Rifugio Mestdagh

Climbing in Fremont Canyon, WY

2010-08-26T20:54:00.002-06:00

Fremont Canyon is a special place. It's a narrow granite gorge channeling the North Platte River. The North Platte (wikipedia) is one heck of an interesting river. It takes a long time and 3 states, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, before if finally marries the South Platte to form the Platte.

Mia & I haven't climbed there for at least 15 years. Besides a new picnic shelter and crapper, it hasn't changed much. The river was big this year. Imagine getting lowered to a spot 100' above the river and hoping you can climb back out!

The climbing is definitely scenic, as well as the camping. You can't see the gorge behind our camp but it's there and 250' deep at that!

A few more pics are here! There's even a decent climbing pic that Julia captured - to prove we are still at it. Oh yeah, definitely look at these guys and how they bring their dogs on their ATVs. I couldn't stop laughing!

Julia starts 3rd Grade!

2010-08-26T20:43:00.002-06:00

Julia is getting big! She is SO excited to start 3rd grade. Here she is at the bus stop. Don't laugh at those legs. They are made of steel and can out hike most of you! haha

Family Canyon Trip - Snow, Fun & a Pileup!

2010-05-17T21:31:00.010-06:00

The canyon we did was great - Angel Cove Canyon!

Gettting there and getting back was heck though. Vail Pass was closed driving out, so we had to take the South detour over Fremont Pass to Leadville, then Tennesse Pass to Minturn where we connected back to I-70. Luckily the passes weren't bad.

I mention only one canyon because it rained early Sunday morning. Bob, Leila & Garrett left, then it started snowing. As we were 10 miles from blacktop, we got decided to get out while we could.

Except for the driving, everyone had fun. The kids really enjoyed the slides in the canyon and playing in a big sand dune afterwards. Leila had some fun of her own!

We salvaged Sunday w/ a hike at Fisher Towers. The towers are amazing! We saw a climber summit the thin corkscrew tower. This tower is called Ancient Art. Click on the picture for a larger view. You'll see the sheen off the climber's helmet.

We were lucky driving home. Between Copper Mountain & Frisco, it was a blizzard of horizontal snow and a whiteout in places. A westbound driver waved us to slow down. I couldn't see anything ahead but I started carefully pumping the breaks. Then we saw the problem. A semi had jack knifed across I-70. Cars were piling into each other, right & left of us, along the sides of the road to avoid hitting the truck. Of course, this left me to drive the ever narrowing funnel - which ended at the semi. Nowhere to go but forward - unless I wanted to pile into the cars along the side of the road. I thought I should have stopped 1/4 mile earlier so I must have been sliding quite a bit. I was focused on stopping and that I did - 15 feet in front of the truck. I yelled for Mia & Julia to get their coats and shoes on because we were bailing out of the truck before someone crashed into us - from behind. Luckily Mia saw a pickup threading it's way around the semi and through the ditch to the safe side of the semi. We followed and parked - breathing a sigh of relief. Then we got out to help others. I've never felt so helpless. Parents and kids in shock - walking around barefoot. A woman dropped a cell phone in my hands. She could no longer hold the phone. 911 was on the other end. I tried to describe the 40 car or so pileup and it's location, when the adrenaline started to subside and I started shaking. We helped the family back into the car as the EMTs arrived. Other people brought blankets for the family. We could have done that but were too shaken up. The EMTs had worked their way here from the uphill side. No fatalities at least. They said everyone was being cared for so we drove off - leaving dozens of wrecks in our wake. We offered rides to many but people needed to stay with their vehicles. We were the only East bound car on the road as we passed another small pileup Westbound. None of this even made the news. Too many accidents to cover on a nice spring day in May - May 2nd.

Much thanks to Dave Pimental for his writeup of this and other canyons here.

All pics are here, with a fun slideshow (only 19 pics) here!

Spring BoyZ Canyoneering Trip

2010-04-28T21:31:00.004-06:00

Here's a fun slideshow of our canyoneering trip to Utah. Bob Wood, Chris Haaland, Roger Schimmel w/ the new canyoneer Chris Kulish participating. Your favorite subject, Steve Mestdagh was along too. We did the 2nd fork of D Canyon the first day and Boss Hog the 2nd day. I had forgotten how fun Boss Hog was!

Julia's 8th Birthday & Slumber Party

2010-04-19T16:02:00.003-06:00

We didn't really know what we were getting into. Really we didn't. Nine girls overnight couldn't be that bad. First there was playing on the tree fort. The pic below shows Haley climbing up, Kyle sliding down.

Then face painting. Amanda was the expert face painter. She did Julia and a bunch of the girls. I should have taken a picture of the result of Amanda's face after Mia botched it. Luckily Amanda did not hesitate to wash it off immediately. Pictured below is Amanda, Calley and Julia.

Musical chairs followed. This turned very competitive but ended short of blood staining our asphalt. Following is a video of the training session. I decided to delete the competitive video (ahem .. some may call it evidence) of charming 7-8 year old girls head butting each other and chairs flying against the house. This behavior might have been induced by blasting Linkin Park's New Divide.

Then there was the whacking of the piñata shown here by Jamie. Note the whacking stick is only a blur.

Then make your own grilled pizza, present exchange, roasted marshmellows, searching for tooth brushes, brushing teeth, searching for animals the kids couldn't sleep without, then sleep .. or NOT as the case would be when you have wall to wall mattresses and futons.

Then there was the episode of the horned monster which floated in the air followed by one call home by a crying child. We were worried that if one left, they would all leave. After that was the 10:30pm snack. They they escorted each other to the bathroom until 1 am in the morning. (See mention of monster above.)

Then it was quiet until 4 am. I woke at 4 and wondered what happened? Did they die of Carbon Monoxide poisoning? I could see the national headlines .. then I fell back to sleep exhausted.

Luckily, they were not so active the next morning.

Although later some caught a 2nd wind.

The full set of pics are here!

Spring Break in Arizona

2010-04-06T20:58:00.003-06:00

1. The start of our Arizona spring break trip before it really started snowing, 2. Steve & Jula having breakfast, 3. Steve climbing at the West side of Cochise Stronghold, 4. Mia & Julia @ Saguara NP East, 5. Julia leading a 5.7, 6. Montezuma's Castle

What a week! A big snow snow storm hit Thursday night and continued all day on Friday. We picked up Julia from school and headed South on Friday afternoon. Of course, Raton Pass on the Colorado/ New Mexico border was closed. We bought some toys for Julia and a Rain-X wiper at the Walmart, in Trinidad, while we waited. Don't bother w/ Rain-X wipers. They're good only for throwing up in the air and shooting w/ a shotgun. I'm glad I only bought one. After a few hours, the pass briefly opened so we could sneak through. We stopped at Motel 6 in Raton exhausted from the stressful driving. At least I was exhausted. Then Julia got sick - and not just a little. It was good we were not camping out. I'd be the one outside with her when she was doing her duty from both ends in 15 deg weather and howling winds. Lucky we were, alright.

The drive South thru New Mexico was incredibly beautiful with all the snow in the junipers and pines. I've never seen so much snow at low elevations. I'm sure the cars decorating the roadside landscape didn't think it was pretty though. One accident closed down I-25 just North of Sante Fe. A half hour wait and we again pointed the juggernaut South toward nice weather and dry roads - which occurred at Albuquerque.

We arrived at Cochise Stronghold, in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona, that evening. Yes, this was the hideout & eventual burial ground of Chief Cochise of the Chiricahua Apache. (Interesting history of Cochise here.) The location of his grave is a secret. The ones that buried him took this secret to their graves.

During our stay, Mia picked up Julia's sickness. The whole east side campsite, heard all about it. The next day was my turn.

Between climbing at the east and west sides of Cochise Stronghold, we camped deep in the Chihuahuan desert. Ten miles from Mexico and nothing around but Creosote bushes and Ocotillo. The sunset, stars and sunrise were spectacular. We hit Bisbee and Tombstone during this diversion also. The Queen Copper Mine Tour at Bisbee was worthwhile but the mining museum was even better. Driving North to the West side of the Stronghold, there was a town called Tombstone. Tombstone labels itself as "the town too tough to die" and is where Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday,Virgil and Morgan Earp fought the Clantons and McLaurys on October 26, 1881. Indeed, gunshots echo throughout the town as you, and modern day gunslingers, walk the boardwalk. Re-enactments of this famous gunfight happen daily. Step right up!

The west side of the Stronghold was very remote. We saw few people and no climbers. The climbing at the Stronghold was good but we only grazed the flanks of this convoluted range. On this trip we only did sport routes but we'll be back for longer routes when Julia is older.

A couple days near Tucson finally gave us the warm weather we were hoping for. Tucson has great climbing & hiking. We did a bit of each. Driving back home we stopped at Montezuma's Castle. This was a neat place. Julia received a junior ranger badge from the ranger Mary White, who showed her how to make a God's Eye - like the Indian children of the past.

The full set of trip pictures are here!

Julia's 1st ski tour

2010-01-03T15:31:00.002-07:00

We have been hesitating to get Julia out ski touring because it means a second set of ski equipment. Kids grow out of equipment every year or 2 so the cost adds up. Anyway, we rented some skinny skis and headed for East Portal - near Rollinsville. As we neared Nederland, it was obvious East Portal would be too windy. We detoured to the town of Eldora and skied West. Julia had fun - especially on the way down. She's used to having her heels fixed to her skis so she fell A LOT! There were more rocks in the snow, in the parking lot, than I remembered. I was going way too fast, hit the embedded rocks and crashed badly. I've been doing that a lot lately - crashing, I mean.

Here's a shot of a bundled Julia.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T15:18:00.004-07:00

A loving family, a white christmas, a nice tree and good friends. What more can you ask for .. except nearby relatives? Here's a slide show of a dozen pics and a short video of our 32 person sit down dinner. After starting the slideshow, click the symbol in the lower right of the slideshow screen to view full screen.

Deep into Robber's Roost Country

2009-12-16T17:48:00.006-07:00

We went deep in Robber's Roost - out to the Orange Cliff / High Spur area. 60 miles off pavement to get in. Chris, Sara & Emma Haaland went with us. Beautiful Utah country.

The girls had to take turns going first. Somehow Emma slipped by Julia. This didn't go over well with Julia. That's what is going on in this photo.

We did most of the E Fork of Big Spring Canyon, along with the W Fork. We climbed out fo the East Fork when we got to a swimmer pothole. It looked like it was getting nasty after that. Nasty meaning wet, narrow and too hard for the kids. NE Spur Fork was a great canyon also w/ some good narrows at the beginning and end.

All the pics here!
Slideshow here.

Thanksgiving 2009!

2009-12-04T17:41:00.002-07:00

We had a great time in Illinois this year. Trips to Chicago. Great Greek food. Set Dad & Mom up with a new computer - 23" monitor. Coming up is Dad's 80th birthday. He'll be able to keep up w/ everyone on Facebook. We swung by St. Louis on the way back for an evening and morning. Good to see Janet & the kids and Tom. They're great! We wish we could spend more time with everyone.

