Goodbye Seattle Summer

Hello Seattle Winter! Well, the Seattle weather up and changed to rainy and cold just in time for my out of town guests to arrive... literally 1 hour before they landed the rain started after a week of beautiful sunshine. Weather forecasts show nothing but rain for many days.

While many see this as a form of punishment, I see it as an opportunity to buy my first rain jacket. I selected the Marmot Precip, a nice inexpensive jacket on sale at REI, in my size and favorite color... RED. I'm now ready for those long walks from the parking lot in the morning rain.

I'll leave you today with the last clear view of Mt. Rainier through the Seattle skyline, as seen from my balcony. I'll be savoring this picture for a long time.

Index Climbing

I realize most of my posts have been climbing related recently. I'll try to diversify, but this is the exception. I went traditional climbing over the weekend at Mount Index. Traditional climbing is where there are no bolts pre-drilled into the rocks. Instead, you jam nuts or cams into cracks in the rock to provide the fall protection. I went with very experienced climbers who set up the routes in a safe manner. I would never do this by myself... yet.

Here's Duffy with his rack of cams and nuts. The climber must carry all of this gear because they are different sizes. You never know what size you will need when you get up there.

Here's one of the hardest routes I've ever "climbed". Climbed is in quotes because I definitely cheated to get to the top. I used some of the old bolts in the wall to climb up.

Here's the view from the tallest single route I have ever done. It was estimated to be about 180 ft tall and it was a GREAT climb. Nice holds. Tricky but doable. And really nice grippy rock.

An unexpectedly beautiful fall day in the Seattle area.

See the river below!
Ok... no more climbing pictures.... for now.

U Dub!

I went to my first non-big ten college football game over the weekend, and I went in S T Y L E. Climbing Kristina is in the alumni band and was able to take me into the game with the band.

We started the day at a tailgate in the stadium parking lot! I almost felt at home except for all of the purple!

Here's the "other" tailgating lot. You can drive a boat up to the UW stadium if you want. I have a new dream, to tailgate on a boat!
I said I was with the band! Instead of carrying an instrument, I got to carry stuff in a backpack. Just call me the sherpa. I was able to quickly snap a picture with a sousaphone (not a tuba, those look much different).
The UW campus has a small rock climbing wall. So I HAD to climb in, even though I was well weighted down with gear and not in climbing shoes.
Did I mention we went in on field level (although it was kinda weird with a track around the field, but I don't mean to complain)? We had great seats in the endzone. I even got to run down onto the track to do pushups with each touchdown. For those who followed, the Huskies won in double over time!
Pregame picture with the actual UW Husky and the marching band in the background.
Purdue, while this day was fun, UW will never replace you!

I'm BACK!

I'm sorry to say, it's been a month since my last post. In the past month, there has been a perfect storm of activity - my internship involvement has increased, my thesis work has increased, and my job search has increased (or started, that's probably more accurate). These unexpected increases combined with the desire to maintain my social life has squeezed the blog temporarily out of the picture.

Since last post, I have

• Spent a week in Boston for Midstream Review - great to see the LGO's again
• Spent a weekend in Leavenworth in an awesome lake cabin with 11 other friends
• Attended my first University of Washington Football game
• Went Traditional rock climbing (aka Trad Climbing) at Mount Index
• My parents visited Seattle and the weather cooperated

In the weeks to come, I have:

• Several friends the midwest will be visiting
• My brother will be out here for business
• Interviews in Boston
• A weekend snowboarding trip in Whistler
• A 2000+ mile drive back to Indiana, then another 1000 miles to Boston

There's a thesis and some internship in there as well.

Last night my friend and MIT classmate Avi was in town. We toured the Boeing Everett facility, ate a great dinner at Peso's, and then explored a bit of the city. We took some pretty cool pictures of "the Troll under the Bridge" in Fremont. It was a great visit with him.

The Troll! That's an actual VW Bug under the hand on the right to give you a sense of scale.

Here's a picture from the top of the troll's head looking down under the bridge. We had some fun with long exposures.
And more fun..
And even more fun.

See you soon!

Thesis Update: Number 1

My thesis has been started. I just thought you would like to know.

A few more pics

The rest of the weekend followed similar suite. Sleep in a tent, go climbing, go slack lining, sleep in a tent. I'm pretty sure I could have done this for SEVERAL more days.

