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April
2008: There's
something about a moonless dessert night. The sky seems blacker and the
stars more plentiful, as the blanket of the cosmos wraps closer,
tighter. I thought about the beauty of the dessert sky as I lay on my
sleeping bag outside Bishop. Road buzz beginning to fade, chased away
by a glass of scotch and an amazing, moonless sky.
Not one
to make spur of the moment decisions, I ponder whether or not I should make
the trip out and do the route on Sunday.
30 seconds pass. Quick check of
the weather report. 30 more seconds
and I am making my final plans and packing a few last things. I download Malcolm Gladwell’s latest
book, Outliers
to listen to on the way out. Fantastic
read that I highly recommend. Pay
particular attention to the 10,000 hour rule and the importance of Practical
Intelligence and birthdays. My quick
summary: it’s better to be lucky than good but it helps to be
both. After a
long drive and a quick stop in Tahoe to clean out the ski house I arrive at
my bivy outside Bishop. Just across
from Owen’s River Gorge, the place reminds me of my early sport
climbing days. I drift off to sleep
with that odd combination of contentment and nervousness that always precedes
a big day in the mountains. 2a comes
all too soon and I get in the car, load up on some coffee in Bishop and soon
am gearing up at the Portal. It’s
the perfect temperature outside and the approach goes down without
incident. Of course I get lost trying to
find the Ebersbacher ledges, but that’s so common on North Pine
approaches by now it’s hardly worth reporting. I have the worst sense of direction on the
planet… at least of climbers on the planet! After a little sketchy bouldering I am soon
back on track and reach the base of the Mountaineers Couloir just before 8a,
exactly on schedule. There are a bunch
of people in the couloir already and a giant group sort of mingling at camp
at The meat
of the climbing on this route is very straightforward and really, really
fun. I cruise up the direct start,
join the main route and pause briefly to talk to some Kiwis. Soon I’ve left everyone behind and it’s
just me and one mellow snow climb.
There’s something about the music and rhythm of mountaineering
that creates a sort of zen-like state.
Place, place, step, step. Place
place step step. The altitude is
getting to me a little bit, but in general I am in a state of pure
bliss. I love this! I shout to no one in particular. The
story would be a lot more interesting if there was some epic involved…
but there just wasn’t. I crested
out of the couloir to the crux mixed climbing, traversed around a buttress
until I found an interesting set of exit moves, and climbed to the summit
ridge. Simple as that. Soon I was on the summit, signing the
register and chatting with a couple other climbers that had topped out just before
me. They told me there had been an
accident in the couloir the night before or early that morning, but I hadn’t
seen any sign of it and didn’t give it another thought. After
the obligatory summit pictures and a celebratory candy bar I head for the trail
descent. This is the last weekend that
hikers are allowed on the trail without a pre-reserved permit, and I figure I
better take advantage of the opportunity while I can. It’s a bit of a slog, but incredibly
beautiful, with lots of opportunities to cut time / distance off by
glissading. My descent is punctuated
by the sound of a CHP rescue helicopter buzzing the mountain and I realize
that the accident my fellow climbers told me about must be more serious than
we had thought. Turns out it is tragic. Soon I am down and headed
home. Whitney is a magical place
sometimes and the stars aligned perfectly for a fantastic trip. December 2008: Months of physical therapy pay
off and I run my third ultra-marathon.
Results and more info here. It turns out to be a spectacular race,
amazing weather and a really well done course. I would have liked to run a little faster,
but I’ll settle for my knee not blowing up and a great day. My favorite part of the race was the
sunrise. We all started by headlamp at
5 am, and it didn’t get light until a little before 6:30… with
the chilly temps and crystal clear skies it felt a lot like a big alpine
route. The sound of trail shoes on the
dirt road up November 2008: EL CAP! Roberto and I climb Lurking Fear in good
style. I decide to retire from big
wall climbing (taken with a grain of salt, I’ve retired before) and
Robbie decides to get engaged.
Spectacular trip all around -- full trip report. August 2008: A continued dearth of real
adventures is replaced by a spectacular summer, including fantastic trips to
Yosemite and Colorado, karaoke on my birthday (note to self: Johnny Cash was
very talented but a poor karaoke choice), a new appreciation for San Diego
and the resumption of some trail running, albeit at a more careful pace. In the category of impactful reading I feel
compelled to suggest Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies. This is a really fantastic work: genuine,
profound and actually quite funny.
