rowrbazzlicious - a big word to move the text below these 2 images.I grew a ridiculous molestache as you can see here on the left, then I chopped it off as you can see on the right.
Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of 2010 for me.
At the stroke of midnight and the start of 2010 I pulled over on the side of the highway near Russelville and took some photos of fireworks and the Arkansas One nuclear power plant. In the next few days I continued on to Flagstaff where I packed my bags and took the train to LA. There I met up with my girlfriend and found out she was no longer my girlfriend. Then we went to Thailand. The trip wasn't anywhere near as good as I had planned and hoped, but it wasn't that bad considering. Starting out with negligible sleep for 4 or so days made getting over my jet lag a moot point.
In Thailand we went down to Tonsai for the overhanging limestone sport climbing of the Railay peninsula. We also went on a number of rest day excursions to local tourist spots and did some snorkeling in the sea.
We took a break from Thailand and went down to Kuala Lumpur during Chinese New Year to climb at Batu Caves. The climbing wasn't all that great and was a logistics pain (and the weather was starting to monsoon), but the food in KL was most excellent. We returned to Tonsai for a bit more climbing before heading back to Bangkok and then back to the states shortly before the unrest started in Thailand. I took the train back to Flagstaff and starting trying to make sense of my life and some 10,000 photos I had taken. I made some progress with the photos.
I did some climbing trips around Flagstaff and the Sedona area plus trips down to Tam-O'Shanter (climbing) and the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Then I drove back east to attend my 20th College reunion at Haverford. This was an interesting event. It was great to see and catch up with a number of people, but there were some I didn't get much of a chance to talk to and others that didn't attend. I also would have liked to see more people from the years ahead and behind mine.
Then I headed up to Needham for a visit with the segments of the family there. I also continued with getting in shape with Andy's “get fit with 2 workouts a week or die trying” workouts which I had started with shortly after returning to the US. Amazingly I did get in much better running shape than I have been in since college, but I still don't particularly enjoy trying to run fast despite really enjoying being in shape. I also managed some pack rafting on rivers in the area and a short trip up to Maine to visit Emi (who I had also seen at the reunion). After my niece and nephew's birthday and a fair bit of stalling I finally achieved terminal velocity and headed out west.
The first thing I did when I got to the mountains was a rather epic ridge traverse of 4 peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park. Then I headed up to Lander for the International Climber's Festival. I was on a roll with the contests there and won the milk crate stacking and slackline competitions! Then I did a final acclimatization trip into the Wind River Range before heading around to the other side of the range for the annual TMF Expedition with the Yogaslackers (TMF = Too Much Fun, also known as a sufferfest). This 6 day trip trip involved hiking in 20 miles, a failed attempt to climb Arrowhead peak (rain and lightning got in the way), travel over some passes into the Titcomb basin, climbing Mount Helen, climbing Gannet Peak (the highest point in Wyoming), descending to the west with some technical backpacking to the Green River, and descending the Green River with ultralight pack rafts and hand paddles. Finally we busted out to the road and were saved from a long slog by some quick and fortuitous hitch hiking.
From the Wind River Range I headed to Squaw Valley, CA to the Wanderlust Music and Yoga festival. It was a weird mix of music festival, yoga festival, and burning man light – quite entertaining and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Then I headed back east to Salt Lake City to the Outdoor Retailer show (still with the Yogaslackers). As usual it was plenty entertaining but not so restful.
Then I had a few days of sport climbing at Maple Canyon before heading back up to Wyoming to join Dawn for a climbing trip into the Winds – the Deep Lake and Cirque of the Towers areas. After this tiring but successful trip we did a bit of sport climbing at Ten Sleep and then headed to Devils Tower where we climbed for a few days 'til she had to head back to Arizona. I stayed on at Devils Tower and did some work there at the Devils Tower Lodge (acting as host for the bed and breakfast). I also managed to get a number of good climbing days in.
I left Devils Tower to head down to Mexican Hat, Utah for a trip down the San Juan River with a heap of people Dawn knew. From there I headed back to Flagstaff for a few weeks with some local climbing including a trip to Granite Mountain. Then I headed to Kentucky in time for Halloween and some steep sandstone sport climbing in the Red River Gorge region. Unfortunately it seemed that as I was starting to get strong on the climbs there it was time to head up to Needham for Thanksgiving. There I have been enjoying the pleasures of indoor living, good food, fast internet service as well as enthusiastic 8 year olds. At this time last year I was excitedly driving across the country. What a difference a year makes.
Thanks to the many people who have shared adventures, trips, lodging, and food with me over the years, it is very much appreciated.
I have posted a number of trip reports online on my web page here:
Happy Holidays (what's left of them anyway) and have a great new year.
Sunset over the Wind River Range, Wyoming