Here's some more pics of Thanksgiving day.

Julia's First Lead

2009-11-02T18:20:00.002-07:00

Julia led her first climb - Sep 27, 2009! We were not pushing for this. It just happened .. It was bolted of course and the draws were in place as you can see. She top roped it first and I was at the top to provide encouragement and photo documentation.

It was a newly developed 5.6 climb in Boulder Canyon. More pics HERE!

The Tetons

2009-09-28T20:44:00.003-06:00

The Tetons are beautiful in any weather which was good because we didn't see them often. Lot's of clouds and rain. As usual, we didn't know when we'd end up in the Tetons so we didn't have camp reservations. We found the perfect camp outside the park along a braided river. Nice view to wake up to!

The highlight of the Tetons was a canoe trip on Jackson Lake. We had planned to do a few pitches on lower Guide's Wall but the weather wasn't stable enough. This was Julia's first time in a canoe. She did well. She paddled for about 1/2 hour with papa helping in the back.

We drove home via the hot springs at Saratoga and the Snowy Range. The Snowy Range drive was new to us and very cool. Alpine out your car door.
More pics here!

Thermopolis to Cody to Gardiner, Montana

2009-09-27T17:37:00.014-06:00

After climbing in Tensleep Canyon, we had a nice stop at Thermopolis (map). Thermopolis (thermopolis.com) has a lot of cool things nearby but we were after the hot springs! The State Bath House is free but we went next door for the big slide. Julia has been here before. There's no talking her out of the big slide. The big slide used to be really fast and scary. Too fast in my opinion. They must have reduced the water flow because it was not so bad now - or maybe I'm getting bolder in my old age!

We ended up camping West of Cody at Buffalo Bill State Park. We found a beautiful camp on the lake and Julia could ride her bike around. Cody is a pretty cool tourist town - one of the larger towns in the state at a population about 9300. We climbed for half a day before heading North on one of the most scenic drives I've done in years. The Chief Joseph Scenic Highway links Cody, WY & Cooke City, MT. One of the impressive places we drove is over a bridge spanning the Clark's Fork (of the Yellowstone, of course).

Last time I was in Cooke City was a summer between college years - late '70s. Cooke City is still a small town but bigger than I remember. It is hemmed in by mountains. Sun is scarce. I'm sure the winter population is under a 100. On that trip, it was a jumping point into the Beartooth Mountains - a 10 day mountaineering trip - and what a trip!

We drove throught the Silver Gate (NE gate) into Yellowstone. Fascinating! In the 1st 2 hours we saw a black bear, a bear that was brown that might have been a small grizzly, hundreds of buffalo, a pronghorn antelope and an elk. Yeah, it was evening - the viewing time but still ...

Yellowstone camping was filled so we continued to Gardiner, MT, (map) and looked for a camp site. The official ones were full. So we headed North on logging roads looking for perfect site .. and looking. We didn't find the perfect site but we found a damn good one. With the clouds rolling in and out and the view .. well, make sure you click on the picture below.

I have to say, we were a bit worried about Grizzly. This was Griz country for sure and there was no one around for 10 miles. We cleaned up and packed everything in the truck. As we went to sleep, I heard a long, drawn out sound. Not really a howl but sort of. I know what fox, lions and bears sound like but this was different. I went to sleep dreaming of wolves!

More pics here - includes the rest of Yellowstone we saw (a very small portion).

Big Horn Range, Wyoming - Climbing & Hiking

2009-08-18T20:57:00.002-06:00

We were only here for 3 days but I'm excited to go back. We stopped for breakfast in downtown Buffalo. There was a festival that day. We saw the bed races. Imagine a group of adults or kids pushing a bed full speed down a steep street. Amazing no one was hurt.

Buffalo also hosts one of the best all around sports stores I've seen - the Sports Lure. You walk in and see a full display of fishing gear, tied flies, 100s of guns etc. This is what I'd expect to see in a decent Wyoming sport store. (Well, maybe not so many guns but ..) Further back are tents, sleeping bags, outdoor clothes & shoes, maps, hiking & climbing guides, then the team goods for baseball, basketball etc. It was not a big store either. REI watch out!

Mia felt like hiking the first day in the Bighorns so we drove to Circle Park and hiked to a lake well below Bighorn Peak. Looking up, the trained eye picks out numerous alpine lines waiting to be done. I'm sure some of them have been climbed but this area doesn't even have a climbing guide in print. Out of print, yes. We just need more time and someone to watch Julia at the tent.

We climbed in Tensleep Canyon for the next few days. A few climbing pics and more scenery here. Yes, we're working with Julia to take some climbing shots of us. They are getting better.

Climbing & hiking above the Arkansas River valley

2009-08-13T20:16:00.002-06:00

We did a couple nice weekend trips in July. (I know it's August but the more fun we have the less time I have for recording it.) We climbed at Monitor Rock for a day and hiked to Independence Lake (West side of Independence Pass) and spent a night and day near Cottonwood Pass. ( Click on the pics for larger views of life! )

The hike to Independence Lake starts w/ a creek cascading down to the road. Can't beat that for a start. Here's shot of Mia & Julia at the lake:

Yes, those blue skies and clouds are what makes Colorado.

Camping doesn't suck too bad either. Here's our camp below Independence Pass:

and our camp below Cottonwood Pass:

More pics here

Climbing in Maple Canyon, Big Cottonwood and a Bat Attack in City of Rocks

2009-07-16T20:42:00.007-06:00

Starting w/ a camp east of the San Rafael Swell (map), in Utah, this was a great trip. We climbed a few days at Maple Canyon, just west of Freedom (map). The camping has no views except trees - which makes it marginal (in my opinion) but the climbing makes up for it. Amazingly steep climbing on cobbles. My arms were worthless by the 3rd day.

Next up was Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City. This was new terrain for us. A family we met at Maple recommended a 3 pitch 5.6 route on Dead Snag Crag. It was an excellent pick - see first picture. Even better, Julia made a friend at camp. We had a nice camp in the Aspens and the kids ran around with a compass and whistle so they wouldn't get lost. The noisy road thru the canyon was the only detraction. Many people must live near the ski areas above.

We drove over the pass to Park City the next day. Pretty area. Ski areas everywhere! We stocked up at the farmer's market and and checked out the 2002 Olympic ski jumps. The Australian team was training. They practice jumping into an aerated pool. When they came off the big jump, this was pretty exciting. There's a great ski museum too.

Onto City of Rocks National Reserve in Idaho. This is a special place. It's way rural and very beautiful. One very unusual thing happened here - bat attack!

I had climbed up about a 100 ft up to the belay. A bat lands on the rock in front of me, shows it's fangs and starts squeaking at me. It doesn't stop. I start yelling at it. Mia yells up that she's climbing and she doesn't get the appropriate response because I'm busy w/ the bat. (I'm not making this up! ) I look down to make sure she's not climbing and then see that the bat is gone .. but it's not over. The bat had jumped onto my shirt. With one hand, I pull my shirt away from my body. With the other hand I start pummelling it w/ my climbing gear. The bat is still there so I grab it by the tail and toss it. It plummets to the ground without opening it's wings. I figure it's dead. I belay Mia up as weather moves in. We rappel off to avoid the rain and I search for the bat. I find it and it's dead. Mia, and my daughter Julia, wander over and the bat starts moving. That's all the sign we need. We get out of there.

We had a couple of thunderstorms accompanied by series of rainbows. Oh yeah, the climbing was good too. Look at the last picture and you'll see Julia about half way up.

The album of pics is here!

June Climbing Trips - finally!

2009-06-26T06:19:00.004-06:00

After couple of days climbing locally, it seems my tendonitis is holding up. It's been about 19 months since I've climbed consistently. I'm hoping it's not a "false summit" - like 2 other times.

So AWAY we GO on climbing trips! Yeah - easy climbing for me. First trip was to Shelf Road - between Canon City and Cripple Creek. Here's a few pics I shot and this is a fun video I shot of Julia climbing. Turn up the volume and you'll hear the never ending song of birds.

Last weekend's trip was to Vedauwoo. Vedauwoo is a special place between Cheyenne and Laramie. Beautiful granite formations among meadows, Ponderosa, Fir and Aspens. The Coopers family - Tom, Karen & Jessica, joined us. Pics are here . This is a great shot of Jessica climbing.

Memorial Day Utah & Canyoneering Trip - 2009

2009-06-01T21:22:00.005-06:00

Although wet and muddy, this was a great trip! Clare Shemeta & her kids, Mia & Russell joined us for the weekend. A muddy camp in in front of the San Rafael Reef got the trip off to a .. well muddy start.

We did a fun loop hike in Natural Bridges Nat. Park between Sipapu Bridge and Kachina Bridge. The water really added to the beauty.

In spite of the weather, we mnaged to squeeze Fry Canyon in. The kids kept saying "Awesome" as we got underway. When we had to swim the wet sections, the reactions varied between kids. I caught a nice one of Julia here:

More pics HERE!

Bear!

2009-06-01T20:53:00.003-06:00

BEAR! I heard something at the front door. Too late for a human visitor so it must be an animal. Yep. I see it now. Black and about 2 feet high at the shoulder - a yearling.

.. and it was heading for the garage .. which was open .. which had garbage. Dang! By the time I ran to the other end of the house, the bear was dragging the garbage can outside. Mia started banging pots while I stepped into the garage (w/ door in hand) to see who intimidated who more. The bear stood it's ground. I looked around for something to throw but couldn't find anything close. I knew that if the bear got the lid off the can, it would be a problem forever. Finally, it backed off as I yelled from the top of the stairs and Mia dented the pans together. Finally, I rescued the can but the bear was holding it's ground about 15 feet away. I pulled the can inside and shut the garage door as it finally ran off.

I love bears but I think this one is going to be a pest.

Sig Papp - Enjoying new mountain ranges in heaven

2009-05-30T20:14:00.003-06:00

Today was Sig's memorial service. Sig was 67. He was the first to show me there's more than climbing crags and technical routes in the peaks. He died suddenly of a heart attack.

Sig introduced me to 14'eers and the Utah desert. From Castle Peak to the traverse of the Maroon Bells (including a biviouac) to my first trip to Canyonlands National Park. We did the Notch Couloir on Long's Peak and there were the weekly after work climbing days with the Rocky Flats Mountaineering club. We did a an incredible week of backpacking in the Sangre de Cristo Range .. and a winter camp below St. Mary's glacier - Lot of drinking & chess on that trip.

We ski toured well before wide skiis and plastic boots. It might have been a day trip to Indian Peaks, the Commando Run or a few days at the Tagert hut (before the 10th Mountain hut system) above Aspen.

Usually there were no lack of people on these trips .. and no lack of laughter and beer back at camp. Sig was an explorer. He'd always get out and see something he'd never seen before .. shared with good friends.

