November 2007 Archives

Rich, a fellow Mountain Monkey, went for a solo kayak the other day, and wrote me a great report about it. His enthusiasm and joy has me sharing his report here:

Oh my Buddha, that was awesome... Today was my first ever solo paddle adventure and it was amazing. Bullards Bar is a beautiful place this time of year and I basically had the whole lake to myself (I only saw one other boat and two other kayakers during my five hour tour). Words won't begin to describe the bliss of paddling through the mirror smooth waters with reflections of the canyon floating all around me. Whether I was paddling for progress and mileage or just simply drifting, it was all bliss. I managed to take in the entire length of the lake today from Dark Day boat ramp in about five hours of mostly constant moving along.

The highlight for me, and one of the many the benefits of going solo, came when I stalked up on a young Bald Eagle feeding on a freshly dead deer carcass on the shore of the lake. The parent Eagle was perched nearby and only revealed itself after the young brown headed adolescent spooked off it's feed. I spent a few minutes stalking in closer and closer as the big bird fed on the carcass of the dead young deer. Every time it lowered it head and tore off another bite of meat I would take a paddle stroke and then "freeze" my upper body as I drifted closer. In this manner I got to within about fifty feet of the feeding bird before it got worried and hopped off to a rocky perch about 30 feet away. Once it finally spotted me it flew off to the other side of the canyon then the full adult Bald Eagle with white head and tail feathers revealed itself from a nearby tree and flew a few circles over me and the dead deer washed up on shore...

All this happened in the glow of the sunset light and it was simply a near religious experience for me. It was so quiet I could hear the flesh tearing as the young Eagle fed itself. Maybe a little too graphic for some, but it is natures way and always has been. If I had been traveling with other companions it is not likely that we would have been able to experience this scene quite so intimately. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy kayaking with others by any means. I do so and will heartily enjoy the company of companions as opportunity permits, hopefully for many years to come. Going solo in the kayak offers up a unique opportunity to be immersed in nature not just as a observer but as a participant in a way I have rarely experienced before in my life and I'm completely smitten by this aspect of the kayak experience. I hope that you may get the oppurtunity to enjoy the solo paddling experience too. Even if I had a camera today, I would not have been able to "be with" the Eagle in the same way. Some things are just meant to be experienced in the moment and are not available to be shared with others beyond a few feeble words such as these...

Rich

A friend sent me a link to his freiends' trip report from a climb of the Fisher Towers. The report is pretty hillarious, featuring beer, bats(!), and some pictures. Enjoy.

Being a big 29er bike fan, I checked out a new thread on MTBR about folks who did La Ruta on their 29ers. Many of these guys went singlespeed, which is great in the mud, but was probably semi-brutal with the massive doses of climbing. Anyway, some good reports on the abuse to the bikes, as well as lots of photos. The above link to La Ruta also has a photo gallery... MTBR Thread Good photo set on Flickr

Ever been in an emergency on the trail/slopes/water? I had an extremely bad bike crash in 1992 in Moab that had me ATV'ed and later helicoptered to a hospital. But, this story over on the Crooked Cog site, while not a life threatening injury, brings to light again what you can do in emergencies. In their case, they were lucky they had cell phone reception and could call 911, and even more lucky one of them had an iPhone with GPS enabled. When I lived in Northern California, cell phone reception in most of the places I rode and skied was pretty common, but here in Oregon it's incredibly rare to have cell phone reception. That combined with some past experiences, etc., recently prompted me to buy a SPOT Satellite Messenger. The SPOT is an inexpensive ($150) unit that ties into GPS and satellite communication. I've just started using it, and would like to get a few more rides under my belt before doing a review. Look for a review soon enough. And, while I'm at it, a special thanks to all the emergency and SAR people out there. It is amazing how often you're hearing about rescues, lost people, deaths, and other such scary or tragic situations these days. If it weren't for all the great folks helping, we'd be hearing a lot more bad news, so thanks to all those that help!

I sit here thrashed. Blown. Recovering. This, from a just shy of 2 hour road ride, 30 miles, 2000' of climbing. A route I've done many times. It was chilly, but I was dressed ok for it. Weather otherwise good. Bike in good order. Roads basically dry. Hadn't ridden for four days. Stomach/food situation, not so good I think. I hadn't realized that I left quite so "late" (11am). I hadn't eaten since breakfast, which was almost nil on protein to boot (which usually means it doesn't last me very well). I sucked a Clif Mojo bar down about 45 minutes in, and that helped. But, I probably should've had more in me I think. Kept a solid pace throughout the ride, especially after I realized how late I left and that I wasn't going to be even close to being home around noon-ish to have lunch with my wife and son. Regardless, it was a good ride, just feeling way more knackered than I would have expected. Of course, I tend to revel in that as well, so other than feeling a bit lazy at the moment, all in all, things are good.

