventually regret that decision immensely.



Simon had literally disappeared for the climbing community by 1982. From England to Australia and finally to Hong Kong. Jack had looked for him with no results and thought Simon dead. As did others. Rumor and comments had the story growing and getting darker over the years. Until the actual ascent itself became a question to many that knew Jack and had looked closely at the North Face of Huntington.



I was interested in the two climbs andin the partnership. After all Jack and Simon inspired my own climbing and my first forays into "fast and light" as much as anyone. As did John Bouchard's climbing in the Alps just prior. And the magical "Stone Master" 1977 season in the Alps. Steve Shea, DickJackson, Jack Roberts, Tobin Sorenson, Todd Eastmanand Mugs Stump among others had been a part of that season in Chamonix..Bouchard's Wild Things packscaught my attention in Mug's tent on the Kahiltna after the Moonflower in '81. That small group of climbers and Bouchard's Wild Things catalogs would have a lastinginfluence on the International alpine climbing community. Much like Chouinard and his contemporaries had earlier and Chouinard Equipment's now classic 1973 catalog.



Before there was "fast and light","disasterstyle alpinism" or even before "night naked".



"Night Naked"?"The last stylistic climax in alpine climbing came in the mid- to late 1980s when many of the 8000- meter peaks were climbed in single-push style, often by new routes. Such climbing was termed "night-naked" by Voytek Kurtyka; he, Jean Troillet, Pierre-Allain Steiner and Erhard Loretan were at the center of adapting this bivouac-less style to the peaks of the Himalaya."



1980 – A four-man team consisting of Polish climbers Voytek Kurtyka, Ludwik Wiczyczynski, Frenchman René Ghilini and Scotsman Alex MacIntyre climb the east face, topping out at 7,500 m on the northeast ridge. After a bivouac they descend in a storm.....one of the first clear examples of "night naked".



Jack and Simon had already done Huntington.






Jack Roberts high on the Timeless Face of Huntington, 1978




Truth is these two guys influenced an entiregeneration of climbers long before logos and self promotion popped up in the ever growing climbing community.






Jack again, on Huntington

Simon'sphoto was featured in both Climbing magazine and the AAJ in 1979



http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1979/robert_hunting_1979_70-80.pdf



http://www.alpinist.com/tcl/email/jr/038.pdf


Much likeSimon, Ihad simply lost touch with all that. I had forgotten who I had first tried to emulate. Who I looked at for "what could be done"and who I REALLY wanted to climb like. Funny how life seems to run in circles if you let it. And not in a bad way. Actually insome of the best ways possible if you can be open to it.



I had beeninterested in the Huntington story. The "Timeless Face" July 2/6 1978, Alaskan Grade 6, 5.9, WI4/5, 5740 vertical feet. And likelyas scary and dangerous as any route on the planet that had actually been climbed.



Rob Newsom, no wall flower himself or one to back off a hard lead commented recently ofseeing Roberts and McCartney high on the face, "as the craziest, most dangerous damn thing ever!" Newsom was skiing down the Ruth whensaw Roberts and McCartney climbing high on the face. He had been directlybelow them and had a box seat to the alpine spectacle. Robhad seen themclimbing on the face, well over halfway up. Thenwhile in camp for several more days with no sign of Simon and Jack by the time his crew flew out, heworriedabout what had happened to them. Roberts and McCartney would losetheir ropes descending the west face, Harvard route, after their North Face climb. The ropes had hung up just below the Nose pitch and abandoned.Turning a difficult decent from analready really difficult climb into a suffer fest of epic proportions. Those same ropes Mark Westman would find years later. Leftjust were the North Face 1st ascent party haddescribed. Westman took note of the find andrecognised that they were verylikely fromRoberts' and McCartney's decent down the West Face. And sure enough,Charlie Porter's original 1978 photos shows Simon and Jack holding ropes of the same colors as the onesfound by Westman in 2005.



Mark Westman, "I found them in '98 but didn't recognise what they were until2005, which was an extremely dry season. I did not see them in2000 as the deep snow below the Nose buried them. They certainly lookedto be decades old. The other thing of course, being so the few people who've been up/down the Harvard, how many other teams could have lost their ropes there? Likely, no one!"






Mark Westman. "1998,Joe Puryear on top of the Nose pitch. Simon's rope on the left stuck in the crack. Marked "my rope" as in "Simon's rope". The white crap is probably Japanese 1976 fixed rope."











This pictureis from 2005 at the base of the Nose pitch (the previous photo is at the top of the pitch). Simon's rope is snaggedand shredded on the left.









Charlie Porter's photo of the lads off to slay the Dragon. With the now tell-tale ropes in tow.







