Rocksploration

We're closing in on the real end of summer, but I've been out on several rock finding missions. And I found enough things to be excited about the arrival of the next climbing season (as if the end of winter won't be enough..)

Lise and I had a really nice overnight camping trip this last weekend - Labor Day weekend up here, and Father's Day weekend at home. Happy Father's Day Bob and Butch! Anyway, we camped out on top of Wickersham Dome about an hour north of town. The marmots left us alone overnight and we spent the day cleaning and climbing rocks (you know who) and sleeping in the sun.

Bouldering with Lise out on Wickersham Dome. Weathered granite ( I think?) blocks in a beautiful setting.

Arc de Trompe, at Narnia. No typo in the name, the idea for which came from a Pixies album; the climbing is super tricky. Easily the tallest, hardest lines found so far on Fairbanks limestone. The arch itself is about 20 ft high, the overlap roof is about 2 feet deep, and the tallest lines about 50 ft tall. Tom Ellis and I put in a couple of anchor bolts for the central lines and spent some time cleaning. But on top of the hilly 1 hr bushwhack, that left us too tired to send. Routes here will likely be (left to right) 5.9 / 5.11+ / 5.12+ / 5.12 / 5.11+/ 5.13+. There are a couple other big outcrops at Narnia, and they have much better rock quality and features than the main Grapefruit hill. Choice.

Mike Ruckhaus at the base of the 40+ ft overhanging arete/ groove we found behind Crackland. The rock was loose, needed a well-organized top rope anchor, but the climbing was really nice and sustained at about 5.10.

Hopefully one of two last burns for this season, but the schedule is looking pretty full with the marathon, Lisa's parents visiting and a workshop to attend. And, a climbing trip planned this weekend. ;-)

Running and reining-in the pooches

Lisa's first week at school was extra busy as we're had our first taste of dog-sitting. The kids arrive in her classroom tomorrow (argh!) but hopefully they are slightly lower intensity than Texas Ted Wu's pooches, Ty and Lucey. They're GREAT dogs if a little mischievous, and we've enjoyed having them around and taking them out for walks - especially when we can take them off the leash and relax a little! I feel like much manlier driving Ted's pickup with a couple of ddogs too ;-)

Ty showing Lisa some love. Lucey's seen it all before.


Lucey, Dan and Ty hangin' in the Chena Ridge crib, yo.

Otherwise, training for the Equinox marathon, chugging along at work, fitting in a bit of exploring and a new route at the local climbing area, and enjoying very nice late-summer weather.

Moutain madness: Equinox marathon course. The vertical gain from start to top is about 600m. Typical times are about 30 min slower than a road marathon.

A month now before Lise's parents arrive en-route to the rugby world cup in France. We're really looking forward to seeing them and spending a few days tripping around the highlights between Anchorage, Seward, Denali Park and Fairbanks.

Valdez Sea kayaking

With Lisa's new job starting soon, we took our last chance for a summery weekend away together. After work Friday, we drove the 360 miles from Fairbanks to Valdez, half of which I hadn't been down before, but Lise had during the Fireweed 400 bike race. We 'rambo-camped' on the side of the road just before Valdez. As well as saving money, I had the entertainment of a very realistic dream of waking up to find the car jacked up over the tent and the wheels stolen. wtf?

In Valdez, we rented a double sea kayak and took a water taxi out to Sawmill Bay, just beyond the Valdez Narrows, which separate Port Valdez from Valdez arm and the rest of Prince William Sound. The folks at Pangaea Kayaks were really great.

The tide timings were perfect, and we worked our way along the coast towards Shoup Bay, seeing a lot of jumping fish, a bald eagle or two and plenty of sea birds. It was certainly a different gig to Able Tasman in NZ - cold rain, cold water and definitely no swimming! Lise was rugged right up, but wet and a little uncomfortable fot a while (she may use stronger terms..). Not super relaxing in that regard, but great to be out there together taking in the animals and environment and just hanging out. Right at Shoup Bay we saw three sea otters lolling around and checking us out as we paddled closer. Very cool!

Shoup bay was a real highlight. The upper bay was formed by a side-arm of Shoup glacier which, although receding, still calves into the bay, feeding it with bergy bits and very cold water. The upper bay is offset from the lower bay, which is open to the sound, and this results in high tidal flows through the narrow channel connecting them. We arrived right on high tide, rode in on a nice little flow for about 200m, and were spat out past another sea otter towards a noisy rookery of kitty-wakes. These birds were being studied by a group from Earthwatch and Fish and Game, as apparently they act as a good indicator of the overall health of the Valdez area ecosystem. We joined the research crew and a few other paddlers in the 'campground' of small sites nestled between alders. With dead salmon lying about the lower bay think: bear country!

We cooked up and stashed all tasty and aromatic things in our bear barrel away from the tent before crashing out. The next morning's entertainment came from my overactive brain turning the kitty-wakes squaks into a loud-hailer announcement of their being a bear in camp and for everyone to meet at the researcher's shack. It took Lise a while to convince me it was just my hyperactive imagination again!