Last night I attended a winter/snow camping basics class at REI. It was given by the woman, Amanda, as the Map & Compass 101 class I took last week. Amanda is REI's Outreach coordinator, and does a lot of the classes. She's good at it, and makes the class enjoyable. I have never gone camping in the snow or serious winter conditions, but I've wanted to do so this winter, for some of the same reasons Amanda pointed out: there are far fewer people out camping in the winter, the solitude, and the potential of building a snow shelter :) I am intrigued by the idea of going to an area where I can say take my camera gear, and snowshoe around for a while, taking pictures, hiking, exploring, etc., and staying there a couple days. The extent of it that I do I don't now yet - i.e. I don't know whether I'll just go to Waldo lake, drive in to a camp site, pitch my tent and use that as base camp, or whether I'll backpack in a ways somewhere, hauling all my gear, and then setup camp. It was suggested to start that you don't go too far from your car, so that if you forget something, or wind up being miserable for some reason (although part of the class was to ensure you won't be miserable), you can exit if needed, or at least run back to your car for something. The class covered trip planning, clothing, gear, food, travel, camping aspects, and hazards. Amanda had a lot of product there for us to compare and contrast to, so that we could readily see the difference between, for example, a down vs. synthetic sleeping bag, wool vs. synthetic layers, and so on. I have been in the market for a new sleeping bag, so this in particular was very interesting, and I'm sold on down (previously I've gone synthetic, although, uh, I think my existing sleeping bag is at least 15 years old, so it's not as if I have recent experience). One of the other quite interesting topics was shelter: tent vs. bivy and/or tarp, vs. snow shelter or snow cave, etc. Amanda never uses a tent, and most often builds a snow shelter (aka a digloo), or uses a tarp. She loves building the snow shelters. I myself am quite interested in non-tent options. Tents are great, but one drawback in the winter is condensation. Admittedly, the easiest, and potentially safest route for me to start out though is likely going to be a tent, I just don't really want to have to carry that in if I don't have to. Amanda also recommended the book, Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book. Don't be scared off by the comical cover and such, the book has really good info and is what she used to learn. She doe a lot of winter camping/backpacking, ski backpacking, etc. Lots of other good tips on things like stoves and cooking, water purification, keeping warm, and so on. One other little interesting nugget was these pretty cool folding bowls. Amanda claims she has chucked all her old bowls, and only uses these now. They're really cool in that they open up flat, and are probably easier to pack, super light, etc., but they still work really well. Now it's time for me to gear up. Thankfully they also gave out 15% off coupons last night :) REI has already received a ton of money from me this year, so I shall be getting a pretty massive dividend...

Jay tipped me off to this amazing, at least from a geek point of view new bike bit. A new company, Quark, has applied open source, and open standards to bike equipment, specifically power meters, GPS, heart rate monitors, and cyclometers. Quark has a crank spider that can replace the spider on many cranksets, including FSA, TruVativ, Cannondale, Rotor, and they're working on others. In the spider is a all the bits for power measurement, as well as a temperature range compensation mechanism to help deal with adjustments in measurement (I'm presuming for other things, unless that affects power measurement). It also has the new Ant +Four transmitter system. As they describe in the above video, this is "like bluetooth for bicycles." It's a new standard from Garmin, and is intended to be just like Bluetooth to transmit data between heart rate monitors, GPS, power meters, cyclometers, and so on. Very cool. Now, going further, they have a head unit, aka the cyclometer/computer part, that is pretty sick. It can be mounted portrait/veritcal or landscape/horizontal, has a nice big color screen, and does everything: GPS, power meter, usual cyclometer stuff, etc. But, the even crazier catch? It's Linux based, and completely open source! Ok, this is getting into the geeky part for sure, but what is so great about this is that it means anyone who wants can hack on it. They said there is an XML file that controls the layout of the display and what info is there, and more. Presumably given it's Linux and open source, you could go really wild with this, and completely modify the software. My hat is off to them, as this is really a big step forward in this part of the industry. So, even though most people wouldn't be hacking on it themselves, what you may find is that a whole cottage industry of mods will be available, allowing you to just download some new software or a new file, etc. and it will change the appearance or functionality of your unit. Good stuff.

Check out this video of Glacier Surfing. These guys went to a spot where the glacier calves constantly, and then they get towed in and surf it. The article in Outside mag said they sometimes had 40 foot faces.

