the desert

warm yet cold

wind and water sculpt art here

the softest snow lands on thorns and spikes

life in the desert

bighorn sheep clomp about and i've heard that in the river there are trout

the climbers search for splitters

plums hidden deep, high, and low

find em' and send em'

but the sheep don't care.

when will it snow
does anybody know
anticipation grows
cold winds blow

Ouray

So you want to learn to climb frozen waterfalls? Yeah me too!! Maybe you've read in Will Gadd's book about how you should never fall onto an ice screw, or how you should do a least 100 pitches on top rope before you ever lead a pitch of ice. So far i've broken one of those rules and followed the other.

Before i went to Ouray the idea of TRing 100 pitches of ice didn't seem reasonable. Having been there i now realize that it is the place to learn to ice climb. The Ice Park has hundreds of routes, most of which are easy to rig up top ropes on. It was a great experience to get on steeper and more difficult terrain w/o the risk of leading.

Our trip there occurred during the ice festival, but even with thousands of people around we were able to get a good number of climbs in. Regardless of all the people, the Ice Festival was rad. Carolyn won the ice axe throwing comp. and we took a clinic from MArk Miller of the San Juan Mtn. Guides that was awesome. But still, i am looking forward to returning when the festival isn't going on and really getting after it...

Silverton, CO

Traveling is easy when your not missing out on pow at home. With that in mind we bailed in hope of finding better snow and maybe a fat ice flow. Our journey led us to the San Juan mountains in southwestern Colorado, to a town called Silverton. There, Tom and myself joined Yerman, an old college buddy from Cincinnati. Eventually we began the trek up to the backcountry ski hut we'd be staying at, making the final climb and approach by moonlight.

I was lucky enough to have use of Tom's camera out there. This is one of my favorite shots from the trip. Michael Yerman, city planner, backcountry skier, and chess master askin'; "What's your move?"

When I began to think about how to best describe all the radicalness that ensued over the next couple days I became overwhelmed. Nah, really I'm just lazy. We skied around, it was cool, you can imagine. This action shot of Yerman tells a nice story, enjoy...

Gimme a Ride

Have you ever been driving along and seen somebody like this on the side of the road? This is a hitchhiker. He is asking you a simple question - "Can i get a lift?" When you see him you should pick him up. He probably had an excellent day full of fun and excitement and now he just needs to get home. Help him out. You're driving that way anyway and it only takes 30 seconds to pull over and let him in. You'll make his day by hooking him up with an easy ride home. Finally, if you see him and simply can not or do not want to pick him up, don't be a dick, please no thumbs up as you speed by, you asshole.

what if.
what if when it finally does snow there is so much that we cannot escape the lodge?
max interlodge for weeks.
what if?
maybe it won't snow at all.
but isn't this Alta?
what if.
things are starting to get weird around here...

Indian Creek Chronicles

Last week, when i went to the creek and met Mr. Beznia for what was going to be a few weeks of crack climbing, we didn't expect the desert rain... It wasn't like we didn't get to do a ton of really great climbing. We did! We also got wet and good at setting up temporary shelter, quick.Rain is rarely seen here.Craig Childs told us (and a whole bunch of other folks gathered at the Moab Public Library) that it is all about the rain, to taste the water. We did. We touched it to our lips. Beyond a shadow of a doubt "The Red Sail" and it's inhabitants came with the best shelter from the rain. Of course.Thierry is undoubtedly the coolest French mountain guide around. We met this European hard-man was chilling at the BridgerJacks camping area and he needed a partner. Being that we had a group of three, with our main man Aubry, it was told to Thierry he could join our posse.In these shots Thierry is busting the gnarly off fist roof capping the route 4x4. He is a burly guy.

Our French friend wasn't the only traveler we met in the creek. Bill from Skagway knew some Alta homies, Carl and Sam were killing it, Merium climbed the wideness with me, and many others chilled with us.