Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
(Friedrich Schiller , German Dramatist and poet)
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is in full swing, or should I say flying high. It is held every year in October. This year my two aunts, ages 80 and 78 came to visit us and other friends and relatives in New Mexico and wanted to go to the fiesta. I had not been for a number of years and decided it would be fun so off we went to see the balloons. On the weekends the balloons do what is called a mass ascension, and during the week they have different kinds of competitions. There is also, balloon glows on some evenings, and a special shape rodeo when the odd shaped balloons are featured. In this photos are mostly the normal or regular shaped balloons. Some are up and flying while others are just rising.
Today we went up the Gunflint Trail in search of the cow moose with twin calves that seemingly everyone who has driven up the trail in the past month has seen. Unfortunately, we did not see them. I think maybe if the weather had cooperated and it had been nice instead of a torrential downpour we would have been more likely to see them. Oh well, you take what you can get. Luckily we did see another cow moose further up the trail and had the pleasure of watching her eating in a small marsh right next to the road. She hung out in the marsh for a long time and it sure was fun watching her from less than 50 feet away. Every time she dunked her head under water she would root around for some plants then come up and shake her head off. It was quite a comical sight I must say :-)
I was thinking about Boiling Pot recently. Gritty short cliffs over sensuous worn stones, washed by the sea. I used to climb there when I first started. The place has been photographed to bits in every Noosa coffee table type book but I think there's potential for good bouldering photography.
Here's what Nate and I came up with.
I think a million people or more visit Noosa National Park every year. There's a constant stream of families with boogie boards and towels colliding with each other on the path, as they migrate from carpark to beach to next beach and back.
Only one or two people visit for the climbing, but the bouldering is quite good and there's trad routes to be had at the southern end of the park.
Being neither a boulderer nor a traddie I only add to the million every few years.
How comeI try gear and love it, then I read the latest gear review..doesn't matter where... and it sucks? Sucks bad in fact.
I have to wonder if they actually even used the item for what it was intended.
Not only that but I paid just under $20 cash for two hard copies of the annual "gear guide" that are total BS for content. Ads were good though. And manufactures pay $3 to 5K for a color cover? What are they thinking?
An incredible 7K meter peak down jacket reviewed for boulderingcomes to mind.(no really that was the review!) Or one of the best skimo/touring skis I've been on, written up as a total looser when used as free ride ski? No, really, who would have thought.."free ride lift ski"? (me rolling my eyes here)
Do the stars,moon and freaking Sun have to align with a hefty wad of cash for the FREE gearto get a decent/honest review in hard print? The more I think about it and see what does get published the more pissed off I get.
Two foxes (of a rare sub species) are currently moving up and down the mountain from Paradise all the way up to the summit. While the mountain is their natural environment, the food they have been eating this year has not been coming from the mountain, most of it has been taken from climbers and day hikers at Camp Muir. Foxes have been consistently searching out food left in backpacks and tent vestibules.
Sadly, we have experienced what happens when foxes become habituated and dependent on humans in the park - we lost our friend Pickles.
Mount Rainier is home for these foxes, meaning we can't relocate them nor would we want to. At this point we are trying our best to have the foxes and climbers interactions be kept to a minimum. Please help us with this effort by maintaining a clean camp and storing all food zipped up, inside of your tent. Day hikers and skiers please be tidy during snack breaks and clean up your scraps (both food and wrappers). Thanks so much for your help!
(Photo: Coming up the 5.8 pitch one of Mr. P's Wurst.)
So nice to be back home in the Gunks.
After nearly two months away, I longed for the old familiar climbing surroundings.
The overhangs.
The pitons.
The long reaches.
The horizontals.
I was climbing with Margaret on an October Sunday. She wanted some easy leading and our first target was Three Pines. Unfortunately Three Pines at 9 a.m. already had a party of three on the first pitch and another pair at the base waiting to start. This was hardly a surprise on a Sunday during peak season.
