Ahh... what endless entertainment the internet can provide...

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

This may have to be a permanent link.

Wedding in Yosemite

Whew - back from a loooooong drive to and from Yosemite, as well as to and from the chapel from the hotel. All in all a good weekend. Recap:

Left for Yosemite on Friday noon, picking up Matt and Helen in LA on the way. Stopped for gas once and stopped for Sonic food. Increased overall mass in the car by 600%. Gas mileage suffered.

Hung out in Matt and Helen's room that night with Steph, TJ, a 6 pack of Mike's hard alcohol, a bottle of raven wood red wine and 2 bottles of cheap wine (read: booooooones!). Mental note: Mixing that crap wine with Mike's isn't half bad.


Hung out with Steph and Helen's old roommate along with her 3 kids at another greasy restaurant. Good, but grease is starting to get old at this point. Met TJ's S.O. as well. I should probably mention that we managed to stuff the trunk of my car with TJ in it. He makes such a good trunk pet. Need to remember to do that again (come 'ere TJ! Let's go for a drive!). He he he he.

Quickly drove back to the hotel, we all got changed very fast, and then the 1.5 drive to Yosemite on wet roads. Go All wheel drive! (wet curvy road test: check!)

Chapel was nice. Although the view of big walls was a little distracting - nearly missed the entire wedding b/c I was so distracted. With it being in the Valley, it was a beautiful drive out there. Fortunately, the wedding was not interrupted by mauling Yosemite bears. Always a good sign when the bride and groom don't end up dead before they leave the chapel doors.

1.5 hour drive to reception where we all proceeded to get drunk. again.


next day: 6:30 am wake up call so we could all head into the Park and enjoy a hike or two. We didn't get mauled by bears either so that was cool. Saw midnight lightning. That is haaaarrrrdddddd. Matt and I posed infront of it for the memories...

Drove back in good time - managed to watch snow fall in yosemite too. That was raaad.

In honor of Fat Tuesday / lent...

I'm not catholic. But I do see the significance of Fat Tuesday and Lent - sin now, have a spiritual enema later.

In honor of this (since it's easter this sunday... I think... ), I decided to stay in San Diego and spend Saturday observing as many of the 7 sins, and then being morally and spiritually upstanding (is that even a grammatically correct phrase?) on Sunday. Note: I'm not following the 7 virtues b/c I don't feel like looking them up right now.

How did I do? Sat:

Sloth: check. played video games from 9 am till 5 pm. Not intentional - meant to move onto something more exciting like "lust" at 12 pm.
Wrath: check. Got pissed at myself when I realized that my time slot for "lust" was missed
Envy: check. Looked at REI catalogue models and were envious of the gear they were wearing.
Avarice: check. Wandered around the Mac store desiring all the pretty shiny computers at 6.
Gluttony: check. Was stuffed from lunch time risotto, but forced myself to wolf down a double western bacon cheeseburger, fries and drink on the way home.
Pride: check. I blog. How vain is it to write about your day and expect people to find it interesting?
Lust: still got 45 minutes to fulfill. Stupid me for missing my appointment. :(

So what am I going to do on Sun? Short ticklist:

Clean the house
cut my hair
clean the car
buy groceries
meditate (<-- that's the kicker to make sure I'm balancing things out)
Or
Just go to LA and see my sister (it's happy happy easter as she puts it...)

I don't know how seeing family is spiritually balancing... but I'm going to assume it is.

Tune in this week...

It's getting kinda creepy how many people read my blogs. More often than not lately, conversations are like this:

Obi: Hey [insert friend's name here] - how are things?
Friend: good - you?
Obi: Good - just came back from [insert activity/location here]
Friend: Yeah, I read that on your blog
Obi:... oh... right... umm... guess nothing else is new with me...

But I do appreciate the readership :)

Good consumer, bad spiritualist

I've been gripped by the jaws of consumerism lately. I've been fighting off the urge to "buy" new gear impulsively - the last purchase were a set of grivel crampons on clearance - crampons! In southern california! granted, I did use them this past weekend, but I don't think one weekened justifies me spending that much money.

