Gyantse

Leaving Lhasa, we're now on an official Tibetan road trip. Two Toyota Land Cruisers, and 9 stinky men, in the heat of the desert. This was a monestary (and a monk) somewhere along the road.
The temple of a buh-zillion, katrillion buddahs.
Climbing steps with the city of Gyantse below.
Tom, sporting a new climbing hat. This cost a something like a whopping $ five bucks. From this day forward, it was known as the "bitchin' chapeau."

On to Lhasa

Here we go....Air China doesn't have the best reputation, but that's a chinese thing. Hope we don't die. Bill took this photo of Niels and Tom "faffing" while give a sign to my hommies in my 'hood. The big "K" deathtown Kirkland. Werd Up Dog.....

Off the Air China plane, and lord am I happy. Happy they didn't lose my luggage, happy I didn't lose my lunch, happy I didn't lose my life. I'm happy!
This is me, in front of the world famous Portola Palace.
Monks @ the Sara Monastery. The standing monk (more senior) is explaining to the more junior monk (sitting) the true meaning of life. I don't think the junior monk believes him.
Prayer Wheels. There were about 1 zillion of them, and I counted them.
Me, Michael (But he went by Mic) and Bill sporting the latest in Chinese eyewear. You see, clearly they have all the latest trends here in Lhasa.

Bill captured a really good shot of the market in Lhasa.

Kathmandu

So after seeing sites and getting crap prepped, it's time to ride.

Michael, Tom, Bill, Colin, Niels, Me

Kathmandu

There was much to dislike about Kathmandu. It's a typical over crowded filthy city that you don't want to spend 10 minutes within. However, if you take the time, you can see some jewels. This is the very famous and completely cool Thamel area. Shopping, food, bars, and yet, another FREAK show.
These young men, wanted me to take their photo, and this is what i got. Cute, huh?
This was in the Durbar Square area of Kathmandu. We went to the worlds largest Stupa, Boudhanath, I met a group of guys from India, so we took a photo. I think they were all brothers. Kidding. It's a joke. Just cousins.
The fog covered steps to the monkey temple. You can't have a monkey temple without a monkey, technically a macaque. This is one of my favorite photos.

I'll soon be seeing you

I sit beside the dark

Beneath the mire

Cold grey dusty day

The morning lake

Drinks up the sky

Kathmandu

I'll soon be seeing you

And your strange bewildering time

Will hold me down

Chop me some broken wood

We'll start a fire

White warm light the dawn

And help me see

Old satan's tree

Kathmandu

I'll soon be touching you

And your strange bewildering time

Will hold me down

Pass me my hat and coat

Lock up the cabin

Slow night treat me right

until I go

Be nice to know

Kathmandu

I'll soon be seeing you

And your strange bewildering time

Will keep me home

One Night in Bangkok and the World's your Oyster

Well technically it wasn't one night but 3-4 I think. Visited some of the local Buddha monuments, and went to a Thai cooking school. This is the very cool (and quite active) Khaosan Road, area in Bangkok, near the Golden Palace. I took this photo @ 7am, when everyone was still completely hungover. The same shot, basically @ about 9pm @ night. Gotta tell you, Khaosan is very touristy, but also a very fun area to go and hang out. If you are offended by drugs, freaks, and general weirdness, don't stay here. If you are not, come, sit out on the sidewalk drink a beer in the evening and watch the FREAK show. This is where the magic cooking show happened. Damn, I can cook some mean ass food. BAM, SLAM OH DAMN. Iron Chef, bring that shit on!

One of many, many sites to see in Bangkok. It alone is worth a week. Thailand was very fun.

Oh, yea. Somebody brought him over here. Since it was right next to my hotel, I looked in, everytime I passed by. Place was packed. Go figure. The thai food I had here was AMAZING, why the hell would you be eating worm burgers?

Bangkok Flight

OK, the flight wasn't bad. I flew Thai Air, coach, which was honestly a considerable step up from regular international coach flight I've taken with a US based carrier. I was very excited (and anxious at the thought for anything I left behind) and since I didn't sleep the night before, I was able to sleep on the plane. The list of essentials:

• Glasses (to replace contact lenses)
• Ambien (for that somewhat relaxing sleep)
• Water (Nope, thanks you TSA bastards, since water and nitroglycerin look SO much alike.)
• Eye Shade (Nighty Night!)
• Neck Pillow (Didn't even need it!)
• Books, Magazines, etc.

All Night?

