Stagnate Weekend

Just wanted to fill in the world. I went surfing Thursday evening for the first time. It was great fun, even though I'm not very good. Toward the end, however, I got a really bad cramp in my leg. It's lame I know, but because of that I didn't go climbing this weekend. It was still sore throughout the weekend, and since I will be graduating this week I didn't want to risk further injury. Last Chance Lovers will go next weekend.

First Time Trad

Where to start? I guess it's best to start by saying what an amazing and scary experience it was. The height wasn't a problem. On a top-rope, difficult moves aren't scary in the least, because if I fall I have no more than the stretch of the rope to fall. Today, however, was different. Today is the first time I climbed traditional on a local crack. I am confident in placing anchors, so that wasn't a problem, but to be 15 above my last placement with choss rock impossible to place an anchor on, now that's scary. I haven't felt this kind of fear before, even though my anchors were solid.

For those unfamiliar with climbing terms, traditional or trad is, in the most basic sense, placing anchors while climbing as opposed to climbing with the rope above you (top-roping) or climbing on pre-placed, bolted anchors (sport).

The stellar outcropping is located off of the north end of Nesthorn in Pine Mountain Club, CA. It's no J-Tree, but it's challenging, new, and local. My chosen route is Last Chance Lovers, named by me. The route starts on a 25-30 foot vertical crack, leading to a crack traverse on a slight overhang, then up the final 15 feet of face climbing. Technically speaking, the climb is rather easy, rating maybe 5.7 at the very hardest. What made this difficult for me was the fact that I was introducing myself to a new aspect of verticulture.

Today, I climbed the first "pitch," however short. This allowed me to gain some further confidence in my abilities. My anchor placements were solid, to the point where rapping off them was not a problem in the least. I intend to go back very soon to complete Last Chance Lovers, hopefully next weekend. When I do, I will give a full report on the climb, and hopefully have photos to bring it all together.

P.S. To climbers of epics like El Cap, a dream of mine, my humble beginnings are just that, humble. The point is to illustrate my personal growth in my passionate existence.

Climbing Season Will Be Back Soon

Oh how I love California's short winters. In just a few short, but cabin fever inducing months winter has come and is nearly gone it seems. I love winter, and am glad I got to try skiing for the first time, warm months allow me to climb outdoors. Until I get my license, I am limited to local climbing which becomes too icy for rock climbing, but not icy enough for ice climbing. I am endlessly grateful for the climbing wall in my garage that my parents generously allowed me to build two years ago. It is often my fix for long periods without gripping granite. Warm months are welcomed with friendly arms. I can't wait to hit the "crag" (if you can call it that).

Why Ski?

This weekend, I tried cross country skiing for the first time. It was amazing. This new form of travel is so much fun. It's great to glide over the snow, instead of trudging through it.

To recap for those of you not living in California, we were pounded with some of the most extreme weather we've seen in years. Where I live, we were hit with three major storms leaving us a very thick blanket of snow. 2 wonderful feet. In areas like LA, flooding and mudslides were commonplace, and California even saw tornadoes. To help put it in perspective, the barometer dropped to the lowest ever recorded pressure. As I said in a previous post, I went to school only half a day last week, because of the extreme weather.

I had never had the urge to ski before. Skiing to me was one of those "that looks like fun" activities. My schools snowboarding and ski club, which heads to Mountain High in February, doesn't include me. Now, though, I wish it did. Why couldn't this obsession have hit me sooner?

My sudden urge to ski is the result of a couple of things. First, I recently watched a bonus episode of The Rest of Everest, in which Ben Clark skied from Ophir, Colorado to Telluride, Colorado. This made me realize what skis enable when it comes to mountaineering. Second, like I said above, we were pounded with snow. While I love snow days, they can create a sort of cabin fever. Friday afternoon, I was able to rent a pair of skis for the weekend, and I used them every possible minute of it.

Saturday, I headed down to the park, because of the large, flat baseball field. I knew I could go there and ski without worrying about running into anything. I walked right next to the baseball field, which had a bench that I used to go from snow boots to ski boots. To get there required about 100 feet of plodding through virgin snow. After getting the skis on and my feet properly underneath me, all I had to do was do it, so I did. I had watch a tutorial video the night before, so I had a bit of an idea how to do it. Also, I figure skated for years when I was younger, so I was comfortable enough with balance. I simply had to accept that I would fall.

I started slowly, making a circle around the field. It was easy enough, but I felt quite clumsy. After I was comfortable on flat ground, I started toward the small hills throughout the park. Both going up and going down required technique adjustment and a fall or two. Saturday resulted in a tired, hungry, happy person. What fun!

Sunday, I spent hours on the skis. When I learned I wouldn't be able to try some local trails that I felt I could handle, I decided to put on the skis and practice in my front yard and the vacant lot directly next my house. This was fun, though I received several bewildered looks from passers by. This was kind of embarrassing, but I was having too much fun to care.

In the afternoon, I was joined by Alannah, my best friend and victim of my outdoors obsession. She used my mom's skis, which she bought a few years ago and used only a few times. Alannah, by a convenient twist of fate, is exactly the same size as my mom. We went to the park and did nearly the same thing I had done alone on Saturday. An hour and a half was gone before I could blink.

In the future, I look forward to trying telemark skiing. Telemark skis are like cross country skis, in that they have a free heal, but are just as strong in downhill skiing as alpine skis. It will happen soon enough, but right now, nothing feels soon enough.

