Bay to Breakers, May 18

I wasn't planning on running the race, but decided to go with my friends Kyle and Sharada at the last minute. Sharada hadn't run a race of this length before, and Kyle and I had previously run it together.  I decided a light run would be fun since I was out of shape and not ready for a 12k, so it was a perfect setup.  We started in a late group, and my lack of preparation showed when I needed to pee as I was waiting to start.  We discussed it, and decided to stop at a bathroom after running only for a few minutes, but I lost them almost immediately.  After struggling to wait 20 minutes for a stall, I was off running and looking for the two of them.  I picked up my pace, passing lots of drunk people now making their way west.  As I passed more and more people, I eventually hit a healthy mix of runners and drinkers by the panhandle, then pure runners in the park.  I never found Kyle and Sharada, but decided to amp it up and run fast for the last mile and half.  I finished, like I normally do, barely able to breath, but excited after another race.  I fini 1:33:11, obviously much slower than previous runs, but not too bad when considering I waited for 20-30 minutes to go to the bathroom.

Climbing at Castle Rock and Surfing in Santa Cruz, May 10-11

I'm rolling with the backlog here!

I went to Reuben's Bar Mitzvah early in the morning Saturday, then immediately drive to Castle Rock, where I did some bouldering in the main area, sending The Beak Traverse, which was a V3 I had done nearly 7 years ago!  After bouldering, we headed to Indian Rock, where I lead an easy 5.9 and a bunch of people climbed it.

After camping in what was basically a parking lot with a hot tub in Scott's Valley, Sunday rolled around and I went surfing.  Unfortunately, Cori's old wetsuit fell apart when putting it on, so I went in solo.  There were very small waves at the Hook, but I moved to Pleasure Point, and caught a few very nice long rights.  After surfing, we headed to the Lighthouse for a silent disco party as the sun set.

Morning Session at OB, May 6

I got a new XCEL wetsuit, and tested it out in the morning at Ocean Beach.  It was a bit scary to get in the water by myself, but I followed some guy on the paddle out, but the current quickly separated us.  I sat in the water, warm and snug in my new wetsuit, waiting for a wave.  I didn't have a watch, so I thought I was out forever, so I kind of caught a wave, and bailed on what would have been a good one, then went in.  I found I had been out for a bit less than an hour!  Next time, I'm bringing a watch.

Linda Mar, April 30

Ripped my wetsuit and caught a few small waves in warm conditions.

Mom visiting California, April 19-26

This will be mostly photos, but when my Mom and Rich arrived on Saturday, we headed straight to the Valley with a shot stop to drop off stuff in SF.  We did the Mist Trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls, both of which had a lot of water.  On Monday, Rich, Cori, and I climbed Oak Tree Flake to Bay Tree Crack.  It was Rich's first climb in almost 30 years, but he did great on the 5.6 crack climbing.  Later that week, we went biking from Hayes Valley in SF, over the Golden Gate, to Sausalito for lunch, then to Tiberon, back to Sausalito, and back to SF via ferry and Market St.  I've never biked more than 10 miles, and this was close to 40!  My butt is still sore...  Th day they left, we hiked along the hills south of Muir Beach to a little cove.

4 days, 4 airports, two trips to LA, April 9-12

I did a presentation at work on Monday, traveling OAK to BUR, then SFO to LAX on Friday!  Lotsa flyin'

Three Days of Skiing, April 5-6

This could be the last of the year.  I hit the middle of a big storm earlier in the week at Squaw, which had the worst visibility I've ever experienced along with patches of good and bad snow.  This weekend, we had two spring days at Alpine with warm temperatures and fun conditions in the morning before the snow turned to crap later in the day.

Last run of the year at Alpine Meadows?

Big Sky, March 4-9

Day 1: We gawked at the massive mountain and wonderful simplicity of ski in/ski out accommodations.  I prereleased once on Marx (45+ degree slope), and Brett caught my ski.  Later in the same run after the Gullies, I prereleased on hardpack, bend my pole and severely knocked the wind out of myself.

