One Summer, One Subaru, Eight Thousand Miles, Five Ropes, 11 Pair of Shoes, One Golf Club, One Destiny, and a Continuing List of Blog Title Cliches..

Blogjack! Nice little gig you have, but the mercenaries from 20 school have infiltrated your deepest security measures (thanks Jake) to infect you with stories of our recent alpine bouldering and particularly difficult scrambling adventures in Wyoming and California. And in case you didn't hear or assume, we did NOT take the motorcycle out - it was either $1200 of funding or a summer-long type 2 adventure (hah).

Wanting to deviate a LITTLE from the reg DMC locales of the Tetons, Winds, and Sierras, we first checked out Mt. Rushmore and decided that Jefferson’s Mandible would indeed NOT go free. It looks like you can get some master cams in his pores but really we need a full rack of anticams (http://climbingnarc.com/2010/05/the-anti-cam/) to aid the incisor pitch. Funny that climbing at the South Dakota Needles wasn’t actually much different from this. Cool granite towers and hard sport, but lots of guidebook confusion and a noticeable lack of protection.

Devil’s Tower is CRAZY, you’ve never seen anything like this. The feature itself is surreal and so is the climbing experience. Out-of-breath tourists on a paved-flat walkway gawk as you lock and stem through the highest concentration of the most beautiful, sustained, clean, and well protected cracks and corners/dihedrals you’ve ever seen. 5.10 might be the best grade to climb at the tower but there’s really great stuff on either side of it, although I swear neither of us could figure out how to climb 5.9 or lower unawkwardly after finally getting comfortable on long hard cracks. Make a trip out of going to the Tower or at least stop by sometime. Be sure to bring a double rack of nuts and a golf club for the nine holes of golf at the top of the Tower (stupid tourists who don’t read signs will believe anything)!

Quick anecdote. We've been playing the license plate game (only Hawaii to go) and holy shit Vermont gets out and does cool stuff more than Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi combined. Not even per capita. Per fucking fact-ita.

Everyone knows about the Tetons by now, but everyone prolly don’t know that there can still be a LOT of snow there around August. We couldn’t do the Grand (or even Cathedral) Traverse and had to rent cast iron ice axes just to get up to the shoulder below Exum Ridge. Its a long hike up to the shoulder, a bit of a climb up Lower Exum Ridge, and then another simul/hike up proper Exum Ridge to the top of the biggest breast (..teton). This was another of our encounters of a Jack Durrance route of some sort - he has the FD down Exum Ridge as well as the FA on the most popular route up the Tower. The man did a lot of shit and is even mentioned in the Winds guidebooks and Freddie Wilkinson account of the 2008 K2 disaster, One Mountain Thousand Summits. I’m about half way through that right now and its really a spectacular read. He craftily weaves 8000m mountaineering history in with his research and analysis of the disaster, really covering the subject while not boring you. It probably makes a good case to never get into that shit and it feels good to have all of our light and fast alpinism horns blown a little.

“John Joline was right, he hit the nail on the head with that place,” said Jake, about the Winds, when we visited him in Madison (who seemed to be so happy there he was touting his own beer drinking capabilities over Wisconsin rock). We were supposed to meet John in his fabled East Fork Valley, but unrelated tooth and climbing partner problems delayed him a few weeks so we busted into the Cirque of the Towers and Deep Lake area for 10 days ourselves. In the Cirque you camp in a field of wildflowers with a waterfall in the middle, weather is irregular but short-lived when it comes in, and the granite is good to chossy. We did some really great classics and then tried the 20 mile, 5.8 Cirque Traverse in a day and punted HARD. After some ridicucool climbing and the most exposed fucking 5.8 move I’ve ever heard of in my life, we bailed at dark down what we thought would be a pretty standard bail highway, considering the couple hundred dollars of bail spectra, biners, and nuts we’d pulled off of other climbs. After leaving some gear and a 5.grassy traverse at 11,000 ft we rapped into a steep snow gully and spent the next few hours picking our way down slippery rocks where we could find them. We left like three anchors and STILL are coming out of that place with a net gain of bail gear, what a goat rodeo HAH.

Now we’ve spent the last couple days in Oakland eating everything in sight and gearing up for Temple Crag, the Incredible Hulk, and Yosemite big rock. Climb safe and send/text us a shout out if you’re going to be in California or want us to stop by on our way back east in September!

If you think you’re gonna plummet, youuu must gun it!
- A guy we met named Joe

Picasa Pics

M,D&L

We are so proud!

