Travels with Greg

Bluehouse contest!

2010-12-01T11:55:00.005-07:00

Shhhh it's a secret

2009-07-15T23:44:00.003-06:00

Echo Cave

2009-07-15T23:41:00.002-06:00

Me stretched on the 12c
The tub 'o lard, Brett Cakes red pointing the 13c second go.
Kubie snacks on the 13c/d?

The vegan coach making the stretch look less like a stretch.

Pig whistling

2009-06-01T22:56:00.004-06:00

This weekend I went up to Boise for some work and ended up spotting the Taliban.

Oh, wait no, that's just myself, my cuz Brock and our friend the Jew. Good times were had by all.

On current politics

2008-09-17T17:53:00.000-06:00

Alaska

2008-09-14T15:36:00.011-06:00

About 2 months ago I got the fantastic opportunity to take a trip to Alaska to do some commercial Halibut fishing with my friend Erik

I met Erik, his wife Cinead and nephew Jeremy in Anchorage after both of our flights to Kodiak were canceled due to weather. We spent a quick (4 hour) night at his mother's house where we left for the airport at 4am the next day. They promptly made their way to the Alaska air desk where they were shuffled off to their respective gates and I made my way to the Era desk where I would slowly find myself spending the rest of the 16 hour day. At hour 16, Erik's sister Jenny graciously picked me up at the airport to allow me to sleep in one of their beds instead of an airport bench.

After a repeat short night and early ride back to ADQ, I made it on the first flight to Kodiak.

Upon arriving to the Kodiak airport I was greeted by Erik and Cinead where we drove to the docks to ready the boat for departure. Upon arriving at the Mythos I met Dave, Erik's dad and owner of the boat.

As we readied the boat, it became astonishing to me the similarities between, "farming the sea" and "farming the land." Gaff's or metal hooks are needed to move the harvest to appropriate locations, numerous hands are needed to run the machinery, close relationships with buyers of the crop are needed and most memorably, repeated trips to the hardware store were necessary to prepare the equipment for the main event, the harvest.

After all of the preparations were complete we set off in the late afternoon. As we left the harbor, Erik and I baited the hundreds of hooks with salted herring. The baiting lasted less than 30minutes for me as I soon became sicker than I can ever remember in my life. The sickness came on slowly, but as I tried to tough it out the nausea just kept on coming. Before I knew it I was chumming the fish over the side of the boat and laying on the deck that had herring guts spread across it. At the time I had no choice but to lay down because I was too dizzy to walk anywhere. Eventually I crawled into the cabin where I fell asleep in my bunk.

The next day brought a solid stomach after a 12 hour snooze. I quickly got into the swing of things, trying to help as much as possible, but more of staying out of the way while the seasoned crew (see Erik, Cinead and Dave) busily secured outgoing lines and organized the boat for catch soon to come.

After letting the lines "soak" for a tide cycle, they were retrieved and the action began. The "leader" line was put into a large hydraulic reel where the line with hooks, and hopefully fish, quickly followed. As the fish came up they were gaffed by Dave and gutted by Cinead and Erik. The process of baiting, letting the lines soak and pulling in the catch continued for the next 3 days.

While waiting for the lines to soak we were able to go ashore and have a look at beaches that rarely see people. While "beach combing" we found the trash from commercial fishing over the past decades, numerous small game, whale baleen, vertebrae, ribs and skulls and Kodiak Bears that roam freely on the beach and have their own trails in the hills.

When the limit of 10,000 lbs of halibut was caught on the 4th day at sea we headed back to the Kodiak harbor to catch my flight. We left the fishing grounds at 8pm on Thursday night and made it to the harbor by 7am where I hopped on my plane at 8 to fly out on jam packed flights without a shower in over a week. Perfect!

Incoming!

The gutting table

A deer?

A beach find

More photos can be found on my picasa site.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

2008-06-27T23:03:00.006-06:00

I heard Jennifer Lee on public radio talking about her new book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which delves deep into one of the most American foods of them all, Chinese food. In the interview she debunks many of the myths that currently surround the cuisine, including fortune cookies and general's chicken, among other things. Give it a listen or pick up the book, they're quite entertaining.

-I'm really not smart enough to load an MP3 on this thing, so you'll have to click on the public radio link

I'm a nerd

2008-06-21T22:36:00.008-06:00

I'm soo glad I bought shares at $26, thanks Jerry.

Have a look at the new pre-popualted resignation letter.

Thanks techcrunch.

My new love

2008-06-03T14:09:00.005-06:00

Last night I accidentally stumbled upon a new steepandcheap style web site from Backcountry.com called chainlove. It features...take a wild guess... cycling gear!