Day 2: I picked up my fixed binding, and got my confidence back on a great powder day of 6 inches of fresh.  Awesome untracked and lightly tracked runs, including a foggy run down Liberty Bowl late in the day.  Great runs down Headwaters, including my favorite in that area, Cold Springs.  I gouged my ski pretty bad there.

Day 3:  Got my ski fixed yet again, and then enjoyed an amazing powder day.  I had one of my best runs ever down the bowl near Lone Peak Triple where I dropped a 15 foot cliff.  More untracked powder than I can remember...surreal and beautiful.

Day 4:  Bluebird and a weekend day - more crowds than the empty past three days.  My friends living in Bozeman came and visited, and we all had a great time in warm conditions.

South Lake Tahoe Skiing, Feb 21-23

Ben, Cori and I went to South Lake for a long weekend.  Ben lives in New Jersey, and was out for a conference, so it was a natural choice that we had to get some time in the mountains.  Ben and I skied Heavenly the first day while Cori worked.  I hadn't been at the mountain since 2008, and I wasn't a huge fan.  The runs aren't that interesting, and the lift/layout is crappy.  Cori also couldn't find a nice place with wifi to do work that looked at the mountain since the ski village is tucked away at a lower elevation.  Never the less, Ben and I got good turns in, and we all got tipsy at altitude off a few drinks afterward.

The second day, the three of us went to Kirkwood.  Again, it was warm and sunny, and the skiing was best in the morning.  Cori hadn't been skiing since last year, but by the end of the day, she was doing great.  That night, we cooked a feast of veggies and fish.

We skied Kirkwood again on Sunday, spending a good chunk of time on Cornice Express.  Cori got more comfortable with the steeper terrain, and we did a bunch of laps on Sentinel Bowl, which isn't as sidecountry feeling as it used to be since I believe they are thinking of putting a lift in.  We had to leave mid afternoon so we could get back to the city for Ben to make his red eye back to the East Coast.  We had a quick stop in Jackson, a small and sleepy old mining town, to get some dinner.

A Road Trip South, Jan 18-20

Cori and I drove down to surf at 38th Ave on Saturday.  The waves were nice, and we saw a sea otter right next to us.  There were literally hundreds of people in the water as the sun set.  It was fun to finally catch some good waves on my 7'2".  Afterward, we drove to Big Sur where we stayed at a river-side campsite with a rowdy bar up on the hill.  We listened to the crappy music before going to sleep and tossing and turning to the sound of all night partying.

On Sunday we explored some Big Sur beaches and did some hikes at Pfeiffer State Beach where there is a beautiful arch and tall rocks.  It reminded me somewhat of Lover's Beach in Cabo.  Then, we went for an evening walk to Andrew Molera State Beach where we watched the fog-covered surfers.  We ate dinner at a fun little Japanese place in Monterey, and then worked our way north to our standard Santa Cruz camping spot, New Brighton Beach.

We headed to the beach on Monday morning, eating our breakfast burritos while watching Pleasure Point firing off double overhead sets.  We decided to head a bit south and check out The Hook, which had perfect overhead peeling rights stacking up to the horizon.  It looked doable, so we headed in, only to be yelled by by ornery locals for riding boards longer than theirs'.  It was a pretty awful experience, so we headed in after Cori caught a wave.  She studied while I tried to get redemption at 38th Ave.  I caught a few nice waves, but was totally tapped out at sunset, so we drove home after getting some quick food at Whole Foods.

Winter Break, December 20 to January 5

Haiku is kind of an obnoxious cat, but every now and then he is cute.  Don't be fooled, as fat as he is, this box is way too small for him.

Chris, Meg, and I went to Sunday River, and had two days of ice followed by a powder day with a foot of new snow.

While in Bethel, we got bored of playing Life and Chess, and thus embarked on a grand adventure to New Hampshire for a better game.  This brought us to a thrift/gun shop that was selling some funky stuff.

We somehow found ourselves in a limo in Boston on New Years after hanging out at the Harpoon Brewery.  Will and I won the cornhole competition despite it being my first time playing.   I tried to psyche out the frat boys by telling them this over and over.