It was bittersweet to go the the memorial service and reception afterwards. It was good to see his wife, Ellen & his "kids", Mike and Kathy. It was good to see many colleagues and comrades from our prior work - Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapon facility. Many of these people had been on this trips and I haven't seen many of them for at least 14 years. I'm making plans with some of them for a fall trip to Utah. Sig would like that.

Well Sig, bye for now and thanks for the great times ...

Julia's 7th Birthday

2009-05-26T20:17:00.004-06:00

We lost count of the kids Julia invited. Luckily it was outside - and the weather was decent. We had a treasure hunt, a relay race with 2 wooden spoons holding a potato (not as easy as it sounds), a tug of war and the usual whack the piñata for food supplies - I mean candy!!

It was a riot! That's Julia in front during the tug of war. Guess who is on the other end? Me! I was slowly losing. Then Mia joined in on the girls side and they dragged me through the dirt. Dang. I thought age and technique ruled over youth & power ..

More pics are here.

Julia wants pierced ears

2009-04-09T16:48:00.003-06:00

6 YO Daughter: Mama, can I have my ears pierced?
Mama: It's ok w/ me but talk to your papa.
6 YO Daughter: Papa, can I have my ears pierced?
Me: Sure, no problem
6 YO Daughter: Thanks Papa. You're a good papa.
... she skips away
... she skips back
6 YO Daughter: Can we go now?
Me: Now? I was thinking when you're 12 years old
6 YO Daughter: Papa! We need to talk! I want them pierced for my 7th birthday.
Me: Oh, that's different. What about 11 years old?
6 YO Daughter: Everyone in my class has pierced ears.
Me: You don't want to be the same as everyone else do you?
6 YO Daughter: Papa!
Me: What about 10 years old?
6 YO Daughter: Papaaaa !!!

It's looking bleak for me with the 2 gals against me. I'm saving my best line for last though: "I own your ears until you are 12 years old! ;-)

Cooking & Music without Mama

2009-02-24T21:53:00.003-07:00

As we drove home after Julia's climbing practice, we talked about dinner. It became very apparent that Julia believes she is much better cook than I. Now that wouldn't take much but I certainly can cook better than a 6 year old. I couldn't shake her belief though. She told me about when she showed me how to separate an egg (true but ..) etc.

Not wanting to discourage her, I moved the subject to music. We drove home, into the foothills, accompanied by Grateful Dead. I like the Dead much more now than when I was younger. Julia confirmed that appreciation of the Dead is indeed age dependent. She gave it a thumbs down.

Going home to bury Peter

2009-02-23T06:38:00.002-07:00

This morning, Mia is flying home to Schönau am Königsee to bury her brother, Peter. She called her Dad this morning. He said it'll be his greatest joy to see her. I hope she can find some joy within this time of sorrow.

I'll be home working and taking care of Julia, by myself, for the week. This will not be a walk in the park but we will have fun too.

Peter Stocker - ripped out of the middle of his life

2009-02-20T16:39:00.005-07:00

Today is a very sad day in our lives. We received news that my brother, Peter, died unexpectedly last night. A autopsy will be done on Monday. He most likely died from a heart attack. He was in top shape and only 42 years old. Nobody would have expected him to have a heart attack. Even doctors did not diagnose it in time.

We will all miss him dearly. It will be especially hard for his girl friend of 25 years, Moni, and his 5-year old daughter Anna.

Peter, keep an eye out on for your little girl wherever you are.

More pictures of Peter and family are here.

Ford vehicles & Starr's Clothing

2009-02-09T21:19:00.003-07:00

Our 2001 Ford Focus blew a radiator hose. Of course, this didn't happen nearby or during business hours. I drove the truck down to Broomfield and we nursed the Focus back to Boulder with help of a 5 gallon water jug and duct tape. While this wasn't that expensive, it was catastrophic. Lucky that we weren't driving in a remote area.

This is the 3rd time, we've had a problem with the Focus. The first was front suspension - expensive. The 2nd was a blown thermostat gasket which resulted in catastrophic radiator fluid loss - also expensive. Both turn out to be common Focus problems. This car has only has 70k miles! Our last Ford, a 1994 Escort had 140K miles before we sold it. Not one major problem with the Escort. Seems like Ford is on a downhill slide. Ford (fix or repair daily) will have to come up with something I really want before I buy another vehicle from them. Ford, are you listening?

On a positive note, I stopped by Starr's Clothing on Pearl Street today. Starr's is a local & independent Boulder clothing company. I ALWAYS walk out with more clothing than I intended buying - and I HATE shopping. Starr's has a great selection with great service! Support them!

A Nice Day to Drop Off the Mail

2009-01-27T20:28:00.007-07:00

Bluebird Skies and 5°F - a nice day to walk the mail to the mailbox. A fire cranking in the wood stove .. this is why we live where we live.

Wind, Bobcat & Fire - An Interesting Day

2009-01-09T16:09:00.003-07:00

Wind and more wind, day after day .. then it got bad. A nice Spruce was uprooted. Shingles are everywhere. Then the snow machine blew over .. twice. Mr Bobcat showed up outside my window in the morning also. It was watching me before I looked over my laptop out the window. Few people get to see one so close. It was about 8 feet away. I called Mia over to share the view. Pics of all below.

In the afternoon, the wind blew down a power line which started a fire. 11,000 + homes were evacauated. We were to the South but we kept a close eye on it. It came within about 1-1/2 miles of us. Wild day!

The Night of the Mountain Lions

2008-12-02T17:48:00.009-07:00

Bill & I were coming home after a Utah canyoneering trip. I was driving Bill's Forerunner when this lion jumped in front of me. I didn't even have a chance to brake. After a lot of noises and bouncing lion, I could finally stop. We ran back up I-70 to check on the lion and pull if off the road if it was dead. Bill waved the flashlight to ward off traffic when I realized I didn't have the time to test the deadness factor. The traffic was scary close and scary fast. I grabbed the hind legs and pulled the sucker off the road. Luckily it didn't even raise it's head. What a beautiful animal! And oh my, the paws were huge.

Unfortunately this beautiful animal was going to cause us a lot of pain. This incident occurred on I-70 between Georgetown and the Eisenhower tunnel. We got back to the car and checked out the front end. Antifreeze was draining down the road. Much of the bumper and steel supporting structure was gone. The steering components and skid plate were also busted up. Of course I don't have a cell phone and Bill's ran out of juice as we were deciding who to call.

After 1/2 hour, a couple of state troopers pulled up, looked over the cat and took our story down. They also called a tow shop in Idaho Springs. The rest of the story involves the mysterious lost car key, the story of Idaho Springs resident, Scott Lancaster, who was killed by a lion back in 1991 and how the $5500 car damages will be paid for. I finally got home at 1:30am instead of 9:30pm.

Oh .. and to top it off ... on the way back to Boulder, I saw 2 more lions crossing the road North of the aggregate plant on Rt 93. In the last 9 years, I've seen 2 lions. Now in one night, I see 3 more lions. It was surely the NIGHT OF THE MOUNTAIN LIONS ...

Boating the Colorado - West of Loma

2008-10-02T20:22:00.003-06:00

This was a great trip between Loma, CO (map) and Westwater, UT (map). We had a two nights on the river. The kids had a riot in camp and in the boats and sometimes just swimming. The picture to the left captures Julia and Garett paddling. Suprisingly they even look sychronized.

Thanks to Chris & Bob for the boats and to Chris for setting things up and organizing the equipment.

Slideshow is here! Pics are here!

Crestone Music Festival

2008-09-30T18:39:00.001-06:00

Crestone is a pretty special place for music. The music could suck, which it didn't, and it would still be great! We were there for day 2 of 3 and saw Eileen Ivers and others.

Mia was just getting over her plantar fasciitis and blew her foot out on the first dance. Imagine the disabled (me) helping a cripple to the health center .. Mia wouldn't let me toss her over me shoulder. She had to hop! It was like a 3 legged race at a county fair.

More pics here!

Julia's First Day of 1st Grade

2008-08-28T17:31:00.001-06:00

A few more pictures of Julia's first day are here!

Chalk Creek Pass and a Marmot

2008-07-24T20:26:00.003-06:00

After climbing at Monitor Rock and a stop at Princeton Resort Hot Springs we looked for a camp up Chalk Creek. All four National Forest camps had signs out - Campground Full. Luckily we don't need any smoky official campground to stay in. We headed higher and passed St. Elmo, an old mining town. We took the junction toward Hancock Lake. After many bumps, we started to find sites but they were taken. I was the master camp finder and not worried but it was getting late! I found a side road and put the truck into 4x4 for a bumpy but worthwhile cruise to one of the best campsites of recent memory. Certainly the best of this year. The picture shows us at timberline, about 11,500 ft. with a little receding sunlight. It doesn't get much better.

The next day we hiked up Chalk Creek Pass. A visitor suprised us at lunch. It hesitantly approached as Julia shot pictures. She captured the marmot pretty well, I'd say.

One more amazing thing we saw is a collapsing mining structure. This thing was just about to fall on the road! See this and other pics here!

A day hike to 12,316

2008-07-22T18:59:00.004-06:00

Julia wanted a story. So I told a story about Rebecca, the miner's daughter, all the way to the summit. The story revolved around an old miner and a harmonica. Of course, the miner taught her how to play it. We took a wrong turn so we didn't see Rebecca's cabin, though. I've seen it in the past on ski tours. We'll have to do another hike to find it or maybe a ski tour when Julia gets older, as it's a tough descent.

The summit, 12,316, is in the background of the picture here. Beautiful day. Lot's of green but not like the green we experienced on our recent trip to Bavaria. It felt great to get high again. Colorado mountains are good too! Peak 12,316 is just south of Vasquez Peak between Berthoud Pass and Jones Pass.

More pics here!

Cuenca and the exit from Spain.

2008-06-21T20:50:00.003-06:00

Cuenca's old center bristles with medieval buildings perched above the deep gorges surrounding the town. The hanging houses, casas colgadas, are architecturally unique. They date from the 16th century and hang out high above the river below.

Cuenca (map) was a fun town to stroll around. Lot's of old buildings and even gargoyles to look at. I wish I had this door at home. More Cuenca pics here!

Later, on the outskirts of Madrid, we found a hotel near the airport. Hotels near airposts are expensive but we found one that was reasonable. It was the fanciest hotel we've stayed at - and the toilet had 2 buttons. One for a big flush (left button). One for a small flush (right button). Not the first time I've seen this in Europe but the first time I thought - Why can't we do this in the Western US (where water is precious?)

Madrid's Barajas airport's rental car return was a nightmare. We missed what turned out to be the only road to return the rental car. We spent spent the next hour trying to find our way back. There was only one road and you had to hit the master combination! The trick - Stay right and don't commit to a right turn until you see the small orange sign.

Spain was fun and such a huge, beautiful country .. we'll be back.