My general policy is not to wait for climbs in the Trapps. In my experience, you always find something else open if you keep looking. Sure enough, we went a little further down the cliff and found Minty (5.3) available so we were in business.
Margaret led pitch one. I think this pitch is a great introductory Gunks lead because it has an early move that seems several grades harder than the rest of the climb. This might not seem like an ideal situation for a new leader to deal with, but it happens all the time on climbs of every grade in the Gunks. You have to confront it eventually, so you might as well start to get used to it when you're leading 5.3!
On Minty, the move can catch you by surprise. You start up this little corner. A big shelf is right there for you to grab, just one step up. But the feet are these tiny, polished little half-pebbles. You have to trust your feet just long enough to step up to grab that ledge.
The move should be no big deal.
But it seems totally possible you could fall here.
So you stand there thinking "This is supposed to be 5.3! How can I be such a failure that I am worried about this little move on a 5.3??"
And you psyche yourself out.
And you try this, and you try that, desperate to avoid this tenuous little step.
Finally you just do the stupid move and feel like an idiot.
Welcome to the Gunks.
(Photo: Past the crux on pitch one of Minty (5.3).)
The other hazard on Minty is that you might go up the wrong corner. The climb keeps moving left, and all the corner systems look alike. The first time I did the route, with Liz, she went up too soon, when she should have continued moving left. But if you make this mistake, you'll likely end up on Tipsy Trees, which is another nice 5.3. So no worries.
To stay on track you should look up for the distinctive Minty tree. It is a pine tree over 100 feet up that sticks out sideways from the cliff. This tree is where pitch one ends. If you keep in mind that you are heading for this tree, you should find the correct route.
(Photo: The 5.2 pitch three of Minty.)
Minty has lots to offer. The steep, juggy climbing you'll find in the second half of pitch one and all of pitch two is especially nice. Pitch three goes at a very casual 5.2 and it isn't terribly long, but it too has good moves out from a corner system and then up jugs to the top.
My personal preference for descending from climbs in the Minty/Snooky's area is to walk a short distance to the bolted rap route at the top of the Madame G buttress. Using the bolted rap route guarantees a safe descent and avoids throwing ropes over nervous leaders on very popular climbs. The problem with this method is that the Madame G rap starts from the GT Ledge and you have to follow your nose and downclimb from the top to find the bolts. If you aren't already familiar with the location it will be hard for you to find it. In the past I have spotted the distinctive tree which grows out at an angle from the cliff right next to the rap bolts, but I must have done this at a time of year in which the trees have no leaves. Last weekend with Margaret I couldn't spot the correct tree from the top and I had some trouble finding the bolts, overshooting the right path and having to work my way back. Still, I prefer these few minutes of hunting to rapping off of the manky anchors which come and go atop the cliff.
Coming down, I could see it wasn't going to be easy to get on another three-star classic. The cliff was looking very crowded. There were parties on Madame G's, on Finger Locks or Cedar Box, on Hyjek's Horror, on almost every climb in sight. Was this a nature preserve? It bore a greater resemblance to Occupy Wall Street.
I suggested to Margaret that we do an empty climb right in front of us: Mr. P's Wurst. The climb, which ascends the right side of the Madame G buttress, is almost always open, even though it sits amidst some of the most popular routes in the Trapps.
I've been wanting to get on Mr. P's for some time, in part because I like the name, which Ivan Rezucha and Rich Perch bestowed on the route in the best Hans Kraus tradition.
Hans put up Madame G's (full name: Madame Grunnebaum's Wulst) in 1943. How many climbers understand the bawdy humor in this classic route's name? I'd wager that very few get the joke. As Susan E.B. Schwartz explains in her biography Into the Unknown: the Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus, the name was not inspired by a real person. Instead, Hans looked up at the buttress and saw two bulges up high that-- to his one-track mind-- resembled a woman's bosom. The route he created begins at a pine tree and weaves between the two breast-like features. Grunnebaum is German for green tree and wulst means bulge. Thus the route's name can be translated in full as "Mrs. Greentree's Boobs."
