The Edge

It's been awhile folks. A lot has happened since "we last met". I've climbed solo, gone down single track on my bike at breakneck speed over rocks and roots, and had a good buddy out to visit. Along with many other things.
Mostly, I've been waiting out bad weather and working. Weather lately has been snowing,raining and cold. It dries up just about to the point of the trails getting ready to ride again, then mama nature decides that she should keep me inside with more nasty weather and get me fat. I've had a couple instances of waking up to half a foot of snow on my trailer roof. Which reminds me, I have two leaks still in my roof. Ace Harware is going to get more of my money it looks like. Along the lines of modifications to the trailer, I have successfully installed my solar system that I got off of a co-worker. I snagged it for a good price and it is more than I need when the sun is out everyday. The sun hasn't peaked out of the clouds and rain in the last 3 days though and I'm being quite frugal with it since I watched a movie (my first one in two months!) the first night of bad weather and that drains the battery pretty good. I've thought about going to two 6 volt batteries hooked in series but that's 150 bucks and I think that I can make it just fine without.
I have a new pet! No, not a dog, cat or other normal furry friend. It's a female deer that I have named Lucy. She eats all the green grass around my trailer every night. I have come within 5 feet of her when I'm the trailer and 10 feet outside. She is cautious but not scared. She doesn't mind me talking but definately doesn't like me whistling. I must not be singing the right tune to her.
My good friend Ross McHugh came out to visit me two weeks ago. We ended up buying him a bike since most of the hiking trails around here are going to be snowed in until mid July. He fell in love with it. Our first day we did some pretty easy stuff and ended up going 19 miles all around Boca Reservoir. The next day we met up with my crazy Australian friend, Andrew, and followed him on some steep downhill single track that blew my mind! We were flying over rocks, roots and some jumps. I found a new sport that's going to cost me both in money and I'm sure in body parts sooner or later. Navigating down this narrow trail as fast as you can is an amazing challenge.

Ross and I on the top of Boca Hill

We also met up with Ross' cousin and went to a "Rubix Cube" party with him at a bar up in Squaw Valley. The object was to trade clothes with other random folks to be completely one of the colors on the rubix cube. This lead to many drinks and a horrible next day. Ross and I blame the altitude for making us feel like shit the next day.
Other than that, we just kind of hung out and had a good time. The weather was nice in general and led to good bonfires and mallow roasting.

Boca Sunrise from "work"

