Alpinist 27

As a collector of mountain fiction - my library has over 55 titles - I
found this cartoon in the current issue hysterical. (Click on the
image to fully enjoy this cartoon flowchart for how to write a
climbing novel.)

Some other things in the issue that caught my Fossil gaze ... How the
Snazz got it's name, Ed Webster's history of Everest climbs, the same
Ed Webster that I helped take on his first ice climb to celebrate his
21st birthday, and the obit for John Bachar.

Rock route called "Return home"

This short video shows Hock third-classing an easy slab climb. The climb involves a ten minute bushwhack from the road, and for those with extra time on their hands, they can continue to up to Copperas Pond for a swim. I did 6-7 laps this morning, and was up and off Notch Mountain Slabs before the guided parties arrived.

Notch Mountain Slabs

This morning - hearing thundershowers were imminent this afternoon - I cruised over to do some bouldering near Whiteface. The crag is called Notch Mountain slabs and it sports a handful of routes from 5.1 - 5.6. The friction routes are up to 80' with spectacular views of Moss Cliff (some of the best yosemite-like cracks in the Adirondacks) as well as Whiteface. This area also supports several pair of nesting peregrine falcons.

Another Day at the Crag

I logged 7 laps of a few moderate climbs, however the big news was that Egg Foo - and then Lindsay and Joan - nailed the overhanging 5.7 classic, "Unexpected." Watch as Egg Foo regains her form from 25 years ago!

Weekly totals

Despite dodging rain showers and pushing papers in my office I managed quite a bit of climbing with my alpine guests! I logged about 25+ short pitches, a couple of sessions on the rowing machine, as well as a couple of trips up Owl's Head and the NCS crag. (Click on the image to enlarge the spreadsheet.)

Thinking of Peru Again

After watching that video of climbing up the West Face of Tocllaraju, I am definitely thinking about a return to the Cordillera Blanca. I watched Larry's slideshow from five years ago this morning, and have included a few shots of the boys as the arrive in the Ishinca Valley.

Painting Crags

These works of art date back to the mid-1800s. (Please be sure to click on these images to enlarge the pictures and more fully enjoy these works.) The top painting is a very large oil on canvas; it depicts Indian Pass and Wallface cliff, and was painting by Charles Ingham. This cliff is regarded as the largest rock face in the East. At just under a 1000' the cliff hosts dozens of routes, ranging from the 5.3 Case Route, to the 5.4 Wiessner Route, the mega-classic 5.7 Diagonal route, and on to desperately hard routes which include several Grade IVs. Wallface also includes some modern day ice test pieces.

The second work is a small watercolor which depicts the Trap Dike on Colden. This was the route of the original first ascent in 1850; a remarkable adventure for its time. It was also the scene of of fossil outing this past March, and the steep walls of the Dike were the scene of some first ascent activity by Hock and Tommy back in the late 1980s.

The Adirondacks and Art

Yesterday was the gala fundraiser at the Blue Mountain Lake Adirondack Museum. (With another college tuition check looming I kept my bidding on the silent auction pretty low.) They had a wonderful gallery exhibit entitled, "A Wild and Unsettled Country: early reflections of the Adirondacks." This was an outstanding collection of 18th and 19th century maps, engravings, and oil paintings. The Hudson River School of Art was a key factor in the development of a unique strand of American art. However, it was also a key factor in publicizing the mountain landscapes of the Northeast, which in turn helped give birth to the preservation and environmental movements that followed. (Please click on the images to read the text or enjoy a close-up of the art.)

Bonfire

With all this wet weather it was easy to get a burn permit, and Selden finally had time to light a bonfire and get rid of all the building scraps and brush she has cleared. It was a beautiful - star filled evening - and many tales were told from Munro collecting in Scotland, to Tasmanian tramping, skiing on Cayambe, and on to Chimborazo slogging. Selden dosed the coals with 200 gallons of water shortly after midnight.

TTW reunion

Here are three of the best outdoor trip leaders you have ever seen, swapping tales and answering Hock's survey about the climbs the wished they had done. Lindsay, Joan, and Egg Foo were all NCS staff circa 1985.

Timbucto

Gary, a noted fossil alpinist put away his rope, rack, and rock shoes to climb up on the scaffold and work on the apartment/garage. Last evening I attended a roundtable discussion in Elizabethtown - in the old court house - where John Brown's body spent the night 150 years ago. The discussion was about the work of 19th century philanthropist and abolitionist Gerrit Smith who gave away 120,000 Adirondack acres to black freemen and fugitive slaves. They settled into a small community called Timbucto. As it turns out from our conversation with the archaeology professor at SUNY, our property (and a section of the NCS campus) were part of those 1850 land grants!

At The Crux

This short video is of Joan at the crux - quite awkward - of "One Taste." This 5.5 - 5.6 climb is one of the most aesthetic routes on our crag, as well as being the longest pitch.

NCS crag

We spent all morning at the crag doing laps on "Unexpected," "Hock's
Blessing," "One Taste," and "Two for You Two for Me." Joan cruising a
5.6 climb.