My flight leaves in the morning. I just spent the whole night (that's right, no sleep whatsoever) in preparation. Am I an idiot or what? No, but this man certainly is. Oh, sorry he is the country's first president to have an MBA. Like that's worth a bucket full of shit.

Time to Ramble Again

Leaves are falling all around,

Its time I was on my way.

Thanks to you, I'm much obliged

For such a pleasant stay.

-

But now its time for me to go,

The autumn moon lights my way.

For now I smell the rain,

And with it pain,

And its headed my way.

-

Ah, sometimes I grow so tired,

But I know Ive got one thing I got to do,

Ramble on,

And nows the time, the time is now

To sing my song.

-

-

After weeks of planning and months of desire, it's time to go climbing...big time. Off to Tibet and Nepal for 2 months. Brian won't be going with me for half fo the trip, and obvously I'm disappointed, but I decide to go on.Seattle<-->LAX<-->Bangkok<-->Kathmandu

This is a NASA photo of Everest from the North side.

Is that a hole in yer ass?

Since we downclimbed with so few protection pieces, on many occasions it was just as easy to sit on our butts and slide down the rock, slow and easy. Well for Michelle, that came @ a price since she was wearing some lightweight adventure racing tights. I think these went into the trash bin after our little adventure, didn't they Michelle?

Wild Blueberries!

So we make our way back to camp. Safe and sound we decide to stop and feast on some of the millions (no kidding) wild blueberries that have ripened in the September sun. These things could not taste any better. Many are too perfect for words.

Up, Up, Up and Down, Down, Down

The route description clearly states that little to no protection is necessary for the route through the Fisher chimneys. Just to be safe, I bring 3 smallish cams. Cams are not the lightest pro you can carry, but frankly they are in my mind, clearly the most versatile, hence they reason they were invented.

As we continue to move upward, I get crammed in a small crack with some moss and grass that needs some protection. Michelle gets herself sketched out scrambling up a piece of rock and needs my help to get her down. Hmmm...I thought this route didn't need any pro???? What is up with that....Stupidly, we climb on.

Three small pitches and 4 plus hours later, we're pinched. Climbed ourselves into a rock canyon that I CANNOT climb up. Son of a Bitch. Rat Bastard. Muther Fuck Fucker. The route I THINK we need to be on, is not our route. We're blocked. Shit all mighty, now we need to downclimb this bastard!!!

With very little pro, we get resourceful. I use slip knots and solid knob's to guide us down. We find a picket with a couple of 'biners on it. We use that. I sacrifice a brand new yates picket and Michelle offers up several runners during the course of our decent.

After our scramble down, we hit the safety of the talus slopes a little before noon. Time to get back to camp.

In the dark of the night....

We make our way along the trail head. As we approach the Fisher chimneys, they appear COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than when we reconned them just 8 hours earlier. We placed marker rocks near our suggested entrance point, but without my GPS, they were nearly impossible to find in the dark, even with a good headlamp. Hmmmm...I'm not for one who likes to wander around in the dark especially if you A) don't know where you are, and more importantly B) don't know where you need to go.

So, we decided to wait a couple hours until morning to get a better handle on things.

We have a plan!

I'd suggested we be on the summit no later than 10am, which was kinda pushing the outer limits of where I wanted to be on late summer melting snow. It was pretty consolidated and firm, but melting pretty fast and crevases were opening up on the lower portions. Michelle seemed to be good with my plan. We leave @ 1am.

Shuksan Recon

Michelle and I decide since we have some daylight and energy, we'll do some recon on the route through the Shuksan chimneys to ensure we get on the right track. Having limited confidence in the description in the Beckey book (hard to interpret for me) we sketch out a proposed route based upon what we've read.

We try to pick a route through the chimneys that appears the easiest. We later learned this was MUCH easier to say, than to actually do.

Based upon what we investifgated, we determined going AROUND the rock was easier than trying to climb up one of the cully faces.

Ah Fuck son, it's Shuksan

Before I head off for 2 months, Michelle and I decide to climb Mount Shuksan, via the Fisher chimneys. Here we are on the trail head, near the Lake Ann parking lot @ Baker National Forest.

What?

So a week before we're scheduled to leave, Brian leaves me a voice mail. It goes something like this.

Play Messages
Brian: Dude this is Brian, give me a call when you get a chance.
Me: Hmmm...Doesn't sound that urgent....I'll call him later.

Delete Message...Next Message
Brian: Hey, man, it's me, give me a call when you have time.
Me: I need to call him and see what's going on.

