My Bad, Spur of the Moment Vol VIII

So I realized this morning, after I wrote on here, that there are a lot of cool boulder problems at the Garden that I have little, or no video of.  This is due to the mild, severe, unhealthy, whatever, obsession with the Slapper that I had.  It monopolized a lot of my time, and video.  So, I decided to go out and film a few of these "forgotten problems."  One is actually new to me.  It is a variation of another really fun problem, and has an awesome thumb catch at the top.  I bet someone else could figure out different beta, but it worked the best for me.  That is on here too.  Anyway hope everyone had a good weekend, and have a good week!

The Brown Burro

Good morning family friends, and whatever the hell Matt is.  It is now, 9:19am.  I was up at 6:30am with full intentions of writing.  Well my internet stopped working yesterday and it took me this whole morning to get it back to functioning order.  As much as I love wireless internet, it is a huge pain in the ass. Even if you know what you're doing things change, then work, then don't.  You can be doing something that works one minute, and the next it won't.  It really is a lovely process.  It is pretty simple if everything works the way it should, which is doesn't, ever.  Anyway, it is now back to functioning properly.

This week at school was pretty good.  Friday was stressful and annoying but that is to be expected every once in a while.  Friday night was quiet and I was up at 6:30am yesterday to meet Nick and my buddy Nathan in Breck.  They left at 7 from Denver and I left at 7:30 from the Springs.  It technically should take less time for them.  Well one of the perks of the springs is the backway to get to the mountains.  I arrived at  10 ish and they arrived at around noon.  Traffic on 70 was horrendous and they were stop-go nearly the whole way.

On my drive I stopped at a coffee shop in South Park City, which is technically considered an "open air museum" located in Fairplay Co.  It is an 1800's mining town that was restored and now functions as a normal-ish town.  It is the same town that has the combo liquor and sporting goods store.  Awesome.  I usually stop in Alma, at a really cool coffee shop, but it is another few miles toward Breck.  Also, I felt like immediate gratification and wanted to see a new place.  There is a cafe called the Brown Burro that I always see driving by, so I chose it.  Now keep in mind, South Park City cannot be home to more than 400 people...would be my guess.

Sidenote: As I looked for pictures of South Park City I found a website called "Beans Around the World", run by a man who travels around the world with a can of beans, and takes pictures of it in different locations.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  That to me just seems ridiculous.  It is literally just pictures of a can of beans, in front of different things.  Like historic landmarks etc, and of course the beans.  Wow.  If anyone ever feels the same sentiment about what I post here, please let me know that I have hit a new low, and I will promptly take down my website and punish myself. 

So I parked and headed into the Brown Burro.  Upon entering a smiling man approached and instructed me to have a seat wherever I wanted.  I told him I was just going to grab some coffee if it was ok, it which his response was, "I have some right here."  He had a pot in his had, as he was refilling coffee from the tables, and filled my mug.  I said "thank you" and "how much do I owe you" to which his reponse was, "a handshake."  Seeing as though I was a little unsure of his seriousness I shook his hand, he smiled and said "have a good day."  I assume this was the owner, but can't be sure.  I left feeling very surprised, pleased, and sure that I would return.  It was only a cup of coffee but in a world where people doing nice things for one another is becoming more and more rare, it was pretty great.  And like I said, the next time I go board, I will stop there for breakfast.  Also I will get a picture of it for the website, without the inclusion of a can of beans.

When I got to Breck I rode by myself for a little over an hour.  They wanted me to meet them at the base of peak 9 at 11:45, and I was on peak 8.  It is kind of a haul to get over there so I started the journey over at 11:30.  Unfortunately most of the way is flat ground, and on a snowboard that is miserable.  It kind of feels like the Flintstones esque way of driving a car.  We met up and had an awesome day in the snow.  Over half our runs were in powder ranging from our knees, to our waist.  There was so much snow.  The vast majority of the runs were also blacks and double blacks, through the trees.  I am finally feeling comfortable enough to ride these which is a really exciting thing for me.  

One or two of the runs were a little dicey because with the wind and snow it was a complete whiteout.  One particular, we got into the trees and were immediately separated from Nathan.  Nick and I were only ten or so feet apart and were only able to catch brief glimpses of each other.  We were completely riding based on the feel of the snow.  All three of us said that it was the worst, visibility wise, that we had ever boarded in.  Overall it was a great day of boarding, although the top of the mountains was windy as hell, and with the snow, it froze on your face and was very cold.  It is always a good idea to shave prior to going because if you have any type of beard, you end up with a snow beard, which hurts a lot.  So we had frozen faces for most of the day.  A small price to pay.  We all packed up at about 4 and headed back to our respective cities.

I got back and relaxed at home with the animals for the remainder of the night.  Now, after the internet debacle this morning, I have fallen back into the normal weekend routine.  Coffee, breakfast, and soon to be climbing, boarding and biking movies.  Happy Sunday.