Back on the Rock

Here is a video snippet of Egg Foo back at her old stomping ground ... Owl's Head 25 years later! The woman, the myth, the legend, a science teacher to 4-6th grades, houseparent, as well as TTW co-leader taking kids to the Wind Rivers, Ecuador, and the United Kingdom. As you can see, even though she has recently turned 50, she is waltzing up this classic 5.5 hand crack.

Joan

In the 1980s we had a dynamic group of young women working at NCS - artists, athletes, hippies, and mountaineers - Fran, Betsy, Egg Foo, Wendy, Selden, Beth, Lindsay, and Joan just to name a few. Here on the summit of Owl's Head, Joan settles into the Warrior Pose, and shows great flexibility while pushing 50!

Sticky Fingers

A classic test piece at Owl's Head is this thin finger 5.10a. Usually top-roped, it is a reasonably good lead as well. The tradition at NCS is that if a student has a no falls ascent I take them to town for ice cream. (I usually average one student who can manage that every couple of years.) Today Egg Foo's oldest - David - gets close, but he doesn't quite nail it.

Egg Foo, Joan, and their family!

Egg Foo and Joan worked at NCS during the mid-1980s. This week, with Egg Foo (Phil, David, Ben, and Jessica) over from Norway, there is a reunion of sorts at the Fossil Cabin. Joan and her two kids - Jasper and Kai - were her, with Lindsay showing up tomorrow. Today the weather cooperated and so they spent a full day rock climbing at Owl's Head. (See the enclosed videos.) I joined for a bit of the afternoon and did five routes ranging in difficulty from 5.1-5.9.

Video: West Face Tocllarju

Click on this text to see a superb seven minute video about two Americans climbing the ice route on the West Face of Tocllarju, a 6000 meter peak in the Cordillera Blanca. This route is on Gary, Larry, and Hock's must do list.

Burnt Out

After a couple of hours of steady climbing I filmed this very short video snippet of Gary, plopping off the overhanging route "Unexpected." He made the route on his second try, but here he shoots his wad trying to do another lap.

Gary at the Crag

Gary did 10 laps (four different routes) at the NCS crag. The routes
were all modest, in the 5.5 - 5.7 range. It was his first outing on
rock in six weeks. He is going to spend the afternoon pounding nails
with Selden.

Yet Another Blast from the Past!

The enclosed picture was taken more than 30 years ago on the South Face of Denali. Brochu is setting up a rock belay after the initial colouir on the West Rib. The rock climbing was modest but the packs were damn heavy. Notice the vintage gear ... chouinard ice hammer and a first generation Lowe expedition pack. A week after the stove blew up and burned our tent down, Brochu was halfway up the Nose on El Cap, while Mark and I were still trying to scam an extra stove from someone so that we could get back on the South Face. (Click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Lucy

Here is Lucy riding a Haflinger named Red. She misses her horse Birch though. (As always click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Parents Visiting Day

Today was Visiting Day at Camp Treetops. This is Lucy's home for seven weeks. Her forte this summer seems to be kayaking, working in the craft shops, and horseback riding.

Hard Times Jamming the Ashrams

Click on this text to read an interesting article - from the New York Times - about how this recession is positively affecting work/study programs at a wide-variety of yoga retreat centers.

Sunset stroll

The next several days will be super busy with board meetings, camp visiting days, and a guest from the Chez Panisse Foundation. So at the end of a long day in the office, I took a short hike up Owl's Head to enjoy the view. (The enclosed video lets you sample the panorama from this modest summit.) Next week Egg Foo - and her family - former NCS teacher, fellow guide, canoe racing partner, and Selden's maid of honor will be staying in the fossil cabin.

Fishermen talk about "the ones that got away."

The newest fossil poll question - results will be listed on the sidebar to the right - What were the handful of routes you wished you had done, or still dream about doing before you hang up the spikes? The enclosed picture is of the Cassin Ridge on the South Face of Denali, which surely fits in that category for me. The Nose? The Black Dike? The Swiss Route on Les Courtes? Email me "the ones that got away." (Again, click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Fossil History

Circa: the late 1970s, on Washington's Column in Yosemite. A view vintage things to notice ... EBs on our feet, fashionable white painter's pants, hexcentrics on the rack, please also notice that it was before sunscreen and haul bags were invented. (Of course, when the single malt has loosened tongues, the most often told story, was the day Hock hauled his pile jacket up to the top of the Kor Roof. El Presidente - as the guilty party - is the one usually telling the tale.) As always to enlarge the photographs just click on the images.

Testing the new iPhone

My old service contract ran out, and so it was time to update the hardware with a 3GS. It is pretty cool ... voice activated dialing, emailing, and calendaring, a compass as well as GPS, better camera, more storage (probably 10-20 audible books), and the ability to take about 30 seconds of video. Checking out the video function in my living room!