Day two, we paddled up closer to the glacier, checked out some seals, and rode an exciting little wave train out the channel to the lower bay. I wouldn't have run it by myself in a single, but felt comfortable in our double kayak, especially with Lisa's river experience. Fun! The paddle back to Valdez took in some cool cliffs, more wildlife and really thick fog crossing the shallow river flat towards the end. As we were back early than we'd first thought, with the misty wet weather and not much to do in Valdez the next morning, we decided to drive on home. We took a short stop at Worthington Glacier to get a picture for my friend Chris Worthington. Sorry to say Chris, it is receding despite the substantial snow fall in this area. By midnight we were home in bed, with the tent drying out, bear barrel clean and only the squirrels to dream about.

More pics here: valdez-sea-kayaking

Bike race, fishing and Dawson City Music

While Dan was in Italy, I explored the state of Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. I am rather shonky at keeping up-to-date with this blog thing, hence three entries in one. Moreover, I will seek to put more pictures than words, since this may propel me into writing more often!

I signed up to race the Fireweed 400 with two friends, Stacia and Heike. The race took place in early July in south central Alaska, and saw each of us riding around 135 miles (or 215km) through glacier filled scenery and over a mountain pass. Spectacular! We were first in our category, taking 27 hours,...which wasn't hard given that we're the first all-female team to enter the event! See New Zealand Endurance Sport Magazine in mid-September for an article by me, and some photos of the event.

Heike and I at a speedy transition!


My cheery self riding my first 65 km


Our rides with funky mist covered mountains in the background.


Road cycling at its best, with views like this

To carry on the theme of summer sleep deprivation I headed to the Chitina River with friends Pat and Heike to dipnet for salmon through the night. My dad was rather appalled that instead of rod and reeling for fish, we would stick a GINORMOUS net into the water and pull out salmon! It's very un-classy and more like grocery shopping than sport fishing. Still, I manage to have some "skill" (or luck) and caught around 15 salmon and a big king! Between the three of us we landed around 36 salmon, and now our freezers are filled with these tasty delights. This is rather quintessentially Alaskan, and the next stop on the semi-subsistence food trail is berry picking, then moose hunting. Guess which one of those two I'm up for? (They're sweet and their capture involves no blood).

That's me with the white hat and big net at 3am trying to call the fishies!

This is my King Salmon! The delirious look is a mix of pleasure and sleep deprivation

Me and my creek on the drive to Fairbanks

I headed to the Dawson City Music Festival at the end of July with a group of ten friends. It was an *amazing* trip involving a scenic eight-hour drive through Alaska and across the border to Canada. I saw a running herd of caribou, passed through the town of Chicken, Alaska, and saw fireweed covered hills.

The festival itself was fantastic, with a vast array of contemporary Canadian music played in an old church, a palace like the one in the Muppet Show (with those big fancy archways all the important people sit in on the third floor) and a biergarten. The midnight sun has everyone energised, so we spent our mornings at running races and training, and the evenings in late night dancing and drinking cider. This is a trend I have to continue, given my fifth place in the race!

Ed and I taking some time out from dancing to pose

This is the view we earned from our 7.5km uphill running race. In the foreground you can see our friend Dan's dog Sky, Dawson City below, and the clear waters of the Klondike river merging with the mighty Yukon. (Thanks to Ted for the pilfered photos!)

Italian summer

Lucky for me, a big geoscience conference was held in Perugia, Italy in July. I had some new results to present and made some good new connections with the European cryospheric community. I also got to stay in beautiful nearby Assisi, and met up with Lisa's good friend Kate Wilson now at GNS in Lower Hutt.

View of Assisi from Hotel Giotto

After the conference, I rendezvoused with my good friend Frank Olive from Fairbanks, who'd put 3000 km on his bike from his sister's house in Budapest - taking the long way round, via Austria, Switzerland, France, Monaco and the Italian Riviera. We met in Arco where we hiked in the 30 C sun so that we could climb in the shade. There is so much fantastic limestone around Arco, it's just unbelievable. And hard to photograph when you're either climbing or belaying!

While in Arco we met up for dinner with Marghi and Giorgio, Lisa's Italian sister and brother from her high-school year in Italy. They both travelled about an hour from different directions with a friend to go out with us for Tex-Mex, Italian style. It was so great to see them again, and we had a really nice evening.

Me in Campiglio, and Frank with a rope, a rack and a bike on his back.

Then after 4 days, we packed up the bike and took a bus up the Brenta Dolomites. This is where Lisa had spent that high school year, and where we'd stayed with her host family on our 2005 trip (see very first blog). Frank and I also stayed with la famiglia Valentini, this time for a couple of nights in between a trip up into the mountains. These guys are incredibly generous hosts and went out of their way to arrange things for us. Giorgio gathered hard to find route information, hooked us up with his friends in Rifugio Tuckett, spent a long day climbing and hiking with us the day before a 10 km running race, and generally included us in what was going on. The language barrier wasn't too bad with Giorgio and I trying to met on some common ground.

Castetletto Inferiore from Rif. Tuckett; on the summit.
Frank on the crux of 'Rapunzolo'; Rif. Tuckett.