Montanejos & beyond

2008-06-21T18:36:00.000-06:00

1. Julia climbing at Montanejos, 2. Cliffs above the gorge, 3. Yikes, I think there's a reason for the NO TRESPASSING sign. Let's get out of here!, 4. Puebla de Arenosa above Montanejos, 5. Double aqueducts in an amazing location, 6. An aqueduct that was

Montanejos is a cool little town perched on the side of a hill. There's paved paths all over town. They are well used - especially to get to the warm springs. We stayed at the Rifugio at the base of a canyon. Climbs were just a short walk from here.

West of town is an amazing water project (#3 above). I haven't seen anything like this. Here's another pic which has a link to the corresponding satellite view.

Leaving Montanejos, we traveled the small and windy road towards Cuenco (the next post). Incredible scenery on the way - note the 2 lower pics above.

More Montanejos pictures here!

The Mystery of Peniscola's Castle

2008-06-18T20:24:00.004-06:00

We could have spent the trip climbing and exploring inland above Tarragona but we needed to see more of Spain. We drove South along the coast. The destination was Peñiscola which had a castle from the 14th century jutting above the old town.

First a little swimming was in order. We had learned that the spanish beaches are crazy busy with no parking so we scanned the map for road near the coast without a beach. We found a little cove where the waves wouldn't pulverize us against the rocks. Note the old town of Peñiscola in the background with the castle above it. Here's a close up satellite view of the castle. The castle was/is very defensible from the Mediterranean side as well as from land.

After swimming we found our way through the old town to the castle. It was a maze. It seemed like they wanted to keep people away from the castle. Even Papa Luna (Pope Benedict) seemed to be waving us away. As we entered the castle I wondered if an airborne virus had wiped out all the tourists. The place was eerily empty. There was no one but us. It was great but a little suspicious. We entered room after room and finally found the dungeons. Still no people but we found a human skeleton in an iron cage .. then we saw a knight templar (picture / wikipedia) hiding in the shadows. Did we walk thru a time warp? Yikes!

Once our eyes adjusted, we realized we were in a ... museum. And yes, the curator was at a desk in the next room and very much alive. Mystery solved. No airborne virus, no wayback machine to the 14th century. No need for me to break out my superhero costume ..

More Peñiscola shots here!

La Mussara - the wind, the history, the climbing

2008-06-17T20:26:00.001-06:00

We arrived at La Mussara in the clouds. We drove past the refugio to the ruins and had to backtrack. The ruins were cloaked in clouds. If we weren't tired and worried about a place to stay, we would have taken some pictures of the clouds swirling around the turret and broken stone walls.

We set up a tent at the refugio and had a great dinner there. Why cook when the food is good and relatively cheap? We climbed at a couple of the La Mussara TV crags. Nice view of the Mediterranean sea from the crags. We climbed there 2 days. It was wild to watch & feel the moisture laden clouds rolling in every afternoon. The temps dropped and it turned cold - even in the hut during dinner.

The ruins were pretty special and trails wound down the mountainside to villages 3000 ft below. The rest of our La Mussara pics are here!

What did I miss? Oh yeah, the endless windy roads getting to La Mussara from Rodellar. As the hours wore on, I pushed the speeds and the shifting on the mountain roads. It was fun until Julia let me know that all was not good. She puked on everything nearby in the backseat. Poor girl. She was a good sport though. We also went to the Med near Tarragona. It was fun swimming where we went but we drove throught the tourist area on the way back. It was uncomfortably crazy full of tourists. Back to the refugio we went.

Rained out in Rodellar

2008-06-14T20:41:00.004-06:00

We arrived in Rodellar, Spain excited but exhausted. Staying awake while driving from the Madrid airport was tough - except for the part where the police pulled me over for an alchohol test. If they would have known, they would not have pulled me over. They gave me a little plastic thing. I looked at him and asked if it was a kazoo. I blew one direction, then flipped it over. No sound in the other direction either. Looking serious now, he shook his head as he struggled to pull something off his belt. Finally he motioned I should put my device in the hole of this instrument he held. The hole was too small. I shrugged. He sighed. He motioned I should flip it over. Then the kazoo fit nicely. Finally, it dawned on the jetlagged driver, me, that this was an breathalyzer test - not a test of geometry. It took a couple of tries before I understood that the policeman was after duration - not pressure. Finally he waved me away with a shake of his head.

We arrived in Rodellar in shaky weather which turned worse. The campground served great food but was suprised we wanted it before 10pm. When we said early was fine, we were still served at 10pm. We found this was normal even if they spoke English - which was rare. It rained that night and the next day. We could have slept well except for the canyoneering groups partying. We finally had a talk with the closest group at 3am. They were still drinking. I was in a fighting mood. Mia was more diplomatic though and told them to go to beddy-bye. It appears that basic canyoneering in Spain is like frisbee in the U.S. - a fun thing to do but little commitment required. Canyon trailheads, which start in town, are well signed with maps, descriptions, equipment lists, rope length and self administered breathalyzer testing equipment etc. This is sort of cool, especially being able to drop into the canyons from a beautiful town. What a place to live!

We took a beautiful hike in the rain the next day. As we headed back out of the canyon at 1pm, we saw the canyoneering groups stumbling in. (They must have skipped the self administered breathalyzer test. hah!) The Pyrenees forecast was bleak and we only had a week in Spain, so we headed toward the coast - toward La Mussara.

More Rodellar pictures here!

Obituary of my Prosthetic Foot

2008-06-10T20:27:00.004-06:00

I was running back to the cave, with headlamps for the kids. I hear the sound of a gunshot coming from the ground. Everyone looked at me as I looked at my foot. I had a strong suspicion that it was not a gunshot but a catastropic failure of my Vari-flex carbon fiber foot. I took a tentative step and confirmed my foot was a goner. It had lived a long life and handled a lot of shit. 8-1/2 years is a pretty good life I'd guess.

Without further ado, here is my maximally delaminated foot. Luckily I had an old backup in the truck.

Spring in Dinosaur National Monument

2008-06-09T16:54:00.012-06:00

We've been to Dinosaur National Monument before but this trip was special. Maybe it was because it had been a long, cold winter and spring had not really taken hold .. The air was crisp. The flowers were abundant and the cloud shadows made for special views. Without a further attempt at inadequate prose, here's the Yampa River in full flood conditions. The Green River is making an entrance from the left. The confluence is near but out of sight.

Most of the following flower pictures were taken on the Sound of Silence trail - a nice 3 mile loop.

It was a great trip with the Coopers. Jessica and Julia have so much fun playing together. I'd really like to spend some time exploring here. So much to check out - especially off the beaten path. The last day my foot broke but that's another post.

The full set of pictures are here!

Rushing off to the last day of Kindergarden

2008-06-05T22:02:00.002-06:00

Where did the year go? She's so big!

The Department Mascot - Our Scorpion

2008-06-04T20:45:00.002-06:00

Once upon a time, I came back from a Utah trip with a scorpion - actually 2 scorpions and a huge, scary looking bug. The bug ate one of the scorpions - or maybe the scorpion escaped ... not a good thought.

Our department definitely needed a mascot. The scorpion was perfect. I put it in a terrarium and brought it in. From the start, the scorpion was "under-appreciated". While I thought it was the coolest mascot on the planet, my marketing job must not have been so great. A few people thought it was sort of cool but no one was ... really excited. I kept up my marketing job though and showed everyone that walked by my office. The word spread to the upper echelons of management as I stepped up my marketing job. We needed a cool mascot, right?

Finally our 3rd level manager, Lori Shaw, stopped by to see it. My manager, Diane McGinty, seemed to be ok with it. If Lori was cool, I might be able to keep it but this was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Mascot be damned. Mischievousness is 2nd nature to me so ..

Lori walked in and I displayed the terrarium w/ a sweep of my hand. Yep, our mascot is in there somewhere. Probably sleeping at this time of day. Let me see if I can find Mr. Scorpion. I looked this way and that way but I couldn't find the little guy. Finally I stood up, stepped back, looked at Lori, looked at the floor and pointed at her feet as I quickly jumped back and yelled "SCORPION". She jumped into the aisle as I roared out in laughter. She was a good sport and quickly recovered with a better appreciation of my humor or lack thereof.

A little before my fun stunt with Lori, I started hearing grumbling from my colleagues. Nothing direct but word got around. The word was 'Thumbs down' on the mascot. Just like in the Roman coliseums but the gladiator - our mascot - wouldn't stand a chance amoung the discord. I think it was Jim Logan, my 2nd level manager, who gave the final Thumbs Down. I relented and drove the little guy home as he wagged his stinger around and cried - "I was only trying to help". That was about the time when the shit hit the fan and our project & products were sold to CSG Systems. Oh, if we had only kept the magical mascot ..

For the record, this instance of "once upon a time" was autumn 1997.

Rafting the Colorado - Downstream of Kremmling

2008-05-27T21:02:00.004-06:00

Jaimie, Brianna and Ben-Ben invited us to on a raft trip near Kremmling. Down the Colorado River we went! Lots of fun. I might have to get those canoes from Dad.

More pics HERE!

Rappelling Off a Wedged Pebble

2008-05-20T16:37:00.004-06:00

This was one of our blitz weekend trips to Utah. The Haaland & Wood families brought their kids, Emma and Garett. Bob also brought his dog, Jupiter, which quickly stole my headlamp off the tailgate and it didn't stop there. Let's just say the the weekend was great .. otherwise!

We did the North Fork of No Man's Canyon on Saturday while Chris hiked with the kids. The high point was the 130 foot rap off a wedged pebble. It was backed by a small hex. This was one of my first undocumented descents a number of years ago.

Sunday we did the Lost Springs Fork (LSF) of the South Fork of Robber's Roost Canyon while the girls took the kids down the north variation. We met near the junction. The LSF is a nice bang for the buck with 4 short rappels and nice downclimbing. The kids had a lot of fun chimneying down the northern variation.

Pics here!

Snow in mid-May

2008-05-13T18:53:00.003-06:00

A late spring snow is not that unusual but it is getting a bit late. It has been a long winter. The first picture shows Daffodils in Mia's garden. I took that picture yesterday. It was a nice mid 60 degree day. The Daffodils are peaking about 3-1/2 weeks later than usual. Click the image for the full effect.

This second image shows the same view 24 hours later. The Daffodils are buried and flattened and most of the snow has already melted.

Julia's 6th Birthday

2008-05-01T21:07:00.003-06:00

Julia scored BIG on the dresses from her grandparents, aunt and us. I don't know why she's so much into dresses but it is what it is. Her friends gave her many fun gifts also. Take a look at that expression!

We were lucky with the weather. It was not too cold and not snowing. Good enough for whacking the pinata outside.

More pics here.

Spring Break 2008 Trip Mapped

2008-05-01T17:51:00.002-06:00

Here's the spring break trip route through New Mexico and Texas. The main destinations are labeled. See the browseable route here or for quicker gratification, just see the static screenshot below.

