O Brothers Where Art Thou

As advertised, this weekend I went backpacking with a friend of mine and two of his friends out to the Olympic Peninsula in hopes of summitting The Brothers, a set of peaks about 6,800 feet high, and very visible from Seattle on a clear day. We ended up losing our bearings, though, and probably never made it halfway to the summit.

We got off to an early start on Saturday morning, leaving the city around 7:00 am and getting on the trail by 11:15 am. Since I wasn't leading this trip, and had very little experience with winter mountaineering, I was basically laying low and doing exactly as I was told. I didn't so much as have a sense of what route we were planning to take, and that ended up costing us (a little) in the end.

The Lena Lake trail began on the outskirts of the Olympic National Park at around 680 feet of elevation. This meant we were hoping to cover more than 6,000 vertical feet up and down in two days -- probably unmanagemeable given that we were not in ideal shape and we were carrying 40 lb. packs on our backs. Even so, our goal was to camp out Saturday night at around 3,000 feet, and then break camp in the morning with only the bare necessities for a summit run. Unforuntately, though, we never quite made it to where we intended to camp, instead falling about 1/10 of a mile short. We ate freeze dried food and sake for dinner, and hit the hay rather early (about 7:00 pm) in hopes for an early departure the next morning. Sunday morning, we promptly headed in the wrong direction when we set out on Sunday morning (in other words, back toward the car). By the time we realized our mistake, any chances at a summit were gone, as we had descended about 800 vertical feet in a mile and a half. I felt a little bit bad because I was carrying a GPS and marking waypoints along the way, and if I had coordinated with the guy holding the map we probably could've avoided this mistake. This was all probably a good thing, though, since we were quite tired from the previous day, and the weather conditions were worsening (It turned out the last three hours of our hike back to the car was done in a steady rain. Yuck.)

In order to make the most of our weekend, we did some reconnnaisance work following our error, in order to not make the same mistake next time. I'm not totally sure I'd be up for another attempt at the Brothers, since I can't fully say I feel confident in my balancing with nothing but crampons and an ice axe. The others in the party had far more experience than me. Even so, it was a great workout in a stunningly beautiful setting, and I learned some of my physical limits -- always an important thing when you do the kinds of things I do.

Here's a link to the pictures that I took. Joe, one of the other members of the party, took these pictures.

Odds and Ends

This is a bike.

It's actually my roommate's, but that doesn't matter so much. It is what I use to commute from work about half the time, and it is a great alternative to running or swimming, two activities that I strongly dislike.

This bike also happens to double as a good ol' fashioned chick magnet. In the relatively short time I've been using it (about 3 months), I've received numerous compliments on it from females. After all, it is such a cool color, isn't it? So this past weekend, I was out riding on a bright and sunny Sunday with my co-worker for a 40-mile ride, and it happened again. It was the weekend of the Seattle Bike Expo, which I've been told is the third biggest of its kind in the country. As we were biking near Husky stadium, toward the Burke-Gilman trail (which leads to the expo), a couple of riders -- one male and one female -- passed us going in the opposite direction. She stopped to ask me something like this: "Do you know how to get to the bike expo...WOW WHAT A NICE BIKE!" When I asked her if she knew where the aforementioned trail was (literally about 200 feet away), she started running of at the tongue: "We're in town from Vancouver, eh, and can't WAIT to get to the bike expo -- what a HOOT!..." And she continued jabbering as I motioned her to follow me toward the trail. Before we got there -- all of about 30 seconds later -- she had managed to make it known to me that the guy that was with her was her "friend" and they were staying in the U-District and...then we went our opposite ways. Those friendly Canadians! David asked her if I got her number, and I swear I got everything BUT that, without so much as saying a word (other than to ask if she knew where the trail was). Oh, and the bike rides really nicely as well.

This upcoming weekend I'm going on a new type of adventure with my friend John. We're going to be summiting The Brothers, a substantial mountain of about 6,800 feet on the Olympic Peninsula. Here's a view of the peaks from Seattle:

I'm definitely going to be making some good use of my new snowshoes, and am counting on some friends for the rest of the equipment that I don't own (ice axe, crampons). I'm trusting John when he says this will be a "non-technical" climb (read: no ropes needed, no falling large distances, etc.). I'm expecting it to be a real hoot!

