dear beloved blog followers; my travels for the summer have moved to
http://nicandleslie.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
well folks, i have traveled from the high sierras (moon goddess arete w joe - which made it into the last photo dump) to the 'high sierras music fest'. if there are two things that i like more than climbing it would have to be the 3 santa-cruzians that met me at the festival and the music itself. despite the similarity of names the high sierras have very little in common with the high sierras music fest. one is earplug necessity kind of loud and the other silent save for the occasional "on belaaaaaay!". one full of solitude the other lacking it entirely (except maybe for the brief moment you are in the porto-potty). and in one of the locations weed actually still means unplanted wildflower. both have people suffering from oxygen deprivation; albeit one because the air is thin at altitude and the other the more self-induced recreational variety. both leave me feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.
but moving on! more natural hotsprings and some donner summit bouldering happened pre-fest. post-fest checked out mt. shasta and siskiyou lake, went for a bike ride through ashland, did a bunch of yoga and qi gong at the wilamette river, bouldered at the gym in portland and am now heading to see free cuban music in the park followed by a reprise of skerik's bandalabra (they were at the festie and happen to be rocking portland tonite as well!). tomorrow's agenda includes helping a lovely five brancher move back to portland and then NORTH. should be in squamish british columbia by saturday if the canadian authorities decide to let me in. two new van 'improvements' are shown in the photobucket page. one is; i have replaced the hydrolic on the hatch with a treking pole. two; new stereo install complete with home-made adaptor kit and ipod dock. check it out!
but moving on! more natural hotsprings and some donner summit bouldering happened pre-fest. post-fest checked out mt. shasta and siskiyou lake, went for a bike ride through ashland, did a bunch of yoga and qi gong at the wilamette river, bouldered at the gym in portland and am now heading to see free cuban music in the park followed by a reprise of skerik's bandalabra (they were at the festie and happen to be rocking portland tonite as well!). tomorrow's agenda includes helping a lovely five brancher move back to portland and then NORTH. should be in squamish british columbia by saturday if the canadian authorities decide to let me in. two new van 'improvements' are shown in the photobucket page. one is; i have replaced the hydrolic on the hatch with a treking pole. two; new stereo install complete with home-made adaptor kit and ipod dock. check it out!
click here to see allllll the pics!!! http://photobucket.com/nickrueger
Monday, July 2, 2012
6-26 (this post is kinda old)
today while sitting in the relative luxury of an exit row, with my accordion (patsy) perched selfishly above me occupying the space allotted for 2 rollaways, I attempted to write a new blog post. I considered writing about some of the climbing which had taken place before my flight to the flatlands of corn fields. There is still so many journal posts left un-transcribed. Paragraphs should be created on 'girls week' in Pine Creek. Sentences (at least!) could be pulled together about a few more east side solos. Posts should exist that capture some of the simple glory of hanging with Jude and Flyzo in the woods with river dips for punctuation. But alas, I am too much a 'here and now' kind of girl and writing about anything more than a few days in the past proved unlikely after a couple page doodles that mildly resembled my delta stewardess. I wrote a few marginal notes about an outdoor toprope wall with the always game John in Milwaukee. Summary; incredible how fun plastic can be when the attitude is open and the company is grand. I was momentarily tempted to jot a few words about my sis's refreshingly quirky wedding, but knew the photos would speak for themselves. I realized once again I was not writing about climbing, but instead about choosing the quality of what you do that makes it spectacular. Choosing the 'what' becomes so much less important than the 'how'. Despite my best efforts, I was once again, NOT writing about climbing.
I resigned myself to not publishing a blog post.
I picked up my clearly untouched (despite being purchased at a second-hand store) copy of Ayn Rand's We the Living. At about page 213 I was forced to stop what had become a feverish reading binge and make the journey to the lavatory to relieve my abused and ignored bladder. It was while waiting for a miniature elderly woman to vacate that I realized that the epic Ms. Rand was saying exactly what I had been feeling for a while. Climbing is amazing in so many ways and it seems frustrating when trying to explain why it is what it is. I get caught up in wanting you, my lovely reader, to feel some of the excitement, addiction and joy that is mine when I climb. But here's the hitch (explained in the book in a few hundred words); so much of the greatness of climbing is that its MINE! So inevitably, you will never quite 'get it', no matter how well I write. So I will momentarily bask in the glow of selfishnish that Ayn so blatantly promotes... mine mine mine (like the seagulls in finding Nemo). Luckily, I have photos so we can share some beauty anyway. So view them!!!