The Arco crash-course in climbing fitness paid off and we enjoyed some really nice climbing high in the mountains. We spent one day climbing on the Castelletto Inferiore right by Rif. Tuckett and then a second day at Corna Rossa with Giorgio. The climbing was fantastic. The routes we climbed were Rapunzolo (5+, 7p), Kirka(5+, 3p), Mazun(6c, 4p), Big Daniel (6a, 3p) [we had to climb that once we saw the name], and Via Carabinieri (6a, 8p). We onsighted the lot, the highlights being Mazun, and the top 4 pitches of Carabinieri. Without Giorgio, it would have been a very different experience: the route information is not widely distributed, at least one reason for which is that the local guides put up routes and then work guiding on them.

Hiking to Rif. Tuckett; view of, and looking down Via Carabinieri.
Giorgio; farewell dinner; Frank, and me thinking about the crux ahead.

Back in San Antonio di Mavignola, it was the Festa d'Estate - summer festival - and our long day out was followed by a long night out. It was really nice to meet up with some of the people I met last time - friends of Lisa's and the Valentinis, Violine and Enrico, and Teresa and Renzo.

On Sunday, we watched Giorgio's race, lay in the sun eating polenta at the Alpin festa, took in some local cragging, enjoyed a wonderful farewell dinner from Bice's kitchen and then bused through to Milan on Monday. The floor of Malpensa airport is cheap but not that comfy.

It was a great trip, made possible through work, but made so enjoyable be meeting up with Frank and through the fabulous generosity and hospitality of the Valentini family -grazie mille! It was a real pity thought that we couldn't work it for Lisa to come too. There was a Lisa-sized hole in all of us up in Mavignola.

Grazie di nuova, ciao, ciao. ciao. ciao, ciao, ciao.

More pictures from the trip here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/danielpringle75/Italia2007/

Fairbanks Relay for life

Click picture to go to our page

This weekend Lisa and I are again participating in the Fairbanks 'Relay for Life' to raise awareness and funds for Cancer research. Most of our 'Team Spiritus' from last year is turning out again.

For us, the fundraising hurdle is tougher than the physical challenge. We don't like email solicitations either, but in this case we think the cause is worth it. We would really appreciate any contribution you can make, small or large

Donations can be made for some time after the the event too.

1. You can make a secure online donation here: Dan&Lisa donation page

2. You can slip me some cash and I'll pass it on.

3. You can pledge via email and we can sort it out later.

For those of you in town, you can drop in tonight-tomorrow (1-2 June) to the West Valley High School track to participate or donate. A luminaria ceremony will be held at 10pm tonight to honor survivors and remember those lost. Candles will be lit and all names read over the PA system.

thanks and best wishes,

Dan & Lisa

Summer floating

This may not look like a tan to you...but it's amazing how one's sense of perspective changes!

It's hard to believe that summer is really here...I mean it's certainly long overdue, but it's with a certain sense of disbelief that we march forth in making summer plans! This long weekend (Memorial Day) Dan and I made plans to head out and canoe the upper section of the local Chena River. The weather was perfect with a breeze strong enough to keep the pesky mosquitoes at bay, and the river was mellow and tranquil...for the most part. There were plenty of log piles in the river, and enough sweepers to keep us thinking. It was a little difficult for me to get used to being two in a boat with a paddle on just one side: I felt a little off-balance with just half a paddle! I realise that most canoers go on "float" trips rather than paddle trips, but the thought of just floating down a river for hours on end didn't appeal to either of us.

Note the absence of a keg

In addition to plenty of other boaters and fisherpeople we saw a gorgeous bald eagle, beaver dams, and a moose leg (sans moose!!). It really is a local hotspot for recreation, and in particular for boaters. Dan and I opted out of the keg in the middle of the boat, and were some of only a few who did!

With summer being much awaited, we are looking forward to getting out and about. I will be working at a summer camp for the month of June before becoming a lady of leisure for July - cycle race, running events, music festival in Canada etc...and perhaps some cabin painting. Dan will be working until a conference and climbing trip calls him to northern Italia in July and then before you know it summer will be winding down. We hope for another trip to southcentral Alaska before August hits, and the school year begins.

The long nights add a certain sense of buoyancy and exhaustion all at once...I find myself once again in awe of the people who live this rather unbalanced lifestyle year in and year out. Rather like paddling with just half a paddle...

A wee excursion in rural Alaska

View of the Aleutian Chain from my prop plane!

In early May I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to visit St. Paul Island: population: 500; location: middle of the Bering Sea. My mission was to visit a school in rural Alaska to observe and to teach, in addition to understanding a little more about life off the road system.

St. Paul Island: "Downtown"

I quickly became known as "New Lady" and was asked who I was visiting and why I was on the island each time I met someone new. This had me in giggles numerous times, and the locals too. The island is reknown for its amazing wildlife, and in particular the huge population of fur seals that inhabit the island throughout summer. This drew many people here in the late 1800s for seal clubbings by the tens of thousands for fancy fur coats in the USA and Russia. There are thousands of beautiful birds on the island in summer too, nesting on the high sea cliffs. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any seals or puffins (my big goal!) but it wasn't for lack of trying - I went for many walks and did manage to see lots of foxes. They were very cute! It was delightful to be near the sea again, even though there was a lot a sea ice on board...