A big storm came in on the day I was leaving, so I got to the airport at 6:30am, and won the standby lottery at 11:30am with whiteout conditions outside.  To top things off, it was an economy plus seat!  Legroom!

California felt very different, and Cori and I went on a hike to Fort Funston on my first day back.  It was gorgeous at sunset, and I wasn't wearing a jacket.

We got two days of surfing in.   The outside bars at Bolinas weren't working, so we caught knee high rights off the groin.  On the last day of my computer-less vacation, we caught a beautiful sunset session at Ocean Beach in clean, but hard to catch waist to chest waves.

A Long Awaited Outdoor Climb at The Grotto, Nov 30

It has been since early August since I last climbed outdoors, so I was very excited as we made the drive out to Table Mountain early in the morning.  It was a nice big crew joining along as we greeted the horses at the parking lot and made the long approach to the cliffs.  We climbed a bunch of trad routes I had done before, and I finally lead a climb on Ort Wall across the way.  It felt very gym like and easy for a 10b.  Best of all, I finally got a burn on AC Devil Dog after years of wanting to try it.  First, I belayed Cori up it, who finished it, making it her hardest outdoor climb yet.  I didn't feel up to leading it given the insecure nature, so I went for it on top rope, having 1 fall, and slapping a lot of arete edges.

After a while at the cliffs, Chris and I headed up to Welcome Wall to setup an 11b, Uncle Remus.  Chris was rock solid on lead until the last move, where he took several short lead falls.  Upon finish it, he was sketched out by the anchor, which was fine for top roping, but would prove to be sketchy for rappelling due to the very rusted lap links.  As it got dark, I went past lichen covered holds, piles of bird shit, and surprisingly interesting moves before struggling through the crux.  The anchor proved to be as bad as Chris had said, and as I fiddled with leaving a biner and sling to backup the bad chain, I got several face fulls of rust dust.  Needless to say, I was happy to be back on the ground after my rappel.

We hiked out in the dark, admiring the clear skies and stars that we normally don't see in the Bay Area.  We stopped in Oakdale for dinner at a Mexican restaurant that served portions 2-3 times larger than expected.  Needless to say, we had leftovers.

On the Mend at The Hook, Nov 16

It has been over a month since my last post, which reflects how hard I succumbed to my persistent cough and subsequent excruciatingly painful rib injury.  Two weekends ago was the first time I felt well enough to do anything for along time, and Cori and I went on two long urban hikes, including going up Mount Sutro, which was surprisingly pretty and devoid of people, and not surprisingly eerie in the dark.

Now that my ribs have mostly healed, only the funniest Arrested Development jokes send pain down my side, and even though I can't sleep on my stomach, I can apparently surf reasonably well.  I tried my new 7'2" hybrid at the Hook on Saturday since Cori and I were down in Santa Cruz for a concert on Friday.  It was extremely crowded, but I caught a few, and really enjoyed the lower volume, more responsive feel of my new board.

On Sunday, I climbed for the first time in many weeks, which resulted in a bit more rib pain, but left me feeling good with a handful of v4s under my belt in a surprisingly good session.  I might try running this week, which would be a first since my foot started hurting after Bay to Breakers.  The lack of exercise has really been getting me down, and I am determined to turn things around.  The real icing on the cake would be to get out climbing in the Sierras before the snow and rain keeps most crags unclimbable.

Bolinas, Oct 14

I finally has a good surf session!  It has been a while, but the waves were pleasantly in the waist+ range at Bolinas. I had a 3 or so hour session with two very nice long lefts and a variety of decent rights and shorter lefts. 

Surfing after work, Oct 4

I was excited by the warm weather and decent waves, so I left my dark cubicle and headed to Linda Mar. The waves ended up looking pretty bad with closeouts and long lulls across the beach. I opted to surf near the south end, but couldn't catch anything decent. I moved to the Docks area where there was some competition from longboard ers. The waves were clean, but weak and I couldn't catch any.  I left the surf as it got dark, empty handed. 