Every day now I've been scouring the internet for good deals on stuff - light weight polycarbonate sunglasses with interchangeable lenses, titanium trekking poles with basket attachments, a tiny wrist computer that is an altimeter, chronometer, stopwatch, countdown timer and preferably a heart rate monitor with a GPS unit attachment.

I know what I'm doing - my sense of self has nearly been choked to death since I haven't been climbing. I am defined through climbing, which to a certain extent is quite limiting. And since it hasnt' been able to define itself and to affirm its self worth, I want to buy new "shiny things" to make myself feel better and ignore what is happening.

Or I just want to support these great companies in their products :)

My weekend (the shorter version)

For those of you who want a paraphrased ver. of my solo snow backpacking experience this past weekend:

Started Sat morn, arrived to camp approx. 6 hours later. Hike hard. Snowshoeing harder. Ran around like idiot sat night till lungs burst from lack of oxygen and exhaustion. Ramen yummy. Tortellini and pesto also yummy. *burp*

Slept at sunset, woke up to pee in the middle of the night and moon was shiny prettiness. Headachy - drugs taken, went back to sleep. No attacks from chipmunks or bears. Lonely. Oh so lonely.

Woke up at sunrise. Snow gave melting a miss and went straight to solid ice. Had to melt ice for water water chipping my tent out of ice with ice axe. Ran around like idiot again - this time with ice axe and crampons on, looking for viable slops to practice self arrest. Did not die, nor cause injury to occur. Hooray!

Packed up camp and left early. Accidentally left a 1/4 cup of tomato pesto in a container, in a baggie, in another baggie under a log, under 2" of snow/ice in the firepit at camp. Oops. At least the critters/birds/climbers will be well fed come late spring when snow melts away. It's practically refrigerated anyways.

Hike down was easier than hike up. no snowshoeing - walked on ice instead of sinking. Boo to sinking. Hooray for glissading. Self arresting came in handy when cutting switchback in snow - nearly hit a tree three times, almost a bush once and nearly poked my eyes out from pokey branch of tree once. My ice axe loves me. I love it. To show it how much I love it, I swung it over my head and into the snow for fun. Didn't realize snow was only 3" deep at that spot and hit a rock. Ooops. Now ice axe has a dent in the beak from hitting a rock. It was a love tap, really.

Hiked back to car with ice axe in hand after about 2 hours or so. tired. Realized I lost my oldest nalgene with home made webbing strap for climbing. Sad. Drove to San Diego where I immediately went to work at UCSD for a couple of hours in stinky capilene and glowing smile.

Obi = not dead.

Morals:

• Snowshoeing hard work - never solo snowshoeing ever again.
  
• Trekking poles are cool - must buy a pair.
  
• Ice axe is cooler - must remember to carry it around on all trips and disturb the local Gap campers.
  
• Altitude kills me - always bring pain killers and assume first day can only ascend to approximately 7k or 8k feet.
  
• Hiking uphill kills me - with 50 lbs pack, can only travel about 1 mile an hour uphill on 10% grade.
  
• Ice axe is cool - so are crampons on ice (but not on snow)
  
• My blogs are too long.

The not-so-long hike back

It took me 6 hours to get to camp. I expected 3 hours to return to my car. I did it in probably 2 hours.

Why the difference?

1. I was going downhill instead of uphill
2. I blazed new trails in the snow
3. I was accustomed to the altitude
4. I glissaded when I could

(if you're part of the forest service... disregard "b")

I spent my time down peering into my map to practice some orienteering skills.

There was one point where after blazing a glissading trail down perpendicular to the road, i got lost. I was expecting another road 100' down, but I traveled for over 200'. I had to stand on some rocks and took angular measurements from peaks such as San Jacinto. "Ah! I cut down too early! I'm too far NE" and I'd have to go bushwacking to find the trail again.