Back to biking! The south facing trails like Loyd's should be open by mid-week. I got a lot of making up to do for the last week or so of doing nothing except biking about 14 miles round trip to work 3 days a week. I'm excited to get on The Animal. Its a heinous downhill trek that has something like 40 wooden steps you go down, high berms you hit at top speed and jumps! Sounds like a bone breaking good time to me! The Flume should also be opening up soon. That's on the east side of Lake Tahoe and has some amazing views of the lake due to you riding on the edge of a huge cliff!
I also can't wait for the weather to break this week so I can get back on the rock again. I haven't been on real rock in 3 weeks. I've had to settle for paying 5 bucks to go to the local bouldering gym. Its just not the same though. I went a month ago with a cool couple down by Reno on some granite. I ended the day on a totally sandbagged (meaning it was harder then the book said) .10a. I was kinda pumped from climbing all day and this thing was run-out due to me thinking it was going to be easy and not bringing any extra protection. Pretty scary when your 20 feet from your last bolt at a 45 degree angle to the right. A fall would mean a massive pendulum into the wall without being able to catch myself well. Scrapes would have been the best outcome. I'd like not the think about the worst. I was pumped out on this ok hold and had to do a blind reach up to an unknown hold. I went at it half-hearted several times and couldn't reach it. Finally, I harnessed all my strength and will and went for it. It seemed like forever from when I coiled up til when I was fully extended and holding a huge hold. It was an amazing experience. I don't want to do that all that often, but it makes you a better climber and person. You push your mental limits when there are severe consequences.
Sometimes these scenarios are forced upon you. Like the time I was backpacking in Utah and we came across a snow slide that has swallowed the trail. We had just went over two passes, one of them being 12,500 feet and I wasn't about to go back, but the snow was at too severe of an angle to cross. I spotted a place that was free of snow, but it involved a 8 foot downclimb and a shuffle across a foot wide "path" for about 15 feet that met back up with the trail proper. It wouldn't have been that bad except for the fact that it was well over 1000 feet down a severely angled talus slope. The kind that you toss a rock down and it gains speed and other rock companions until a deafening cacophony takes over the canyon. My female partner understandable had a mental breakdown when I said we should go. It lasted only 30 seconds and we were on our way. This was my first experience with complete and udder focus. You let everything else fade away and its just you and the task at hand. Its the consequence of failure that makes you focus.
Hopefully the rain of the last couple days has knocked down the snow on Donner Summit and my V5 will be accessible. The last time I was up there, I did my first solo (climbing without gear and protection). I've heard about it for so long now and finally felt strong and confident enough in my skills to try one. It was only a 40 foot V1 and all the holds looked bomber. A fall didn't mean death, but meant some serious ramifications. Everything around me faded and it was just me and the rock. I've never felt quite like that before. I intentionally put myself in this spot. I finished it with no problem. I topped out and enjoyed the view of the snowy mountains and of Donner Lake. I can't say I completely liked it, but its good to be on the edge every once in awhile.
"The Edge". It's a not a place nor a thing. It's not fear nor craziness. Its a combination of all of these things and probably more. It's being in a spot where you are on the brink of losing control of a situation. You have to focus all your knowledge and energy into one specific task to not have a disaster. Sometimes this disaster is a nasty fall while blazing down a technical single track on your bike. Sometimes it is eminent death. Its a balance of knowing yourself and knowing the task at hand. A miscalculation in either can lead to bad things. Not only for you but for other people, specifically loved ones. I'm talking of course about being on the death defying edge. I haven't flirted with that edge on purpose much, and don't particularly like to, but sometimes the alternatives are unthinkable like on that snow covered trail in Utah.
Sometimes the edge comes to you when you think your pretty far away from it. The run-out down by Reno is a good example of this. You think your in control and then the situation changes. The first time I can think of this was on a backpacking trip in Wyoming. We were roughly 20 miles from the trailhead and I woke up feeling like death. I couldn't eat or drink. Walking right away in the morning was not an option considering I could hardly stand. I thought the edge on this trip would be a busted ankle or something of the like, not being deathly ill. The only illnesses I knew of were waterborne and they took weeks to come to. It turned out the edge creeped and crawled its way into my tent, then sleeping bag, then stomach. You can bet I was running scenarios of how to get the hell out of there. No cell phone, no beacon, just a girlfriend that had limited orienteering skills. Everything turned out to be ok by the next morning but it was a scary situation.
It's these times of being on the edge that stick with you forever. Sure, I remember the amazing landscapes and the bonds made with partners on these trips and they give me a calming feeling. It's the moments on the edge, when brought back to my current thoughts from memory, are the ones that still send a chill up my spine. You can see exactly where you were and how things went down through a 3rd person perspective hovering above you.
It's these times on the edge that make you who you are. Will you show courage and make quick and accurate decisions? Or, will you breakdown, then flail or freeze? Until you are there, especially on the "death edge", I don't think you can truly know who you are. Do you know who you are?

Norcal: A Beginning

It’s been a long time since the last blog I guess, and I guess a lot has happened too. I have received my certificate for Watercraft Inspector, started working, biked, hiked and climbed, along with other things.

Let’s start where we left off last time. I was still in Bishop and being a complete bum. I had mentioned that I had tried Flyboy Arete. Well Ryan and I went and sent the sucker with minimal tries. Felt good to get another V5 under my belt.

Me sending Flyboy Arete (V5)

I also worked on Molly (V5) for a bit and got most of it down. I was on my last day in Bishop and felt kind of weak due to climbing for two days in a row and this being my third day on. I found out some better beta, and got to the top hold, but my feet popped and I fell. Peeling off the rock left me with two flappers (think skin gone) on my fingers. I gave it a couple more tries but lacked the energy to get it. Now it will be the first thing I do next time I am in Bishop. To stick with climbing, I got to fool around one day on a boulder in town here called the Memorial Boulder. Its got pavement right up to it and a gazebo on top of it! Not so scenic of climbing, but getting on top offers some real cool views of old downtown Truckee.

