Experts in Skincare

I saw this life-size display in a Marionnaud storefront a couple of days ago. It is a German-language Clarins advert and the text reads: "your experts in skincare".

You can't quite see this here, but the model's underpants are semi-transparent. And the poster is sized and positioned in such a way, so that the viewer's gaze is directed at the space above the bicycle saddle. Right.

In terms of the psychology of advertising, I think this poster is very Austrian: freikörperkultur, health as the path to sexiness, sun worship, golden hair, long legs, lean muscles, and a symbol of an active lifestyle - in this case a sporty bicycle. Whoever came up with the ad was clearly trying to evoke stereotypical cultural ideals. I don't suppose too many people notice that the saddle is set too low...

California :: Point Mugu

While serving in the Navy, I was stationed at Point Mugu during the years 1974-1977 and lived nearby at Port Hueneme and Oxnard. The last time I was there was in 1979 upon my return from Japan.

Many things have changed, but unlike a few other places I've revisited, I also found that some things were the same.

My apartment was only a few blocks from the beach and the park at Port Hueneme. The park has been expanded and improved. In fact, there was work going on during my visit. Condominiums and large apartment complexes have been built along the shore. Surprisingly my old apartment building was still there as was the shabby motel and strip shopping mall.

My drive from the apartment to the base took me down Hueneme Road. It really hadn't changed all that much. There are still fields of strawberries – I used to stop at a stand nearly every day when they were in season – and acres upon acres of vegetables being grown. That part of the valley was mostly agricultural and still is.

From what I could see on my drive past the base, not much has changed there either. The housing visible from the road looked the same as it did 30+ years ago.

Driving on down Highway 1 beyond the base was “the rock” and the coast, where I spent many an hour watching the waves crash against the shore. Ah, memories.

The Point Mugu Rock, seen from the south, with Highway 1 passing through the opening.

And from a distance, along the shore.

Perfect Weather for climbing and skiing

Breaking with tradition, as oddly happened also in 2005, there was reasonable weather on the upper mountain over Memorial Day weekend. The normal Pacific NW tradition calls for drippy rain and snowfall. So with the good weather came a whole bunch of skiers and climbers.

At Camp Schurman, the skiers took over. After all was said and done, there were more successful skiers than climbers! Here is an all women's team that ripped down from the summit on Monday afternoon. They reported excellent climbing conditions, and relatively icy ski conditions... But that wasn't a problem for them. On the other hand, I witnessed another skier tumble and fall roughly 200-300 vertical feet near 12,600 feet. It took his teammates a few hours to collect his equipment and get him back to Camp Schurman. He wasn't hurt too badly, but it was awful to watch it play out through the telescope. YIKES!

On an important administrative note, here is a heads up to those who don't think they need to register. There are intensity patrols happening in the backcountry and they are checking to make sure that all teams have permits. This weekend, a few parties were turned around and some were cited for failure to register for a climb. Make sure you get your permit and climbing pass before taking off. If you need help, give us a call 360-569-2211 ext 6009.

The Ice Monster of Lake Superior

This piece of ice was sitting atop a partially submerged rock about 100 feet away from where the "Lake Superior Ice Ornaments" photo that I posted yesterday was taken. To me it resembles some sort of odd creature or monster, sort of a cross between a walrus and a centipede (if you can imagine such a creature!). To my eye the ice hanging down along the sides conjures images of a centipede's legs, and on the part of the ice closest to the bottom of the frame, the two pieces of ice hanging down resemble walrus tusks.

"Glaces"...a history of ice climbing and technique

Just one of the many historical photos in "Glaces", Beyond Good and Evil., Mt. Blanc Range.

I like to read. I like to collect mountaineering books or at least have in the past. Obviously one of my passions is ice climbing. I come by that honestly having been lucky enough to havestarted waterfall climbing at the "golden" era of Canadian waterfall activity in the Rockies.



So I have autographed copies of Bill March's book, Chouinard's, Jeff Lowe's, Twight's, Will Gadd's and most recently Steve House's. All great books in their own way. I've talked about most of them here on the blog. But always special to me to have autographed copies even from guys like Chouinard or House who I have never met.



Some I think are more important historically than others. And some stand out for their influence on the English climbing community.



As a student of ice climbing history living in North America I have long known that Chouinard didn't invent the curved axe. And that the curved axe didn't really make the huge leap in climbing difficulty that some have implied. The climbers did generally and not all of them were from NA.