Here are some more pictures from the great weekend!

Hexar on his way down from what appears a great lead with someone else in the background.

Here's The Group!
I look at this wall and wonder, how it's even possible to climb, it looks flat. It's possible! Maybe someday I'll do it cleanly (no falls!)
High Flying High Five!
That's me on the right, Nicole on the left. She beat me to the top.

Seattle Dreams Come True

Is the title a little dramatic? Perhaps, but it was a great Labor Day weekend. The first 3 things I packed for living in Seattle were my bike, rock climbing shoes, and tent. Up until just a few weeks ago, I had used my bike extensively (and continue to), but the tent and climbing shoes were rather lonely in the closet... until I met The Group.

For Labor Day weekend, The Group planned a 3 night camping and climbing trip to Skaha Bluffs near Penticton, British Columbia (that's in Canada!). After precisely 87 organizational emails, we were on the road for a 6 hour drive over the Cascade mountains and north into Canada.

Forty miles across the border and we neared our campsite. We drove right past all of the "sardine" campsites in the city, where everyone was packed like it was New York City, and on up into the hills. Our site put us twice as far from the rocks (an extra 12 min) but the extra space was completely worth it.

We settled in before sunset and headed out for dinner.

The next morning we headed out for a day of climbing. It was a quick and beautiful hike from the car to the base of the rocks, everyone with gear in tow.
Once we got to the rocks, there was a bit of confusion as to which routes to climb. For those interested in outdoor climbing, it is almost imperative to have a guide of the area you are climbing in. The guide has pictures of the routes along with the names (which can be entertaining), difficulty rating, and quality. Once again, see Kristina's Blog for more information on climbing terms.
We quickly got to climbing. Hexar, Michael, Abbie, and Kristina lead the way and strung a few ropes up for the group. We spent the next several hours going up and down the rocks... a beautiful day to spend outside.
After we were sufficiently fatigued from climbing, we headed to the nearby lake (where the sardine camping was located) for some slack lining, but not before "the guy with a blog" could snap a quick semi-group shot with his portable tripod.Slack lining consists of a nylon strap (like on your backpack) loosely strung between two trees. Participants then balance (or attempt to in my case) on the "slack line" and walk back and forth. Like most things simple, it's very addicting, with each attempt I was able to stand a bit longer. Hexar, the slackline master could walk forwards and backwards and almost could spin around!
The Group pulled together and cranked out some taco's and guacamole for dinner. Sarah (on the right) cranked out the guac, Nicole (in the white hat), chopped everything while Hexar manned the burners. Kristina... well... cleaned up! Everyone was hungry and the meal tasted great! While probably not the best meal anyone had ever had, it hit the spot. Nicole said it right "everything tastes great camping".

Day one, complete. More to come!

More Real Rock Climbering

The Group headed out again on Sunday for more climbing. This time to Exit 38, thus marking my 2nd time rock climbing. This time it was BETTER. I'm sure you might be thinking, how? We'll, the rocks had better grip and were taller! Much taller.

The wall that were climbed was about 100 feet tall, with routes that topped out at about 90 feet. Someone called my name after they finished lead climbing (thus the route was set up for top roping) indicating it was my turn. I started climbing, paused for a moment and was feeling pretty good. I continued for a bit longer until I realized I was getting a bit tired. I then looked down and noticed that I was really high up there. I then looked up and realized I had a LONG way to go!!! I wasn't even half way!

I continued to climb, saving my arm strength for as long as I could and taking "standing breaks", where your weight on your feet and your arms can rest. While you can always rest using the rope and harness, if you do that, to me the route doesn't count as a successful completion because you needed the rope to take a break.

I got within an few feet of the top, my arms were on fire, the rope anchor was in sight, and I had NO WHERE to put my feet. Knowing my arms would give way soon and being so close, I threw all "climbing technique" out the window. I called down to my belay-er Gwendolyn "I'm going for it!", giving her warning that I may be falling soon! There I stood, 85 feet off the ground. I looked up and JUMPED, leaping for the next hand hold hoping it would provide a decent grip because if it doesn't, I'm gonna fall (only a few feet because of Gwendolyn's killer belay skills). My hand made perfect contact with the next hold and stuck like duct tape to itself! I made a last effort to pull my weight up, reached out and slapped the top of the rope and then joyfully relaxed into my harness, 90 feet off the ground!!! Incredible!