On to business… I went to South Lake Tahoe for two days of training for my watercraft inspector certificate. A lot of it wasn’t pertinent to the few of us who are involved in the Truckee program and not the Lake Tahoe program. They had all sorts of rules and regulations that they had to go by, and none of them pertained to us since we are a voluntary program up here and they are a mandatory inspection down there. Anyways, I got paid to sit on my ass and think of things not related to work, most of these thoughts involved something to do with being on a trail or rock of course. I did give a brief thought of what I’m going to do this winter, but decided it was best to think of that after I have been here for awhile and when winter jobs actually get posted, so somewhere around August.

Anyway, my work schedule looks like it’s going to be a 5am shift five days a week. I’m not sure if I’m going to have a 4 hour shift in the morning, or a split shift of two in the morning and two in the evening. I’ll have to wait and find that out later. I’m currently working another guy’s eight hour shift, and it’s pretty dang slow; only three boats in four hours so far. As far as my campground host job, I heard that I will have training somewhere around May 11^th. I went for a bike ride yesterday to the campground I will be hosting and It looks like I’m going to be in a pretty sweet spot. I will have shade for my trailer, but enough sun to run a solar panel (which I plan on getting within the next two days). The road was open enough for me to get back there with my trailer, but the gate is still closed to the campground. I’m going to call or stop into the Forest Service to see if they can open it for me. I was surprised to see about thirty camping rigs at the campground I was at this weekend with it being pretty cold. It seemed that all the plates were from Nevada, so from now on these will be referred to as Reno folk. They all seemed to have noisy four wheelers, drink excessive amounts of booze and were especially talented in the whooping and hollering scene. I am going to try my best to get over to my site before the Reno folk come rumbling back up the grade to Boca. I bet I will still be able to hear them across the lake though, a little John Denver or Zac Brown Band should  drown out the idiotic slander that the belt out. I think I’m going to have a pretty easy summer overall. The watercraft inspection job is a lot of sitting around, and the campground host job is a lot of waiting around. I think I just have to be present 6 hours a day. I don’t know if this means I can nap, but it sure would be nice so I can get in an afternoon session of biking or climbing.

Weather is supposed to start warming up, and it better because my water lines in my trailer froze the other night. I had to go without coffee and 4am before work and that wasn’t cool by any means. They are talking 70 degrees by Wednesday, and that means I can work on my tan even more while I work two ten hour shifts on Thursday and Friday.

I met a guy, Kyle, at training that let me stay on his couch the night between training. He is a climber also and I hope to get out with him on the rock here pretty soon depending on our schedules. I definitely need to meet more climbers in the area though so I can feel comfortable doing some of the boulder problems around here with sketchy landings. A roped climbing partner would also be nice.

Sunrise from Kyle's deck

P.S. Since my writing this, I have met a bunch of locals that are into all sorts of outdoor activities. If they aren't into it, they are naming off people that do. It's like they are some kind of local outdoor mafia that has a finger into every outdoor adventure you can do around here. Biking, paddling, running, climbing, sailing, you name it, they do it. I'm going to go try my hand at outrigging today. Not exactly sure what it is, but i found out that it has to do with paddling, so I'm interested. Before that, I'm going to go bouldering up on Donner Summit (yeah the one that's named after those cannibals). They also invited me to have a shower and come over for dinner, SHIBBY! I just hope I can pay them back somehow.

I'm really liking this area, you are a half hour from the high desert, an hour to warmer weather down in Sacramento, all the city things you can want are 20 minutes down in Reno, Bishop is three hours away, and that's not including all the awesome things right here. World class skiing, climbing, fly-fishing, etc are all here. I just might become a local someday. Too bad cost of living is pretty high here, and my itch to travel is still high. We'll have to see closer to the end of the summer on what I want to do.

Until next time, keep your hook baited!

Working is tough at Donner Lake :)

 

Dirtbagistan

I’m back at the Bishop City Park once again. I bummed a ride into town with two guys that I have been hanging out with for the last couple days, John and Ryan. John has been out here for about as long as I have, although I never went and talked to him except for the other day. I didn’t feel the best in the morning and decided to get some things done around the “house” (clean up the mess that had accumulated over the last few days). He came over and we played some cribbage and shot the bull. He was taking a break from climbing because he popped a pulley in one of his fingers trying a V10. I could probably climb that hard if I looked like him too. He’s about 6’3” and built like a popsicle stick. He is from Craig Colorado, which he was surprised to find out that I actually knew where that was, and that he went to college in Durango, CO, where is pretty close to where I elk hunt. He has a masters in Chemistry and can’t find a job. He has the same debate going on within himself that I do, the weighing notion of trying to live this kind of lifestyle versus a “normal” job. We had a good long talk about the pros and cons of each, which pretty much wasted time due to the fact that we didn’t come up with a conclusion.

