Every trick in the book.

He's got a job at the new Coles. He's got his P licence. 2 weeks of school left. But something is missing. A new tick.



Matt pauses at the start of his new second pitch route to allow the camera to make a wardrobe decision. Yellow La Sportiva?




And we go with the white Bob Dylan singlet.










Hegets the gear sorted, I work out the angles, and it's go time.










The route straight away sucks him in close with a gaston, undercling, stem combo.












Itpushes him deeperintothe scoop, unknowingly playing to his flexibility strengths.











Kneepads by Upskill







It goads him onto it's thorny bollards and tries tolure him into cutting loose, thus ripping his fore arm flesh,he resists and stays firmlyattached.













Then it's the old "hang onmy magic hold till your arms drop off" trick.

.






There's Bob staring at you.




He sees through it and punches on.






























Uh oh.Climbers, we've all fallen for this one.

It's the massive lunge off the slopey crimp and the end of the route story.



















This route knows all the dirty tricks.




























Even Matty falls forit this time.






















PS. Matt sent the route today 13/11/ calling it Tropic Thunder, 27






jj

Moose Meadows, Pigeon River

(Click the photo to view a larger version)

This photograph was made from the Pigeon River Helipad and Overlook on Otter Lake Forest Road in Northeast Minnesota. Ever since the forest service created this helipad and overlook, I've been stopping there whenever I'm in the area in the hopes of seeing a Moose down along the river. Being quite familiar with the river from the seat of a kayak, I knew that this bend in the river was quite popular with the Moose. However, I had never seen one from the overlook until today! I watched through my telephoto lens as the Moose moved throughout the shallows for several minutes. Eventually he turned and gave me a nice profile of his body. It was cool to finally see a Moose from this vantage point! This marks my 18th Moose sighting of this year!

On this holiday, please take just a moment...

to remember... those who gave their lives, those who served, and those still serving today...

The White House Commission on Remembrance (website at http://www.remember.gov/ ) is an independent government agency whose missions include:

• Promoting the spirit of unity and remembrance through observance of The National Moment of Remembrance at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day
• Ensuring the nation remembers the sacrifices of America's fallen from the Revolutionary War to the present
• Recognizing those who served and those who continue to serve our great nation and reminding all Americans of their common heritage

Source of image: a t-shirt for sale and hopefully I won't be sued for copyright infringement for using it… but I couldn't resist, it's such a neat graphic.

And now, a shameless plug for a past post on The Veterans in My Family. That post includes links to other posts on some of the veterans that I've written about.

Terry's Photo Challenge. . .

Terry Thornton has posted a photo of himself in a funny costume and has issued a Photo Challenge to all Genea-Bloggers. My contribution was taken in the spring of 1965, after the final performance of my Junior Class Play - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which was loosely based on the television show of the same name. That's me on the left ;-) portraying Happy Stella Kowalski who was the leader of an all-male band. We had fun. The face of my classmate in the photo has been blocked out, but I'm sure he'd know who it was if he saw the picture.


** Update November 11, ..**
Part of Terry's challenge was to post a costumed photo of yourself as an adult. Now, I realize that a 17 year old High School Junior would not normally be considered an adult. However, I was much older than my years would indicate. I'm much younger now than I was then ;-) there were way too many responsibilities weighing me down back then. If you'd known me then you would also know how "out of character" this was for me. I was extremely shy (still shy but not near as much). I didn't wear makeup (still don't). Participating in the class play was a "defining moment" for me since it was the first time I was recognized for an achievement. It was also the first crack in the wall that I had built around myself.

"Evil Wears No Pants" 8a+ (30) Project

Such a lot of hard moves all stacked on top of each other.73 shots got me to the point of linking all the moves from the hang start to the top.Now the hard work of getting off the ground begins.My money is on 150 shots.

Meal Time

Stormy and Trave eating together.