Nesting murres, auklets and red-faced cormorants amidst the icicles!

My experience at the school was really interesting. I loved being in a school from primary school to secondary school - it was so delightful to see the students bonding together. Class sizes are small, as there were only 100 students in the school. Teachers in rural Alaska are highly sought after as turnover is high; of the 10 teachers at that school, three were leaving this year. The Pribilof Islands (of which St. Paul is one) have the world's highest population of Aleut people, and this was certainly evident within the school. The vast majority of teachers in rural Alaska are white, and not Alaska Native. There is an ongoing struggle in education, in which there is a sense of fracture from students' day-to-day life and their time in school. Alcoholism is also prevalent within these communities and the more I read about the history of Alaska I can see why...it is certainly a place for the hardy to live and master and especially historically. With the colonisation of local peoples by Russia in the 1800s, then later purchase of land by America, the native groups lost their sense of identity twice over. I came away from my trip with many musings, questions and a quest to learn more about Alaskan history. With so many different languages, Alaska Native groups and cultural practices within 600,000 people and spread over a state two-thirds the size of the rest of the USA, it is quite unfathomable that one education system will suffice for all...

The Russian Orthodox church stands high on the hill

Flight-seeing whale-watching Barrow Style!

April 15. Up in Barrow for a week for fieldwork. This is longer than usual because we're involved in a few projects at the moment. The International Polar Year (IPY) is starting up, and our group is part of a enwly-funded project to examine the seaonal ice zone aroudn Alaska. Rather than the perenial Arctic ice pack, the seasonal ice zone refers to areas which tend to be ice covered in the fall/ winter and ice-free in the summer. This includes a lot of the coast around Alaska. As with any self-respecting contemporary science project, this one has a suitable acronym: SIZONet (Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network).

Today, as part of this project we flew in a Bell 212 Helicopter about 50 km North of Barrow, out over the sea ice. We set down on some 3m thick multi-year ice and cored and measured depth-profiles either side of a pressure ridge that separated older multi-year ice from some of this season's first year ice. The MY ice is blue, hard and fresh, and the FY ice saline and more plastic/ softer. Just as well the drill died while coring the softer, thinner FY ice!The thickness of the ice that Oceanographer Mark Johnson is standing on is about the height of the coring barrel. We soon had power drill problems and used the manual head to turn the corer into the ice by hand. This pic shows the bottom section of the 1.25 m long FY ice core we extracted. The faint coloration at the bottom is actually algae. This thin greeny-brown layer spread over millions of square kilometers, underlies the Arctic food web. The algae get into the thin brine layers than form as the sea water freezes: the salts can't be incorporated into the H20 crystal structure of ice and end up in briney inclusions, pockets and tubes.
Here one of the pilots, Scott, is talking shotguns with me (red), Mark and the other pilot, Anders. We saw no bears or tracks, but did see a bowhead whale breaching to breathe in a lead (open water in the middle of the ice pack), which was actually pretty cool! The lower whaling crews are now cutting trails throug the ice off of Barrow so they can access their wahling camps at the edge of the large lead that runs about 10 miles offshore. This lead is close to the underwater Barrow chanel through which the bowheads migrate both in the fall and in the spring.

Spring a leak..

Spring is slowly but surely upon us. The surest sign is the dri-drip-dripping of melting snow on the roof. Most is gone too except the patch on top of the flat section above the attic window - too bad this feeds a continual dripping onto the roof right next to our pillows!

We're definitely into 'brown spring' now though, and due to the low snow year we should be through that quickly. Turns out that March was the coldest since 1959 and within a whisker of edging that for the coldest on record - which the Februay-March combo was. 111 consecutive days with daily lows below 0 F (-18 C).

Easter stunk up on us and caught us by surprise, which was mostly, I think becuase there are no public holidays at Easter, so you don't have a 'what are you doing for Easter' vibe going on. It was nice today to visit friends and eat some homemade, and very tasty hot cross buns. You don't see them at all up here, which is odd given the American propensity to sell and eat as much food as possible associated with any and all holidays/ special occasions. Kay's homemade ones were really great though.

Yesterday I did my first ever triathlon. An odd one it was too: 9 km ski, 5 km run and 1 km pool swim. It was a low key event organised by the local masters swim group, which a friend tipped me off to. Too bad the skate skiing was closer to ice skating with the daytime melt and nighttime freeze, and I slipped over a couple of times trying to catch the guy in front of me. I was a little afraid of the swim though. Skate skiing is very tricep/back intensive, and how much so was immediately clear with my first swim stroke - ouff! Its kind of strange too - because you obviously don't know where others are up to in the 40-lap swim. It was nice to be in race mode for the first time in ages. With no competetive sport I miss that - the attention to managing your effort for best personal performance. In the end, I was second into the pool and finshed up third. Not quite up there with Lisa's 1st out of two in a ski event at last year's learn-to-ski day, but fun to open up the throttle for a bit anyway :-)

April holds a trip to Barrow for me (13th - 20th), and later, the start of Lisa's trip to the Pribilof Islands (29th - May 5) - and then May 13 is her big graduation date. As this is an American graduation, she'll be expecting appropriate gifts - gradiation ring, cars, holidays in Hawai'i, property. That kind of thing ;-)

March Madness

Well its hardly college basketball, but March certainly brings on the madness: surely spring should be here already, surely? Why is it still -20 C outside?! To stave off the is it summer yet blues, we've hit the Alaska range the last three weekends.