His buddy, Ryan, who is from Pagosa Springs, CO (where I elk hunt, what a small world!), came the other day and we spent a good amount of time on Fly Boy Arete (V5) up in the Buttermilks. Too bad there was a wind that could snatch away small children if they weren’t clinging to their parent. We literally got sandblasted when the wind would gust. My guess was somewhere in the 50mph range. Anyway, we made good progress on the problem and could do every move, but lacked the energy to link them all together for the send. I think we are going to go back on Sunday, which I hear is Easter. It’s amazing how living this lifestyle makes you so unaware of what is going in the outside world or even what day it is. We had a 5 minute discussion about if it was Wednesday or Thursday while Ryan drove his shockless Suburu over the washboard road to the Happies this morning at roughly half the speed of a toddler’s crawl. He likes to drive slow everywhere; and by slow, I mean roughly ten to twenty mph under the speed limit. Good thing most people in Bishop don’t have places to go in a hurry.

 (Ryan on Serengeti (V5) )

It has been pretty damn windy here the last couple of days and made a hellhole out of Dirtbagistan (I have officially renamed The Pit to this). If you are a resident of Dirtbagistan, you are either a cheap climber (except for The Mob, which are climbers that come from the weekend that are either from the Bay area or L.A.), or you are a drunken old fella who obviously has no other ties to society and likes to tell others how they should live their life. I plan on distributing a free paper of the happenings in the republic of Dirtbagistan. The headlines for the upcoming issue are; “Join The Navy! How giving a little time now will let you dirtbag forever!”, “Why you should be gone to climb on shit pumping mornings”, “Young woman screams at lover for half an hour” and “How to avoid the old drunks” I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a big hit, even if people just use it to wipe their ass at a local crag.

I’m also pretty sure Toyota has special sales just to climbers. You can only get a white Tacoma with a matching topper though. They must run one hell of a deal on this since every one and their unruly dog that runs around the crag rampant has one. I did see something cool vehicle wise the other day though. It was a Honda Element, which has four wheel drive and the seat fold and slide up to make a full 6 feet of sleeping space, with a pop up high top like a VW Westfalia. It seems like it would be a worthy thing to live out of if you are a dirtbagger. Of course, if you have enough money to have that, you probably aren’t a dirtbagger, or you are and just won the lottery!

Let’s talk about cooking and baking, specifically the hassles of not having a fridge that runs off of propane and a temperamental oven. Let’s start with the oven. I finally figured out how to bake somewhat properly in the blasted thing. First, you must give it an offering of a virgin. Ok, not really but it seemed like it would when I first started. It actually must be turned 25 degrees cooler than whatever it is your cooking calls for. Second, you must place what I call a “heat diversion device” underneath the baked item. This apparently makes the heat go around it and not burn the bottom. Also, it can warp time! Yes, instead of a pizza taking 22-26 minutes to be done, it will be done in an amazing 16-18 minutes. I’m going to try to videotape this phenomenon, but I’m guessing it has some sort of defence mechanism that will turn the tape into mush once I would try to play it back and show someone.

The second issue is the fridge. Keeping it cold was costing me $10.50 a week in ice… Not cool. I decided that I would go with refrigeration of any kind for the last two weeks and see how it went….Hell! Ok, not hell but not easy. I have no butter, I have no cheese, I have no meat, and thus PB&J’s have been slowly depressing me into a state of chaos. I have been frantically asking other’s about what they do for lunch since they are dirtbaggers, problem is, is that they all have coolers, SHIT! Since I’m going to be living out of this trailer until at least October, I have come to the conclusion of breaking down and spending the money on a gas operated fridge. I haven’t looked into all the options yet, but as of right now, its in the vicinity of 8 Benjamins. I don’t want to deal with going to get ice two times a week and burritos are just not as good without cheese.  

This hasn't been edited at all and probably is going to read like something a 3rd grader with ADHD would write. Running out of battery and we have to get to the hot springs. Peace out folks!

