Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bundling up again!

It's only February and spring suddenly feels like its around the corner. Not sure if it's because we were just in the sun of California, or if it's because Tawna heads off this weekend for some work in Carolina, or that the field season planning for walrus work is in full swing. Whatever it is, the sun feels warm on your skin...at least it did while sat next to the Toyo stove in our cabin, looking out the window...at least it did before we headed up to the summit of Murphy Dome and into the Arctic wind that brought wind chills down to...well to a temperature that you wish you'd put long johns on for. Nevertheless, with the Alaska Range sweeping out in the distance, it would be hard not to be happy with the view!



Tawna, never one to leave a rock unscaled, risked frost bite for a first ascent of this fine problem but is hoping for a resole with sticky rubber on the mukluks (that for the record have poor heel hooking and edging capabilities).



The first ascent took a lot out of us, so we tried sun bathing but our hands fell off and Turtle just wanted to find a moose to chase.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Death Valley!

Out of the cold and into the desert. Our months of preparation, thawing each other's eyes out, and gnawing on frozen energy gels was over!!




So off to Death Valley, an amazing place that like Vegas is hard to encapsulate in any one image. Here, I've borrowed photos liberally from the web to try and give some sense of the place; I apologize for any transgressions on copyrights!

The highest peaks were dusted with snow but the temperatures were in the 50s when we pulled into camp in the early evening - the only green in a valley of salt flats and multi-hued sands.



It was up before 6a.m to get our numbers and instructions from a very charismatic race director who fired us all up with news that the race would indeed be in Titus Canyon (the last 3 years had been cancelled as a result of floods, snow, and rock fall!). We even got to sing America the Beautiful...I think it was that particular song, but will remember to learn the words before next year. We were then driven up to the start, about 45 minutes drive away, out of Death Valley and into Nevada.



The start is at the edge of pavement where a gravel road leads gradually uphill through the desert toward the ridge in the background which we'll cross into Death Valley. It was a pleasant 68 degrees to get the race going - definitely warm for us Alaska types but nothing to complain about. You can see the road (if you click on the image to enlarge it) running out over the low point in the ridge on the left of the photo - still 2400 feet (that's 800 m for you metric-types) of elevation gain from the start. The start was signaled by a flash of break lights from the race director's Jeep speeding away down the course - and we were off.



Here's a picture from the race's high point, Red Pass (mile 12) looking into Death Valley with our route winding down below (click the photo again for a better image). It was a brutal 500 feet of switchbacks immediately before the pass but well worth it when we saw this view. The other reward...from here, it was downhill for every bit of the last 14 miles.



This is an aerial view of the canyon which we navigated on our descent into Death Valley. You can see the ridge we crossed in the background.



Much of the lower part of the course was meandering along the one-lane Jeep trail that runs through the canyon. The rock walls were impressive to view but there was always a need to be mindful of your feet as rocks were always there to trip you.



Finally we emerged from the canyon together with the finish only a mile away, the windows of the waiting buses glinting in the sun...it was a welcome site! We cruised down the last piece of road and were re-energized with the site of Captain and Jonny (Tawna's brothers) cheering just up from the finish. It was a real treat to have our own cheering squad in the middle of the wilderness! A scratch in the sand marked the transition between running and no more running. We bent over to remove our timing chips, but were quickly scolded by the coarse volunteers who said they had had too many people bend down and keep going! They removed them for us.



We recovered with some casual bouldering in a nearby canyon - several new ascents here!



And the evening was spent with our very own "Little Miss Sunshine" on an original Taylor Baby Guitar, making full use of her 3 and a half chords!

Thursday, February 01, 2007

"O"

Well aghast as you might be that the blog is updated, it's good to be reporting in from Vegas, that's Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tawna and I are down here for a marathon...the strip seemed like a good place to warm up...

Here it is at night...gawdy and bright. It's hot though, although not for the locals who are bundled up in big jackets as we walk around in shorts!



We came to the Belagio to watch Cirque de Soleil 'O', but found ourselves enamored with the free fountain display and fancy lemon creme brule.



We both hoped to make a little money on this trip (to fund our trip home). Tawna quickly doubled our money, (on the 5c slots), but Martin gambled it all away again.



We're making friends quickly.



But now they get in all of our pictures.



We weren't allowed to take pictures during 'O', but still photos could never capture the amazing acrobatics, elaborate costumes and mind boggling set - complete with pool... oh and the live music anyway. We highly recommend seeing it.