"Jack liked bright colours. He was actuallya California boy at heart. Enough to consider his yellow Gore-Tex shell needed to matchwith his harness and ropes!" But then he wore Hawaiian shirts 24/7/365. "With blonde hair and surfer's tanwe knew he reekedstyle points."




Then there are Robert's and McCartney'sphotographs from high on the face. All of that leaves absolutely no doubtthat they climbed Huntington's North face in 1978.






The summit of the Rooster Comb is in the background,which puts themaround10,000'on the face.2200' below the summit. And 3500' up the North Face of Huntington









Jack seconding Simon's leadwith Dan Beard as the back drop.Upper Left is Dan Beard, upper right is Explorer's Peak and the peaks east of the North fork of the Ruth Glacier. Lower left is the beginning slopes of Peak 11,300'.






When Paul Roderick (the ace TalkeetnaAir Taxi bush pilot), was show the Roberts/McCarney photossaid. "there is no doubt the photos were taken from high on Huntington's North Face.

And the final brick in the wall?



The1978,1st ascent party on the Southeast Spur, Joseph Kaelin, Kent Meneghin, Glenn Randall and Angus M. Thuermer, Jr., reached Huntington's summit on July 9. Three days after Roberts and McCarthney.



This from Angus Thuermerrecently, "On Huntington we had made what we thought was a pretty good accomplishment - especially considering how quickly we got up it. But there was little doubt that the team from the other side had justplucked a plumb. Who wouldn't want to be a swashbuckler with that onhis resume? It was clear where the footprints came from. It wasn't like theytopped out somewhere on the east or west ridge and moseyed up. The came straight to the summit from the north. So our route would be number five, not four."



One has to wonder exactly why Jack never made it so clear. The irrefutable evidence of the first ascent of the "Timeless Face" would have been so easy to provide. May be he had already done it too many times.



Years later Jack had seeminglygiven up on explaining the history of Huntington. He knew he had climbed the face but without Simon to share in the credit he simply didn't care to explain or defend the ascent again and again. He wouldon occasion, when pressed by an eager new Huntington suitor,answer detailed questions about the route and the ascent.When I asked, Jack kindly drew a topo for me a few years ago. I recently had the chance to compare the original topo draw by Jack and Simon shortly after the climb to my "new" topo. Jack'smemory of the exact line through a complicated face hadn't faded over the past 30years. Jack's hand draw topo matches perfectly with Simon's photos of the face from their 1978 base camp.It seemedhoweverJackhad no interest in talking about the climb.



I thought it important that the Huntington climb be documented. Questions raised and put to bed for ever, one way or another.



Mark Twight puts the "Timeless Face" into context and closes one chapter to hopefully only open another on Huntington.



"In the early-80s I discovered Mountain Magazine and the north face of Mount Huntington. I thought the protagonists to be the baddest of the bad-asses. This was about the time the WPODs were active in AK. Those guys scared the shit out of me and I put Roberts in the same category. For a long time I took the ascent at face value and inspiration from it because my own experience taught what may be one when extraordinary conditions and will prevail. But some of Jack's actions off the mountainmade the rumors of doubt easier to believe and I did. Reading Newsom's words was a relief because they meant a climb that inspired me for many years was real, and likely the single ballsiest undertaking in the history of North American climbing."






The "Timeless Face", Huntington




Prior toJack's deathI had decided to find Simon. If he was still alive.



That searchstarted with me posting thismessage on several well read Internet climbing forums:



Feb 12,

"Simon McCartney (UK) and Jack Roberts (USA) did two impressive lines in Alaska together in the late '70s early 80s, the NW face of Huntington in '77 and a new route on the SW face of Denali in '80. Both climbs well ahead of their time in a number of ways.



Simon McCartney virtually disappeared, as far as I know, from the climbing scene after the new route on Denali and final rescue.



Jack Roberts hasn't heard from him in years.

Anyone know Simon's where abouts today?"



The answer: June 16

This is Simon McCartney....



That only took 17 months and hardly any effort. Climbers have a lot in common. Eventually they return in one form or the other to the tribe.'80s climbers? Even more likely they will turn up eventually if they are still breathing :)




"We found Wally!"







Simon McCartney mid "Tuckerman Route", 1st ascent of the SW face of Denali, 1980


CT: Name of thebook you are working on Simon?



Simon: Not sure but the working title might be "Hard Way Up-Hard Way Down.



CT: OK..got me there that seems pretty appropriate if the down includes 3 day with no food!



What ya been doing the last 40 years in 2 sentences or less?