I'm guessing chainlove has been added to the backcountry family because of their recent addition of bike gear to the main website. Strong work guys. We now have SAC, Whiskey and Chainlove to keep us refreshing the browser throughout the day.

Edit: The comical yet stern warning at the end of the mission page.

Abusers Beware:

Those who come falsely to Chainlove seeking monetary gain, take heed: our agents are many and our reach is long.

You can buy up to three (3) of any one product.
No resale. Anywhere.

Abuse will result in swift punishment of a most merciless nature.

New York

2008-04-10T21:12:00.003-06:00

After another painful session of work at the corporate headquarters of Synthes in Paoli, PA, I was able to spend a weekend in New York. A short train ride from Paoli delivered me to Penn Station right in Manhatten. Eventually I made my way to my long lost (long meaning 10+ years of not seeing each other) cousin's work at the Time Life building in Midtown. She then proceeded to give me a first class tour of The City throughout the weekend.

The highlights of the weekend were, in no particular order. Eating at a Japanese restaurant where I had heard of less than half of the items, eating at a (Shanghai) Chinese restaurant where I hadn't heard of anything she ordered off of the menu, running around the central park loop, getting to know my cousin and eating at other various restaurants that blow the salt out of Salt Lake.

The Japanese restaurant mentioned above. Have a look at the background and the 6th item down.

A little taste of living in New York.

My first and closest sighting of our national landmark.

Flame on

2008-03-12T23:28:00.004-06:00

Have you ever wondered how to properly flame someone and/or have the correct comebacks on a forum?

Wonder no more.

See this Flame On

It's ok I'm certified

2008-03-12T23:20:00.002-06:00

When climbing in the out of doors, make sure wear your climbing tag to let everyone know you're safe to climb with.

Sorry Amy I couldn't help myself.

McLovin The Wasatch

2008-03-12T23:12:00.005-06:00

Why do I love living in the Wasatch?
The after work opportunities.

Climb

Gregg on the 5.9 variation of the hardest 5.7 on earth.

The obligatory self portrait.

Or Ski

Nothing like a bluebird pow day.

The tall man dance

2008-03-03T15:29:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago I was unable to go one what has now become a monthly event for me, the pilgrimage to the St. George area. This time I really missed out, as is evident from this video.

NPR

2008-02-26T22:30:00.003-07:00

My new job has created a lot of driving for me, so to accompany 90k miles on my '03 car I spend a lot of time listening to the radio. The corporate radio stations of 'alternative' 'rock' and 'classic rock' have given way to easier listening and less advertisements of NPR and the BBC.

Recently on NPR I heard a few good shows. One is of a website promoting memoirs of 6 words, what they refer to as the perfect number of words. After listening to a few, I was throughly intrigued especially after hearing Hemingway's, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" and "Had my cake and ate it." Check this site out Six Words.

Mine? I can't stop loving the outdoors

I also got a kick out of this, White People. And I'm not even white!

Last one, from, This American Life. It's quite hilarious.

MY WEBSITE

2008-02-25T21:55:00.004-07:00

Thanks to some inspiration from Jazzy, I bought a domain and now I am apparently a nerd. I surprised myself by pointing this blog to that site AND got something half assed on there. Hopefully though I'll have something on there I can be proud of, but for now this will have to do. Me in all of my glory.

The voyage of a dollar

2008-02-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

Great paper by James Fallows

The $1.4 question

Kinda long, but check out the Voyage of a Dollar section

Ice is nice

2008-02-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

Yep that is the most generic title out there, but I'm going to use it anyway. I got up this morning and met my friend Brad at 6am! Getting the ole half assed A start got us to Provo canyon by 7:00 where we set off. Did Bridal Veil Right and TR'ed a ~M6 to the climbers left of the flow. Good times with fat ice.

The CEO

2008-01-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

New years at Red Rocks!

2008-01-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

For new years this year a few of my friends and I got the opportunity to go down to Red Rocks in Las Vegas, NV. This time was especially great because we were able to stay at my Uncle Bill and Aunt Pearl's condo (read. clean and warm vs cold windy and dirty).

We had a blast climbing everyday at crags all over the park. We made it to the Sunny and Steep, The Gallery, Wall of Confusion, Panty Wall and even a single pitch trad wall! It was a great trip spent with wonderful company.

Oh and in the famous city where the strip is closed and people are reputably hanging from traffic lights, our crew was all sleeping by 10pm...Whats that all about?

Our fearless leader.
The flying Frenchman.
Brrrr it was cold.
Whats going on here?
Our other fearless leader.