The hike down was largely uneventful. I enjoyed the snow for as long as I could and would walk across it whenever I had the chance. Eventually the snow disappeared and I felt a little weird hiking around with my ice axe in hand... I still kept it "just in case" :).

By the time I got to my car, I was exhausted, needed to find a toilet and discovered that I lost a nalgene bottle and accidentally left a small container of tomato pesto in 3" of snow, under a log in the firepit back at camp. Don't ask why I put it there.

Camp!

Campsite attained!

I sat on a log, ditched the beastly snow shoes and rested... till my swirling head told me I had to eat something soon.

i quickly set up kitchen, hastly made some ramen and slurped it all down in record time. Ramen never tasted so good in my life. I didn't even need to force myself to drink the rinse water out of the pot I made the ramen in.

The food in my belly, the tent was next. My friend Jeff suggested I dig a small hole in the outline of the tent to provide extra windshelter and keep me warmer for the night. I used the snow shovel I brought with me to dig the hole about 4 inches deep. In hindsight, I'm not sure if this helped much, but it was fun nonetheless.

Trying self arrest that evening didn't go so well. The snow was a skier / snowboarder's dream: powder. But for me to try and initiate a slide was impossible. I'd jump out onto a 30 or 40 degree slope only sinking in about 2 feet and going nowhere.

I just gave up, out of breath and tired to go back to the campsite.

I started dinner (tortellini and tomato pesto). I also managed to find the time and energy to stamp the snow down with the snow shoes to make short paths between the sitting log, kitchen and the tent (and by stamping, I mean stamping, stomping, jumping up and down, and otherwise beating the snow down). This ended up being very fortuitous - I could now walk these paths with just my boots (so much nicer!) and for the next morning.

I went to bed that night at around 5 pm with a headache. I realized that the past couple of hours, I've been having trouble making clear decisions, been having a throbbing headache and felt a bit nauseous. Probably a combination of dehydration - but also partly altitude sickness. Up to this point, I was considering hiking off Black Mountain b/c felt kinda bored, but also loneliness crept in. But I knew that with how I was physically feeling, the smartest thing for me to do was to trust my gear and rest for the night. So i popped an ibuprofen pill (go drugs!), and hunkered down inside my sleeping bag liner, which was inside my sleeping bag, which was inside my bivy, which was inside my tent which was inside a 3" deep hole. I was good to go that night, despite the occasional coughing fits.

A note about the mental anguish. I went up there initially to take a vacation from life in general - no people, no objects or anything else of my usual life. Just some quiet time to myself. But I ended up having to face inner fears and thoughts up there by myself. WHich is all good - I knew this would happen :) I figured it was akin to a religious retreat. Like the guys who filmed the March of the Penguins said "we were alone - and face to face with only ourselves".

I completely woke up once in the middle of the night when I had to pee. I'm so happy with my bladder - even though I spent 20 minutes trying to debate if it was worth it to get up and pee. The outside was relatively warm for a night in the snow, but the moon was awesome! It was only half full, but its light reflected off the snow and the snow amplified the ambient light levels in turn.

With morning, I walked around my headache gone. It was dawn - I think I slept for about 12 hours, off and on throughout the night. I noticed that on my way to the kitchen, that I wasn't sinking the usual foot into the snow when i walked off the (literally) beaten path - the snow froze into ice! This meant that I could try practicing self arrests!!!

I made breakfast (oatmeal with a few handfuls of gorp), boiled some snow for the hike out and jumped around like a stupid giddy child as I found steeper slopes to try self arrests.

A few words about this - self arresting is incredibly exhausting. Each attempt (all successful!) put me out of breath. I tried all sorts of different scenarios too - feet first, head first, belly down, belly up. I even tried one were I intentionally lost my ice axe and made a self arrest with my hands and toes. I even did a few stupid ones - self arrests with crampons on. Why stupid? there are dozens of injuries each year on self arrests with crampons where someone accidentally piereces their legs, or the crampons catch prematurely and breaks their ankles. And if I got injured, the 6 mile hike out would be really really long...