First, Lise and I ventured south with our friend and my climbing buddy Frank. South to Panorama Peak, just south of the Denali Park area - about 2.5 hours from here. After surviving a super strong northerly wind with a wind-chill of probably - 50 C we got onto the south-facing gully - out of the wind and into the sun - ah!

It was Lisa's first time climbing snow in crampons but she's a fast learner and very methodical. We topped out the gully to a col with a great view of the Alaska range including Denali off to the West. The summit of Panorama will have to wait.

Lisa and Frank en route, Panorama Pk snow gully. Denali is making clouds on the horizon.

The next weekend I went into the 'Deltas' the Eastern margin of the Alaska range, east of the Richardson Highway, again with Frank, and a couple of other guys from the University-based Alaska Alpine Club. This was the same trip as last year - to climb Mt. McCallum. Frank and I again summitted on Saturday after the ski in, and we all went up Sunday morning. it was nice to be up there with Frank - he's a great guy and will be leaving town this summer, and after 10 years up here, he might seek out greener pastures.

Then last Saturday, Lise, Frank and I went ice climbing with friends Dragos and Carrie. After a wee tiki tour looking for some new ice fall off the Parks Highway, again not far from the Park/ Healy, but after the Nenana River looked a little too open to safely cross, we settled for Fox creek. Only 5 minutes up the road, and 10 minutes up a frozen creek we found enough ice to keep up busy for a few hours. We set up 2 top ropes and all climbed slightly different variations of plastic wet ice, brittle cold ice and funky little chandeliery stalactites until we'd got our fill. Lise knew her time was up when she got 'retard arm' - a common affliction whereby your (usually left) arm won't swing the axe in straight and instead rolls inwards and you just can't get the pick in. This nicely bookended her climbing session which begun with the 'screaming-barfies'. (Stupid/ special names for everything, huh?) You can find out how this feels by putting your hands in an ice bucket in a walk-in freezer for about 10 minutes and then letting the blood return. (Hint: the name says it all!)

Fat Fox Creek ice! Lisa and Dragos (top) defying the screaming-barfies and retard-arm.

Anyways, despite my best to make it sound like a suffer-fest, it was really a nice day out out and a lot of fun with nice peeps. I never thought I say this, but 0 F ( -18 C) is really not that cold if you're dressed right and moving. Just don't stop.

(Cheers, too, to the State Trooper who lit up his flashers as I sped along at 75 mph on the 65 mph highway, but then carried on going. ..exhale..)

Claiming of the Shrew

Actually, I think he was a vole, but the wee fella's hidden his last cashew nut in Lisa's boots. We borrowed little weight-triggered live traps from Pat and Adia, and I set them with one of Voley's favourites - breakfast cereal - and set them in the cupboard under the sink.
This morning I found him all curled up and chilled beyond hibernation in one of the traps. Poor little guy, his was just doing his own thing. For scale, the trap is about 3 inches (7.5 cm ) across.

Here's Pat and Adia at what was the first hockey game that Lise or I had been too.

The UAF Nanooks lost to Michigan State 5-2. It was a fun night out though. Perhaps the varsity soccer team should adopt the home-crowd tactic of chanting " You Suck! You Suck!" at the opposition keeper when the home team scores. Classic hockey fans.

Tolovana II - The cold strikes back

A little late this post, but here we go.. Tolovana Hot Springs is a favourite winter/spring weekend trip for outdoorsy Fairbanksans. I did it a year ago when Lise has soaking up rays and sipping on Chardonnay in Breaker Bay, and loved it. A few days after getting back from Vancouver, we were on the road.

The 105 mile drive on hilly, icy, bumpy roads is just long enough that you unfortunately need to pee at what must be the most exposed and windy pull-out in all of the interior. Lise and I chose to snow-shoe the 11 miles each way rather than (x-country) ski as some of the hills are a little sketchy especially in the twilight with full backpacks. A week after a slid, skidded, and face-planted down the steep first downhill last year, a poor chap went one better by breaking his femur. Thankfully the Japanese travelers he was with were able to drag him up the hill, plonk him into a car and drive him in town. So snow shoes it was. And while some of our group skied ahead, and Tim zipped through on his snow machine, we plodded along in 30 below. Once moving and in the absence of any wind to speak of it was actually quite comfortable and enjoyable.

Guy Dubuis on his skis.