Once you understand the humor in Madame G's name, the meaning of Mr. P's Wurst becomes obvious. The latter route snakes up right next to Ms. Greentree's bulges, and what could be better nestled in those bulges than Mr. Perch's sausage?
Apart from the name, what interested me about Mr. P's was that no one ever seems to do it. It is always open, despite the fact that Dick Williams decided to anoint it with two stars in his 2004 guidebook. Dick also did his part to make the route more accessible, describing a new start from 50 feet up the gully to the right of the buttress instead of the 5.6 R climbing previously needed to get established on the route.
I think this new start is actually one of the reasons the crowds stay away. The gully looks unappealing and from the ground it is hard to see exactly where you're supposed to jump onto the wall.
It looked to me as though the right spot was about five or ten feet below the rap bolts that are on the other side of the gully. We decided to do pitch one of Northern Pillar (5.1) instead of climbing the gully, with Margaret leading up and cutting left near the top of the pitch to set up a belay either at or near the bolts, from which point I'd decide exactly how to get over the gully and onto the wall for Mr. P's.
Margaret ended up building a belay to the right of the bolts, in order to avoid having parties constantly rapping through as she stood there waiting for me. This worked out fine, although I think it would have been okay to use the bolts so long as she set up on the left side of them. It seems to me that when people rap and pull the ropes from above they usually fall just to the right of the bolts. So if Margaret had anchored into the bolts but stood to the left she would probably have been unaffected by the rapping parties. In the final analysis, it would have been simpler just to go up the gully.
(Photo: Approaching the crux of the 5.8 pitch one of Mr. P's Wurst. From the photo you can get some idea how overhanging the final bits of the pitch are. The other climber in the photo is on Madame G's.)
From our belay at bolt level, I traversed to the gully, downclimbed a few moves, and then made the step across to the other side. These moves are easy, but if you do it this way you need to place pro as you step down, and then again at the other side of the gully, if you want to protect your second. Again, probably it would have been better just to go up the gully.
Now I was finally on Mr. P's. The pitch wasn't difficult to follow. Good holds lead up and around the corner until you find yourself on the right side of the face of the Madame G buttress. The climbing is juggy throughout the first pitch, and the rock quality is generally good. The angle gradually steepens until it becomes overhanging for the last ten to fifteen feet of the pitch. The crux move comes at three ancient pitons. I equalized the lower two and then clipped the third one as well, hoping at least one of them would hold in the event of a fall.
A big move up to a bomber horizontal, a good cam, and another move up to a tenuous stance finished the pitch beneath a roof.
(Photo: Looking down from the hanging belay at the end of pitch one of Mr. P's Wurst (5.8). My belayer Margaret is in blue. The climber in red is descending by the bolted rappel route.)
I found the hanging belay suggested by Dick to be rather unpleasant. There are two ancient pins, plus enough horizontals to place a few cams. It isn't unsafe, but it is truly a hanging stance; I couldn't let go with both hands in order to set up my anchor. Equalizing the cordalette and tying it in a knot with one hand wasn't easy.
(Photo: Approaching the hanging belay at the end of pitch one of Mr. P's Wurst (5.8).)
Pitch two is rated 5.7+. I followed Dick's instructions exactly, moving through the roof at the break and then stepping left. The move was fun and well-protected (you can get a good cam in the break in the roof), but I thought it was a big, reachy move, definitely harder than 5.7. It reminded me of the crux moves on Maria Direct and No Glow, both 5.9.
The rest of the pitch was easier, but still good. Getting past another roof on its right side requires a couple more interesting moves, and then the route joins Madame G's to the finish.
(Photo: Just over the roof on the supposedly 5.7+ pitch two of Mr. P's Wurst.)
