Five years, and I miss her more than ever.

Not sure what to call this...

Snowball? Snow spiral? Snow roll? Saw this when I was snowshoeing the other day, thought it was pretty nifty... I've never seen anything quite like it.

What have we here? (doctored a bit so you can see the details better)

Hiking pole for scale.

So, it seems that a slab of snow slid off that there tree and rolled into this neat little thing.

Another angle.

Negative.

The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.

A bit disturbing, but mostly funny.

Smoke on the Water.

-8 on the way to work this morning. Really quite warm. I was only wearing a jockstrap, and that was too much. But, I have to do something to control the ladies...
Anyway... This is the Winooski river that runs through town. It flows into Lake Champlain near Burlington. I thought it looked really neat with all the steam on the surface. It has frozen over entirely a few times, but now it's flowing freely with chunks of ice floating by. The building I work in is actually visible in the first pictures. Along the left of the river with some snow blowing across the roof.

Eins.

Zwei.

Drei.

Snow and the Maxima

So the work schedule changed and I came home from Rochester on Thursday. Lots and lots of new snow. Still snowing actually. Here's a few pictures of that, and one of the Maxima rental car. That thing sure had the power to pass cars when the need arose (255 hp). Pretty crappy in the snow though. I like the Suby better!

The front porch and big pile of snow.

The driveway and more snow.

The Maxima and a way cooler car to its left.

Memory Lane.

Just got myself a scanner and scanned some old photos. Check 'em out...

Me rippin' it up at Sugarloaf in 1998. Never raced much after that one... YETI represent!

Droppin' behind the small mall. Oh yeah.

Riding trials on the Stumpjumper in Maine.

Some hippies on a beach near Bellingham. (Amy, Allison, Peter) Also note the crazy rock they're on. At the time I wondered what the heck was going on. I'm pretty sure that's a classic example of tafoni development in granite. My buddy Athena studied tafoni development in the Bahamas. Small world of sorts eh?

Two studs at Morse Mountain, Maine. 2001?

Me at my favorite campsite on Spectacle Island, 2003?

Atop some mountain in the Harz Mountains, Germany. April, 2000. Jay Spoon in the dark shirt, Josh Miller in the grey. Hannah Joule in the white vest behind them. Ford knows these folks...

Two studs warming up for a race in Mississippi. Near Jackson, I forget the name of the course. Dig the cotton socks (and cotton jersey for me, wool for Teal).

The house in Cathlamet. From 2001 when I took a trip there from Seattle.

Droppin' along the power lines in Boothbay. This scared the crap out of me at the time. Photo credit to Teal. Good timing! Note the totally sweet Vans Old School shoes. Word up. Yo.

Canoing the sloughs near the marina in Cathlamet. Ford up ahead in the kayak. 1993? Sharka Brah! Man that was a cool place to paddle.

Teal and Ford on the beach near Cape Alava, Washington. Looks like Cathlamet era, so 1993 or so... Ah, the grunge days... Looking at it now, some pretty sweet geology in the background too.

Oregon coast I think. Ford and I.

My dorm room in Utah. 4 bikes. Oh yeah. SS road bike (courtesy of Teal), Monty trials bike, Cove "freeride" bike (which I never really got to ride much), and the trusty Stumpjumper under the bed.

Sofi Hamrin paddling dad's boat (the Sealoution) in Boothbay, off Spruce Point. Summer 1998 I think. Sofi and I worked at the ice cream place together. She now lives in Santa Barbara. Ran into her this summer in Boothbay, we were both a bit drunk (her more than me) but we still recognized eachother after having not seen eachother after 9 years...

Fordo atop a mountain in Camden. This is from that time we all went snowshoeing. What a goon.

Me and the old man at Morse mountain another time. This time in 2000, still hadn't regained my weight lost from the AT. I can barely fit into that vest now.

Senior prom picture. Oh man. Sara Rosen (my date) is now married and living in NYC. Kara still likes women and lives somewhere in Boston. Josh Miller I think is still hanging around Boothbay. One of two times in my life when I've worn a tux (other was Ford's wedding). Don't playa hate.

Winter Fun.

Ford's been bugging me to put a picture of the Suby up. He wanted to see it with snow tires. So, it's not a very good pic, but you get the idea. By the way, of course I didn't do any donuts in the snow-covered parking lot...


So in with all my daydreaming about epic travels, I've been wanting to do something outside NOW. Until recently, the only sleeping bag I had was my 8 year old 40-degree bag. I had it with me for the whole A.T. and it's not very warm anymore. Not even 40, which isn't warm to begin with. So, I bought myself a winter bag. Got a really good deal I couldn't pass up. I imagine it'll probably last forever too. It's more of an investment than a toy. Justification aside, it's a North Face synthetic -20 degree bag. Yep, minus twenty. Tried it out indoors to see how I fit (bit snug of course, even though it's a long bag), and couldn't bear to be in it for a minute before getting too hot. Anywho, decided I'd try it out in the woods behind my house before I did any sort of real camping with it. However, had a bit of a quandry. My tent (which I absolutely love) is not free-standing, so it doesn't really work in the snow (not without a lot of work and/or special tent stakes anyway). So where to sleep? Well, I've got a tarp (from the A.T.), but that would only cover the top of me. What would keep me off the ground? Ah ha, that hammock of mine! Seemed like a pretty good combo...
I've tried sleeping in the hammock before, and I just couldn't really get comfortable. That was this summer on Spectacle Island. Granted, there was someone else in a hammock right next to me that I kept bumping into, and it was slung too low, so I was practically folded in half. But, I wanted to give it another try since it would keep me off the ground. Besides, a hammock + tarp would be a pretty sweet lightweight winter combo.
But enough babbling. To shorten the story, the sleeping bag was warm enough, but the hammock just didn't seem to be the solution. For one, had the same sagging problems even though it was set up really taught. Two, didn't pitch the tarp quite right, so my feet weren't covered (hence the garbage bag). Three, rocking back and forth in the wind isn't all the lullabies make it out to be. Rocking back and forth on a boat is alright, but this was quicker than that. Just kind of weird. Fourth, being elevated off the ground, the cold can get at you from all sides. So I think I was a bit chillier than I would have been in a tent. Anywho, slept through most of the night, but woke up before dawn just not feeling comfortable. It wasn't really very cold (20 or so), but my body was just telling me to get up. So I did. Guess I'll have to find a different solution to winter camping. At least I've got a sleeping bag that's up to the job now though...

Into the woods.

Freezing rain which later turned into snow. Reflective tent lines are sweet.

So close, yet so far away.

I feel like I'm preparing myself for some sort of expedition. Maybe I am. Who knows. I certainly would like to go off on an adventure. Just need to decide where, when, and how. The why doesn't need to be answered. "Because it's there." By the way, R.I.P. Sir Edmund Hillary.

Off to Rochester tomorrow. I'll be there for at least 4 weeks in a row (coming home weekends, a 7 hour drive, ugh). At least I got a decent rental car this time. Minivan last time, brand new Nissan Maxima this time. Oh yeah! Should fly on the highway.