Happy Holidays Everyone!

Hope everyone has a happy & safe holiday, C&I wish you the best! Catch up in the new year!

Goodbye Rocktober, Hello - Uh, November...

C & I are grooving along in our lives, taking time to see family and get outside. C had a class this weekend, so I went climbing at Rattlesnake rocks with some friends. Every time I've climbed outside this fall, I've been pumped that I've snuck in yet another day under the nose of Jack Frost! Here's hoping for at least another one or two, then a quick transition into ski season!

Catch Up (Pt. II)

Immediately following my trip to England and Ireland, I jetted home, then to Chicago (on about 4 hours of sleep) for a wild weekend in the windy city. Highlights: J.F.D. and D.D.'s wedding followed by a great reunion of the F'Allstars! Pics and Video exist throughout cyberspace, so keep an eye peeled!

Catch Up

Quiet summer. Highlights: Moved to Brookline, saw Phish at Fenway Park, and Wilco in Lowell.

So recently (past few months), I've had a few things to celebrate:

1. C's graduation from Breadloaf School of English in Oxford! Got to spend some time in the Cottswolds, visited the new in-laws in Ireland, and had a fantastic break from work.

2. First anniversary with C. on 10/4. We spent the day in Providence, checked out the RISD art museum, saw a cool Chihuly piece, some Gilbert Stuart portraits of George Washington, and a big floating, rotating squid thing. Finished off the night with dinner at a great Portuguese place (name escapes me) a concert from Peter Rowan and Tony Rice at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA.

3. Birthday, celebrated with Colby pals camping at one of the RMC huts on the side of Mt. Adams. Woke up to snow, trekked it down, chillaxed in North Conway, then Red Bones in Somerville!

4. Just for fun, Yonder Mountain String Band at House of Blues in Boston. Great Show.

Life

OK, it's been a while since I've paid any attention to this. Here's the update: C. and I are moving to Brookline to be closer to her job. Should help her commute BIG TIME. My commute should be OK, esp. by bike. C's in Oxford finishing her Masters through Bread Loaf. I am going to visit in two weeks! Tons of pictures (Picassa). Need to figure out best way to share. This weekend is Maine to see the Niecephews (and 'Rents & Sis). Fall will have a few exciting elements: Trying to plan a Hut-to-hut hike on the Presidentials, and possibly going to try the 'Knife Edge' at Kitahdin. Will keep everyone posted. Have a great summer all!

Tuckerman's Ravine

OK, so my buddy Ry has already posted some photos on FB, and I'll post some soon as well. Here's the Narrative:

Ry spent the night at our place in Somerville so that we could go for an 'Alpine Start:' Except that we slept in, and stopped for gas, coffee, etc.

Arrived at Tuckerman's around 11, just as the Inferno race was finishing up (for future reference: don't plan a trip to Tuck's on Inferno weekend, although it was cool to see).

We hiked up with our gear, which wasn't too bad except that the top was typical for Mt. Washington: Total Whiteout (no wind and very light precipitation, comfortable temps... so not actually too bad).

When we got up to the ravine, we decided to just walk around for a little while since visibility was so bad. We ditched our gear and headed up the hill. I had always wanted to ski the "ravine" but it looked like it wasn't going to be safe. At the last moment, I decided I was at least going to try a few turns. I went back for my gear, put it on my back and turned around to head up the hill. Literally as I turned my head, the fog lifted. Game time!

I hiked up past the lunch rocks, and began to ascend the boot-pack on the 'Lip' (right next to the 'Sluice'... descriptions here: http://www.timefortuckerman.com/routes.html)

As I'm hiking up, EVERYONE is wiping out on their way down. About 3/4 of the way up, climbing started to get difficult. I realized that even though I could climb up, skiing down on teles (even if I just P-turned), would be dicey. Instead, I holed up in a crevasse just below the rocks between the Lip and the Sluice. I stashed my gear in the crevasse, only to find out later that I had very nearly lost it into it. Beginner's mistake, thank god it was OK.

Finally, the crowd started to clear out, so I started to gear up. Anyone who's skiied with me knows I have enough problems with Tele Bindings as it is (ask Chris B. about Lake Chutes), and this time was no exception. Nevertheless, I got 'clipped in.'

My turn to go, I traverse out into the slope below the actual Headwall, make my first term, and realize "Oh $H!T, I didn't put my left binding on correctly!!!!" Half way into the turn, my ski comes off, and I start to fall.

If you've ever seen "Better Off Dead" when John Cusak skis the K12 with 1 ski, you get the idea.

By the grace of god, I keep an edge, stop, fix my binding. However, I'm so shaken up by the ordeal, that I can only muster the energy to ski down like a total wuss (P-turns on Teles in bulletproof hardpack are pretty hard).

Made it down to Casey and Ry, then we skiied the Sherborn trail as far as we could, before we had to walk our skis down.

Spent the night in the Joe Dodge Lodge, Casey and I on the bottom bunk, Ry on the top. Watched a movie about the history of American Skiing.

Woke up the next day, had breakfast with the Inferno winner (Ski Leg... total coincidence), then went climbing over on 'Square Ledge' (across the valley from Tuck's, about a 15 minute walk). Did a few ascents, then drove home by way of Moat Mountain Smokehouse & Brewery.

Home by 7. I could barely walk after... phew! Exhausting!

Ski Jokes

OK, I was thinking the other day of all the ski jokes I knew, and realized that A) There weren't very many, B) They weren't very funny, and C) Most of them weren't even jokes.

So hook me up! Here's what I have so far (Telemark-centric)

1. Tele 'til y'er smelly
2. Drop knees, not bombs
3. How do you know if your girlfriend Teles? She'll tell you.
4. What's the difference between God and a Telemarker? God doesn't think he's a telemarker.
5. There's a car with 5 snowboarders in the back. What do you call the driver? Sheriff.
6. What's the difference between a snowboard instructor and a snowboard student? 3 days.
7. What do you call a snowboarder with no girlfriend? Homeless.
8. Free your heel, free your mind.
9. Real Eyes Realize Real Lies! [Nothing to do with skiing, but general hippieness helps]

OK, hook me up! Extra points for trashing snowboarders!

Multimedia Meltdown

Hey all, trying to set this up late on a Sunday night. I can't promise I'll be a diligent poster, but you can usually keep up with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Or, you can reach me by phone or email.

For the moment, I can't seem to get all of the components to 'talk' to each other, which means you might have to go a minute or two without know EXACTLY what I'm up too *GASP.*

Hope everyone is healthy and happy. I am!