After I pulled up the rope and put Margaret on belay, she immediately took a fall. Then she seemed to have no trouble climbing the pitch. She told me when she arrived at the top that she'd tried the roof my way, found it ridiculously hard, and then had moved four feet or so to the left, where she found 5.7 climbing up past the roof.
So maybe Margaret's way is the right way to do it, since it is 5.7. But it isn't how Dick describes the route. Personally, I enjoyed pulling the roof, and I did exactly what Dick instructed me to do, but if you do it this way the roof move is the hardest move on the whole route, and the 5.7+ pitch becomes more like a 5.9-. So you make your own call.
I would gladly climb Mr. P's again, but I would do it differently. I would just go straight up the gully rather than deal with the bolted rappel freeway and the downclimb/traverse. And I think I would bring a few extra cams and runners and do it in one pitch all the way from the ground to the finish on the GT Ledge. This would avoid the unpleasant hanging belay. And then you'd get one super long pitch of juggy steep climbing, wholly in keeping with other great climbs on the same buttress, like Columbia (5.8) and Madame G's (5.6).
If you do it this way I'm sure you too will end up a friend to Mr. P.
Thursday, August 26th - - Mendenhall Glacier, a short drive from downtown Juneau, was first named Auke Glacier in 1879 by John Muir. In 1892 it was renamed to honor Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1841-1924) who served as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1889 to 1894.
The Mendenhall glacier flows for 12 miles down the Mendenhall Valley to its terminus near the visitor center. The ice flows forward at an average rate of 2 feet per day, but at the very same time, it wastes away at a slightly faster rate. Waste occurs through melting or when large pieces of ice break off the face of the glacier. When the rate of melting exceeds the rate of flow, a glacier recedes. The Mendenhall glacier has been receding since the late 1700's and currently retreats at a rate of 25-30 feet per year.
Mendenhall Glacier as seen from the rear of my campsite at Mendenhall Lake campground in the Tongass National Forest. The full face of the glacier cannot be seen from this vantage point because it is blocked by the bit of land jutting out from the left.
The view from the Visitors Center. We are seeing only a very small portion of the glacier as it extends 12 miles back down the valley.
A little bit closer. An awesome waterfall flows down from above. Another waterfall can be seen in the far distance to the right of the glacier.
A ride on the lake gets you a little closer to the face of the glacier. Some of the larger icebergs floating in Mendenhall Lake. Icebergs are created when the glacier calves (chunks of ice fall off the face of the glacier).
I couldn't resist picking up a chunk of glacial ice that was floating close to the shore. It was crystal clear and many, many years old. And it was cold...
Well, the fall colors are taking their dear sweet time showing up this year. That doesn't mean, however, that you shouldn't get out and enjoy nature! There are still beautiful views to be enjoyed even without the colors of autumn. The view shown here is along the Middle Falls Trail in Grand Portage State Park. The trail crosses over a ridge and this is one of two magnificent views that are available from the top of the ridge. This view overlooks Lake Superior and the Susie Islands and is always beautiful no matter what time of year it is. Over the past year, CCM (Conservation Corps Minnesota) crews have been hard at work making improvements to the trail. Stairs have been constructed on the steepest portions of the trail and benches have been constructed in strategic locations where visitors can rest and appreciate the spectacular views of the Minnesota north woods. Although the fall colors are slow to appear this year, the leaves are changing and before long this view will be even more magnificent as the greens change to yellows and oranges!
On my visit to the Columbiana County Archives and Research Center in Lisbon, Ohio last month I was given two more documents relating to the descendants of Dietrich Hoffman, my 5th great-grandfather. A previous visit (in July ..) had garnered an article on the legal publication of the Petition for Partition for a portion of the real estate.
Published on September 29, 1832 on page one of The Ohio Patriot, the article lists the heirs of Detrick Hoffman and states that 27 acres in the north west quarter of section 12, township 15, range 3 were involved. Although there were 10 heirs named, the petitioner was requesting his “one-sixth part of said land” indicating that there were only 6 children of Detrick Hoffman still living or deceased with children. (A full transcription can be found in this post).
