R.I.P. Inov-8 roclite 390 boots

RIP Inov-8 roclite 390s, thanks for all the miles

I don't usually talk about the death of a pair of boots, but these have been a faithful companion of mine for many many miles, both horizontally and vertically. I first got them for the Montana TMF back in 2008. This sufferfest was lovingly called 4 days - 4 ways to die. Despite not really being appropriate for steep icy snow (with 10 point crampons) or class IV packrafting or biking, they worked quite well. Since then I took them on many many trips. They were my only footwear for a few months on the East Coast. At some point one of the laces frayed something awful. When I got a pair of their lighter cousins the roclite 295s in 2010 these were put on the back burner, but I still used them a bit. Then after the horrendous thrashing the 295s took in the 2011 Sierra Challenge I dusted these off, stuck in a new lace and used them for a few more Sierra trips. I was reminded of how comfy they were and how well they climbed (up to 5.7 on Mt Clarence King). This last 6 day trip up Mt Williamson among others finally did them in. The gore-tex liner wore out under the forefoot (which actually let out a lot of powdery grit that had accumulated there), and the final kicker was the sole actually wore out in the middle of the foot. Before that happened I was still planning on how I was going to seam-grip them again and head back out. Alas the holes in the soles sealed the deal. I will miss them greatly.

a very well worn boot sole

New Year, New Camera

Talia inspects my new kit

That's right, I am now the owner of a new Pentax K-5 with 16-50, 100, and 55-300mm lenses.  This is a big upgrade from my old camera (a Canon 400D - aka rebel xti). Among the things I am most excited about are in camera image stabilization (or in the Pentax language, "shake reduction  (SR)") , a much more robust and better sealed camera, and better high iso performance. I am not complaining about a bigger and better sensor, better viewfinder, more handy controls, bigger and better chimping screen, video capability, and probably lots more stuff.

The things I am not so excited about is not being able to use my Canon lenses and losing some features with the accessories and needing to learn a whole lot of new stuff (some of that is good). It is a little frustrating from going from something I knew pretty well to something I am sort of blundering with - but not for long.

I haven't had a chance to figure everything out, but it is pretty exciting anyway. iso 51,200 is just a bit ridiculous, and looks worse than iso 1,600 looked on my old camera, but the images at iso 3,200 look pretty good at screen size.
The SR can work amazingly well, but not always and it doesn't do any good for fast subject motion.
A 34 minute exposure on a cold night looks pretty clean.
Now everyone in the house cringes when I walk in with the camera.

34 minute star trails on a cold night - the light of Boston is pretty pervasive

an orchid - testing out the macro

3/4 moon - testing the telephoto

I still have a ton to learn, but I am on my way, and I haven't really even started with the video side of things.