Simon: After Denali I went to meet my sweetheart in Australia to recuperate and fell in love with the place. A year later I started a new life in Sydney. I moved to Hong Kong in '92and am now running my own architectural lighting business with a partner.




CT: Why ya writing the book now... in 3 sentences or less?

To honor my old friend initially but as work progressed I see that there is more to say than just another climber's tale. It is about becoming an adult and the importance of human values.



CT: Favorite drink these days?



Nice crisp Chardonnay with a dash of soda.





CT: And finally from your perspective 30 years on why hasn't anyone repeated either of your and Jack's routes in the Alaska range?



Simon: Not stupid enough? Actually I don't think our SW face route(The "Tuckerman Route" on Denali) has been repeatedbecause it was not well documented and the face has given other first ascentssince then. The timefor repeatsis only (just happening) now.





Denali, SW Face, 1980:




"Jack and Simon have successfully climbed the difficult southwest face in impeccable alpine style, but their rapid ascent has resulted in frostbitten feet for Jack and high-altitude sickness for Simon. Simon is semiconscious inside their tent and is unable to walk. They have been without food and water for two days."

Bob Kandiko, AAJ 1981



But that is another story...waiting to be retold.



Their climb of the "Tuckerman Route" on the SW Face of Denali would prove itself years ahead of its time in technical difficulty and commitment." And as of yet, never fully appreciated in the climbing community.


Good luck with the project Simon!

From a different perspective

This afternoon I noticed a hummingbird flitting through the lilies. I grabbed my camera in the hopes of capturing it enjoying the nectar but by the time I got to the window it was gone. Perhaps it will come back tomorrow and I'll be a little quicker. Since I had the camera at the window, I played around a bit with the zoom capabilities and got these shots. I like how the out-of-focus grass enhances the color of the lilies. I'm still amazed by how many blooms are on each plant and am really enjoying them. When we lived at our previous home, the flowers were in beds on the side and at the back of the house and we had to actually go outside to look at them. It's much nicer with them right outside the front window, especially with the high temperatures and high humidity we've been having lately.

So what does this have to do with family history research? Not anything, really, but seen from a different perspective, these views of the lilies are quite different from those taken two days ago. Sometimes (quite often), when I'm stuck with a research problem, it helps if I look at the problem from a different angle. Reviewing the information already found could help in rediscovering information previously overlooked. Talking with someone else and getting their input can also be helpful. Since they aren't emotionally attached to the problem they can take a step back and possibly offer new insight or recommend other areas of research. Regardless whether the problem is resolved or not, it almost always helps to take another look, from a different perspective.

Tom Yum Soup

Tom yum soup made last night. Delicious!

Happy New Years Day ice climbing...

Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone survived the welcoming of . My New Years was much like the rest. Laura and I stayed home, didn't do much. We stuffed ourselves with some Kielbasa, Hot Dogs (veggie dogs), Sauerkraut, and some New Years Pretzel Bread that Laura baked up (see photo) which was bomb diggity! We rung in the New Year and made our way off to bed to rest up for my annual New Year's Revolution ice climbing! The temperatures weren't very favorable the previous days up to New Years Eve, but we still kept our spirits up as the weather forcast was for below freezing temps by morning with it going down as the day went on. Well it did just that. There was also a small amount of snow on the ground. A welcome sight from the dreary day before. We loaded up the gear and made our way to Secret Cliffs II. As we neared the cliffs, the snow deepened and winter seemed to be back in action. We hiked down to the climbs, only to find that the ice was still EXTREMELY wet and not very well bonded in most places. We seriously debated for a while whether or not Called on Account of Security would go. I'm sure it would've, but the delaminated ice at the top looked way too unsettled to rappel down from and we opted to let it go and continue to build for the upcoming cold week. After leaving Secret Cliffs we opted to continue our quest. We decided that to surely get in some climbing we should go to Lower Meadow Run to get on the mixed lines. We found that the ice there was in reasonable condition. I'd been itching to get back on Caveman and try to get the redpoint. I tooled my way up to the crux (3rd. bolt) and made it to the ice. I couldn't pull up around the corner and came off. The ice was poorly bonded and was washing out as I was climbing. I pulled back on and clipped the 4th bolt. The section above the fouth to the Rhody was very unstable as was the mucky topout. Given a little more attached ice and I think I would've got it. I can't wait to get back on it again. Laura gave it a quick go. Despite having a severe reach disadvantage she gave it her best. Captain Caveman proved to be more suited to those with long limbs. We roped up Anger Managment and took some turns on it. We did much more climbing than initially thought. It wasn't the best New Years Revolution conditions, but we climbed what we could and had a great time doing so! -As always climbing is a great way to bring in the New Year. Welcome !