Climbing, Jobs and Life

I’m currently at the Laundromat doing my first load on this journey that has cost me money, and boy is it ever; 2.50 a wash and “50 cents to start” for drying! I got a buck out of a machine that kept spitting quarters at me though, right on! Good thing being a dirtbag means you wear clothes over and over again. You put them in piles that are roughly categorized by activity, how many times you have worn them and stankiness. If it wasn’t for my sheets that I forgot to wash back at Mike’s, I could have gotten by with one load for just over two weeks. Not too shabby if I say so myself.

Just another week in paradise I guess. I sent my first V5, Serengeti, up at the Happies last weekend. I also sent my first 5.11 the other day in the Gorge, and it was an .11b at it! I can feel my skin is getting tougher and I’m getting stronger. My pants are fitting a little looser also, although I didn’t really have much to lose. I bought a pair of climbing shorts the other day, size 32 and they are still a bit big!

I’ve been climbing with Matt and then we have also been climbing with a Canadian named Ian. Ian is a medical resident up in Victoria, BC. I wish I had a picture of him; he looks just like Luigi, ya know, Mario’s brother! YUP, he’s got the mustache, green sweat shirt and a beret type hat! We have been mostly climbing down in the Gorge and that’s definitely been testing my endurance. It’s good for me though, boulder some and get strong, then climb some and get endurance. One day we were bouldering up at the Happies and ran into some guys from Truckee. Greg and Rob were their names and said they would love to put me on some sweet problems and routes up there along with mountain bike riding! I love this place, meeting all sorts of new people that are willing to help you out. Well that’s the climbing community for ya. 

 ( Lake Tahoe from my moving truck)

Speaking of Truckee, I went up there on Sunday afternoon for my interview and a date. I met Lauren online though one of them dating websites ( I figure it costs a lot less to do that then try to pick up women at the bar). We met at the Casa Baeza, a quaint little Mexican joint with really good food. I found out quickly though that things are going to be pricey in Truckee. A smallish meal there with two Coronas cost me 18 bucks! That and gas was somewhere in the vicinity of $4.50. Anyway, we had a good time talking and I like her. She said she wants to try to climb and I said I’m more than willing to show a noob the ropes.  I drove out to Boca for the night and slept in my truck. I got up early and went into town and had coffee with Lauren in the morning at a little coffee shop and used bookstore. I then went to my interview and rocked the socks off of it. I got the job and will be working 20 hours a week as a watercraft inspector. I will have to do some mild disinfecting of boats and try to get people to take surveys. It’s a completely voluntary program as of right now to keep invasive species out of the local watershed. I have paid training on April 27-29^th. I haven’t heard of anything from Jay, my campground host manager as of late. The snow wasn’t too bad when I was at Boca and I assume that by the end of the month I will have training for that also. Until then, I’m just going to bum here in Bishop and crush the rock!

 ( Geese at Boca Resevoir)

I baked for the first time in my trailer the other night. It was a bit chilly and I figured I might as well heat up the place a little by baking. I baked a dozen and a half muffins. For some reason, the bottom always is slightly burnt and the top is done. I think the oven doesn’t circulate well enough and that next time I’m going to break down and buy them damn little muffin cup things. I just eat the tops and insides and they are quite a delicious break from oatmeal, which is my normal breakfast with raisins and brown sugar.

 ( A typical breakfast for me )

At the Gorge the other day, we were invited to “The Zoo” in town here. It’s a older gentleman’s house named Paul who has some climbers live there and invites all the local climbers and some people from the pit to have “Family Night” at his house every Wednesday. What a great place! It has a sick ass home built woody that is covered outside, a sauna, and everything inside is outdoor adventure related. It’s such a laid back place with cool people. It was Frank’s birthday and they had more people than normal I guess. All in all, there were probably 30 people there or so, including Kevin Jorgeson. I know only you climbers (the two of you) that will ever read this will think that you have heard of that name before. Think of Evilution V12 in the Buttermilks in the movie Progression. For you non-climbers, this guy does super hard bouldering at 40 feet plus! Think serious injury or death if you fall!