I figured that if I were to make ice travel a more common thing, I'll have to practice for any situation - even those that aren't optimal. So I slid down a few slopes always rememebering to pull my feet up and away from the ice while braking - forunately, I never injured myself. :)

I considered staying longer at camp and doing the things I wanted to do before I came here, but I wanted to take advantage of the icy conditions. In some areas, the snow has already thawed. I tried walking a few paces with the snowshoes initially, but instead, took them off and hiked with just my ice axe. I figured I could use the ice axe to help steady myself on the softer snow, use it to glissade when the slopes permit and as a self arrest tool if I slipped while glissading.

I started my hike away from camp - but before I went, I made sure to give a respectful bow to camp. I felt it was necessary - something zen taught me to do I suppose.

My snow trip (aka how I loved to hearn the hike)

So I've returned. Safely. Exhausted, but I've returned (and early, I might add!).

Throughout my drive home I was trying to decide on an intersting blogging format. Should I write a blow-by-blow account as if I had telepathic wifi access? Should I write from the point of view of my ice axe? Or should I write one big blog?

I've decided to keep things simple (and therefore, dull) by posting by each major event - the hike up, the camp, and the hike back.

Here's how my hike up went:

Parked car, arranged gear (snowshoes, ice axe) on pack and started trekking up the 6 mile road to camp. My gear:

• 3 season 2 person backpacking tent
  
• simmerlite stove
  
• two nalgenes with water in them
  
• two dinners, a package of ramen, oatmeal, a cliff bar, and a package and a half of trail mix
  
• 0 degree down sleeping bag
  
• sleeping bag liner
  
• bivy sack
  
• thermarest
  
• backpacking pillow (I don't know why this was in the pack to begin with... was comfy though)
  
• two snow poles
  
• BD ice axe
  
• snowshoes
  
• lightweight Grivel crampons
  
• a Heavy Ass Mtn Hardware conduit jacket
  
• midweight fleece
  
• rain pants
  
• gortex pants (oops-double packed)
  
• aluminum pot plus spoon and knife
  
• sunglasses
  
• cap and beanie
  
• ... you get the idea... I basically brought too much crap

All in all, I'm guessing I had a 40 ~ 50 lbs pack. I also bought one of those disposable cameras to chronicle my journey (also in case I died, my rescuers can recreate what went wrong...).

The first third of the hike went smoothly. I saw a deer, tried to make sense of some tracks I found in the mud and generally had fun seeing bits of snow on the road (white powder! And it's legal!).

The second third started becoming strenuous. That's when the gaiters and the snow shoes were put on. Not only did the road get a bit steeper, but snowshoeing is a lot of work! This was my maiden snowshoeing adventure so I wasn't sure how much work it would be - it's A LOT OF WORK. I think before I went I read something about how it's customary for people in the group to switch the leader position every 5 minutes to stamp out the snow, etc b/c the leader position is the most tiring position to be in. My opinion: yup.

The other thing about snowshoes - they're heavy. They say that every pound of weight on your feet is the same as adding an additional 5 to 10 lbs in your pack. I believe it - moving with lighter feet is definitely faster and more comfortable. It was one of the most laborious trudges I've done. Not to mention that you kind of have to walk with your feet straddling an imaginary horse... the snowshoes are wider than typical shoes so you're forced to keep your feet apart ever so slightly more than is comfortable.

Well, despite all of this, I did discover that snow poles / trekking poles are a god send. fortunately I still I have a bit of my climbing strength in my shoulders and arms so I was able to relieve my legs of some of the weight by hauling my ass upwards as if I was jumaring. Not that jumaring is an easy task either...

So here I am trudging ever so much higher. I originally kept a good pace but at some point when the snow was about a foot to a foot and a half high, I decided to have lunch. In the shade. In the snow. The sun kept the hike hot - I walked in just a capilene top and two layers of bottoms (rain pants were needed to keep the snow off of my legs). In my hungry and tired state I managed to eat a few handfuls of gorp, chug down more water and rest for a good 20 minutes before continuing.