Heading home from 2008 Spring Break

2008-04-28T19:04:00.005-06:00

We took the slow route from Tajique to Sante Fe - the Turquoise Trail. Beautiful country! We had to walk around old town Sante Fe. Julia bought a bracelet from an Indian woman. Lunch at the La Fonda hotel. Sante Fe is always a joy.

We headed North along the Rio Grande and camped at the Wild Rivers Scenic Area. This is a BLM area. Our camp was spectacularly perched along the cliffs lining the Rio Grande. Another day here would have been nice but .. another time.

Our last day we headed towards Fort Garland and hopefully, cheaper oil. I couldn't bear to spend more than $4 a gallon for oil that we've been seeing in New Mexico. We rolled into the Fort at 624 miles to the tank and $3.99/gallon. The San Luis Valley is always a beautiful drive.

Pictures from the trip are HERE!

Military Checkpoint in New Mexico, Amerika!

2008-04-24T20:06:00.003-06:00

I couldn't believe it! Between Las Cruces and Alamogordo, we approached what appeared to be a border crossing. Not in America! I was pissed! We were at least 60 miles from the Mexican border - not that it should matter. We waited for the car in front of clear and then it was our turn. The soldier asked if we were U.S. citizens. I said my wife was German and he waived us through. I was too stunned to complain.

What has Bush and our administration wrought? I'm damn glad that citizens have the right to bear arms because I'm worried where our government is going.

That night, we had a nice camp at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, south of Alamogordo. There's a very nice visitor center and a trail which wanders through the lush vegetation by the creek. What I really want to do is a car shuttle and walk the trail down Dog Canyon National Recreational Trail. Julia wouldn't have much fun hiking up a steep 6 miles but the downhill .. that'd be fun.

We headed north through some beautiful country, Cloudcroft, Rudioso, Carrizozo, Mountainair and then weaved through the Spanish Land Grants near and north of Manzano. We finally found a camp in a closed Cibola National Forest campground west of Tajique. On the way we explored Gran Quivira, one of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monuments. This was a real treat from the historical end. It was also fun to run around the ruins after a day in the truck. Here is Julia in a massive unfinished church.

We were relieved, at the end of the day, to find the campground. The sun was down and it was getting cold. Everything is closed at this time of year. The gate was open on this one. We stayed at a nice site without snow and roasted marshmellows.

Last Chance Canyon and on to Texas

2008-04-14T21:17:00.004-06:00

The camp and trailhead to Last Chance canyon was high for these parts - near 7000 ft. There were icicles hanging off the Junipers and Pinyons as we set up camp. It cleared in the night when the wind came. The wind was constant after that but it did warm up nicely. Especially down in the canyon. Tendonitis forced me into belay duty. Climbing was good though. We'll be back.

After a couple days at Last Chance canyon, we moved on to the North Entrance of Guadalupe Mountain National Park. There were three other campers. The next morning, the others left leaving us. Imagine being alone in a National Park! Well there was one ranger .. Beautiful place. I'd like to do some backpacking here in the future.

After a hike, we drove through El Paso Gap to Dell City. As can be seen from this picture of the local school, it is a remote & dry region. We ended up at Hueco Tanks State Park (official site, climbing site), a mecca for bouldering. Even w/ my arm, I had to get on the rock a bit. FUN! This place is like a candy store. Here's a shot of Mia. Julia liked the bouldering too. We stayed at the park campground for a beautifully warm night w/ nice views across the valley. We drove by the private climber's camp on our way out. If you're really into the spray & beta scene it might be worth staying there but it's basically a dirt pile.

After bouldering, we headed into El Paso for the cultural experience. Quite a difference to look across the Rio Grande into Mexico. We had reached the apex of our journey South. From here, it was North for us.

Easter, miserable weather and the CAVE

2008-04-11T17:41:00.002-06:00

We camped East of Carlsbad Caverns NP in a somewhat desolate but warm desert basin. The weather didn't look promising but that was ok. It was Easter Eve! Julia & I explored while Mia cooked dinner.

I told Julia there were caves under our feet - as indeed there was. I had been here 10 years ago and w/ directions from a ranger camped next to a cave. After 10 years, I couldn't find the cave but we knew it was there.

I could see the weather move in overnight. Wind and cold with a light drizzle. It was going to be heck for the easter bunny to hide the eggs. Mia prodded the easter bunny out of bed in the morning. Twenty minutes later, a frozen bunny stumbled back in bed. Mission accomplished! Soon after, the easter egg hunt began. Here's a shot of Julia showing off her take (out of the wind, of course.)

We couldn't think of a better day for being in a cave. Carlsbad Cavern it would be. The drive up was spectacular at this time of year. Flowers were everywhere. It seemed like a lot of people thought a rainy Easter was a good day to be in a cave. Looking at the people milling about was interesting. Many men had a white forehead capping a tan, weather worn face. Cowboying is still a staple down here. These guys were lean from work, too. Also interesting were other lean men paired with women in pioneer dresses. The woman had there hair in buns and wore simple hat. Even more interesting were that these caucasians spoke Spanish!

We walked down the natural entrance into the cave. This is so wild as the trail drops and drops as it finally enters the blackness. Cliff swallows flittered about until the cave became dark. The cave was magnificent, of course.

Starting our Quest for Sun

2008-04-08T20:20:00.002-06:00

Now that Julia is in kindergarden, our schedules are dictated by the school system. It has been, and still is, a long winter. Spring break, hopefully, means a sunny week long vacation.

Friday night saw us camping in Mills Canyon Campground, a bit West of Mills, New Mexico. Mills apparently has a population of 3 residences. The drive to and from the campground winds around a nice looking windmill. The road to the Canadian River Canyon was under construction so we'll have to check that out another trip. The canyon's history makes it sound like it's worth a visit .. especially when we have time to poke around. Maybe when we're retired. In any case, it was a water freezing cold night. Our quest for sun was successful. Now we needed warmth!

A bit cold for milk and cereal, we headed to Roy hoping it was big enough for a breakfast joint. As is the case with many rural western town, it's in dire need of love before it drys up and blows away. There was a restaurant of sorts. It seemed like the locals were helping the owner/ cook/ waitress to keep it running since occasionally someone would get up from their table to run the coffee pot around or take an order and drop it back in the kitchen. Keeping a restaurant alive is was a high priority for Roy (map, writeup). Interestingly, one of Roy's exports is CO2. That's right. Carbon Dioxide is mined for use in enhancing oil recovery.

We drove South through some amazingly remote country with a few large ranches too far off the road to see. Want to escape from civilization? This is where you want to come.

More to come.

Two teeth down

2008-03-09T20:22:00.003-06:00

One tooth came out and before I could get a picture the 2nd one followed it. Getting a good picture of missing teeth is tough. Finally as one tooth is coming up, I threw down a last ditch effort and wa-la. Here's another.

Julia's skiing in the trees

2008-01-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Tom said - I'll see you on the slopes, Julia.
Julia, with a gleam in her eye, replied - You'll have to look in the trees because that's where I'll be.

Those who ski, know that trees are tough - especially at 5 years old. What are we creating?

Julia's first, and 2nd, sleep over

2008-01-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

Julia has this really good friend from school, Alexandra. It was Christmas break and everyone - especially Julia and Alexandra - thought it was time for sleep overs. Julia went first at Alexandra's house. The next night Alexandra came to our place. The kids were great - and actually slept pretty good once they fell asleep. Here's another picture.

I don't know what it is with girls and clothes ... In the picture here, Alexandra is wearing Julia's jammies and Julia is wearing Alexandra's jammies.

Continental Divide Cabin Hut Trip

2007-12-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

Temps maxed out at 7F as we skiied into the Continental Divide Cabin (10th Mtn Hut site) near Tenessee Pass (500K topo).

This hut didn't have great views like most of the other huts but it was only a mile ski in - a perfect trip for the kids (See Dillon and Julia at left). Someone had built igloos outside. Good fun for the kids and us too. Much thanks to Jaimie and Brianna and Ben-Ben for inviting us.

More pics here!

A white Christmas

2007-12-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had a white christmas this year. Snow on the ground is not too uncommmon but it actually snowed all day! Here's a shot of Julia at the back door. Good day with the usual excellent Christmas dinner party!

Here's a few more pics of getting the tree, christmas eve skating, the christmas eve bobcat and christmas day!

The Christmas Eve Bobcat

2007-12-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

Mia called down the hall - BOBCAT!!
Julia and I ran down to get a look. Where? Where? Mia says - Behind the rock! It was a beaut, alright.

I ran off the get the camera and wonder of wonders - even got a few decent pics. Click here for a few more.

Steve's 50th party

2007-12-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

This was a great party! Here's a shot of me holding the guys up. (L2R - Bob Wood, me, Bob Horan, Chris Kulish). Now that I think of it, the chronology is interesting. Bob Horan and I climbed everywhere when I first came out to Colorado, Castleton Tower, Supercrack & the Titan in 2 days was a highlight for our first trip to Utah. Chris Kulish and I met because we had (past tense) the same girlfriend. Standing Rock was one of our big climbs. Bob Wood & I have done quite a bit of canyoneering as of late w/ a few first descents mixed in.

Thanks to Mia for setting it up. A few friends showed up that I haven't seen for years, namely Bob Horan & Chris. I didn't get too many pictures 'cause it was just too much fun.

A few more 50th related pics here.

Steve is 50 !!

2007-12-13T20:25:00.001-07:00

This was my present to myself on my 50th birthday! It was a real joy to hike to Chasm Lake junction (topo) by myself. I sprung the question on Mia in the morning - "Do you mind if I take a little hike, honey? without Julia and you? Please?" How could she say no .. on my 50th?

I was well rewarded with bitter cold but blue skies. A nice winter day on Long's Peak. I hadn't been close to the Diamond since my accident over 10 years ago. Nice to hike to 11.5k and not a bad time either - for 50. Hah!

Sorry for the ugly mug shot. I'm usually much more handsome but you try holding the camera at arm's length in a 60mph wind AND trying to capture oneself AND the Diamond AND look good when your face is frozen. Well the looking good didn't happen ..

I was back in plenty time for a shower and shave before we went to Radda Trattoria for dinner - Great Italian Food!

Halloween in Jessica's neighborhood

2007-11-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Our neighborhood in the foothills doesn't lend itself to efficient trick or treating - so we headed out east to visit our friends the Coopers in Firestone. Jessica & Julia had a riot - see above. Tom & Karen, thanks for the invite!

A first ascent - Jacks Knob

2007-11-01T20:28:00.000-06:00

Jacks Knob (topo, pic) was deep in northern Robber's Roost territory. A few years back, Bill had discovered it on one of his forays.

We wandered around the tower a few times, trying to pick out the best line with the least amount of "adventure" rock. That decided - Bill headed up.
At one point, he "disengaged" from the rock when a stopper blew.
He called down - Is there any way to gracefully get out of here?
I said - Let me think ... Hmmm, no, I don't think so ...
After a bit of thought, Bill excavated a stopper placement and continued.

