Types of Fun

I cannot claim fame to this amazing idea since I've heard it in many contexts, most notably here.  The premise is very simple; there are three types of fun to categorize experiences:

Type 1: Things that are fun while you are doing it
Type 2: Things that suck in the process, but are fun in retrospect
Type 3: Things that aren't fun at all

I view the scale as a continuum with events falling between the defined categories on occasion.  Here is my take on fun scale, in increments of .5.

Type 1: Powder skiing at Squaw
I got lucky and scored the first run down Granite Chief during a bottomless day, and I was amazed at how much fun can be derived from a mere handful of turns.  It doesn't get much better than this.

Surveying the cornice drops on another day at Granite Chief (Photo: Lindsay)

Type 1.5: Skiing Tallac
The ascent was painfully hard with us gaining 3500 ft in only a few miles, and to compound issues, the snow was soft and slippery, making some sections dangerous.  However, the scenery is the best I've seen in Tahoe, and the descent was continuous corn for as long as my legs could handle it.  Overall, it was nearly type 1 fun, and the beautiful scenery during the arduous ascent kept it from type 2.

The views from the top of Tallac are incredible. (Photo: Justin)

Type 2: Attempting the Pemi Loop
This trip started out as a blast as Chris and I were bagging peaks left and right.  Then the rain came.  Then we got lost on an unmaintained trail.  Then we were both limping due to pushing our out of shape bodies far too hard.  We were hating it, but it was a blast in retrospect, although he might not agree.

Chris at the beginning of the trip: "I love backpacking!"

Chris near the end: "Why are we doing this!?"

Type 2.5: Supernova

How can a long easy multipitch sport climb in warmer-than-Boston-in-January Mexico be bad?  The problems were most of the "5.6" was chossy 4th class, and warmth was replaced with freezing wind in the shade.  Combine that with inadequately dressed group members (err...I left my fleece on the plane...), a botched rappel, and inexperienced climbers yanking off basketball sized chunks of rock above us, and you have a shitty day of climbing.  There were some nice views and fun first pitch, but no one really looks back at this day as fun.

I'm trying really hard to look happy on Supernova.  (Photo: Maggie)

Type 3: Breakdown in ME
Nothing is worse than not even getting where you want to go on a road trip.  Ben and I were on the road in 2006, heading to do some sport climbing in Canada, only to be shut down when my car died in northern Maine.

Ben inspecting the broken car :-(