One Busy Weekend!

This past weekend (and the week leading up to it), I finally got back to doing the sorts of fun stuff I've been accustomed to, rather than worrying about things like mold. It also marked the countdown to Tracy's departure to Montana for four weeks for a rotation in Great Falls, so we had to do something, right?

It began on Wednesday night. One of my Christmas gifts to Tracy this year were a pair of tickets to Teatro Zinzanni, a cabaret-style dinner show that showcases some of the most amazing acts I've ever seen. I went with my mom about 3 years ago, and we loved it so much I had no qualms going back. However, when we got seated literally right in the middle of the action, I immediately became worried that I might become a target for the actors, since audience participation is built into the show.

Sure enough, I got picked to go up on stage and become the target of Madame Zinzanni's advances. After getting decked out in a smoking jacket and matching hat, I was asked to mix some martinis while she "slipped into something a little more comfortable." For what seemed like an hour (it was probably only a minute), I was on stage all alone mixing up god-knows-what -- something from a rum bottle, gummy worms, twizzlers, and fruit loops. Then, after declaring a toast, we actually drank the stuff (it was harmless, of course)! All the while, I was considering faking like I got a call on my cell phone, just to lighten the mood a bit, but to be quite honest, I was terrified. So no spontaneous jokes.

The act went on according to plan, and in the end I got a Polaroid taken with her so I could hold on to this strange memory forever. It was once again a wonderful show, and I couldn't recognize any repeat scenes from my previous viewing. Definitely worth every penny of it (and did I mention the wonderful food?).

After dinner with Tracy's family on Thursday night, we went our separate ways -- I, to Oregon with my EPA friends for a ski trip, and Tracy to eastern Washington and eventually Montana. The ski trip was quite fun -- 17 people staying in a huge rental house in Sun River, OR, right near Mt. Bachelor ski area. I actually only skied on Saturday, but, aside from a lack of new snow, the conditions were perfect. Mt. Bachelor is one of those classic cone-shaped volcanoes with lots of wide boulevard trails, perfect for going fast on the light powder. The weather was flawless, probably 35 or 40 degrees with big views as far south as California, as well as to the nearby volcanic peaks in Oregon. It was a 6-hour drive each way, but it was well worth it. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but if any of my friends post theirs, I'll throw a link to them here.

California Dreamin'

So I escaped Seattle just in time to miss the biggest storm of the season (one which damaged my boat), and headed for much sunnier California for Tracy's conference there, and also to see a part of the state I wasn't familar with (the Monterey Peninsula).

Because of Tracy's schedule, the trip was somewhat fragmented. I got in late Thursday night, and had Friday morning to myself, where I took advantage of the wonderful aquarium they have there. I was particularly impressed by their huge fish tank which housed tunas and hammerhead sharks. After attending Tracy's very impressive presentation, we walked around quaint Carmel a little bit before heading back to the hotel to find a dinner spot. Nothing fancy, just some classic Italian fare in Monterey. After a dip in the hot tub, we chose to lay low that night and stayed in to watch, of all things, CourtTV. Why is it that 90% of all police shows on TV focus on incidents in California?

On Saturday morning we drove south on Highway 1 to the Big Sur coast, the part of the Pacific Coast Highway that seems to get all the press (including a highly publicized murder that we learned about the night before!) The day got off to a gray and drizzly start, but eventually the sun came out and illuminated some wonderful scenery -- steep cliffs, turquoise water, curvy roads, etc. We didn't really have time to do any hiking or geocaching, since my friend Umesh and his girlfriend, Kate, were scheduled to meet us back in Monterey that afternoon.

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow as well, with one exception. Kate decided that we should crash Tracy's awards dinner, even though we technically hadn't purchased tickets to the event. Making things even more uncomfortable, we were dressed very casually (jeans, tshirts), whereas most people were very dressed up. It all worked out in the end, though, as we got a good (free) meal and made some new friends at the table we were at. Apparently there are a lot of people that treat such events as a joke, so we weren't totally out of place!

On our way back to Seattle, we stopped by at Umesh's apartment in Berkeley to watch the first half of the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the San Jose airport, the game was over and the Seahawks had lost. I was even rooting for them this time!

For all the pictures from the weekend, click here.