restraint

steve enjoying the view and a moment's rest near mt. habrich, squamish. black tusk is barely seen in the distance on the left, mt. garibaldi on the right.

this is for those who read my entries and worry. yesterday, steve and i were turned back from our objective, unsuccessful for lack of time. and even still, we ended up hiking six kilometres in the dark, saved from spending the night unprepared in the wilderness only by the headlamp that i was glad to have packed (just in case). so there. now of course that's not the whole story, but at least you know that i'm able to sacrifice my pride and turn back, which will undoubtdedly become increasingly important, but hopefully increasingly less frequent. thanks for the adventures steve.

slide

jordan knows. joyce knows. steve and i know. and the tourist onlookers a hundred feet above knew by watching us. dang, the lynn canyon waterfall is some seriously insane fun. you begin by shooting a chute, some thirty feet long with two banking corners. then, in the middle of the second corner, you're hurled off the waterfall, plummetting thirty five feet into the frigid water below. i'm trying to get set up with a gallery so i can post random adventure videos; i'll see what i can do. and oh yeah, steve wears short shorts.

black tusk coming at ya tomorrow.

business

now that's what i call business. my friend antonio is starting up a consulting business, for which i will be a certified fitness consultant and certified personal trainer, after i receive my certifications at the end of the month. his website will be up when completed in a couple months and it is sure to be impressive; this shot is an unprocessed image that will be photoshopped and added to my bio as one of his employees. what do you think? i think i'd hire me.

today was: friends and food at church, jordan and i observing seals at secret beach while attempting to avoid other strange beasts next door, sushi feast initiation followed by beverages at nevermind, and was topped off by being chased from dunbar street beach by cops for having a fire. dang, and with the wood being wet it took a lot of effort to get started. regardless, all in all a successfull day.

outside

exposed, august 30, 2005. mark ascending mount smuts. kananaskis, alberta.

adrenaline. some people love it, others fear it; i do both. when you are eight thousand feet up a mountain and can see the entire way to the valley floor straight below, when you are trusting in the solidity of the rock onto which you are holding and trusting in your ability to create enough friction in order to hold yourself there, adrenaline is present in your bloodstream in relative abundance. keeping it from interfering with cognition or with the execution of a task at hand is both a natural and learned skill, but one entirely imperative to bring along to a mountain. mountains challenge one to a test of physical skill, but often impose a serious test of mental strength as well. a mountain can dissolve the mind and thereby destroy the body even without presenting a serious test of physical skill. one thing to leave behind when approaching a mountain is pride; continuing on beyond one's limits of ability and safety can easily spell disaster.

there is always some element of risk when entering the outdoors, and if you venture near mountains you do so on their terms. but it is also entirely possible to fully enjoy the experience of wilderness without adrenaline. in either case, getting out is therapy. we don't need to relax more, we need the purgative and restorative effects of escaping our sterilized confinements. being out there, we are exposed to what we are missing, what we are wasting, what we are destroying. get out there. see it before it's gone. see it and know we can't contribute to its departure. we'll miss it when it's gone. staying inside is the real disaster.