http://s481.photobucket.com/albums/rr172/nickrueger/high%20peaks%20and%20flatlands/ (to see in full size)
today while sitting in the relative luxury of an exit row, with my accordion (patsy) perched selfishly above me occupying the space allotted for 2 rollaways, I attempted to write a new blog post. I considered writing about some of the climbing which had taken place before my flight to the flatlands of corn fields. There is still so many journal posts left un-transcribed. Paragraphs should be created on 'girls week' in Pine Creek. Sentences (at least!) could be pulled together about a few more east side solos. Posts should exist that capture some of the simple glory of hanging with Jude and Flyzo in the woods with river dips for punctuation. But alas, I am too much a 'here and now' kind of girl and writing about anything more than a few days in the past proved unlikely after a couple page doodles that mildly resembled my delta stewardess. I wrote a few marginal notes about an outdoor toprope wall with the always game John in Milwaukee. Summary; incredible how fun plastic can be when the attitude is open and the company is grand. I was momentarily tempted to jot a few words about my sis's refreshingly quirky wedding, but knew the photos would speak for themselves. I realized once again I was not writing about climbing, but instead about choosing the quality of what you do that makes it spectacular. Choosing the 'what' becomes so much less important than the 'how'. Despite my best efforts, I was once again, NOT writing about climbing.
I resigned myself to not publishing a blog post.
I picked up my clearly untouched (despite being purchased at a second-hand store) copy of Ayn Rand's We the Living. At about page 213 I was forced to stop what had become a feverish reading binge and make the journey to the lavatory to relieve my abused and ignored bladder. It was while waiting for a miniature elderly woman to vacate that I realized that the epic Ms. Rand was saying exactly what I had been feeling for a while. Climbing is amazing in so many ways and it seems frustrating when trying to explain why it is what it is. I get caught up in wanting you, my lovely reader, to feel some of the excitement, addiction and joy that is mine when I climb. But here's the hitch (explained in the book in a few hundred words); so much of the greatness of climbing is that its MINE! So inevitably, you will never quite 'get it', no matter how well I write. So I will momentarily bask in the glow of selfishnish that Ayn so blatantly promotes... mine mine mine (like the seagulls in finding Nemo). Luckily, I have photos so we can share some beauty anyway. So view them!!!
http://s481.photobucket.com/albums/rr172/nickrueger/high%20peaks%20and%20flatlands/ (to see in full size)
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
electronic breakdown
this blog is clearly going to be about electronics not climbing.
so far this trip has had 4 electronic casualties; one camera, one ipod, one cigarette lighter and my car stereo.
howevah, i have added more new climbing areas than i have subtracted electronics. (this is me trying to be optimistic) i suppose it is also a warning; if this pace continues there will be no more blog and don't bother texting :) tho' i will likely be somewhere spectacular. here's a few photos taken by Joe. if you combined my knowledge of working battery-operated gadgets with Joe's flawless ability to have them on hand and charged you would have the ideal blogger!
tollhouse rock does actually deserve some climbing writing. stay tuned. i just haven't overcome shock of the runout and complete ineptitude of the guidebook on said area to write a decent post. courtright reservoir is also officially added to my 'must return' list for its absence of climbers and excess of rock.
courtright reservoir from the boat dock near power dome. free camping (for us only) right on the water!
tollhouse traverse. minimalist style - although i AM wearing long johns. poor planning, hard to remove mid-route.
peering over the edge of cap rock on tollhouse. scouting top-ropes.
my attempt at fixing broken stereo. there is so much unused storage space back here! i finally know where to store my backup phone :)
so far this trip has had 4 electronic casualties; one camera, one ipod, one cigarette lighter and my car stereo.
howevah, i have added more new climbing areas than i have subtracted electronics. (this is me trying to be optimistic) i suppose it is also a warning; if this pace continues there will be no more blog and don't bother texting :) tho' i will likely be somewhere spectacular. here's a few photos taken by Joe. if you combined my knowledge of working battery-operated gadgets with Joe's flawless ability to have them on hand and charged you would have the ideal blogger!
tollhouse rock does actually deserve some climbing writing. stay tuned. i just haven't overcome shock of the runout and complete ineptitude of the guidebook on said area to write a decent post. courtright reservoir is also officially added to my 'must return' list for its absence of climbers and excess of rock.
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