The climb naturally broke into 3 pitches. (The picture, at left, shows Bill at the 1st belay.) The 2nd overhanging pitch was mine. Having to go free at the lip of the overhang was my excitement. Lots of "adventure" rock on the last pitch brought us to the summit, where we lingered ... enjoying the moments ... and discovering the bones flown in by raptors.

Watching the tower's shadow march across the Roost reminded us we still had to engineer our way down.

Good trip! More pics here!

Julia, try it! I'm making it with love ..

2007-10-22T19:07:00.000-06:00

Mia was off on a girls canyoneering trip, so I was cooking dinner. Julia is pretty picky with food so I thought I'd try a different approach.

Papa: Hey Julia, You'll have to try my steak sauce. I'm making it with love!
Julia: Is it white sauce? I only love white sauce.
Papa: .. but it's made with love ..
So much for that approach .. (Actually, I think she sort of liked it a little bit.)

It's pretty amazing what she's learning at kindergarten. Julia asks how to write a word. I'll say the letters and she can write most of them. I don't know why the kids are pushed to do this in kindergarten. I didn't learn so early. In Germany, Julia's nephews Max and Florian, didn't learn writing until 1st grade.

Fall in Colorado

2007-10-17T18:35:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of pics from last weekend. The first is a collage of Aspens, Cottonwoods, Junipers and Pinon in the San Luis Valley.

This second picture is from the next day, driving 285 through South Park. Yah, winter's a coming.

A visit to Dad

2007-10-06T06:08:00.000-06:00

My sister, Laura, gave me a call. She told me about Dad's kidney problems and said I need to come out. I called Dad. He didn't want me to come out in a few weeks because he might be spending time doing medical tests. In other words, he didn't want me out when he might be having trouble and needed support. He wanted me out when he was feeling good and could do stuff. That's my dad ..

I left Friday afternoon and stopped at a rest area West of Des Moines around midnight. I tossed my sleeping bag out close to the adjacent corn field. (When will I grow up? Most 49 year olds would just sleep in a hotel.) Sleep didn't come easily though. I kept dreaming someone would walk up and steal my prosthesis. That would really blow - stuck in the middle of Iowa without my leg.

Dad & Mom looked the same as last year. After a tour of the garden, Dad had rhododendrons to plant. My job was to do a bit of digging, bust up the dirt clods and mix in the mulch. I was going to help more but as I watched Dad, I realized I was watching a master gardener. He had picked a location with just the right amount of winter sun and summer sun. Planting was his joy. I didn't want to intrude too much.

We went for a walk the next day on a trail next to the Illinois & Michigan canal. This canal was a link in a water route from the East Coast to the Gulf of Mexico. The trail was a hiking and bike path. The canal is canoeable also. We had a nice walk. Seeing a group of Egrets was a bonus.

The Dr. has not nailed down the kidney problem yet. I think Dad is still finding his boundaries with the problem. My appearance prompted more activity and different food than Dad was used to. By Wednesday he wasn't feeling good and the Dr. said go to the ER. Of course, Dad had to have breakfast first ... An hour later, he was getting dressed - still. Mom said he's a slow dresser .. It's good that Laura is a nurse at Silver Cross hospital. She could walk down to be with us. After testing and an increase in lasix, to reduce fluid retention, Dad was discharged.

Dad & Mom have a number of decisions ahead but Dad is stable for now. I drove back to Colorado in one 16 hour haul, including stops. I could never have done it without the U.S. history cds. It was even fun.

Here's a few more pictures of the family AND the Illinois & Michigan canal.

Cripple Creek Mining & the Molly Kathleen Mine Tour

2007-10-05T18:21:00.000-06:00

1000 feet underground ... My body shook, my vision blurred, 5 deep, strong, hearty blasts were felt ... more than heard. What was happening? I really wanted it to be done. OK, please stop now .. When it was over - 30 seconds later, Chuck said that was NOT part of the tour. I understand why. I'm sure many would soil their trousers. In any case, mining goes on and it was closer than expected this day.

A rainy day at the Shelf Road climbing area chased us upstairs to the town of Cripple Creek (satellite view, Wikipedia)- the famous gold mining town. I've always wanted to do the Molly Kathleen mine tour and now was the time.

Chuck was a great tour guide. He still has his fingers in mining and told some great stories, like the time his light went out. He was in a crosscut between the Molly Kathleen and an adjacent mine. He crawled for 2-1/2 hours before he found light again.

The Molly Kathleen is still being mined. I had no idea. Lot's of gold still but the processing is more expensive than it used to be. Unless grandfathered in, a mine can no longer use cyanide to process their ore. Mines have to ship the ore to Canada to process. This really kills the profit of course. The mines ship the ore to Canada during the winter, when the train shipping costs are down.

Chuck was a great guide. Our group of 9 entered 2 "cars" over the shaft. Chuck said - You see the town down there? We are going 400 ft below that. This was a really good visual of our destination depth. He demonstrated operation of much of the equipment when he could and explained the rest. Julia had a great time. We'll be back again. More for me than for Julia. I've always hankered to do more than just gold pan mining.

More pics here

The school is 'humongous'

2007-09-27T20:50:00.000-06:00

Tonight, Julia told me that Ms. Bogner's class was close to the bathrooms but Ms. Matheny's class was not at all close to the bathrooms.
I said - The school isn't that big, is it?
Julia said - The school is humongous.

Where does a 5 year old get this stuff?

Julia's new clothes

2007-09-24T17:03:00.000-06:00

Julia models some new clothes ...

A September Day Around Breckenridge

2007-09-17T20:48:00.000-06:00

This is the perfect hike for a youngster - provided you have a high clearance vehicle to get to the trailhead. This hike has lots to see in a short distance, scenery and historic value. What more could you ask? Better weather would help but the cold and rain reminded us summer was about done and skiing was coming soon!

After half a mile, one arrives at Mayflower Lake. This is surrounded by old miner's cabins. Nice spot but it gets better. About 3/4 mile, we stumbled upon the Continental Cabin which is somewhat restored and a good place to hang out in the rain. Yes, it was raining off and on. As we hiked up, we told Julia stories about the miners. Then we found a mining adit, a horizontal shaft. Interesting that there was a warning sign here to stay the heck out and stay alive. Probably a smart idea ... This really fit into the stories, of course. Even better, we found wild rasberries. Yum!

A mile from the trailhead was Lower Mohawk Lake (topo, picture) and a great lunch spot. We had hoped to get to Upper Mohawk Lake but it started raining again and it was cold. It was time to get to the Octoberfest in Breck anyway.

The German weather cleared out much of the Octoberfest crowds. This made it easier for us to get Bratwursts and a Weissbier. More room for dancing to the Austrian band too.

More pics here!

Getting together with an old friend - Al Torrisi

2007-09-11T19:55:00.000-06:00

We haven't seen Al since we climbed at Rumney, NH last year. Good to see him and meet his wife, Deb.

Mia whipped up a great dinner. Deb and Julia hit it off when Deb decided Julia needed her nails painted. (Oh, man ..) Four bottles of wine and we woke up the next morning ready for a hike up Mt. Audubon (topo). Well, sort of. That wine plagued us a bit during the day. Good stuff. We hope to see Al & Deb again soon.

Climbing in the Black Hills with the Woods and Coopers

2007-09-06T20:33:00.000-06:00

The featured photo shows Bob Wood climbing in the Chopping Block area of the Rushmore Needles. Typical of the beautiful scenery up there ...

The kids really enjoyed the opportunity to get together - unlike last trip when Julia was stuck w/ us for most of the time.

Night time entertainment was provided by Bob and Garett and their instruments.

More photos here! (Added to the end of the Aug Black Hills Climbing Trip)

Julia's 1st day of Kindergarten

2007-08-26T21:02:00.000-06:00

Exciting day for Julia and us ... Here's Julia waiting for the school bus w/ Mia - maybe a bit of apprehension in her face.

Then there's the picture of Julia's face lit up and excited when she see the bus (featured to the right).

The final is Julia stepping into the bus.

Our life won't be the same ...

Wyoming's Bighorn Range - Climbing & Exploring

2007-08-23T20:55:00.000-06:00

If I felt my job was secure until retirement, I'd want to move here. Even if I didn't .. Mia vetoed any such ideas quickly though. She needed face to face contact for her work. I work remote and need only a decent internet connection. Such is life. Maybe later...

The Bighorn Mountains are the most easterly mountain range in Wyoming. The Winds are to the West and the Tetons West of that. The Bighorns are more sedate than either but the exploration potential is huge - especially from the pure rock climbing perspective. Dolomite/ Limestone is everywhere and not just the little cliffs like Wild Iris or Sinks. It would be expensive to live here for a climber. Think of the cost of bolts for new routes ... I saw the alpine rock only from a distance - more jaw dropping terrain. And the Winds a few hours West. Damn! As I said .. maybe later.

Climbing was good in Tensleep Canyon. We checked Raven Wall and vicinity and French Cattle Ranch. Above Raven Wall is an "Indian" ice cave. Even in hot weather, you need a pullover to climb nearby. It blows cold! The 5.10s on Raven Wall + a number of new nearby routes made for a great day. French Cattle Ranch was a hike but well worth it. Good quality and long routes.

On a rest day, we drove up to Lower Medicine Lodge Lake via Hyattville. Beautiful country but it took about 2 hours on 4x4 roads. Glad it was Mia's idea. The hike around the lake was calming .. after hitting my head on the roof for 2 hours. This convinced me I need an on board compressor so I can air down the tires and air them back up after the goods. I wish I had a fishing pole and some time here but we were out of food and everyone was getting grumpy.

We drove North to Shell Canyon semi Baja style (i.e. fast) and it still took an hour to get to a paved road. (Shell Canyon could see a lot of route development on granite. Just frigging heartbreakin'. No one around to climb the stuff.) We found a nice restaurant in Shell and ate. We were lucky. It seemed to be one of two places in town and it was reservation only. They took pity on us since we were early. Wagon Wheel restaurant - good place - reserve a place on the deck if you have a chance.

On the way home, we found the "perfect" camping place. This will be the subject of a later post.

Pics are here. Enjoy!

Black Hills - Climbing, and the Harley Culture

2007-08-21T20:14:00.000-06:00

We picked a loud time to climb in the Black Hills. It was the week before the Sturgis Harley motorcycle ralley. We saw thousands of bikes every day. The campground was filled with them and their fanatic culture - awake at dawn, cleaning their bikes before even taking their morning pee. Crazy like Islam might be to a Christian fundamentalist .. They were all nice folks though!

The good part was that all the climbers were elsewhere, the climbers familar with the ralley anyway. We had the climbing areas to ourselves. We would have been climbing all day except for the daily afternoon rain and the draw of good ice cream in Custer.

Bill Daniels and his daughter, Sara, joined us for a day so we could get a couple of decent climbing shots. Above is Bill on Hrum Hroom, a great 5.7 in Custer State Park (official site, map). Many climbs in the park are quite run-out so no sniffing at 5.7s here. We also climbed in the Rushmore Needles. See a nice climbing shot of Julia here.