Ian went down to Red Rocks (Las Vegas) to climb with his girlfriend the other day and I think Matt and I are going to go down and join them for two days early next week. We are planning on doing a 6 pitch (400 foot roughly) .10c. I’ve never done a multi-pitch route but I feel that if we run through a couple small things that it will be just fine. There is a couple 2 pitch routes in the Gorge and I’m guessing we are going to try our hand at some easy ones there first. Matt’s car gets 30-something mpg so the trip is going to cost me less than 50 bucks and it will be an amazing experience. I’m excited!

I’ll be happy to making some money in a couple weeks and living this lifestyle the last couple weeks has made me think about what I really want to do with my life. I keep running into folks that had “normal” jobs, end up hating them, and return to living free. I ask them what about the future and they say that living now and enjoying themselves is all they care about. I can see that point and want to live that way, but I think to have a plan for later is also necessary. I'm kind of torn on what to do after my jobs are done in October. Part of me wants to just dirtbag it and love life, aka ski job, campground host in winter down south, etc. Part of me wants to actually have a career, but the problem with a career is that you are tied down and only get two weeks of vacation a year. America is so backwards on that, they don't realize that people would get more done if they weren't as stressed as work. If people had more time to do what they want, they could be more productive and more happy at work. We need to take a lesson from the Europeans here. If I could settle in a place like Bishop with inordinate amounts of outdoor activities to do, then I think I could handle it. I could get out and do a bouldering session after work and go somewhere new on the weekend. I don't know, we will see how the summer goes and decide then I guess.
Until next time, keep your stick on the ice! 

 ( Near the Happies at sunset)

 (Owen's River and mountain at dusk )

Dirtbag Diary

Here I sit in my trailer trying to retrace the last week. My hand hurts, I’m out $80 more than I should be, not at my interview like I should be, and I had to walk 4 miles in the dark with temps around 25 degrees. I’ll get to that at the end though.

I’ve been bouldering and climbing my little heart out during the past week. I’ve done some really cool problems and routes. I spent a couple days with Magnus and Dan, then Dan had to leave back across the pond to the land of people drinking stout ales and yelling at their favorite football teams. Magnus was going to go back with him, but he didn’t need to be back to Sweden for a week. I offered to let him stay with me in the trailer. 

(Magnus climbing Solaruim (V4) )

(Me on a tricky V1 - Laughing Cow)

 (Me on The Hulk (v6), the crux is a little too much for me, maybe next year)

Well, after I week, I haven’t strangled him with his own socks, so all is good. We have been getting up every morning, having tea and breakfasts of all sorts, then heading out to boulder.

We had a partial rest day on Tuesday and went to the local hot springs. It’s actually the runoff water from a commercial hot springs, but its free compared to a stiff $8. We got there and a fella saw my Minnesota plates and asked what I was doing. I told him my story and he was so awestruck by it. He offered me a soda. I went into the cooler and it rivaled the local liquor store for the amount of goods per square inch. He had several hard liquors and beers and I figured out why he was so interested in my story. Maybe you should all drink and these posts would get better also! I digress, we spent a good while in a pool by ourselves. We were not too happy with ourselves because two good looking climber girls (and by good looking, I mean they were the first women I had seen in several months in a bikini….) had just got out. Instead we had a older vandwelling gentleman pull up beside the pool, drop trow, and fail to put on anything! Thankfully he took his wrinkly ass to another pool to haunt another couple.

We came back to the campground and found the two ladies that had graced us with a fleeting presence at the hot springs. They actually were quite alright up close too surprisingly. We got another fella that Magnus knew and we played Shithead. I had never played but won, beginner’s luck I reckon. We had plenty of beers and then picked up another chap that was originally from Boston but has lived the last several years as a Kiwi. Quite an interesting accent if you mix the two! We cooked Mac and Cheese because Magnus had never had it before. I also prepared some venison chops and everyone loved that. The girls never came! They were supposed to come over afterward for card games in the trailer, typical women, teases….

We then went sport climbing in the Owen’s River Gorge with the two guys we meet the night before. Magnus and I warmed up on some 5.8’s and boy, did I sure lose climbing endurance over the winter! After them and a bit of rest we moved to a 5.9 and that felt good. I then toproped a .10d and didn’t fall. I was surprised at how well I was doing! I onsighted a .10b and .10a also. What an amazing day! I forgot how much I loved going up higher than 15 feet. I hope to get a couple more days in at the Gorge before I leave.