The last third of the hike is a bit hazy. The road was almost always covered with snow at this point. I was able to keep a rough idea of how much further to go only because I've driven up this road dozens of times before - "hey, there's that boulder that's being kept from falling into the road by half a dozen manky trees", "that's the boulder where you first start seeing black mountain granite" and that sort of thing. I do remember resting at OK Corral and feeling "at home". I also remember taking a break every 50 paces. I was at around 7000 ft - an altitude I haven't been at since last summer and consequently my body wasn't accustomed to the oxygen levels.

I remember feeling overjoyed when I saw the split in the road .5 a mile before the campsite I chose for myself at the beginning of this trip. But the rest were even more frequent - at one point, I could see the campsite only a 100 yards away, but it took me a good 20 minutes to get to it.

Good bye everyone?

Exciting plans exciting plans...

Planning on a solo snowshoeing / backpacking trip up Black Mtn. yes, this is the same black mtn that I normally drive up to for some sick bouldering.

This time, I'm planning on parking my car at the bottom of the road (road is closed till June), hike the 6 miles, possibly in showshoes, make camp at one of the campsites on the ridge facing San Gorgonio and spend the weekend:

• learning to self arrest (time for me to use that friggin ice axe I bought!)
  
• make anatomically correct snowmens
  
• build a snow shelter
  
• meditate in absolute silence
  
• freeze a testicle and a pinky finger off
  
• explore part of the PCT (only a couple of miles past where I plan to make camp)
  
• learn how to backpack

Of course, things could get hairy, in which case I plan on promptly leaving. But if I don't show up by Sunday night, expect to find me in a lotus position frozen solid on Black Mtn. I'll be next to my snow mens.

This should be fun considering I've never really done any of those things on that list. Theoretically, I've learned everything I can - now I've just got to go out and field test my skills.

Oh - and Steph gets dibs on my gear if I die.

Quick! Someone teach me how to run / walk!

Second run this week was yesterday. Same format: run through eucalyptus forest, climb afterwards and then go home.

I've found I can only run for 5 or 6 minutes and then I have to walk. It's pretty sad... but I know I can do better since I can run continuously on the treadmill for 25 minutes at a time. I suspect I'm just not pacing myself right. Climbing was fine too... since I can't work power, I'm working technique at the gym and climbing painfully slow, finding my center of balance, not overgripping, etc.

Oh - random insight: Running on dirt trails is a lot less strenous than uphill mud runs. But running in clear weather is no where near as fun as getting drenched in the rain. :)

First run successful

two days after my attempted run through UCSD's eucalyptus forest trails and I'm in pain. My lower back, calves and glutes are all experiencing this dull ache... I believe it's called "being sore". It's been so long that I don't recall if this is how it's supposed to feel. Maybe I'm injured? No... I think it's "soreness".

Let me recount Tuesdays's run as it's pretty amusing to look back onto:

My inital plan was to run for 30 minutes (along with a 10 minute warm up walk), head over to the climbing gym, climb lightly on jugs for an hour and then head home. To make sure I had plenty of time to go to the climbing gym and run errands afterwards, I left work an hour early.

The SECOND I stepped outside, it started raining. It gradually picked up its intensity during my 5 minute walk to my car. Mind you, an hour previous my co-workers and I were commenting on how beautiful everything was - blue skies, green grass... the works. Now, it's gray, and wet things are fallling on my head.

I drive to the other side of campus, closer to the forest. I quickly change into my running clothes in my car while noting that the rain has stopped. "Maybe it's a bad omen? Oh well - it's stopped so it should be good" . Right.

I do the 10 minute walk and warm up my muscles. I patted myself on the back because by the time I walk to the forest from my car, it's exactly 10 minutes and I start to pick up the pace... where upon the rain picks up its pace as well. Yup - it rained. harder.