St. George

2007-11-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

I recently got the opportunity to some time in St. George. It was everything I've been dreaming about for the last few months. Great sandstone climbing, sleeping under the stars in the desert and spending time with good friends around the campfire. Sick! It'll keep me going for at least two more weeks.

...and back for more in Paoli

2007-10-29T21:26:00.001-06:00

It's now Monday night and I just made it back from a 1200 mile trip this weekend. What I thought was going to be a jaunt to the Schwanananagunks, turned into a sport climbing trip to a little known crag called Shag. It's somewhere between Timbuktu and Neverneverland, in the heart of the great state of Maine. Although, in this little place between Timbuktu and Neverneverland is a beautiful crag with some great overhanging granite/shist.

It was awesome there, big overhanging jugs with a few bouldery moves in between. Sick!! The only downfall was that it was 10 hours away from my home away from home...the Staybridge Suites.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and I got to visit some awesome climbers I haven't seen for quite a while and saw the fall foliage in New England all in one trip!

Paoli

2007-10-25T22:17:00.000-06:00

After stumbling upon a random Salt Lake blog this evening I was inspired to throw down an update on this thing.

I'm writing from a Staybridge Suites in Malvern, PA. Where is Malvern you ask? You really don't want to know. Not much is here except for a bunch of hi-tech company's including mine. Not really hi-tech, but kinda, bio-mechanical I guess. I'm now into my 5th day and second trip out to the Keystone state (yes, I had to google that little tid-bit) and it's much more tolerable this time. I brought my bike and now am able to ride to the climbing gym which is only 1o miles away. So after sitting/sleeping in class for 8 to 10 hours I'm now able to regain some of my sanity on the egg beater and by slapping some plastic.

Did I mention sleeping?? Ya the trainers here hate me since I have a tendency to sleep through their lectures. They aren't necessarily bad lectures, they just aren't informing me anything new. Plus even in undergrad when I did go to class, the classes consisted of tons of people, so if I did decide to inspect the backs of my eyelids, no one would be the wiser. Here though, I'm assigned to the front row where I get glared at every time I nearly fall out of the chair because I'm in REM. Oh well, the weekend is almost here and that'll be the half way mark.

Until Monday...

Uintas

2007-08-29T00:35:00.000-06:00

Went up to the Uintas this weekend. That place is awesome! It can be 100 degrees down here in Salt Lake and you will need a down coat up there. Gregg, Anne, and I had a great time at the Wall of Tiers and Ruth Lake.

Bilbao

2007-08-06T06:08:00.001-06:00

Barcelona

2007-08-06T05:59:00.000-06:00

San Sebastian

2007-08-06T05:47:00.000-06:00

A short 6 hour layover in Marseilles allowed me to sample the local cuisine as shown below, and as 11pm rolled around I boarded a night train to Biarritz for a mere 3 euors.

Dinner in Marselles

2007-07-30T05:09:00.001-06:00

In Ceuse I was told by Frenchie, who also booked me to San Sebastian, to eat Boullabaise in Marselles. Here it is! The beginning and the finished pruduct.

Ceuse

2007-07-30T05:05:00.000-06:00

When I set off on my journey I intended to climb in the famous Verdon Gorge, but as I explained my plans to other climbers, they told me I would bake in the heat of the south of France and I should go to Ceuse which is higher and further north.

So off I went. After traveling 11 hours by train and hitching, I arrived in Sigoyer. It was easy to meet climbers there as everyone in the campsite was there to climb. Languages from all over the world were heard at the Les Geurins campground, although English was the common language.

The routine at Ceuse was just the opposite of Chamonix. At Ceuse we would wake up at 10 or 11, find some breakfast, slackline and just chill until about 2 when the sun would creep around the backside of the massif. Around this time most of the climbers would begin the hour long slog up the hill to the crag.

After a good rest at the base of the crag everyone would make their way to their respective warm-ups. For me 6a or 6b, for others 7a-7b. While I was there I could usually finish my day around an hour before the sun went down and watch Dave Gram, Chris Sharma, David Llama and various other 9a climbers working their projects. It was quite an experience to watch these guys work their 8c+ projects as I worked mine 2 full grades lower.

It was hard to leave the way of life in Ceuse, so relaxed and laid back, but I figured that I was on a tour of Europe, not just the Ceuse massif. After asking the locals where other great places to visit would be it was settled that I should go to Biarritz.

Chamonix

2007-07-30T04:45:00.000-06:00

Sunset from the balcony of my gite.

Le Brevent in the background.