Thursday night was bad. A storm rolled through with some gusts that I’m guessing were at least in the 50mph range. The whole trailer was shaking and I couldn’t sleep from 1:30 to 4:00. I felt bad for the people in the tents. They must have had no sleep at all, especially whoever had put the broken tent in the dumpster this morning. Good thing there wasn’t any precipitation last night, else they would have had a hell of a night. It was also very cold this morning. Magnus and I were on our second pot of tea when the campground host came and gave us a visit. He said that due to congress not being able to come to a budget agreement (we had no idea of such news, we haven’t heard any news besides there is a famous climber in Bishop working on a new project), that the campground might have to close on Monday! Even the host would have to leave! What a crock of shit. Just become some fucking big whigs in D.C. can’t play nicely with each other, all the people here and at every other federal campsite (not to mention federal jobs) are getting screwed. I debated to go to the Truckee/Reno area and stay there until I have training, but it doesn’t make sense financially. I am going to have to move the trailer a half mile down to the river for a hefty $10 a night. $8 more than the pit here but a little more scenic, still with no amenities accept the hand water pump we have been using for the past week. We fill up gallon jugs and then pour them into my tank in the trailer so we have running water. “Luxury” as Magnus puts it.

 (Matt and Justin filling up a gas can with water)

Now, to the reason why my hand hurts and I’m out dough. It all started last night around 6:30. Magnus wanted to “light paint” a tree with the stars as the background. I had previously agreed and we shipped on down to a small pull off by the Happies. We took some sunset photos that were so-so. Then waited for what liked seemed forever for the stars to come out. During which, we listened to country on the one of three “decent” radio stations in Bishop. The news came on at 7 saying that there was no progress in the budget debate and it didn’t look like they were going to make the midnight Friday deadline. SWEET…. Then I started the truck to make sure the battery wasn’t too drained. I could hear the belt squeaking but it was cold out and I didn’t blame it for whining. All of a sudden smoke started pouring out of the hood, uh oh. I quick pulled the hood latch, shut off the engine and turned on my headlamp. Just as I lifted the hood, I got to witness the serpentine belt snap. SWEET…. Magnus took his pictures and I didn’t care much to take any. We ended up hiking the roughly 4 miles back to my trailer and good thing we bundled up, it was cold! My mind was racing on what to do since I had to be in Truckee at noon tomorrow and Magnus had to catch a bus at the same time. Truckee is 4 hours away and it was supposed to be snowing the whole way up. Good thing I had internet on my phone. Napa opened at 8 and O’Reiley’s at 7:30. O’Reiley’s it was. Hopefully we could get it fixed and on the road by 8:15 and book ass to Truckee. WRONG…. Turns out the belt had melted the plastic on the tension pulley. We tried to run it anyway to make sure that was the only thing wrong. It wasn’t. The compressor for the A/C had seized up and was causing more smoke on the new belt. SWEET… Back to town we go in Matt’s (the Kiwi) little Honda that was packed to the brim. I called around and no one had the correct belt to bypass the A/C, but we found a belt that was close. Now, if it was just close enough was the question. Matt and I went back to the truck, Magnus wanted to be dropped off so he could hitchhike to Reno or South Lake Tahoe to catch a ride to San Francisco or Sacramento. Hope he’s doing well. Hard way to part, but there was nothing I could do for him.

Back to the truck, Matt and I put on the new pulley and the new belt. It doesn’t fit but it’s really close… Between some old Indian tricks and brute strength, we get the sucker on. Everything runs fine, minus the A/C, but I will fix that on another date. Shouldn’t need it too much in Truckee I reckon. During the brute strength process, I managed to pull the muscle between my thumb and finger.

Matt is going to be here for a couple weeks and has no climbing partner as of right now. It looks as if I’ll be doing the Death March into and out of The Gorge quite a bit. It’s a roughly 500 foot descent into an abyss that very well looks like Frankenstein could inhabit it. Power lines and a power plant that hiss constantly kind of ruin the atmosphere, but the climbing is amazing and the rock is superb.

As for now, I’m just chilling and trying to recollect myself. I have to go to Truckee on Monday for the interview. I have to run to town to get Matt beer for his generosity,  and to post this writing. Until then, I’m going to try to stay warm, high’s only in the 30’s for the next two days. Makes me remember part of the reason I left Minnesota. Have a good one, eh!