Weekend Update

I thought I'd report on new and upcoming things in my life and for Adventure Post. First of all, I rented a pair of cross country skis, and am going to try for the first time tomorrow. I will be going with my best friend, Alannah, who is also going for the first time. We will be using the baseball field at the park, as it's covered in 2 feet of snow and is flat. An article and photos will follow.Second, and much more exciting, I will be starting a new post titled Adventure Profiles. This will be a sub-series where I will interview others who are already established in an adventure sport, journalistic work, or both. My first interview will be coming up soon and will feature Jon Miller, producer of The Rest of Everest (therestofeverest.com), a video podcast on the topic of mountaineering. Lots of milestones coming up for me.

P.S. I realize there is a problem with this post. I will attempt to fix it, but in the mean time this will have to suffice.

Snowbound Mishaps and Magic

Living in the mountains of southern California is great. While much of the state braces in the midst of wide-spread flooding, we get to bask in the warm glow of morning snow.

The snow began late Tuesday morning, and has hardly ceased. Being a senior of Frazier Mountain High School, this means many great things. We were released at 12:30 on Tuesday, because of the large volume of snow that had already fallen to that point. Today was a snow day, and we have already received the call stating tomorrow's snow day as well. Snow days are incredible.

A typical snow day for me consists of guilt free laziness. Aside from a few household chores, lengthened slightly by the snow, I am free to do as I please. Chores consist of maintaining a fire (as per winter days), standard mealtime chores, and shoveling out the car.

Today, even after shoveling out the car, it was still stuck. 2 inches of ice, and nothing to use to gain more traction means our Subaru Forester is imprisoned in the drive way. However, our poor dog, Kramer, was low on food. I decided I would trek the half mile down to the store to pick up the few things we needed. Upon the failure to rescue the Sube, my mom decided to join me.

The walk was largely uneventful, with a couple exceptions. The first being the store's closure. The very reason for our evening ice stroll was closed for the night, we guessed for a lack of customers. Second, I lost one of my ice cleats. They are a simple rubber webbing with 6 strategically placed spikes that pull over the boot to help on ice. I had been checking every few hundred feet, but it just happened to fall off. We turned back to search. The light of my headlamp not bright enough in the search. As we continued walking, what else turned the corner but a snow plow! The search became dire. I had seconds to find my cleat before it was consumed by the snow plow and lost until the eventual snow melt. Closer it got, I looked more frantically. Nothing. Closer still, and still nothing. 25 feet, and still nothing. Found it! Completely in the path of the plow and only moments before missing one left cleat and having one cleat left. Crisis (however small) averted. Time to head home to the cozy fire and the soon hungry dog. Sorry Kramer. Tomorrow for sure.

Otherwise, the snow is incredible. It's always amazing how fast the mountain can change. I only wish I had some skis... And knew how to use them.

College and the Rest of My Life

This is not a story of adventure sports, but rather of new adventures I soon face. I've been accepted to Cal State Northridge, and plan to attend in the fall to major in journalism. What a world of new experiences awaits me. I'm so excited to see what life has in store. What is college going to be like? What is it going to be like moving away from home? What is it going to be like moving in with complete strangers? I just have to wait and see. It will be a grand chapter in my life, whatever happens.

Weather today, and probably for the rest of the week, rainy. No outdoor training for me. Oh well. I'm working on plans for camping next weekend, if weather permits.

Camping Follow Up

Taken while on a hike on Saturday, January 2nd.

The camping trip with Naturalist For You (NFY) [www.naturalist-for-you.org] on January 1st to January 3rd was spectacular. To share my boundless experience in this blog would be impossible, however I will share an overview of the weekend.

The weekend began at the Chuchupate Ranger Station in Lockwood Valley, California. Here, we met and Joel Robinson, the guide and naturalist trainer for the weekend, took our information. Following this, the five volunteer naturalist trainees, myself included, and Joel heard a presentation by Alan Salazar on the Chumash natives. I was intrigued to hear the history of the tribe that used to live in the mountains I currently roam. Their stories and their seemingly endless, yet harmonious, uses for the world around them were a wonder and Alan was a wealth of knowledge on the subject. [Side note: Alan Salazar can be found at www.chumashstories.com.]

After this, we went on a short tour around the ranger station, where Joel told us about the local plants and I got the opportunity to eat the first of many new food sources that I had never thought of. Pine needles. Needles from the piñon pine tree have a surprisingly refreshing citrus flavor. However, I have to caution you to eat them at your own risk.

From here, we went to our campsite and got settled in for the night. We made camp, which consisted of 4 separate tents, a small fire pit, and, eventually, a very warm fire for the freezing nights. That night, we went on a nocturnal hike after sundown, ate dinner, and talked about the many subjects of life around the camp fire well into the night.

The next morning began with the sort of comfort and serenity that only comes from spending extended periods of time in nature. The day was spent hiking and learning to identify local flora and fauna.

The evening was spent around the campfire talking and eating. Eventually, drums emerged and we all had fun with the freedom of music. Later in the evening, Sarah-Jane, another of the trainees, told us a native story, then introduced us further into native culture. Take this next bit as you like. It delves into the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of native life. We went on a journey. Not of the physical, but of the spiritual. In a meditative state, as taught by Sarah-Jane, we searched for our spirit animals. This was a very interesting experience, though in all honesty, I don't know how much I truly believe. In any case, through my journey I discovered I had two spirit guides; Eagle and Wolf.

Sunday was spent with further hiking and learning of the local environment. In the afternoon, each trainee made an Interpretive presentation, and graduated from the training course.

I am now a volunteer naturalist with NFY and I can't wait to guide my first tour. This weekend gave me many incredible memories and also connected me to more people who can help me on the path to my goals.