Bicycles in Product Branding

Having dabbled in marketing in the past with an emphasis on branding, I am always interested in the associations manufacturers use to add appeal to their products. And of course when bicycles are involved I take notice. Looking at how bikes are presented in product branding, there are multiple themes. For instance here is a cycling cow selling ice cream. It's a cute image but why that specific cute image? Well, let's see... The cow is riding a vintage delivery trike loaded with steel dairy containers. So the idea here is to associate the brand with old fashioned methods of production and distribution. This is echoed by the word "creamery" in the name.





And here the idea of cycling is subtly used to associate the "zero calorie" lemonade with weight loss, while the penny farthing imagery goes nicely with lemonade's old fashioned appeal. There's the "honest" thing as well, which I've noticed in other foods that picture bicycles on the label. Do we associate bicycles with honesty?





Wholesomeness maybe, or nature - suggesting that the food is organic and "honestly" obtained regardless of whether that is so? Could be.





Penny farthings are used as symbols of old timey-ness across product categories. This perfume manufacturer uses it to suggest vintage elegance, congruently with the antique look of the bottle and the distressed label. Curious, I smelled the perfume. Sort of floral and dusty, but not too heavy. I suppose it goes with the vintagey presentation, though personally I associate cycling with fresh air and not perfume.






At the same time, bicycles can just as well be used as symbols of contemporary culture.





I see more and more clothing and accessories where bicycle references serve as shorthand for a "hipster" identity. "This garment is for the cool urbanite who rides bikes, or wishes they did."





The bicycle can also suggest fun, whimsy, levity. Drinking from these cups promises to be fun because of that bicycle imagery. To some extent this might also be behind the increasing popularity of bicycles on alcoholic beverage labels.






Do bank notes qualify as a product? I guess they do. Someone designs them after all, with both function and aesthetics in mind. While in Antrim, I was intrigued to discover there is an antique path racer on the Northern Ireland 10 pound note. I looked it up, and learned it is in honour of John Dunlop, who invented the pneumatic tyre whilst living in Belfast. So here the bicycle is part of a narrative about heritage - with additional implications of self-sufficiency and freedom of travel. More than anything, I find it delightful to know that about a million people in Northern Ireland are walking around with pictures of vintage bicycles in their pockets.






There is always talk among bicycle activists about how to create positive associations with cycling in the public's eye. Meanwhile, other industries harness the already existing positive associations to enhance the appeal of non-bicycle-related products. Interesting how these things connect, overlap and feed off of each other.






I wonder to what extent it is cyclists who find bicycle-branded products appealing because they identify with the bicycle, as opposed to non-cyclists whose imagination is engaged by the mere idea of the bicycle. I suppose it is probably both.

Sunup with Smoke

I took these of the sun as it was coming up at about 6am this morning. Really like the strange photos I am getting but would rather the smoke would go away.

Local crag feature "Irishtown" past and present

Well the start of the winter season /11 is underway and slowly I'm getting back into the groove of using tools and crampons on rock and ice again. Like with most previous local seasons, our first few days are spent scratching around on dismal ice, but mostly rock. Yes the cold has hit the Laurel Highlands and the ice is building fast, but the mixed climbing is our best option right now and getting even better. We really haven't seen many climbers out yet, but I'm sure this weekend will have ice climbers out at the easy access crags. With the early season mixed climbing in such good shape, I've decided to try to increase the amount of opportunity for ice climbers to try their hand at the abundance of mixed options we have in the area. I decided to revisit a climb that I top roped last season at a local crag named Irishtown. I've dubbed the route Dynamite.It's located on the lower wall at Irishtown.

equipping the route "Dynamite" at Irishtown

You can see footage of the climb at the end of this short Irishtown video by Ray Burnsworth of Wildfilm productions. Its the last climb of the clip. Now all you young whippersnappers don't be laughing too hard at the vintage '90s climbing attire. This clip shows some of the ice at Irishtown and theaboveroute is located on the lower cliff (the first of the two walls.)