We spent a neat two nights in the rental cabins rading books, eating chocolate and working our way through the keg. Occasionally we'd dash out to the hot spring in the evenings too. Two dogs and 12 people is a lot to fit in one cabin during the day, but thankfully four of us slept in another smaller cabin and it was quite comfy. At those temps, cutting the wood for the stove is easy - the spruce is so brittle that its almost a no-contest chopping kindling.

Sunday morning dawned, at about 10:30, and we staged our staggered start to hopefully all arive at the cars at about the same time. The cars! I hope the little red subie will start after two nights out in - 35 C ! Normally we plug in the car overnight if its below about -10C, to power heating pads for the battery, engine block and oil pan, so I was pretty nervous on the way out. At some point I had enough of the snow shoe plotting so decided to open up the throttle and try to get some endorphins pumping. The Dukes of Hazard narrator would at this point make some forboding comment about the idiocy of this option: You see, I failed to think too much about generating so much body heat that I'd need to strip down to no hat, only polypro gloves, and a single icebreaker layer unzipped. That would be fine if it weren't 35 below, and although I didn't know it at the time, it would be 2 full weeks before I got full feeling back in several fingers, and that followed only after losing a good layer or two of skin of all fingers and my ear lobes. Live and learn.

Guy's best Gandalf impersonation!


Lisa on arrival at the cars.

Anyway, my car anxiety proved to be well founded. Feeling justified in this conern provided little comfort as, over the next hour we tried to start our car and one other. Jeremy's car finally fired up after jumping the battery, and using a long-handled shovel to slid a burning pile of bbq brickettes under the oil pan. At those temperatures, the oil is just so viscous that the engine can't turn over. Not wanting to melt the bank's investment, we ultimately ended up splitting our gear and selfs into the other cars and abandonning the subie for another night alone.

Operation car-recovery was staged the next day. I picked up a new battery and borrowed a 1000 W generator and a fuel-powered 'space heater' (ie. hot air cannon for heating construction sites) and Lise and I got a (2.5 hour) ride out with Jeremy. After about 45 minutes of blowing hot air under the car and a new battery, she finally fired up to much relief! (The varsity back four have never seen me as dark as I was before then.) We stopped at the Hill Top for the fries that I couldn't bring myself to eat the previous evening and got back into town in one piece.

Car resuscitation.

Moral of the story: we are tiny warm units in a very big, very cold, very unforgiving environment. And next time, take a baking tray to go between a camp stove and the oil pan, or better yet, take someone else's car ;)

More trip photos at: Heike's picasa pages

Cabin-fever Christmas and Van-Kiwi New Year

It was really great that some of you guys are better than me at sending xmas presents with enough time to actually arrive on time! Thanks for your emails, cards and pressies. It was great to call home and talk to some of you too. All the best for a Happy New Year!

We had a (finally, thankfully) relaxing xmas morning at home, went for a walk in the snow and midday light before hosting a mid-afternoon xmas dinner in our cabin. Thankfully our friend Adia was on hand to provide the appropriate finishing touches including xmas tree, wreath, cookies and a delicious chocolate yule-time log - thanks Mrs. Christmas!

We also re-established that Trivial Pursuits is not the best game to bring everyone together and have fun: 'Your team got so much easier questions than we did' etc.. Our bad there!

We spent a wonderful week in Vancouver over New Year's. More to come on that from Lise..

California driveby

Long time, no update. December was silly season for sure, as Lise worked through to Dec 23 at the Elementary School she's training in. She was very happy to turn in her last assignment too! Many of the kids gave her xmas presents. It's easy to be judgemental about how commercial the 'Holiday Season' is in the US, but when it comes to kids and parents making and buying personalized gifts for student teacher in their class, you can see how the opportunity to manufacture that commercialism: it really is nice to give and receive those kinds of gifts!

I had a conference in San Francisco mid-December, and was crazy-busy before and during that. I firstd flew into LA and spent a weekend in LA visiting my good friends from Cornell, Alex, Steve and Etienne who are now at CalTech and JPL in Pasadena. Alex was a great host, from picking me up at LAX with a thermos of coffee to talking the talk (and greasing the palm of) the bouncer at the Red Buddha bar in Hollywood so Steve could get in with no ID. Whistletop tour included Santa Monica boardwalk (including punters in open-air poser gym and street rappers hawking their CD's), Saturday night out at a couple of bars in Hollywood (actually more low-key and Wellyington-like that I anticipated) and checking out the Norton Simon fine art Gallery in Pasadena (thousand-year-old buddhas to Van Gogh originals).

The conference was very busy but successful and beneficial. It was a great chance to catch up on friends at other institutes and enjoy some of SF's nice restaurants and late-night shopping. (Photo on left is looking down Powell St, one of the cable-car routes.) One conference highlight was being one of about 700 who attended an hour-long address by Al Gore. I haven't seen his movie or read his book, but know of them. He was certainly a very polished but relaxed presenter with a great sense of humour, and is clearly passionate and seeks to be well-informed about the environment. The obvious thing to wonder is how the state of the world would have been different if he'd bean elected President ahead of inglorious-George in 2000...

Otherwise, back in Squarebanks, the snow was still playing hard to get and we'd been limited to a few sessions only on the ski trails at school.