The parties involved in the Petition were John Hoffman, Samuel Hoffman, Daniel Coler and Elizabeth his wife, John Swarts and Margaret his wife, Henry Hoffman, Samuel Hoffman, Jacob Hoffman, Abraham Hoffman, Samuel Fox, and Edward Rhodes and Sarah his wife.
Through evaluation of various records and information from another researcher, we thought the relationships of the individuals listed in the above Petition were:
John, Samuel, Jacob, and Abraham - children of Detrick
Elizabeth wife of Daniel Coler, Margaret wife of John Swarts, Henry Hoffman, and Samuel Hoffman - children of Michael & Mary (Coy) Hoffman
Samuel Fox and Sarah wife of Edward Rhodes - children of Phillip and Susanna (Hoffman) Fox
One of the things that puzzled me about the above Petition was that only 27 acres of land were being sold. Detrick was in possession of 81 acres of land when he died in March 1826. The answer lies in the documents below...
Columbiana County, Ohio - Common Pleas Journal #6, page 165
August Term AD 1828 1st day 18th
John Hoffman & Jacob Hoffman vs Michael Hoffman, Samuel Hoffman, Abraham Hoffman, Abraham Fox, Samuel Fox, Sarah Fox & Susanna Huffman } Petition for Partition
"The Petition of John Huffman & Jacob Huffman by Mr. Blocksom their attorney presented their Petition for partition of 81 25/100 acres of land being a part of S12. T15. R3. in Columbiana County & produced satisfactory Proof that due & legal notice has been given the parties interested by Publication in the Ohio Patriot. A. W. Loomis Esq is appointed guardian ad litem of for Abraham Fox[,] Samuel Fox & Sarah Fox defendants in this case & Minors, who appears and receives notice and consent to the grantings of the prayer of the Petition, whereupon the Court grant the Petition [smudged word] that a writ of Partition [illegible word] to the Sheriff to proceed and apart [?]..."
It seems there may be a little more to the case on the next page, which I neglected to get... at any rate, the document shows us that Michael Hoffman was still living in August 1828. It also names three minors: Abraham, Samuel and Sarah Fox. The published petition of 1832 listed Samuel Fox as well as Sarah wife of Edward Rhodes. There was no mention of Abraham. It is likely that he died sometime between the time of the two documents (August 18, 1828 and August 23, 1832). So, it seems, that our original "assessment" regarding the heirs of Detrick Hoffman was correct!
Columbiana County, Ohio - Common Pleas Journal #7, page 53
April Term 1829, 3 day
John Huffman etal vs Michael Huffman etal }
"The Sheriff of the County made return of a writ of sale issued in this case with his proceedings thereon from which it appears that after giving notice as required by the statute of the time & place of sale by advertising & putting up written advertisements he sold the land in said writ mentioned at the Court House in said County on the 26th of January 1829, Except the widows dower mentioned in the writ, to John Fry for Seven Hundred ten dollars & that he brought the money into Court for distribution & thereupon the Court order the said Sheriff, after deducting the costs & expenses, to distribute the money aforesaid to & amongst the parties entitled to receive the same in lieu of their shares & proportions of said land according to their just rights. And said Sheriff here acknowledges in open Court a deed for said land so sold as aforesaid to said Fry."
It appears that John Fry would have purchased 54 acres, with the 27 acres mentioned in the 1832 published Petition being the Widow's Dower.
What these two documents also provide is a better estimate of the date of death of Susannah Hoffman, widow of Detrick. We now know that she was still living in January 1829 when the land was sold to John Fry but had passed away before August 23, 1832 when the Petition for Partition for the remaining 27 acres was dated.
Two miles after leaving the trailhead, way down in the valley, you arrive at Scout's Lookout. You've already climbed 1,060 feet, but you know that the “worst” is yet to come. Watching other hikers scale this first portion of the ascent to Angels Landing, you get this sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.