This crag is an old abandoned Limestone mine that seeps water out over the front forming several nice lines. There is a lower and upper wall. The lower wall is obvious, but the upper wall is reached by going right of the lower wall andfollowing the trail to the upper wall. Its about a 5min. walk. The center of the Lower Wall is highlighted by an old mine opening, withmanymean lookingdaggers hanging off the lip. Use Caution - The warm air seeping out of the mine prevents thesolid attachment of the sickles hanging over the mouth. THEY FORM AND FALL CONTINUALLY all season long, so be careful!Since it's an old quarry/mine and some of the rock isn't the best quality, it makes for a fun mixed and drytooling crag whenother ice isn't fully formed. There are several pure ice lines which have been the main attraction of this crag in past years. Just to the right of the quarry opening is the ice route Mouth of Madness WI4-5.One of the earlier climbs of the cliff which was first climbed via top rope in the mid '80's. Not until recent years have the mixed options become so apparent. This season I hope to establish some new bolted mixed climbs to expand the options at this fun roadside crag. Another quality line at the main cliff is called The ProwWI3+,M4. Its located to the right of Mouth Of Madness. It ascends several shorter vertical sections before pulling through the rock. Finishes at the trees. You can also traverse left and finish that way if the overhanging rock intimidates you. I highly recommend this line.

Laura Hahn seconding The Prow WI4- M4 Feb

The Prow's conditions today

Myself on the Prow '09-'10 season

One of the most common email questions I receive is: I'm a newer ice climber, where do you recommend I go? Irishtown is a great choice. The Upper tier is home to several nice, (but short 15'-30') WI 3 to 3+ routes that areusually easy to top rope or great for a newer leader to get their feet wet. Here's a few photos of their condition as of today.

The main central flow of the upper Irishtown wall

Some short mixed options exist on the upper wall as well

The rightmost flow of the upper Irishtown wall

There you have it a brief introduction to Irishtown. By this weekend most lines should be in reasonable shape for this time of year. So come out to Southwestern PA and enjoy cragging at Irishtown.

Guitar Heroes

We have enjoyed having friends around to hang out with here at Peace River. Well, we almost always have friends here.....but they don't usually come over to play Guitar Hero.



Guitar Hero is a great thing to play because it only involves the game, the guitars and then of course players:

This is serious stuff. The games can get pretty intense:

It's almost as much fun to watch as it is to play:

Then there is this:

Please don't ask me to explain it. Because I couldn't if I tried. They are having fun. That's all I know! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.



Living the life in Florida!

A Trip Full to See Friends

This week was supposed to be our vacation week. We were going to go down to Ft Myers beach to meet up with some friends and to spend some beach time there as a family. Then I got a job offer to spend the summer at the beach, and I needed our vacation week to work out some of my two week notice. So we took my two days off to go down instead. We landed at Peace River and drove down to Sanibel Island for the day.



At Sanibel, I was able to see my dear friend Barb and her husband John. I haven't been able to visit with Barb in person for a few years now and it was so wonderful to catch up in a face to face way. She is one of the neatest people I know and someone who has had profound impact on my life, so the visit was uplifting and nourishing to my soul. We grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant there and the food was very good, so my body was nourished well too. I would have liked more time together, but the time we did have was very precious to me.

Since we were at Peace River, we also had a too short visit with some very special friends. As soon as we returned from Sanibel Island, Rich and Donna had a cookout for us. I've shared here before how Donna is one of the main reasons I stuck with pickleball. Beyond pickleball, I just enjoy her as a person. She is one of those rare people that is sweet and interesting all rolled up in one.



We had the treat of sharing the cookout with some newer pickleball friends, Russ and Jody. They went to Capone's with us the night we visited there, so we had already shared that fun night together. We enjoyed getting to know them better tonight too. We decided to head out tonight instead of waiting until the morning, so we didn't get to play pickleball together. We loved what time we did have together though.

Living the life in Florida!