Julie brought this current Dartmouth homepage to my attention. Please note any number of things: the backwards cap, the "Averil Lavigne's boyfriend" duds, the way the photo makes it look like Ben is busy shopping for a road bike while his group models brightly colored... things... on their Thayer computers. Next time, stick to those cfs** charts for your in-lab procrastination - they look much more I'm an Engineer(!)

That said, it could have been worse. They could have caught him on MountainProject. Also, is that Charlie Brown or an axa pledge in the room?

In short, we miss Dartmouth.

Cheers,
Mark

**forgive me if that's not what the river-flow thingamajigs are called.

I think that's Sarah!

Unfortunately, no, that was not Sarah...but maybe if you squinted it would look like her. Since my last posting I've put on quite a few miles. Once my trip began and all the kiddies flew in to Anchorage, we went on a 10-day backpack in the Talkeetna mountains that are Northeast of Anchorage. We had some HARD days! But, as usual, a combination of beautiful scenery, incredible map reading skills, gentle cooperation from the weather gods, and a few rugged good-looks from the leader combined for a great trip. The mountains are amazing there. Big, rocky things with lots of green, soft tundra.
It's perfect for walking around. Not too many big river crossings, some beautiful lakes, a few caribou. I would definitely recommend that everyone visit, although there is not much Sport climbing...sorry.

At the end of our backpacking trip, we were supposed to raft the Chickaloon river, but a participant got sick and I flew out with him on the bushplane that our rafts and guides flew in on. It was pretty cool to see the river from above, unfortunately, no pics.

We then drove 8 hours to McCarthy, AK to go glacier trekking in Wrangell - St. Elias national park. It's hard in to write about what Alaska looks like, because it is generally awesome, rainy, and extremely beautiful. So here are some photos instead:


We also did a little ice climbing. Very fun to not be freezing cold in NH in February. I'm the one in green. They missed taking a picture of me doing sweet climbing moves I learned from watching Vertical Limit.
After some ice climbing fun, we headed to Prince William Sound to go sea kayaking. Well, so sea kayaking isn't exactly whitewater, but its fun. I guess. It helps when its a beautiful place with otters poking their heads up next to you, whales cruising by, and bald eagles catching fish right in front of you! (no joke, coolest thing I've ever seen. We were cruising by the coast and this huge Baldy comes flapping over and next thing I know, right in front he snags a fish and flies back to shore. They have huge legs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI&feature=related ). The cool part of Prince William Sound is definitely the glaciers. They calve (ice falls into the water) all the time and are really cool looking. Paddling through the icebergs is a little nerve-wracking, but also really fun.

We camped at the most amazing black sand beach. It was right next to a glacier that was calving constantly. Isn't it supposed to rain in Alaska?

It was hard to believe that our 35-day Alaskan adventure was over and that we'd have to return from the Last Frontier. I returned to Jackson, WY to clean and organize stuff for the boss-man and reunited with Noah, Tom, Max, Marika, and Richard (6 Dartmouth peeps?!) who were all leading trips for the same company. At the end of the wrap-up, we went out. Flaming Dr. Pepper's were led by Tom, Noah, and myself. We did good. Max dropped a beer on Marika's foot. Older people complained of head ache's the next day because of those "stupid flaming drinks". We did good.

I then got a ride to Salt Lake City where I met up with a friend from Chicago, Matt, who is now living in Park City and studying at Utah. We went mountain biking which is SUPER AWESOME, but hurts the grundle real bad. Once we couldn't mountain bike anymore (2 days), we went on a 3 day backpacking trip to the Uinta's Wilderness in Northeastern Utah. It is so beautiful everywhere, I love it. We climbed the highest peak in Utah, King's Peak. Tough, but very rewarding.

Red Castle:
King's Peak. Grrrr.
It was a great trip and an unforgettable summer. Soon I'll be headed back to Chicago to play some hoops with Obama and afterward I'll be going on tour starting in New York the last week of August.

Hey everyone!

This is Julie, finally back home after spending the summer leading trips in California. I must say, it is great to be back with the Internet IV once again. Not only have I finally renewed my license, but also I have caught up with all the new things going on in and around Caribou, Maine. First, the City (yes, it is technically the City of Caribou) is repaving part of Main Street, which has caused zero traffic disruption because there isn't enough traffic to make a difference. Second, this weekend is the Annual Ploye Festival. The highlight of this is that the "World's Largest Ploye" was baked last night. Since most people don't even know what ployes are (a countrified version of the French crepe, the elusive ploye is a spongy, buckwheat pancake), it strikes me as fairly easy to make the world's largest. Third... Hmm, third. Well, my parents bought new towels.