First white sights of winter

Winter has arrived now, sneaking in a little later than expected but here for sure now. It dumped snow on Saturday night and as the ground was already frozen, that snow will probably be the last to melt in April.

Driving has been a bit treacherous, with loose powder on ice, but hopefully the worst has passed. In the winter its so cold and dry that the friction is quite good on the dry snow. At least when they spray gravel and salt around the place. The 15 minute zip to work has been taking 25, and we've passed several cars and pick ups that had sliden off the road. So far so good, but the car is now again stocked with windchild scraper, extension cord for plugging in the engine heaters, tow rope, gravel, sleeping bag and blanket and a bag of spare warm clothes. Fingers crossed there will be no need for that!

One great thing about the snow is that it makes the tracks of all the animals visible. We've had a little moose in the lower drive way after apparently having crossed right around our front deck. A hare has been out there too; they're nice and white now. Some of the mystery the other tracks was resolved a couple of nights ago. I heard rummaging in the pantry at 1am and expected that a squirrel had gotten in through the boarding somewhere. Steeled for whatever it was, I flung upon then door and was greeted by an ermine, standing up next to the rubbish, and looking back at me with his head cocked. So cute! Lisa was less enamored with him, especially after he ran back up inside the wall and poked and then up behind the head board of the bed in the loft! He's since nibbled the peanut butter off a mouse trap. Our landlord Holland has said you need bloody meat in a trap - he'll hook us up on Saturday he says. Kind of sad to go after them, they're cute and just looking for some place warm, but they eat the insulation too. (And apparently they make for quite nice little purses or key chain accessories.) He was standing up just like this little guy on the left.

Last Sunday's plans were to go ice climbing, but the wrong weather mix in recent weeks meant no ice was 'in'. Instead, we went to a 'harvest meal' at the house of our friends Pat and Adia. The harvested contributions included cranberries and blueberries (disguised in various cakes), halibut nuggets, moose meatballs and moose liver pate! We then all set about carving up our pumpkins in preparation for Halloween. Our one is the silhouetted bat. Spooky, huh - woooo..

Well, that's about it for now. We've both been pretty busy with work and classes etc. It would be nice to get outside more during the week, but hopefully a little more snow will see us on the trails at lunch time and after work. Ciao.

Summertime citrus deficit

Somehow, I never quite got out to Grapefruit Rocks enough this summer. The separated shoulder didn't help, of course. The pick of the days up there was when Frank, Adam and I made it up to falcon rock one night after work in early June. We climbed until 11pm and could have stayed longer. As it was, I was wiped out the next day after an extended day of fieldwork following the am flight to Barrow. Ouff.

Good skiing and climbing buddies Adam and Frank; me trying to trust the crust on 'Larry's Project'; Adam milking a rest and busting though on 'Overhang Direct'.

Each time I get out there, its a little better than I think it will be. Frank did too good a job of lowering my expectations! Its about one hour from our place when there's no traffic, plus a 5-30 minute hike to the different outcrops.

Lise and I spent a great sunday morning out there two weeks ago. We'd been invited to lunch with the 4th grade teachers from U. Park Elementary (Lisa's placement school), so we did a morning mission, leaving home before 7 am and getting in about 5 pitches each before making it back to town at 1 pm.

And so as the fall rolls on, it seems like only yesterday that I first went out there with Frank and Tom. The seasonal changes are so pronounced that it makes it seem like the seasons come and go so quickly. Everyone is already writing off Fall and talking about skiing, which will probably be only about a month away. The squirrels outside are all stashing nuts for the winter. The Equinox run is next weekend. Hopefully there's stil time for a bit more climbing before the skis and tights come out though!

Chickaloon Climbing Trip, Labor Day

We again took advantage of a long weekend to make a trip south, this time to go climbing at a place called Chickaloon, about 90 miles north of Anchorage on the Glen Highway. Tom was paving in Denali, so I picked him up on the way through on Thursday night. We got in late and ended up sleeping in a pull-out right under the crag. 18 wheeler diesels are loud.

A great field of boulders lies 2 minutes off the road, halfway to the crag (Weiner Lake aka Wookie Wall). After a quick tour of the best bouldering lines we rolled up to the crag. As we finished a short warm up we were joined by a few locals, including main developer Paul Turecki. We spent a chilled-out afternoon up there climbing and chatting with those guys. Tom had two routes in mind from a previous trip, and wasn't about to let sleep deprivation and weeks of non-stop paving slow him down. After a couple red bulls and a mid afternoon under-the-route nap he sent 'Illuminati 5.13a' fourth shot. I spent some time working out the bottom of the "must-do local classic" next to it, and we called it good, retiring to the free camping spot on the river behind the real slice of Americana that is the Chickaloon bar.

Lisa and Lalida got in about midnight. It had already started raining and didn't let up until about midday Saturday. By that time we'd rolled down to the greasy spoon in Jonestown for a real breakfast of king-sized pancakes, hashbrowns and eggs. The overhanging headwall protected many of the Weiner Lake routes and we spent the afternoon climbing. Late in the evening I went to my happy place after fighting to onsight a superb 100 ft 5.11 (22/23).