Some other suggestions include: Running Money, by Andy
Kessler. A pretty interesting tale of
the author’s journey raising, managing and exiting a technology hedge
fund during the bubble. It is well
written in the tongue in cheek style found only among the independently
wealthy. Hedgehogging, by Barton
Biggs. Random hedge fund war story #2
- not nearly as well written as Running Money but entertaining and
thought-provoking nonetheless. Twilight in the Desert, by
Matt Simmons. This is the most boring,
most profoundly insightful work I have found about the current state of the
world’s oil and gas reserves, focused on The Art of Racing in the Rain,
by Garth Stein. Hilarious. Sad.
If you have a dog that you think is smarter than other dogs and
actually might have a coherent thought, this tale will take your
anthropomorphism to new heights.
Either way it’s a well written and amusing story of a race car
driver’s life, as told from the vantage point of his dog. May 2008: Sorry for the delay in updating the site… it’s been a
crazy seven months, although with a relative dearth of adventures thanks to a
pretty severe tendonitis of the knee.
Downside: no running or climbing until recently. Upside: I discovered the SwiMP3 - an
underwater mp3 player. The worst brand
name on the planet but a spectacular device that enables country music whilst
working out in the pool. It makes a
savagely boring swim workout tolerable. October 2007: Done with the move back to
Some more reading from Ed's reading list. Come Be My Light, The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta, by Mother Teresa. Through private letters and commentary, the collection provides an amazing window into the inner spiritual life of one of the greatest saints of our time. Ultramarathon Man, Confessions of an All Night Runner, by Dean Karnazes. This man is insane. The War of the End of the World, by Mario Vargas Llosa. An epic in the tradition of Marquez which tells the story of the Brazilian uprising at Canudos. Mergers & Acquisitions, by Dana Vachon. A hilarious account of one man's experience in JP Morgan's investment banking analyst program. September 2007: Big trip to Needles over Labor
Day weekend before starting my new job in
August 2007: Not a lot of adventure to
report. I've been cranking with work and spending a lot of time
traveling back and forth to A few more reading recommendations: More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, by Stephen Landsburg. An econmist's slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to using incentives to solve the world's problems. The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The sequel to Fooled By Randomness. Both spectacular must-reads, the Black Swan examines the role of outlier events in determining our economic, social and personal fates. Thirteen Moons , by Charles Frazier. Loosely historical fiction about a white man taken in by Indians in the late 1800s. Outstanding subtle and slightly black humor. July 2007: Went up and did the Diamond again, it was good fun. We did Pervertical Sanctuary, which I think in retrospect is a highly overrated route. The one long sustained pitch is definitely super-mega-classic, but the other pitches are pretty chossy, and the wide pitch totally SUCKS. I battled my way up it, but the Diamond definitely got the better of me that day. June 2007: Well, Wildflower was pretty much a bust. I think in retrospect it was a little aggressive to plan a half-ironman two weeks after my first ultra. The run on the tri was one of the most painful long runs I've ever done... I had the energy but my legs were just filled with lead. Oh well, I guess there's always next year. I also got a light and fast
run at Dreamweaver, in May 2007: Not much personal climbing to report. The Desert Rats 50 mile was 21st of April and it went really well. I finished in 10:50 and only contemplated quitting maybe 15 times. Basically once per mile between 35 and 50. Yikes, that's a long way. Results are posted here. The Wildflower Half Ironman is coming up... finish one race and taper for another! A friend of mine sent me
an email the other day that started with something like "I just saw you
on You Tube..." which is almost always bad. But, in this case it's
all good: my partner from Everest, Rex, put together some video clips from
our trip, including some pretty sweet summit footage. The video is
embedded below or linked here. April 2007: The ice in Regardless of whether you like run-out dirty tower climbing in places like Arches or not, we all need to defend the right to climb, albeit responsibly and with minimum impact. Do your part.
Recommended Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, by Laurence Gonzales. Fascinating look into what equips people to cope with life and death situations of all kinds. Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. One man's compasionate exploration into faith and growing up. Finding Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The psychology behind moments of pure concentration and happiness. High Exposure, by David Breashears. Autobiography of the world's best high altitude cinematagrapher. Simply Christian, By NT Wright. The basics of post-modern Christian faith from an intellectually honest perspective. When Not Seeing is Believing, by Andrew Sullivan. Time Magazine, October 9, 2006. An inquiry into doubt, fundamentalism and the role of faith in solving the world's meta-problems.
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