After all the relaxation I could take, it was time for some adventure. I arrived in the beautiful mountain town of Chamonix to be greeted by the sight of many other climbers carrying also around big packs, only theirs contained ice axes and crampons. After spending a day walking around the city and climbing at a small spot crag, I made my way to a small town up the canyon called Argentiere.

Argentiere was great! It was away from commercialization of mountaineering in Chamonix, yet still formed a temporary home to many English climbers. While there I found a very nice Gite called Le Belvedere. At only 13 euros a night it allowed a roof over my head to stay dry from the downpour that the valley received nearly every afternoon.

For three days the schedule in Chamonix was pretty similar: wake up at 7 to ride the first bus to Chamonix, catch the teleferique (tram) to the the mid-station of the mountain, hike for 2 or 3 hours, then as quickly as possible, do a route as quickly as possible while watching the storm clouds approach. Luckily we were never caught on a route, only on the descents. After 3 days of this style of climbing it was time for a rest/travel day.

At the Aiguille du Midi station
The famous Mont Blanc
The summit pic!

Annecy

2007-07-21T05:04:00.000-06:00

The next stop on the trip was Annecy. According to Katie Schabel, this stop was a must. The city was well worth the time not spent at a climbing location. This picturesque city was wonderful and the crystal clear lake lent itself to some great afternoon swims as well as some great views along the beaches.

Font

2007-07-14T04:55:00.000-06:00

My "tent" at the campground in Samoreau. It was a great, cheap place with lots of climbers. The first day I was there I met some extremely nice people from the Czek republic. A fisherman gave us our dinner that night.

The sic bouldering in Font. It was amazing! Tons of boulders in a forest with white sand all around. Truely a destination for climbers.
The nightlife.

Dinner.

2007-07-04T09:22:00.000-06:00

Faggots for dinner anyone??

What about a little Spotted dick for dessert?

Golf, ever heard of it?

2007-07-04T08:56:00.000-06:00

Two days ago we arrived in Edinburgh. It's a great city, very old and compact. You can walk almost anywhere in the city in about 10 minutes. It has great character, there are bagpipers everwhere along with dude's wearing skirts all over the place. Some of them even wear the plaid material as pants with suit tops. It looks quite rediculous.

Today we took a trip up to St. Andrews, one of the golfing Mecca's of the world. The green fee's to play on the old course are £125 or over $250! It was cool to see and here's a picture of me hitting a few balls there.

Cheers from the UK

2007-07-01T09:39:00.000-06:00

We (Mi Familia y Yo) got into England on Wednesday the 27th. We spent the next 2 days exploring the city(Big Ben) and went to Wimbledon. We 'queued' there for 3 hours, in the rain, just to get in the gates. But it was well worth the wait just to see the grounds of Wimbledon, it was immaculately kept and equally as beautiful.

On Saturday we left for York, stopping in Cambridge along the way...there was some old school colleges there.

Climbing partner Gregg, this last one is for you.

Squamish

2007-05-28T14:05:00.000-06:00

For a while now Liz and I have been planning our big summer trip, this year we decided on Squamish. The scenery and weather were just perfect. We left Tuesday around 11am and started the 16 hour drive. We made it within 30 min of the border where we car camped it on the Peugot sound. The next 2 days we climbed on the Apron, or the Chiefette as we're been calling it. Friday we took the bikes out to Naniamo, on Vancouver Island. Saturday we went sport climbing in Cheakamus canyon and went swimming in Alice Lake. We left the Squamish area that night and stayed in a hotel outside of Vancouver. Sunday we left at 7 and had a nearly uneventful trip back until Liz commented, "Man, it sure is windy out there." And one of the corners of the roof rack blew off. We pulled over quickly and battened down the hatches to make it back to SLC by 1am.

Climbing Maple

2007-05-25T16:32:00.000-06:00

For the month of May we went down to Maple to climb, 3 weeks in a row! Gregg, Liz, and Dave went down and we met Anne and Mike while we were there. Anne and Mike also led us the the Morrell mushrooms, we brought 'em home and made some good ole Morrell Alfredo sauce. mmmm

2007-05-17T12:44:00.000-06:00

My Calender for the first weeks in Europe.

Graduation

2007-05-01T00:43:00.000-06:00

So I took my last final of undergrad at 6pm today!! Woo hoo!! Celebrated by going climbing with my ole buddy Oz at the Pile. We climbed till dark, just like back in the day. Now about that beer...

My Birthday

2007-04-21T13:56:00.000-06:00

For my birthday Liz surprised me with a trip down to Zoin. It was beautiful down there! Unfortunately we both had finals coming up and it rained, so we didn't do any climbing, but we did hike angels landing and still had a wonderful time.

Pictures from everywhere.

2007-03-24T23:09:00.000-06:00