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them

The Pup loves roadtrips.

A small portion of Breck from the satellite parking lot.

Beginning of the snow beard.

Looking behind me on one of the tree runs.

Nick and my best attempt at smiling with frozen faces.

Yes my snowboard is buried under there.

Looking down the mountain on a run called "The Burn."

Near whiteout driving to Breck, circa 9:45am.

He has a hard life.

Pikes, morning cloud cover, and the moon, circa 7am.

Volume...VII

My first full week of being a teacher is behind me with minimal disasters!  It was a stressful week though because I was observed by my principal twice, and my supervisor once.  In addition to finishing the stupid teacher work sample and all the other final paperwork for 2010.

This weekend has been great and I'm stoked to not have work tomorrow.  Thanks MLK Jr.  Yesterday I went up to A-basin with my friend Maryann to board.  It was 37 degrees and sunny.  I was in a tshirt and jacket.  It was beautiful.

This morning I got up like usual at a wee morning hour and had breakfast and coffee.  I decided that I wanted to search for a new area to boulder and had seen some pictures of a place called the Sheep's Nose.  It is this big 500ish foot dome with a boulderfield at the base.  I decided to go find it.  Unfortunately the Bouldering Colorado book is a pile of garbage.  It said, "turn left at the stopsign."  Well there was no stopsign.  It was a random road that wasn't even paved, with NO stopsign.  Wouldn't the writer of the book at least think to mention that the road was dirt.  So I ended up on the scenic route, which was scenic so at least thats good.  

I got there at 11:30ish and climbed until around three.  I only climbed two problems but I found an awesome line that I can't find any record of an ascent.  I'm gonna go back and spend some time trying to send it.  I would really like the first ascent.  I decided to call it The Amethyst Project.  It is an awesome problem.  A big throw to start, then some tension moves with a really physical dead point bump to the lip.  Really really cool.  The other problem was much easier but also very fun.  Anyway here is the video.  Volume VII in the My Own Best Friend Series.  One song is inappropriate.  Sorry.

The Amethyst Project

The Sheep's Nose in the distance.

The Sheep's Nose.

Pikes

Pikes

"This Thing" V3

Dede, Stan, Bob, Maryann, Amy, Iona,and Myself.

An Extra Gold Experience

So after I got over the food poisoning, Drew and Brad drove out from Columbus and Chicago. The first night was pretty quite and we hung out at Kevin Branford's house for a little while.  We didn't really do a whole lot at any point during their stay.  We probably could have had less beers, but we had a good time.  We don't cross paths very often anymore.  We did climb up at Ute Valley, and at both Sport Climbing Center and City Rock.  We were in a climbing comp on New Years Eve which was fun.  And then I had to go back to work.  

On the 3rd I went back full time, although without kids being there.  It was a work day, as was the fourth.  I needed them to get things together and finished so it wasn't bad.  I was a little concerned about being the full time teacher, but no point in stressing.  The first day of school for the kids was the fifth.  I woke up and didn't feel great.  My throat kind of hurt and I was pretty groggy considering I slept for nine or so hours.  The day went about as well as it could have.  The kids were happy to be back, no one seemed concerned that I was the only one teaching, and there were no outrageous incidents.  I stayed after to do some work, and when I finally went home, I was feeling worse.  The next morning was worse still.  No way was I sick on my second day as a full time teacher.  Yep, I was.  I got to school and pushed through to lunch.  Things were still going really well so that was a positive.  I checked my temperature at about eleven, and saw I had a 100 degree fever.  Had to go home.  I spent the next two days, Thursday and Friday, working on my Teacher Work Sample.  What a huge pain in the ass. It is basically just recording data tediously into excel spreadsheets, and re-recording things elsewhere and comparing them.......and this continues...forever seemingly.

Today I felt a lot better.  I got up, had coffee and breakfast, watched some climbing, and decided to go.  Big shock to all.  I wanted to film a problem the guys and I climbed last week that was really sweet, as well as check out a new area that I had not seen.  When I got there I ran into two people who actually have been in a video of mine.  They were present for one of the many many failed redpoint attempt days on The Slapper.  Bob and Iona (spelling?  Sorry) were there names and had come down with some friends from Denver.  Small world as always.  They said this was their first day back down since I saw them last.  Anyway I climbed with them most of the day, did some really fun new problems and repeated the desired, then had a beer at Trinity.  They are a good group to climb with.  Great day, which brings me to here.  I meant to have dinner at 6, it is now 9:19.  As usual I got caught up in editing.  Anyway, here are pics from the guys trip and a video from today.  Oh, Dave Patton sent me some pictures from the third flatiron, so there are some of those! Quesadilla.

 Woman on NYE struggled with the camera.