At some point, we said enough and left for Tensleep Canyon in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Stay tuned.

Black Hills pics, including motorcycles, here!

Leaving Crestone .. for now

2007-08-01T21:14:00.000-06:00

Kept looking in the mirror as I headed West on County Road T. Hard to leave. Couple of wet spots appeared on my shirt. Must be a quick cloud burst through the open window ...

We had a fantastic 6 weeks of experience here. Now it was time to hand it back to the our great renter.

Coming home to Boulder was not really like coming home. It was like coming to a different familiar place. A place where the weeds need whacking and where it seemed harder to schedule free time to exercise. In Crestone, free time meant exploring. In Boulder, it's excercise. Maybe that says it all and I just need a change. I dunno what it is .. maybe Boulder has become boring ...

Kalashnikov & Glock Security Services

2007-07-25T18:09:00.001-06:00

I think this guy means it. We were trying to find the Promised Land climbing area (rockclimbing.com) in Nicomedes Gulch - NW of Monte Vista.

Bouldering in the Valley .. that's the San Luis Valley

2007-07-17T16:58:00.000-06:00

We found the SLV is host to GREAT bouldering.

We found square miles of boulders at Elephant Rocks, 1st photo on left. A little searching is required to find the better rocks because Elephant Rocks is an absolute maze! I can see creating some convoluted bouldering/ orienteering/ running circuits here. Just need some time ... Location is here!

The boulders under South Eagle Rock are built of cobbles & pockets of joy. See middle photo. Christy said it's like a combination of Maple Canyon and El Rito. The bouldering is a friggin' riot. At the top of every problem, we'd be saying - Wow, that was fun! There is good bouldering for kids too, see right photo above. We found this out the scary way. Julia yelled - Mama, Papa, I'm on top. Mia & I looked at each other and said - On top of what? as we scrambled to find which boulder she was on top of. Oh man! - what have we created?!

Oh, I forgot to mention that some of the boulders under South Eagle Rock (photo, topo) are big, bigger than some sport climbs. What is really fascinating though is what I'm calling South Eagle Rock itself. [Bob D'Antonio's guide to SLV describes the boulders as being under Eagle Rock. This is incorrect, at least in the old 1994 guide that I have. Later, we found the real Eagle Rock (photo, topo)]. If South Eagle Rock is of good quality as the boulders below, it needs attention!

Click on the photo mosaic above for more pictures!

A hike up Mount Ouray

2007-07-16T19:59:00.000-06:00

Looming about Mia & Julia is Mount Ouray (topo) - a 14'eer wannabe at 13,971'. Mount Ouray is in the Southern Sawatch range. We haven't done a peak in years. Now that Julia is getting bigger and stronger, we have a chance. Julia hiked to about 13,200'. With the clouds moving in, Christy & Dave volunteered to walk Julia down. Thanks Guys!!

More pics here!

Exploring the SE San Juan Range

2007-07-10T20:15:00.000-06:00

We made our first foray into the Southeastern San Juan range last weekend. This area is much less traveled than the "normal" San Juans, i.e. Silverton, Lake City, Durango, Ouray, Telluride etc. It does not have the jaw dropping rugged mountain views but it does have jaw dropping pastoral mountain views and remoteness.

Starting at Antonito, we drove west thru the beautiful Conejos River Valley. Lot's of crags on the North side of the road. After Horca, we headed generally NE toward Platoro Reservoir. Along the Lake Fork of the Conejos, I had trouble staying on the road while driving. I wasn't even drinking. There was SO MUCH ROCK of different types. Even if only a fraction of it were of climbable quality, it could be a destination area. I didn't see many cracks which means it would have to be developed (bolted). Unfortunately climbers in this region are rare. More on this another time since I didn't have time to stop and hike up.

We made a nice camp at Lily Pond Lake (11,900') near Stunner Pass. While getting firewood, I let Julia find her way back to camp. While great practice, I'm very glad it was practice. :-)

We drove up to Kerr Lake the next day. We hiked around the lake while teasing the fish. No go there. We did attract two DOW officers though. There was another group close by. The officers split up and one came towards each group. I couldn't see a uniform until the last 50 feet when he opened his vest. I did NOT like this approach and was worried about our family's safety until this point. I was getting into defense postion until at last I saw his uniform. He was a nice guy, of course, after we talked. Bad way to approach though. I could see being a DOW officer ... getting out in the forest on a daily basis.

We headed towards the Stunner mining camp, past the Crater Lake trailhead and then to the infamous Summitville - where the environment mining disaster happened. The entire area is worth much more exploring. We'll be back. This was only the first foray.

I mapped the general route here.
All the pics are here.

A Crestone Independence Day Celebration

2007-07-04T22:32:00.000-06:00

Tuesday night we had BBQ & beer at the Silver Crest Palace while listening to live music. The bar has 18 beer taps! That's right, 18 - and they're all in use. Talked to some nice folks while Julia found new friends to play with.

The morning of Independence Day, we ran the Crestone 5k race. Julia did great. It certainly helped that more new friends ran next to her. Yeah, we did a bit of walking but 3 miles is a long way for a 5 year old! (Me too ...)

More festivities later on .. live music, spiritual exhibits, etc ... could have been some food too but I forgot the wallet at home. Again Julia found her new, old friends to play with. Seems to be a common theme. It's certainly easier to find children here.

4th of July pics here!

BTW, That's Julia in the picture under 4 of the 14'eers - Challenger, Kit Carson and the two Crestones.

Between Saguache and Ohio Pass

2007-07-03T20:47:00.000-06:00

We drove 114 between Saguache and Gunnison (map). Beautiful country. Reminds me of Wyoming's South Pass region, south of Lander. By the time we reached North Pass (topo), I realized there was much to explore in this little traveled region. Yeah, 114 was paved but we had passed only a few vehicles since Saguache. Only need more time ...

Gunnison was bustling with activity. At a population of 5000, it was 10 times as populated as Saguache and Saguache has 8 times as many people as Crestone. It was fun. We stopped in a sports store to pick up fishing licenses and then to the climbing/ bike shop for a guide to Taylor Canyon. I hadn't climbed in Taylor Canyon for 27 years. Mia hadn't ever. I DID remember that Taylor was a funky place ..

We found a great place to camp at the North Bank campground. The site was next to the Taylor River and next to another site with 2 kids. Perfect for everyone. The in place for the kids to play turned out to be the bed in the truck. That made them easy to keep track of. Also we could walk to the crags.

The old guide we picked up left much to the imagination (c'mon Fred, where's that new Sharp End guide?). Climbing with Julia makes it a bit more of a challenge to pick out routes that we can get down from - ie. one pitch routes. We started w/ Tony's Tango (Mia leading), a really nice 5.6. I led Left Hand, a 5.8+. Both were exellent routes. I remembed why Taylor's Canyon is funky though .. realistic ratings can be obtained by adding a full grade to the grade in High Country Stone guide. Julia climbed and we toproped a few more routes - then it was HOT !!

So we headed up to Crested Butte for ice cream .. and did a driveby of the cliffs along Cement Creek when Julia fell asleep on the way. CB is fun. We had Pizza and beer too - after the ice cream. A scenic drive via Lake Irwin and Ohio Pass (pic) took us back to camp.

Sunday was to be hot also. Mia was still cooked so we drove to a small climbing area near Powderhorn hoping to find some shade. We did one climb in the sun and Mia called it quits. Even at 9000 feet, it was still too hot. The rock at Powderhorn looked like crap but was actually pretty decent. I'd come back if in the area.

Driving back via Powderhorn (map), Cebolla Creek, Cochetopa Pass was worth the detour. We also saw lot's of potential new crags ... just need more time.

Trip pics here !!

Rain, Sunset and Views over the Valley

2007-06-28T20:47:00.000-06:00

A few days ago we had a good rain, a nice rainbow, a stunning sunset but what pulled at me was a view of the vibrant San Luis Valley layered in green (see pic).

A hike to South Crestone Lake

2007-06-28T19:04:00.000-06:00

As we headed up the trail, the views only became better as we looked west over the San Luis Valley. South Crestone lake was about 3000 ft above the trailhead. Shivani & Joe, local friends, joined us.

There was one variation to the excitement of the scenery as we headed up. I heard a deep "muuf" in a steep and heavily wooded area. I heard it again and knew what it was - a bear. Then Shivani heard it. Mia had moved ahead, by herself, to find a bush. Then we heard a louder "MUUF" and a crashing in the bushes. Sort of like a short charge. I started yelling to see if Mia was ok. No answser .. as we stayed together and moved up the trail calling to Mia. Finally she called back, not having a clue what had happened. We were relieved to say the least.

The lake was worth the hike. Julia especially like the dipping as always.

Julia did great. Mia carried her only a 1/2 mile on the way up. On the way down, about 1-1/2 miles from the trailhead, she finally said - Papa, my legs hurt. It was time. She did SO good hiking. I'm glad Joe was there to help carrying too! I was pretty beat. Good day!

Pics here!

My sister visits Crestone

2007-06-25T20:39:00.000-06:00

My sister finagled a conference in Denver with a few of her cohorts. They squeezed in some rafting near Buena Vista before staying the night at our place in Crestone. (Oh yeah - then they drove back and attended the conference.)

I didn't get much attention though. Julia got most of that!

We did get a decent picture together at least. It's pretty obvious that I got the good looks. Laura does look pretty good though ... for her age! I'm glad Laura doesn't live close or I'd be hamburger!! :-)

New Rock Climbing Area Discovered Above Crestone

2007-06-24T19:46:00.000-06:00

I've been looking for decent rock close to Crestone. Penitente Canyon is across the valley but that is a two hour roundtrip. Sure there's plenty of technical mountaineering routes above Crestone but these usually require a two day commitment. I'm looking for after work climbing or areas I can access for a day of fun.

After much scoping, I decided on a rock to check out in person. This is a serious decision because I only have time after work to run the recons. Of course, my experienced eye keeps the odds in my favor.

I started from Willow Lake TH and headed cross country. Up a hillside, down into a drainage, up a hillside, up a ridge and friggin' BINGO!! I lucked out and found my rock without much trouble. Effort - yes, trouble - no :-) And only a 1/2 hour approach.
I was expecting I would have it to myself to develop but it had been already found and developed. Routes had been bolted! The rock didn't lend itself to gear routes - hence the bolts.

We returned the next day, Saturday. First route was mine, a nice 5.8-. Then Mia led a 5.10/ 5.10+ depending on line and height. My line through the three overhangs was direct and reachy for my 5'-5" stature, leading to my grading of 10+ . This one needed more traffic. It was sort of gravelly in places. Then, I led one of the best short climbs of my life. It started as a traverse over a cave - instant exposure (see photo of me above). Then there was a belay but I continued w/ long slings to keep the rope drag down. The next bolt was 35 ft up but there were flakes everywhere. A sling over a flake kept my anxiety down. The sense of exposure was constant. The crux was bypassing a raptor's nest which was full of hair. After 190 ft of finesse, I sat on top, clipped the anchors and sucked in the view. Finesse is required on this route, the granite is not as solid as Lumpy Ridge. I've climbed a lot of good routes over the years but this one really stands out - especially for a one / two pitch route!