You notice a few people sitting in front of that big rock. You approach them and ask the question “Did you do it?” No. They went a short ways up but turned back. The trail is too steep. It's scary. I sat there with them for a few minutes, then decided to go on. At the least, I had to try it. Lots of other people have done it. There are chains for safety. Yee gods, chains!
Yes, chains. Thank God! Just grab hold and pull yourself up, someone says. Yeah, right. But I do. And I did. You don't even notice how steep it is or how far down it would be if you slip and fall. Well, not much, anyway. You try not to think about it.
You concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and holding on to that chain as if your life depends on it, because it does. But before you know it you've gotten over the first major obstacle.
Then you see this! And that sinking feeling comes back a hundred-fold. The trail goes up the edge, up the spine of that peak! Another 440 feet in height, in less than half a mile.
The beginning of the end. Doesn't look so bad, but it scared the begeebers out of me!
The view of Lower Zion Canyon is magnificent. I was told it was much nicer from atop Angels Landing though.
I talked to a few people as they came down from the top. “It's not so bad,” they said. “Just take it slow and easy and you'll be okay.” Another said “I'm 73 and I made it, so can you.” “You've already gotten over the worst part.”
But I wasn't so sure. The longer I stayed and looked at it the queasier I got. I wanted to do it, I really did. But doubts can be troubling.
Climbing rangers have second round of joint international training operations!
Last week we had the privilege of hosting a group of climbers from the Korean Mountain Rescue Association here at Rainier. A group of four climbers came over from Seoul, and spent a week with us on the mountain learning about how our climbing program operates within the national park. Their association has over 600 members who climb all over the world and promote climbing throughout Korea. Most of their time here was spent training in advanced rescue techniques with climbing rangers and climbing Mount Rainier. Word on the street is they can cook up some good food, and we think some stories might have even been exchanged, thus leading to a fully successful week.
Thomas Payne, our official liaison with S. Korea, shown here with three of our guests after coming down from the summit on a beautiful sunny day.
My friend Lorene passed away yesterday afternoon. It has been a rough week. But amongst the sorrow there were times of joy and pleasure in getting to know her son and daughter-in-law and their two children.
Mendenhall Glacier as seen from the rear of my campsite at Mendenhall Lake campground in the Tongass National Forest. The full face of the glacier cannot be seen from this vantage point because it is blocked by the bit of land jutting out from the left.
The view from the Visitors Center. We are seeing only a very small portion of the glacier as it extends 12 miles back down the valley.
A little bit closer.
An awesome waterfall flows down from above. Another waterfall can be seen in the far distance to the right of the glacier.
A ride on the lake gets you a little closer to the face of the glacier.
Some of the larger icebergs floating in Mendenhall Lake. Icebergs are created when the glacier calves (chunks of ice fall off the face of the glacier).
I couldn't resist picking up a chunk of glacial ice that was floating close to the shore. It was crystal clear and many, many years old. And it was cold...
Two miles after leaving the trailhead, way down in the valley, you arrive at Scout's Lookout. You've already climbed 1,060 feet, but you know that the “worst” is yet to come. Watching other hikers scale this first portion of the ascent to Angels Landing, you get this sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Yes, chains. Thank God! Just grab hold and pull yourself up, someone says. Yeah, right. But I do. And I did. You don't even notice how steep it is or how far down it would be if you slip and fall. Well, not much, anyway. You try not to think about it.
You concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and holding on to that chain as if your life depends on it, because it does. But before you know it you've gotten over the first major obstacle.
Then you see this! And that sinking feeling comes back a hundred-fold. The trail goes up the edge, up the spine of that peak! Another 440 feet in height, in less than half a mile.
The beginning of the end. Doesn't look so bad, but it scared the begeebers out of me!
The view of Lower Zion Canyon is magnificent. I was told it was much nicer from atop Angels Landing though.