[tag]surfing, glacier, Alaska[/tag]

I went to see the screening of Lost and Found from Teton Gravity Research on Thursday night. The venue was the McDonald Theatre in Eugene, which seats 700-800 people, and it was packed. There were a few booths in the entry way: local ski shop (Berg's), a raffle booth (raising money for kids ski team), Amp beverage (no thanks), and Willamette Pass ski area. I lingered for a little bit as I was there somewhat early, and then parked my butt in a prime spot in the theater. Note, if you are hardcore and want to not have any knowledge of the film before watching it, skip reading this... Before the movie started they threw various schwag into the crowd: t-shirts, socks, stickers, etc. Then they fired up the film. The opening scene was good, and then I believe the second main segment was with Kye Petersen, who is 17 years old. I may have been biased by the fact that the kid is 17, but holy crap, this kid absolutely rocked it! He was skiing some big mountain terrain, combined with throwing stylin' airs, flips, and just nailing it. I would say this was one of the best segments of the film. There was a lot of good footage, in particular of really steep stuff in Alaska and a few other places, shot with helmet cams. This was just awesome. I haven't kept up on ski films much, so I don't know how much helmet cam work has been done, but they had a lot here, and it was awesome. Seeing what the skier sees, especially in these far more extreme environments was just phenomenal. Amazing what these guys are doing - it really gives you an appreciation for their ability to work a line that they can hardly see half the time. Further into the movie was the Eric Roner segment where he ski-base-jumps a 192' cliff in Jackson. I think the whole crowd thought he was actually going to huck it just on skis, and it really seemed anti-climactic when you finally watched the whole thing top to bottom and saw him pull the chute. There was this subdued utterance from the crowd denoting the let-down. Granted, it was still a sick trick, because that is a very short base jump (I think they say 150' is the absolute bare minimum, so he was real close, combined with skiing into it (which means added speed as compared to just jumping off it from a stand still), but still. The rest of his segment was good too though. My other favorite part was some incredibly deep and light powder stuff. Sorry, I've forgotten the couple folks that were in it (Chris Collins maybe?). I would term this the most "beautiful" segment of the flick. Oh, ya, one other fun bit - watching the heli rest it's nose on a knife edge and drop Nobis and dudes off. Way sketch for all involved, and pretty sweet shot of the heli. All in all, fun times, and always good to see in a theater to hear the whole crowd oohing and ahing. Go check it out at a theater near you.

Fellow Mountain Monkey, Matt, has embarked a pretty sweet volunteer gig... He's helping the T-Force Motor Sports team in their quest to win the Trophy Truck class of Baja 1000. Their web site, which will feature live race tracking, has gone live. Check out the picture of the sweet truck (and specs, etc.) by clicking on the Team section of the home page. Also, BF Goodrich has a historical film, and full race tracking on this site.

Outside magazine's latest issue has an interview with Bear Grylls, however the full length interview is��available online. ��The interview covers the controversy over some aspects of filming the show, gives some history and insight into Mr. Grylls, and was a generally interesting read.

Schools, Classes, and Related

• ��Northwest School of Survival��(Oregon)
• Wilderness Medicine Outfitters��- first aid and first responder training, medicine, and more
• Outdoor Safe��- information and education on outdoor safety