Jon's back in the mountains

At an elevation of 4340' Allen is not the highest of the Adirondack 46ers, nor is it the prettiest, however it is one of the longest day trips in the High Peaks region (20+ miles). Last Friday Jon, Carrie, and Adi set off at about 6:30 AM and returned just before dark.

Celebrating my 57th birthday

As I got in too late to celebrate yesterday, tonight we had steak, wine, and a small birthday cake. It turned out to be the perfect event for the Fossil Historian with lots of mountain books as presents: a comprehensive Himalayan climbing history, a reprint of Norman Collie's 1895 classic ( "From the Himalaya to Skye), a bit of philosophy ("The Wild Places" and "Skiing Zen") as well as many climbing and skiing murder mysteries (From "Aspen Pulp" to "Dead Men Don't Ski").

Yoga article

Click on this text to access The New York Times article about how different states are setting out to license and certify the yoga instruction business.

Aspen again

My gracious hosts - David NCS '52 and Linda - sent me a photograph taken from their deck. They have one of the most amazing mountain views from a house that I have ever seen. Thanks for the picture Linda. (Click on the photograph to enlarge the image.)

Four examples of an arete

The first three pictured here - Irene's in theTetons, Rochefort in Chamonix, and Carn mor Dearg in Scotland - I have climbed with fossils. The fourth example was from my seminar discussions on Plato's "Protagoras." As the concept and word originated with the ancient Greeks. Arete in its basic sense, means "goodness", "excellence" or "virtue" of any kind. In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function; the act of living up to one's full potential. Arete in ancient Greek culture was courage and strength in the face of adversity and it was what all people aspired to.

Tire Change

I am stuck on the O'hare runway - my 57th birthday - as we are delayed
up to an hour to change a tire. The enclosed montage gives a hint of
what my week at St. John's College was like. (Click on the photograph to enlarge the image.)

Atalaya Trail

This morning, before I cracked the books for my Plato seminar, and before I outlined my talk to alumni, I did a 90 minute hike behind campus to the ridge-line of Atalaya Mountain.

Protagoras

My three main study areas are the library (quiet and nice art), the
cafe (comfy chairs and you never can tell what will be on the
blackboards, and the lotus pool and rock garden (tranquility). The
Socratic method is alive and well at St. John's. As for socrates:
dialectic trumps rhetoric, virtue is unitary, he is the originator of
the sports metaphor, dans espite bad-mouthing it poetry can help us
explore the meaning of virtue. As to the question of: Can virtue be
taught? Stay tuned.

Santa Fe

For a small city - 70,000 people - this place has an amazing number of
museums, concert halls, and galleries. St. John's has arranged a large
number of art events on and off campus for us. Here we are at a
prominent gallery on Canyon Road, in their sculpture garden, with
several of the featured artists describing their work. Tomorrow it is
off to the opera to see Verdi's La Traviata.

Santa Fe here I come

Crossing the pass with another give hours of driving to St. John's
College, I have an art gallery reception to attend tonight, as well as
many pages of Plato to read.

Aspen

I had a short but productive visit with an NCS alum. Heading out for
the long drive to Santa Fe I used the Independence Path shortcut to
Leadville, now that the road is snow free. Twenty minutes outside of
town I started to pass the various crags ... Part of my old stomping
ground when I was an Outward Bound instructor. So, I pulled over, dug
out my shoes, and bouldered a bit. As Sam Gamgee said, "shortcuts make long delays."

On The Road Again

I hope all the fossils had a wonderful holiday long weekend. I am especially looking forward to hearing from Brian and maybe even getting some photos from the Gunks. Tomorrow I am up at 2:15 AM and out the door by 3 AM to catch the first flight out of Albany. I am on a six day Rocky Mountain region visit to Camp and School alumni. The itinerary is Denver-Aspen-Santa Fe- and Albuquerque. While on this business trip I ought to get a few short hikes in the Sandias with the new sportiva approach shoes that Selden got me as an early birthday present. Also, I will be test driving a socratic humanities course - Plato's Protagoras - to see if it is worthwhile for staff professional development.

Makes a fossil cringe

I was poking around in Selden's office looking for an envelope when I came across this handy little device. It is called an emasculator. The purpose of these "pliers" is to stretch an incredibly tiny "rubber band" which is hooked on those four posts at the end. Then you carefully place them over the testicles of any unwanted male animal in the barnyard (sheep, goats, pigs, steer), the blood supply is choked off, and presto within a month the offending gonads dry up, mummify, and just drop off! (Selden speculates - for any spouses reading the blog - that it could be used on a crotchy old Fossil who argues too much.)

Selden's Project

As you can see - despite the poor weather - the garage/apartment is coming along well. For more information tune into her blog. This text will access as a link to her blog, so just click here.

Full Recovery?

A week after our last long day in the Sierras, I found myself thirsting for a short hike and so went up Owl's Head after dinner. It was a slower trip than usual, however it was good to be hiking again. Afterwards I headed over to the Fossil Cabin, watched the sunset from my porch, sipped some single malt in a "Whoa Nellie Deli" shot glass (thanks Mark), and started to re-read Don Mellor's "American Rock."