Delete Message....Next Message
Brian: Hey, I have some news about my doctor visit.
Me: What the hell is going on? I better call him.

Conversation:
Me: Hey, what is happening?
Brian: Uh...I'm in the hospital.
Me: What? Why? (sounding very surprised)
Brian: Remember that pain in my calf? It's a blood clot...
Me: What? (huh.....)
Brian: Yea, deep vein thombosis, and the scan they did shows I have several in my lungs.
Me: No...f*cking way.... (Now I can't believe it.)
Brian: Yep...so the trip is over for me.
Me: No....You're shitting me right? A week before we're supposed to leave?
Brian: Yep, paid for and everything.
Me: Jesus H Christ....What would have happened if you didn't go to the Doc?
Brian: I'm not sure, but it might have been pretty bad, especially @ 20K feet.
Me: Uh, yea, I guess so.

Another arrow in my quiver of footwear?

When you get into the outdoor activities, you somehow end up with a lot of outdoor gear. For example I have several pairs of boots. These are lightweight day hiker Nikes. They weigh 1 lb each. I paid about 100 bucks for them in Oregon.

These are my standard hiking boots, now. They are Asolos, I paid about 179 for them, at Mountain Gear in Spookaoo, they weigh 1 lb, 14 ozs. They are the MOST comfortable boot I own.These are my winter boots. They are a mixed climbing boot, the Kayland Super Ice's. They were on sale @ Feathered Friends, for 299. They weigh 2 lbs 11 oz each. Full shank, waterproof with Thinsulate lining. I think they are a perfect Cascade range boot. These are my newest boot, the Vasque 9000's. They are warm and light. All you want in a double boot. They weight a little less than 4 lbs each.

I consder myself a pretty good gear head. I try to be in the know of everything that is out there for Bikes, Mountain Bikes, Climbing, Hiking and sometimes Kayaking. However, clearly as I grow older, I am unable to keep up with the most current trends, and this is most evident with footwear. Mother Mary Jesus H Christ, How in the hell did I miss out on these?

Good God, do the come in pink?

Mt Baker

So, it's time to climb Baker. Mid-morning departure @ the Heliopolis Parking Lot.
Baker and wildflowers on the way up.

Brian really struggling to make it to Hogsback ridge. As a result, we have to abandon our quest for the top. Later that week, we find out why. I considerd going solo, but thought it was better to stay @ camp. Sunset with Mt. Baker in the background.

I am scarfing the Starbucks Pumpkin Scone I left in my truck the day before. I thought about it, the entire way down, hoping it wasn't too dried out to eat. Man I was prepared for a major bum out if it was hard as a rock. It wasn't, and I ate it in 2 bites.

BTW, in my opinion, Mt Baker area is MUCH prettier (more trees, better scenery, more mountains in the distance) and nicer (not as many people, more rustic) as Rainier.

Happy Birthday Fish Sauce!

My pride and joy, and the best dog in the world, just turned 7 years old. Kuri, aka, Kur-Dog, aka Missy, aka Fish Sauce, aka Woo Magoo, aka Furry Kuri, aka Diver Doodle the underwater Poodle, aka Chessa-dork, aka Big Dog. This photo was taken @ Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

This is the "you are NOT taking my toy" look.

This is the baby when she was just 8 weeks old. They grow up SO fast!

Rainier Climb

I get asked quite frequently (by folks who know I climb a little) "Have you climbed Rainier...Have you climbed Rainier? Have you"....enough already. Time to do something about it.

Departure @ the parking lot. I am sporting my newly purchased top of the line, state of the art, Arc'teryx Naos 55 backpack. I've used it a couple times, and have been very impressed. OK, on with the climb.

So, since they are rebuilding Paradise Lodge, most of the parking lot is closed down, so they have to shuttle people in and out. What a zoo! When they get done, Paradise will be FANTASTIC!

Me @ Camp Muir, mid-day. It was warm (hot?) there on the snow field in the sun.

We left camp Muir @ 10K feet @ midnight, and basically made the slog to the top. Went non-stop at a good moderate, steady pace, and got to the top @ about 7am. We passed all sorts of people sitting in the snow, right next to trail. What were they doing?

Anyway...Brian did really well, I neglected to eat anything all night so I pretty much bonked @ 5am in the morning about 13K in elevation. Somehow I was able to push on, and get to the top. We stayed for a couple of hours eating and drinking some water, and headed down @ 9am. Got back to Muir 1pm, and back to the car @ 4pm Sunday. Overall, Rainier is a good conditioning climb, but so much more of the Cascades have so much to offer.