I planned a fairly epic (for me) road ride on Saturday. It did not disappoint. First, it was cold - 41 degrees when I left, and stayed that way through the shaded country roads for most of the ride. I made it harder on myself (not on purpose), but not putting my jacket on until halfway through. I had a windproof type jersey on and a windproof fleece-lined vest, but when it's really cold, those just don't keep you warm. Heh, I was also wearing not only a skullcap, but also my Surly wool cap. I wished I had something to close/block the major vents in my helmet though (if anyone thinks a modern helmet like the Giro Atmos makes them hot, they're crazy).View Larger MapI had plotted out my ride on Google Maps, targeting 50 miles. Late in the ride I was having some leg strain, so I took one short cut, and the ride wound up being 47 miles. The ride featured just shy of 4000' of climbing, took 3 hours and 18 minutes (ride time), and featured some interesting roads!The first 15 miles occurred on roads I'd ridden before. From there though, I turned onto Battle Creek, and shortly thereafter things got interesting. The road started out small and right off there was a cool covered bridge to ride through. I believe this was the first covered bridge I've ridden over. About a mile or two later though, the climbing began, and then, almost immediately after that the road turned to dirt! And, to make things even more interesting, the grade just kept increasing. It hit 13% right quick, and then throughout the rest of the climb, there were sections of 16%. Ya baby, mini Giro! Ok, yes, very mini, but hey, I dig this stuff.So, while I'm loving this, the road of course had to then turn into a descent. Now normally, this would be much welcomed, but two things: It was 41 degrees, and more tricky, it was a relatively steep dirt and gravel road descent. I enjoy this, but had to watch it of course, not wanting to flat. The climb had been a mile or two, and the descent was probably a solid two miles. Chilly, but pretty fun. I was surfing back and forth across the gravel central line looking for the smoothest side. Good times.Oh, the other tricky point... the dirt roads, with a bunch of little offshoots, didn't inspire confidence that I'd known when I'd hit Panther Creek, or how well it'd be marked. Just as I was getting a bit nervous though, ah, Panther Creek and pavement. I had mixed feelings about the pavement though. I actually love riding dirt roads on my road bike. I'd held off from them for a long while after getting my custom Calfee and riding Reynolds carbon wheels, thinking I wanted to protect them. But these days I've been riding them more (I'm also riding my Campy Eurus wheels though).The other half of this loop, Wolf Creek, featured a pretty sweet descent. Luckily by this time I'd put on my jacket and was somewhat warmer. The temps were up to maybe 44-46 at this point, but honestly, I was still pretty chilly. Time for some food. Sucked down a Clif Mojo bar (my favorite), and headed towards Crow.By the time I arrived in Crow, my right leg was feeling a bit strained, like a cramp might be coming on. I realized it was the first time in a long time I hadn't taken Sport Legs before riding, and I didn't have any Enduralytes with me. I stopped in at the Crow County Store, as V8 was calling. After passing by the big dudes buying cases of Bud, I snagged a V8 and some peanut butter/cheese crackers. V8 has got to be the most well kept secret when it comes to mid-ride convenience store liquids.This is also where I took my shortcut, cutting out about 2-3 miles. I was back on familiar roads. Another freezer descent, but then back into the sun. I was in the final stretches, with of course the final climb being fairly burly (gradients in the teens). Pushed through, with one stop for the nice fall color on the final climb. Arrived home, psyched, but fairly blown. Inhaled some recovery drink, oh, and ya, some more V8. I had also warmed up nicely by now.Not long after it was off for burgers and Bloody Mary's. And after that, I was in that blissful, yet totally knackered, post big ride, post big food, state - an achy and great, near coma state. [tags]bike, rides, Eugene[/tags]

This site is dedicated to stories about mountain biking, skiing, kayaking, the backcountry in general, mountain life, and so on. ��You'll find there is a primary blog component, and then longer articles/stories, organized by general activity. ��More coming soon...

Welcome to Mountain Monkeys! ��This site covers mountain biking, skiing, and various other activities as told and inspired by those who love their mountain-oriented activities.

Yesterday I did a great road ride, that was also very cold (which was mostly my fault). I headed out in the morning for a 40 miler. It was about 45 degrees when I left. I was dressed reasonably, except when doing long descents at 35-40mph! I had mapped out a route using Google Maps, but one roughly 4 mile chunk of my ride turned out to be a non-existant road! I should have used the Hybrid view in Google Maps to determine if the roads existed as looking at that I'm sure I would have second guessed it (the road does not show connecting, etc.). It didn't matter though, as the road I was on that I thought it forked off, continued to the same eventual point anyway. But, this particular road, is a 4 mile descent, and a good one at that, with sustained speeds of 35mph+ (I think I hit in the low 40mph's during the descent and I wasn't pedaling much, because I was freezing).I say the cold was my fault, because I didn't take a jacket. Dumb, but I thought I was set sufficiently, based on the ride I'd done the day before that was just about as cold, and where I was dressed a bit too warm. Yet this ride, I was wearing fleece-lined tights (day before had just knee warmers), Pearli Amfib shoe covers (day before none), and then a wind proof and fleece-lined vest (no vest day before). But, that long descent just froze me to the core. The temps were a bit lower than the day before, but still. It took me a good 20+ minutes to get relatively warm again, and for the rest of the ride I relished the climbs. But, it was an overall great riding day, and the ache the cold and decent mileage (for me) put in to my legs felt great. It has motivated me to do a 50 miler tomorrow (Saturday). I've made sure to check the roads with the Hybrid view in Google maps this time. Still some potential for bad, but these roads look more "major" (as far as country roads go :) Oh, and they aren't called "Foot Path", which I think was truly a foot path, and not a road.With the slight route deviation, the ride wound up being 38.3 miles, 3550' of climbing, and took about 2 hours 38 minutes. The most interesting bit from my cyclometer had to be the max percent grade that occurred during the ride: 18%! Wowzers. I know there are some steep sections along the way, but I think that is bogus. I've climbed up Blanton the steep way, and that seems to max out at about 16-17%, and I don't recall anything on yesterday's ride being as steep, but who knows. It's not exact either of course.