Tieton Temptations

I was lucky enough to spend my weekend in the lovely Tieton River valley with Nate, Stephanie and Melanie. The flowers are just starting to bloom as spring creeps up from the shrub steppe into the forest. We spent Saturday at The Bend, shivering through a cool morning and then basking in the afternoon light. We climbed several of the cracks on the West Side, including Salmon Song, Treatment Bound, Sugar Kicks and Ambient Domain.

The highlight was definitely shooting Stephanie on lead on Hallowed Ground, 5.9.

From Tieton - April 2010

El Potero Chico TR

Its been a few weeks since Kristin and I returned from El Potrero Chico, and hardly an hour has gone by that I haven't thought back on this amazing trip. Two-thousand foot walls of limestone, 700 routes, 15-minute approaches, $8 bottles of tequila, $5 camping, and $1 36-ounce beers. The numbers all add up!

From El Potrero Chico

Trout Creek

I spent a day out at Trout Creek last weekend. The light never really cooperated because of some haze. I got a couple of decent shots, but the colors of the stone set against the sky don't really pop like they usually do up there during the late afternoon. I love this place but the next day I always feel like I got spit out of a meatgrinder.

We're off the Potrero Chico tonight! Sun, bolts and limestone.

From Trout Creek

Testing MapMyRide.com

I just discovered mapmyride.com, which is an on-line mapping tool that tracks your bike rides. Let's see how it works. Here's the ride I took this afternoon:

GALACTIC

Galactic
The Roseland Theater
Portland, Oregon
February 27, 2010

Halloween weekend 1998, I found myself in Las Vegas surrounded by a bunch of freaky kids who traveled from all corners of the country to see Phish dress up in a musical costume. I can't remember who came up with the idea, but I flew down there with my buddies Jason and Gene from Portland and landed a room in the giant neon green MGM Grand.

On Halloween night, Phish dressed up in the Velvet Undeground's Loaded and the Oh Sweet Nuthin just about blew my mind (check it out). The show let out but the party wasn't over. We had tickets to this up and coming young funk band from New Orleans that was supposed to play until dawn. Galactic brought the heat, and since then I've been catching them off and on when I can, mostly down in New Orleans for Jazz Fest. 12 years later and they're still at it, having become a main stay in the New Orleans scene. Collaborating with the young guns and the old timers, they've bridged the generations and updated the cajun funk sound for the 21st century.

Check out some footage from last year.



Last weekend Galactic rolled through town on a tour that will pretty much land them in New Orleans just on time for Jazz Fest. Kristin and I decided at the last minute to check them out, and we're glad we did.

The show was good, but if you compare the first two clips you can tell they were feeling the crowd more in their hometown venue. We still enjoyed our little taste of Nawlins here in Portland, and we're looking forward to a little more cajun love later this Spring. Will you be there?

Video of the Mt. Hood Ski Descent

My buddy Matt Bedrin pulled together this little video of our most excellent day on Mt. Hood. Enjoy, and check out his exploits at skiingcascadia.com.

Mt. Hood Summit and Ski Descent

The winter-long pattern of warm rain and crappy skiing conditions relented this week as a high pressure system moved into the area. I made the executive decision to take a mental health day and cut out for a climb and ski descent of Mt. Hood. I called my buddy, Matt Bedrin, who's trying to become the first person to climb and ski the highest 40 volcanoes in Cascadia, so I knew he'd be game for a last minute, mid-week outing.

We geared up and left the car at 2 am, only seconds before the first and only yard sale of the day. Walking across the parking lot, Matt hit a pocket of black ice and went down hard. My brain barely had time to think "be careful" before I hit the ground a split second later. With bruised egos, scraped elbows and a groggy heads, we picked up our stuff and started the slog up the Palmer.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

We prepped for a battle, as the wind was blowing 20-30 mph from Timberline Lodge all the way up to the top of the Palmer, making for some cold, dark skinning conditions.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

With an east wind, we were able to find a little shelter near the lift shack at the top of the Palmer, and we stopped to fuel up. The cold set in pretty quick, so we geared back up and started moving after a quick rest. 15-20 minutes later, just as we were warming back up, the wind dropped to a dead calm. At first I thought it was a brief lull, but from there on out we were treated to excellent, calm skies.

We got to the Hogsback as the sun rose and stared up at the blank canvass of a mountain, wiped clean by the snows earlier in the week.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From the Hogback, we punched in a boot track up towards the Old Chute.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

We had the whole mountain to ourselves and were treated to amazing views of the Cascades and surrounding foothills - mid-winter solitude at its best.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

5000' of vertical was just too temping, and we eventually bid farewell to the summit and started the ski descent. The upper section was survival sideslipping, but we eventually found the goods on the steep slopes of the Old Chute and then the Hogsback. Great turns in a beautiful setting.

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From there we got some photo ops at Illumination Rock and then charged the ripper corduroy back to the Lodge. Great Day!

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent

Good luck to Matt on the Cascadia 40!

From Mt. Hood Ski Descent