I briefly considered turning around but thought "no no no - it's too easy to say 'I'll run tomorrow instead'" and kept going on the dirt path. Scratch that: mud path. "Hmm... mud... never ran in mud before. Never done it, don't have an opinion on it - let's keep going". The path was flat anyway so it shouldn't be too bad.

The forest clears away and is replaced with an open sky canyon 10 minutes later and the trail curves to the right and slightly down. 5 steps in, I started sliding down the mud on my feet as if I were glissading. "Too hard to turn around now... I'll just keep going". a minute later, I start wondering if I'm running down a trail or a wash when I see short wooden bridges / planks across gaps in the trail. Figured these were here on purpose for the trail, I kept going.

When I turned a corner, I saw one of the steeper hills I've seen at UCSD - probably in San Diego. And it's slick with mud. Somehow I managed *run* up this thing without falling on my butt - I leapt from one relatively flat spot to another as my shoes accumulated mud and progressively lost their traction. "Must... keep... momentum... " is what I kept telling myself.

Fortunately, I ended up on flatter ground and walked for a while. At this point, I'm drenched. In cotton clothes. hundreds of dollars in quick drying synthetic shirts and I had to pick a cotton one for a rainy day. I'm cold, but I don't realize it yet. I stop to pee at a bush. I do it in wilderness areas - might as well do it on campus.

I finish the run with another 10 minutes of bushwacking till I find a bigger trail that the one I'm on meets up with. I find a giant sign that read "2 miles" and wonder how you do 2 miles in this forest.

I start heading back to the start of the trail (I've regained my sense of direction and distance at this point) and I'm forced to stop my run in order to ford multiple rivers. I didn't think this trail could get any more interesting. In 20 minutes, I was looking at 3 parallel rivers of water run off from the concrete-and-cement campus a 100 yards to my right. The water wasn't deep (maybe 2 or 3") but would definitely get my feet wetter than they were. And heavier with water logging. I just saw this as another intersting obstacle and leaped from one relatively dry spot to another Frogger style.

By the time I arrived at teh climbing gym I was soaked, dripping water, cold and muddy. I should have just rolled around on the dusty, chalky rocks to dry myself off (I instead used paper towels from the bathroom and took my shirt off to climb that night).

Day two is today. no rains in sight. I'm going to attempt the forest and climbing again... hopefully, it'll be less adventurous than last time.

My first bachelor party experience - EVER

This past weekend, I experienced my first bachelor party EVER. I've been a part of two weddings now, but James Peter's party was the first time I was ever around all guys for an entire weekend for the explicit reason of being guys (I was briefly considered for attending the bridal showers of the two previous weddings, but seeing how I'd be the only hetero male at a bridal shower, that idea was apparently nixed).

Drunken debauchery? Strippers? Out all night? Epic hangovers? Humiliating the groom? You name it. We didnt' do it.

Our 7 man group consisted of religious and non religious people, climbers and non climbers, etc etc. The lowest common denominator our best man could come up with was a weekend camping trip on the beach in Santa Barbara. There, we drank beers and liquor (1 porter, 1 sierra nevada and a rum with coke got me going for the entire evening - go Asian genes!), chatted and hung out. And watched "V for Vendetta" at the end of the weekend. It was relaxing - something I've been desperately needing.

But let's take a second to explore our society's customs here: We, as the groom's men, are expected to humiliate, torture, embarass and otherwise harass / tempt the groom with all those non-christian things (sex, drinking, drugs, etc). As one man put it "we're supposed to remind the groom why he doesn't want to hang out with us and instead want to hang out with Theresa for the rest of his life".

The bride-to-be had a bridal shower in Temecula for a full day of wine tasting, staying in Temecula doing whatever girls do at night, and then a day at the spa. In other words, she gets pampered and enjoys the company of her friends.

Guys: torment. Girls: pamper. WTF mate?! I really need to work harder at getting myself invited to these bridal showers (not that going to a spa sounds particularly interesting, but helping someone achieve peace and relaxation is more in my nature than harrassing someone).