But, back to the more interesting topics. My summer was awesome, but incredibly taxing on my psyche and patience. Some of the issues 14-17- year olds come up with are nothing short of baffling. No one died, though, and everyone seemed to have a good time, so I consider that a success. Each trip convened in San Francisco, and after a night in a campsite near Oakland, we drove east over Sonora Pass to remote Bridgeport, CA. The rest of the trip was separated into a 2-day shakedown backcountry, an 8-day backcountry, a nice break with 2 days of white water rafting with ARTA (Sam Welch's family's company), and then a summit attempt on Mt. Shasta. We ended by driving back down the Central Valley to San Francisco for a night on Fisherman's Wharf. The Sierras are gorgeous! We were hiking north of Yosemite and, unfortunately, missed all of the Valley's sights, but it was still my favorite part of the trip.



My photos are probably more interesting: http://picasaweb.google.com/juliemcarson
Check them out if you are so inclined. There are definitely a lot. And a lot of kids you won't recognize.



Next up is a week-long vacation in Acadia. The last time I was there, I was visiting one of my friends on the Cranberry Isles and ended up sleeping next to a paved walking path atop Cadillac Mountain for lack of overnight accommodations. I anticipate that this will be much nicer. After that, Mark and I are moving in to our apartment in New Haven. Can't wait to buy my first can of pepper spray, huzzah! ...Just kidding. Kind of. But seriously, if anyone is in the area and wants to visit or needs a place to crash, you are absolutely welcome (and encouraged) to visit!

Adios!
Julie

Lily - oh god this is real life

So - yeah, I left Boulder. Went through a gauntlet of doctor's appointments back at home-home (I got new contacts...which I promptly dropped down the drain 3 days after I got them. yikes.)
Anyways...welcome to my life! I hang out with Ana a lot (she even slept over one night!) and I go to work for a reasonable number of hours every week. I'm going through training for 5 weeks, and we're nearing the halfway point very soon. Lots of studying, but also lots of goofing off with my friend Joy, haha. We are really fed up with trying to "meet everyone", and so we've been kind of antisocial. We ran (like literally sprinted) to Chinatown one day to get $4 noodles during our lunch break and had to get take-out to make it back in time. It was gross out and I was sweaty. I can't talk about anything else we did...maybe later when this job is over.

I've also been going to the climbing gym in brooklyn regularly. I will have to accept that it will be my "home gym" from now on. I went the first night I moved in -- and guess who checked me in?! James Quadrino's ex-girlfriend, who I had met once when she came to visit him at Dartmouth. She was so nice and taught me everything I needed to know about Brooklyn Boulders. It's a little far from where I live/work (it once took me an hour to get home, usually 45 minutes), but because training right now is in a location that is extremely downtown, it only takes 20 minutes to get there after work. I usually go by myself which has been hard because not everyone I meet is so nice or interested in making new friends, but Joy has come with me once, and Bari Wien/Cathy went with me yesterday! On Friday night I met these 2 couples that were so nice. I have no idea how I'll ever run into them, but I'd like to climb with them again! So yeah, I mostly boulder.
Obviously I don't look like this guy. This is courtesy of the New York Times. Anyways, this is called The Beast. It's like 30 feet of way overhanging wall, with finishes usually up around the lip. They apparently had a light show when they unveiled it. Kind of stupid. The easiest thing on it is a V3, but all the moves are like V1. It's just crazy endurance-y. (I feel like a douchebag talking about grades too, btw. I'm just trying to describe it!) Come visit me to check it out!

Also, my first real home is awesome. I really like living with Cathy, we eat noodles all the time. I guess during my 4 years at Dartmouth I've really missed being asian. We also don't have to pay for utilities except internet, so it's SO nice coming to an AC-ed home after being in the nasty city atmosphere. Also then I can convince people to come hang out in my apartment instead of me having to go other places :-). I'm so antisocial.
But look at my room - it's huge! Come visit! You can sleep on my rug on my papasan cushion! I'm just happy my place doesn't smell like old cat lady anymore...

One day, I will get to climb outside again...

My Enzo needs a tail...

My mom made me get the magenta sheets...

This is where the magic happens...even better is that we have a dishwasher and counterspace on the other side!

My couch from home - we've had this couch since I was probably 5. It's weird having it in my first home too. The walls are pretty bare except for the Leonberger calendar I put up. Cathy is working on it.

I hope everyone else is doing well -- I want MORE UPDATES!