Surfing, Sept 14, Sept 22, Sept 29

Ok, I had to write about my last three surf sessions.  I've gone the past three weekends, with a mixture of waves.  This weekend, Cori and I had some decent waves at the southern most part of Linda Mar when everything else was closeout.  Last weekend, I went out to Linda Mar by myself while Cori was in NJ, and it wasn't huge, nor very good but I caught a nice few waves in warm weather.  The weekend before that, I went to Bolinas where there were beautiful peeling lefts at the Channel, with a large group of good surfers at the one takeoff spot.  I didn't catch any good ones, but I went to the patch and paddled hard for the soft rollers, and caught a nice 30 second unbroken left.

Burning Man, August 28-Sept 1

I went, and it was more awesome than I expected.  The scale of everything (artwork, sound, lights, number of people, effort, etc) was awe inspiring.  I wrote a long post about it, but I'm going to hold off throwing it up here.

Perhaps The Last Routine Surf Report - Linda Mar, Sept 8

Surfing is becoming a more common thing these days, and I'm not sure every single session on small closeouts at Linda Mar warrants a blog post.  That being said, Cori and I got out at sunset for a quick surf in heavy fog.  The waves were barely rideable, but it was nice to get out since neither of us had been surfing since Baja.

Baja Sur, August 10-18

This has been the most packed few months I've maybe ever had.  It started in early July with a trip to Yosemite, then I went to SIGGRAPH, then Yosemite again, then Baja, next friends visiting SF, and finally I'm leaving for Burning Man in two days.  I have pages of notes from Baja but will likely never publish them, so here are some takeaways from the trip.  Now if my cough would only go away before I hit the playa...

Fingernails grow fast when not biting them at my desk in a dark cubicle, and I like when my brain moves slower without computers in my face all day.

There are no gas stations anywhere even close to a dirt road on the East Cape.

Don't touch the bottom when surfing a reef break.  Ouch.

The Cabo San Lucas coast guard apparently don't like it when you snorkel out into the open water near large boats.

Stay away from downtown Cabo.  It is painfully touristy and gross.

Rent a car and bring snorkel gear rather than take an expensive boat with limited time in the water.

Trust the young, tough-looking local locksmith when he says your locked out car won't be broken into despite everyone saying it will.  He probably has connections and helped you out.

Driving on washboard for an hour (or two) rocks your core.

Most of the good things on East Cape require driving on washboard.

Speaking of driving, dirt roads suck, but aren't nearly as scary as eroded paved roads where they will unexpectedly drop off into a car-destroying put 6 inches from your tire.

Margaritas are best with fresh squeezed oranges and home grown limes.

Coastal rainstorms at 3am are spectacular if not disorienting.

Palapas are not waterproof.

Palapa cough lasts longer than you'd expect.

Tom Curren makes a mean surfboard.

It is best to follow your instinct and not trust the illegal cock fighting ring leader's request for a ride for himself and his  large backpack wielding friend when he stops your car on an otherwise desolate dirt road.

Eating regular meals is a good thing, but when in doubt, having peanut butter, bread, nuts, and Lara Bars go a long way.

The best way to check the surf is by opening your eyes and tiling your head.

Be weary of stray dogs.  Some are nice, others are nicer, and others like to get rowdy and bite after being nice.

Octopuses are the most amazing thing to see while snorkeling.  Nothing else compares.

Packrafts are an indispensable adventure tool, but kind of scary in open water with two people and a (literal) boatload of gear.

Even in quiet artsy towns, people will try to screw you over and make you pay too much for things.

Small beach breaks are good at breaking toes and tweaking knees at the end of a trip.

Old hippie couples living off the grid in the scorching Mexican desert are the quintessential model for self-reliance and are inspiring to spend time with.

It took meditating on a scary reef break surf every day for me to find comfort in the waves, but when it came, I enjoyed surfing more than I ever have.

Turning 30 in Yosemite, July 31-August 4

Ahhh, I love Tuolumne!

We went back to Tuolumne to celebrate my 30th birthday in style with fancy fruit, climbing, friends and an abundance of sunshine.  We arrived at the Tuolumne Meadows Campground early in the morning on my birthday (August 1), and found Chris stumbling to the bathroom, half awake.  He and his girlfriend, Kira, made the drive up from San Diego earlier that day.