Here's the cliff, I'll mark in the routes as I have time. Also I'll get some GPS coords. Stay tuned.

Climbing at El Rito, New Mexico

2007-06-19T17:38:00.000-06:00

We climbed here 3 years ago. We forgot how much fun El Rito (Mountain Project, map) was. I bet we'll back within 3 weeks. El Rito is similar to Maple Canyon, Utah in that the rock is cobbled. It's different because one usually pulls on the pockets between the cobbles. In Maple Canyon, one pulls on the cobbles.

Beside great climbing, it was also Mia's birthday on Saturday. We poked around in El Rito, for a restaurant, and found Walt's Place. Walt's was a beautiful, rustic place but lacked a liquor license. Luckily, I could pick up a bottle of wine close by. We had pork ribs all around. Julia loves ribs. We'll be back!

I don't know if the climbing suited us or if the grading was soft but we both pulled off a 5.11a on Father's Day. We really hadn't been climbing that much lately.

We took off a bit early to swim at Abiquiu Reservoir and drive thru Chama on the way home. What a drive! Lot's of eye candy! Trip pics here!

The land where nuns drive pickup trucks

2007-06-14T20:20:00.000-06:00

I did a double take on a large white object sitting on the driver's head. A bit more focus and I figured it out. It was a nun wearing a habit driving an old beater pickup truck. This was Crestone, Colorado (map, sangres.com).

We're breaking away from Boulder for awhile. Our Crestone renter was taking a vacation and we "needed" to fill in. Luckily we have a fast internet connection so we can work. Julia is going to the Rahula Community Preschool.

It will be interesting living in rural Colorado. Crestone fills a nice little pocket of the San Luis Valley and the eye candy in the valley is awesome! It's a lot quieter than the Colorado front range but will it be too quiet? So far not. Climbing, hiking and biking is working fine and oh yes .. working. One thing is the same as Boulder. Crestone has a B20 pump (20% biodiesel). More to come ...

Oh yeah, Julia's pushing the 5.7 climbs at Penitente Canyon - especially if we pull her just a little. :-)

Flowers busting up the yard!

2007-06-04T21:27:00.000-06:00

The wet, cool spring have the flowers busting some colors in the yard. I've made an attempt at photographing and naming them. Help me if you can.

Here's the flower pictures so far. I'll add as I find more.

Oh yeah, I think the flower to the left is a Western Spiderwort.

Climbing and Camping at Sinks Canyon, Wyoming

2007-06-03T20:30:00.000-06:00

We found a great camp in Sinks Canyon State Park with the Popo Agie (pronounced "po PO' zha") River backing the camp site. The river was a bit loud with the spring runoff. We didn't complain too much though because we could see this view from the site.

Some kids adopted Julia the next morning or was it the other way around? This really made the trip for Julia. Especially on Sunday, when we took all the kids climbing ...

Climbing was good. Cool on Saturday, warm to hot on Sunday. A little heat was nice after the cool temps at home in Colorado. From the cliffs, we could see the Wind River Range to the West. Can't beat that! Click on the picture above will display a better view of the Winds to Julia's left.

More photos here !

Almost June and still cool and wet ..

2007-05-30T20:58:00.000-06:00

Mist over the front yard on May 29th. Still cool and wet. The grass, flowers and trees love it. We've had a few decently warm days this spring but not many.

What if Julia were snatched?

2007-05-22T21:05:00.000-06:00

We all talk about this from time to time. What if someone tried to steal Julia? She knows to yell "Help!" and "I don't know you you!" but I was thinking it was time to add additional things, like fighting back, like punching the @sshole in the nuts. Mia nixed that but Julia came up with an interesting comment.

She said when she's older she would need to be trained in how to take care of guys like this. Unsure of where she was going with this, I asked her "What kind of training?" Sincerely she said "I need to learn how to sword fight. Then you wouldn't have to worry about me"

That's my daughter!

Climbing above Boulder :: A great spring weekend (Sunday)

2007-05-21T21:04:00.000-06:00

A day like this is what Boulder is all about. I spotted a little flatiron a few years back and thought - what a great easy climb for kids.

It was 3 shorter pitches and has an easy scramble off. Ideal for a first climb. We're calling it the Little Guy Flatiron. It's below Shanahan Crag. The hard part was the hike up. We were both worried when Julia wanted to be carried 10 minutes into the hike. Luckily, the bribes of skittles candy and whipping pine cones at the forest gnomes and fir cones at the elfs got us to the base of the flatiron.

I belayed Mia and Julia at the same time so they could climb together. Mia could assist Julia if needed also. We were all smiles as we reached the summit. What a fun day !!

More pics here!

Biking in Boulder :: A great spring weekend (Saturday)

2007-05-21T20:42:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we cruised East, on our bikes, along the Boulder Creek path. Julia was on the trailer bike behind Mia. The water was high and smell of new growth filled our noses. We enjoyed the nice views of the mountains and flatirons as we rode South. I've been in Boulder for 27 years but I still love the views!

After the ride, we strolled through the downtown farmer's market, bought some veggies, listened to the band and had lunch.

Later, we stopped by Sally Moser and her roomate, Mike's, party. South Boulder was rocking. The band was way more than good. The other draw was roasted pig. The hog tasted way more than good too. Ron was the roast meister. Sally, Ron & Mike - Thanks for the party!

Papas climbing with their kids

2007-05-15T20:40:00.000-06:00

No breakfast in bed for Mia on Mother's Day. She was on a Girl's canyoneering trip scheduled long ago - before she realized it was Mother's Day weekend.

I met w/ David Kozak and his daugher, Sasha (6) at Shelf Road for a weekend climbing. David invited Mark Williamson and his boys, Dillon (7) and Cactus Jack (3). Jack was named Cactus Jack just the day before when Cholla Cactus gravitated to him 3 different times. Poor Jack!

The kids had a riot together while the papas had fun climbing. It's amazing watching the interaction of the kids. I had totally forgotten how much fun catching grasshoppers was. Dillon made sure all the kids knew how! :-)

Saturday evening, we saw a double rainbow. Julia took off, with the kids after her, to find the pot at the end of the rainbow. We watched until she was 1/4 mile away. The other kids were yelling - come back, Julia! No response as she slid under a barb wire fence and continued. What was she thinking? I fired up the truck for the chase - she was close to a road at this point .. if I drove fast. Luckily, the rainbow died out and she turned around.
David said - wait until she gets older ...

Is this the right canyon?

2007-05-06T20:36:00.000-06:00

We had a writeup for the canyon, Good Day Jim, on Ticaboo Mesa. It was from a friend. There was a keeper pothole early on. We never saw it and we were well into the goods. We read the description again, after warming up after yet another swim. We decided the keeper must have been filled up w/ sand since our friends did it. Not too uncommon. We made the description fit our canyon - not that it had to, as long as we had long enough ropes.

The canyon stayed in our face. Lot's of water. Everyone was shivering at some point. Many narrow sections. At one point, it had to back off a few times to figure out where to put my chest. I finally ended up crawling on the ground. Chris went high and Bob came across at an an intermediate position. The girls asked: What is the problem, guys? I say: Get some chest! ;-)

It was one of the best canyons we've done on our family canyon trips. Some good laughs too, like when Bob spotted Chris down into a pool. As Chris got close to the water, Bob launched him into the deep section!

Garett, Emma & Julia had a great time too. Roselle took care of the kids. Roselle's daughter, little Sara had a great time too. Here's a pic of little Sara & Julia.

Back at camp, we consulted the Hard Day Harvey canyon description and map. It was pretty obvious, I'd switched the GPS waypoints of the two canyons.

If you're interested, here's the correct coords. Good Day Jim and Bad Day Harvey.

The view from camp was phenomenal. After a few hours solving the worlds problems, we hit the sack. We had another canyon tomorrow along with the drive home.

The main fork of Maidenwater canyon (topo, picture) was a good canyon, on Sunday, even if Hard Day Harvey was a tough act to follow. The rattle snake provided some good entertainment in Maidenwater.

The full set of pics for the Haaland/ Wood / Mestdagh 2007 spring family canyoneering trip are HERE !!

Julia's 5th Birthday Party

2007-04-30T20:19:00.000-06:00

Julia's a big girl now. She's been talking about her party for weeks now. Finally it happened. Luckily, the weather held for a treasure hunt, pinyata beating and a grill out. Everyone had fun.

New pink dress courtesy of Grandma & Grandpa Mestdagh. Thanks!

The full set of pics are here!

Julia paints her Papa's toenails

2007-04-20T20:53:00.000-06:00

I never thought I'd see the day that I'd get my toenails painted - only 5 of them but still ..

Here's a closeup of the master, Julia, at work.

A week in Western Deserts

2007-04-19T20:33:00.000-06:00

The goal was a climbing trip to Joshua Tree National Park, California. I hadn't been to JT since spring 1986 when Chris Haaland, Steve Vanderburgh, Doug Frost and I found some $60 RT tickets to San Diego. Our rental car was not available so they gave us a Lincoln. What a trip that was!

This trip started out great. We camped at the Fremont Indian State Park, west of Richfield, UT. We woke up and found they were just about to have an Easter egg hunt. Perfect timing for Julia.

Later, we drove thru the Mojave National Preserve, in (drumroll...) the Mojave desert, California. The restored train depot/ museum at Kelso (sat map) was really cool. I'd like to spend more time poking around the old mining towns.

We had 4 beautiful days of climbing and enjoying Joshua Tree before the sandstorm hit. Even then we squeezed in two climbs the day it started snowing. Well, the 2nd climb wasn't totally snow free .. It was really strange. One minute the sky was blue, the next minute it was cloudy, then it was tan from the sand. It really wasn't even windy until some time later. Then it started snowing. Back at camp, we decided to pack it in and head to the Las Vegas area.

A day climbing at Red Rocks NCA (official cheesy BLM site, Supertopo climbing site) on Friday was a good way to break up the drive on the way back. We had to stop at the Bonnie Springs Ranch (sat map, pic) to see the old mining town and petting zoo. This isn't an ordinary petting zoo. We were suprised to see a Canadian Lynx and 2 Wolfs. They looked too healthy to pet though.

A beautiful primitive camp and a hike in Arches National Park finished off the trip.

Trip pictures here.

New foot - the good, the bad and the naked

2007-04-05T21:36:00.000-06:00

Actually a new foot shell. My old foot was trashed. The knife demonstrates the depth of a rip in the heel. The pine needles show where the big toe is almost ripped off.
My naked carbon fiber / kevlar / titanium prosthesis is in the background. (As usual, click image for a better view.)