Camping on the river, Tom, Rob and Lupin, Lalida and Lise; view from Purinton Creek crag; Tom up at the Wookie Wall; Lalida at Purinton.

On Saturday night we had a few beers and a late pasta dinner with local climber, all around good guy and Tom's friend, Carl, and road-tripping Rob and his beautiful Siberian Husky 'Lupin' on their way home to Canada after a summer of fishing off the Kenai. Sunday morning we all climbed a mile up the road at Purinton Creek. Tom and I took off back to Weiner and Lalida gave Lise some crack-climbing coaching. They rocked back to Weiner in time to hear me screaming my way up my project - pAAH!! Tom put on the real show though, when he sent the local 5.13c (30) test piece, second day. Very impressive. The ladies drove home early Monday, and I managed to link up 'Breaking the Chains' 5.12b second go, which Tom repeated, to cap off a very successful and enjoyable 4 days climbing.

What a place! This is surely the best sport climbing spot in Alaska: a huge cliff of compact rhyolite, maybe 1 km long, 100 m tall and gently overhanging at the base; free camping on the river, spectacular scenery, and plenty of well bolted routes in the 5.11 - 5.13+ range. Too bad its not closer to Fairbanks, but next summer I'll be back!

Looking across Weiner Lake from the crag; walk in through the fall colours.

Fall is in full effect now. The colours in the beautiful Matanuska Valley were great.Driving the Parks was equally spectacular; this has to be one of the most enjoyable 300 miles to drive anywhere. Tom's stories and music help too though! The final treat was that Denali was out. Absolutely enormous.

Kenai Peninsula Trip

Our schedules finally lined up enough to enjoy a trip to the Alaskan riviera, just in time before it freezes over ;) We took a week off and travelled to Homer, at the base of the Kenai peninsula near Anchorage. It was really great to stop in Anchorage each way, and stay with our friends Jeremy and Laurelyn, and their two cute kids Brooks and Kai. After entertaining these two, we travelled through to Whittier - via the cool one way tunnel.

Kai and Brooks at home in Anchorage; Lisa in a cove out of Whitier; glacier on the Whitier side of the tunnel.

We then travelled throughand via the Sterling Highway down the center of the Kenai. This is a major 'combat fishing' zone: that's actaully the term used when these guys pack the banks of the Russian and Kenai Rivers to haul in the migrating Salmon. The bears then line up to haul in the fishermen! We spent a night at Ninikchik, with its cute old village harking back to the days of Russian settlement and control of Alaska. The tides were super-low, and the clammers out digging up their quarry the next morning.

Lisa expressing herself Japanese styles on Bishop Beach, Homer; Redoubt Volcano from Ninilchik; Grewingk Glacier, Kachemak Bay N.P.; unidentified Alaskan wildflower, Grewingk beach.

Then on to Homer, a quaint fishing/tourism town famous for the halibut - delicious deep sea flounder-like fish that can grow to more than 150 kg - fished out of the surrounding Kachemak Bay. We skipped the chartered fishing, and took a 24 hour kayak rental in Kachemak Bay National Park, a 30 minute water taxi ride across the bay.

And what a great 24 hours, thanks to meeting some super friendly locals camping on the same beach that we were dropped at. Lee had biked around NZ in the late 70's, and his daughter Chrissy had also been out to visit an aunt living in Milton. Lise and I met up with them after first getting in the short hike up to the very picturesque Grewingk Glacier Lake.

Paddling in Halibut Cove; black bear yearlings; with (L to R) Geneva, Vicky, Lee, Chrissie at 'The Saltry'; low tide in Halibut Cove.

The 8+ metre tides added an extra dimension to the paddling. We rode a white water 'river' into Halibut Lagoon: the narrow channel into this wide lagoon has quite a flow at mid-tide. After a little exploration, we found the others at the main dock, hanging out and waiting for the tide to turn and make leaving the lagoon possible. On the paddle out we saw porpoises and an otter, and were convinved to follow the others to a restaurant in nearby Halibut Cove. Lee, the local book shop owner, proved a great tour guide and filled us in on the local geology and birdlife. W even spotted two black bear yearlings, and paddled to within about 30 metres of them - very cool! The Saltry was a fabulous restaurant - beautifully situated and decorated - and it was really nice to share a delicious meal with great company. The kayak portage and paddle home back to the campsite burned off at least the dessert and beer!

It poured overnight, and we spent the last day drying out, having a diner brunch, visiting Lee's bookstore, and driving back to Anchorage. Saturday morning, Jeremy flew out for more fieldwork, and the rest of us checked out some running salmon. During the long haul back to Fairbanks, I could almost feel the land wrapping in behind us as we drove further into the interior. No doubt, it was great to have been back by the sea, and to have had a relaxing break exploring the 'tourist' Alaska. But the trip was really made by all the friendly, relaxed, generous people we met the whole way - catching up with friends, and making new ones.

Purdue Summer School

aka 'nerd camp', ha ha. onto this one soon.