Kira on the approach to Bunny Slopes

After a surprisingly cold night, we started my birthday with some breakfast, and then headed to Bunny Slopes to climb Hot Crossed Buns, a runout but easy slab with great views of Pywiak Dome.  The approach was longer than expected because of our circuitous route, but never the less was easy.  After having lunch at the campground, we went to Puppy Dome for some crack climbing on Puppy Crack.  This was Chris' first crack climb, and he did excellent as did Cori and Kira too.  It is a nice short hand crack, which I sewed up for fun on lead.  The views from the top were gorgeous as the light approached the golden hour.

Chris working up his first ever crack climb on Puppy Dome.

We cooked a nice dinner, had a few beers, and then went back for the durian, which did not live up to expectations with its onion-like flavor.  Maybe I was dissuaded after Cori tried to give me a rotten/custard-y part that was the most foul tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth.  Right as we were going to bed, my cousin, Ben, showed up and slept sans-tent.

Posing with the durian before tasting the awfulness.

 We started Friday with a late morning hike up to the base of Northwest Books on Lembert dome.  We waited for a group to finish the first pitch, and in the process Chris left to go back to the campsite.  Kira and Ben were planning on climbing together, but Kira decided to join up with Chris, so Ben, Cori and I roped up.  I had led the climb a few years ago, rushed by impending thunder.  This time, we had clear skies and two ropes.  I got stuck at the bolt on the first pitch when cam got stuck on the sling attached to the bolt.  After some frustrated wiggling, I freed myself and finished the pitch.  The second pitch had more rope drag than I've ever experienced, and ended with a serious tricep workout belaying Ben and Cori.  I finished the climb, and we played around on the summit, getting back to the car as the sun started to set.   That night, Nick, Jacob, and Mike arrived, ready for the weekend.

At the end of the second pitch on Lembert Dome.

This was rather close to the edge of the cliff at the top of Northwest Books on Lembert Dome.

Our group was getting larger, but on Saturday morning it was cut down by one when Ben left to head back to the bay area.  We did a late morning hike up the Lyell Fork, crossing the river 1.5 or so miles to hike up a small dome we saw in the distance.  The views from the top were impressive despite being only 50 or so feet above the river.

We climbed a small dome!

Cori needed to get some work done, so we split off from the group to find internet while everyone else setup a rope at Pothole Dome.  We traveled down the road towards Lee Vining, finding cellphone service a mile or so from the Mobile.  Cori downloaded the necessary data, and we headed back to our friends just in time to try out some moderate slab at the far end of Pothole.  After everyone had their turn, we made our way to the other anchors closer to the parking.  There was a large group of Germans guided by a very angry guy who kept yelling at the kids in the group.  The mother was a horrible belayer, and we helped her use better technique.  Observing their constant bickering and screaming was far more entertaining than the crappy climb we setup, and we kept waiting for the next explosive argument.

Kyle and Sharada had arrived once we got back to the campsite.  We spent the night eating and drinking around the campfire, and my friend Reuben, his roommate and a friend came as well.  It was a nice evening, and we ate many whiskey-soaked marshmallows over a hot fire.

Cori trying hard to stifle laughing at the ridiculousness around us.

 Reuben et. al. left in the morning, as did Chris and Kira.  The rest of us headed to DAFF Dome to sample the easy cracks.  We messed up the approach, which took 2 or 3 times longer than expected, but we arrived and immediately setup a climb.  I took a small fall on the slippery opening moves, but was able to finish without a problem.  The setting at the South Flank is gorgeous with sweeping views of the meadows, and Fairview Dome smack dab in the middle.  At the end of the day after everyone had left for San Francisco, Cori and I did Alimony Crack, which was a fun 5.8 handcrack.

Kyle rocked one of the Guide Cracks for his very first outdoor climb ever!

 It was a great birthday, and I felt very fortunate that so many of my awesome friends made the trek out to one of my favorite places.  Birthday or not, I'm hoping I can make this a yearly tradition, even if it means snagging campsites months in advance.

Cori jamming at the very end of Alimony Cracks.