That was left to others living in the Mt. Blanc Massif and in Scotland and the gear they used or designed.



But that story, their story, has never been seen in one place that I know of, until recently...very recently in fact from what I have seen.



Leave it to my friends at Blue Ice to publish the most recent European tome on ice climbing, "Glaces: arts, experiences et techniques" by Jerome Banc-Gras and Manu Ibarra



There is a lot here. I could tell you more but my French is limited. No English version yet but I know they are working on it. It will be well received.



Short ummary of contents?









History

From Antiquity to 1908: Ice as an adversary

1908-1968 : La glace des faces nord 1908-1968: Ice faces north

1968-1998 : La glace des cascades 1968-1998: The ice cascades

1998 a nos jours: La glace sportive 1998 to Present: The ice sports

Ice

Snow

mixed

The gear

The gearprogression

Safety equipment

Maintenance

Choosing the route

Choice of technical equipment

Selection of protection

Organization of gearaterial

Moving on the ice

Which route?

Analysisof the possibility of collapse







The historial accountswhich I found most interesting by:

Walter Cecchinel

Ludger Simond

Bruno Sourzac

Will Gadd

Pavel Shabalin

Christophe Moulin

Ueli Steck

Fred Degoulet

Philippe Pellet

Jerome Blanc-Gras























"Glaces: arts, expériences et techniques" by Jerome Banc-Gras and Manu Ibarra is available from Blue Ice France now. Send them an email encouraging them to do a English version!





http://www.blueice.com/en/products/glaces-arts-experiences-et-techniques



Some more shots from the book that should give you an idea of how much a treat this one really is.











From ancient history to the most modern techniques, tools and climbers, it is all here.

Ice Screw length?

Flow Reversal in typical conditions, early Winter.











When the original Chouinard screws came out...you know 30 plus years ago,,,most every one had the rack full of 22 and 28cm screws and maybe a Snarg or tow. A full rack then was 8 may be even 10 screws.



Kinda shocking really just how few screws we used BITD for some fairly steep climbing. Considering it generally took two men and a boy to place the screws of the dayin cold ice.



I don't mind giving an opinion (ya that is obvious) of what I wear or what I think on most things but the tools or crampons that you choose are up to you. Same with the other gear you use. The idea here is info, comparisons and opinions. Choices.The length of screws Ichoose generally depends on the quality of ice. Ice quality isn't something always easily known from the ground when sorting gear. The links below offerssome ice screw infothat has been passed around in the community. That info convinced me to change what I use for ice screw sizes a few years ago.



This is not a blog post I would have ever thought to make but Runar asked so here ya go.









My climbing rack includes BD Express and Grivel Helix screws in the 10cm through 16cm sizes. Generally I like the 13s if given a choice and I have good ice.I'll use a 22 or a 16 for V threads. But prefer a 22.



That said a number of better climbers than I use only 16cm tubes and up foreverything,



More here.



http://www.jjgeng.com/html/body_ice_screw.html



http://www.needlesports.com/catalogue/content.aspx?con_id=095232e4-4caf-49ec-8495-9c9e00a633da





More of Oscaron Flow Reversal in really fat conditions, late winter .

Line Dancing at Colony Cottage Recreation Center

Every night Donna and I email each other and decide what we are going to do the following day. Last night we decided to go line dancing at a new place, the Colony Cottage Recreation Center. We got there early, and I'm so glad we did because shortly after we arrived, there was a line waiting to get in.



Because there were so many people, it meant a very crowded room while we were dancing.



Donna took some of these pictures, which meant she captured me while I was dancing.



The line dancing class starts at Beginner level and works up to Intermediate level. Each week we are learning more and more, so we are able to stay and dance longer. Donna is a former professional dancer, so she is incredibly fast at learning and she is an awesome dancer. I move along at a much slower pace across the board, but still manage to have a lot of fun.



After we hit the level where we needed to stop we made sure to take some pictures of the recreation center we were in. We both managed to take some, so I have a mix of pictures from my phone camera and ones Donna shared with me. I will try to take more pictures of the recreation centers, because they are all incredible. There are 63 recreation centers in The Villages. Each one is decorated in a specific theme. Colony Cottage is a regional center and is gorgeous. The details in each of the centers is truly exceptional and I love just wandering around and looking at each one.



This one is so pretty and relaxing. It really does feel like a beautiful cottage.




I'll try to write about the rest of our day tomorrow, because we have an early for me day in the morning so I need to head to bed!

Living the life in The Villages!