The afternoon continued into the evening with several other climbs up and down this wall of rock. We hiked back to the cars in the dark and headed back into town, with the real world facing us the next morning!

Enjoy a few pictures!

Rockstar Kristina lead roping with green shirted Jere lead belaying. Look at all that gear (including helmet... safety first!)!

My first repel, thanks to the instructional help of Kristina. Yes, it was awesome.
Tony and Kristina working their way up the 90 foot wall!
A look down at the two belay-ers!
The base of the wall!
My view from a little over half way up. Sorry for the blur, my hands were a bit shaky
This coming weekend, The Group is heading up to Skaha, British Columbia - a sport climbing mecca - for a 3 day camping and climbing excursion! Once again, more pictures to come!

Real Rock Climbing

Here it is! The day I've been waiting for... my first time real rock climbing! The Group decided (after approximately 53 reply-all emails) that they would be heading out to The Exits on Friday. I quickly found out what they meant by "the Exits". At exit 32 and 38 off of I-90 there are some pretty good rocks to climb and they are only about 30-45 minutes away from downtown Seattle. Not a bad gig.

I headed out straight after work to meet up in the parking lot. We then hiked about 7 minutes up to the wall through gorgeous Northwestern forest. And there we were, at the base of the first rock wall I will ever climb! We dropped our packs and started gearing up - harnesses, ropes, carabiners, chalk bags, and ATC's!

*For a complete definition of climbing terms that may be use in this post and in future, please refer to Kristina's blog post on climbing.

The climbing started with Old Brad (I'm new Brad) leading a nice route with a 5.10 difficulty rating. He descended from the top and look at me and said "your turn".

I handed him my camera and approached the rocks nervously - arms still a bit sore from the climbing two day prior. I shook out my arms one more time, conducted on last setup safety check and thought "here goes nothing!"

"On Belay," I called checking to make sure my belay buddy was ready. "Belay On," I heard back. "Climbing!" I announced. "Climb on!" came back. I put my hands on appropriate starting holds and stepped up onto the rock with my feet. I then shifted my glance from my feet to my hand and started the ascent.

It was amazing! There were so many different holds and so many different ways to climb the same route! I couldn't believe how many different natural rock formations fit your hand so well or how a very small lip could easily support your weight without slipping! With a few blunders and peeling off once, if I recall correctly, I made it to the top. It wasn't pretty, but it was FUN! Next route, I'll try to clean up a bit!

The routes were between 35 and 60 feet high! Looking at rock walls, I still find it hard to believe that someone, let alone me, could climb up the side (with proper safety equipment of course).
One group member, Abbie, brought her dog along, who apparently got pretty bored with all of our vertical ascending!

This was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had and look forward to the next opportunity climb, which come to find out, is sooner than I think. I couldn't thank The Group enough for including me on this adventure and future ones! Hello Exit 32 come Sunday! Stay tuned!

Climbering

I'm jumping ahead along my summer timeline, but this is worth it. I recently met a group of people who frequently go rock climbing and welcomed me to join them!

My first outing with "The Group" was to Marymoor Park, a large park in Seattle home to baseball diamonds, a velodrome, outdoor movies, big name concerts, and a man-made outdoor climbing wall. This manmade wall was a great warm up for me, it had been about 2 years since I climbed last (I don't count climbing at leadership camps such as Outward Bound or the Warren Center). This was also my first official time climbing outside!

The wall simulated real rock since it wasn't a flat wall with distinct holds like most indoor gyms. This presented a new challenge. Instead of knowing where you next hand must go (due to the clearly marked route), I had to feel around to see what I liked best. This meant I have to make sure I have a good hold before I start searching for the next hold because it can take longer than I expect!

The weather was once again beautiful and many people were out climbing!

Even kids!

Man Made Mountains!!!
My new climbing friends Kristina (on wall) and Gwendolyn (on belay). These girls can kick my butt climbing!

We enjoyed climbing, talking, and sitting around eating our brown bag dinner. I made several 'friends' outside of "The Group" with the large pan of rice crispy treats that I brought to share. It was a great day knocking off my climbing rust! I have a long way to go, but it's coming back quickly... it needs to come back quickly because my next climb will be on real rocks in two days! More pictures to come... much more!!!