SpicyGoliath

Bear Creek Spire

Andre — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:33:07 +0000

I made a quick / long jaunt out to the Sierras last weekend ending up pretty close to where I was camping earlier this year. The goal this time was quite different though, I was going to scale the mighty granite of Bear Creek Spire. My climbing partner for this particular adventure was a crazy Frenchman by the name of Olivier. He climbs a lot and are pretty good at it. He also climbs trad, and trad only. That means that he smirks at sight of a bolt and prefers to place his own pro(tection) while climbing some of the more remote mountains in this part of the world. Saturday night we slept under the stars at the Mosquito Flat TH at Rock Creek Lake. Sunday started at 4:30 am, followed by 2 hours of hiking in the dark. We covered 5 miles (including 2 miles of cross country talus boulder hopping) before we stood at the base of the Spire. Our chosen route was the North Arete which starts on a snow covered ledge below the towering granite walls. From there we climbed 6 cold pitches on the shady North Side of BCS with numb fingers from the freezing rock (I couldn’t feel my hands at all and had to double check to see if they were actually clasping down on the granite). Conditions improved and I got to lead my first two trad pitches (whoo-hoo) before we finished the 2nd half of the Arete by simul-climbing to the summit block. The weather was perfect and the views were stunning. Unfortunately we had to end the day by slogging back for 5 miles and then driving another 7 hours to San Francisco. It was well worth the effort.

Even Good Things Must Change

Andre — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:41:51 +0000

It has been 2 ½ years since I departed on my RV trip and what a time I’ve had!

There is nothing quite like being in the mountains, immersed in a view that money can’t buy, without noisy neighbors or traffic, countless outdoor adventures right on your doorstep, all the comforts of home and doing all of this full time all of the time. But alas, I thrive on change and even this incredible lifestyle has its limits.

While changing I might just as well do it properly so I decided to go and live in San Francisco.

From Cape Lookout, Mareli and I travelled to Portland where she did some last minute shopping before flying back to South Africa. I left Oregon the following day heading south on I5. Another busted trailer tire at Shasta and another night of sleeping at the side of the freeway before arriving in San Francisco. The last month has been busy, with lots of decisions to be made and even more admin to take care of. Which neighborhood to live in? Apartment search, RV storage, truck parking, internet setup, establishing a social base. On and on and on.

I am glad to say that things are slowly stabilizing. I now have a roommate in a great apartment in the Mission District with gorgeous views of the city and the Bay Bridge. Dolores Park is right next door with tons of great restaurants and bars within walking distance and downtown San Francisco is less than 10 minutes on the BART. I’ve joined the local climbing gym (also walking distance). I am getting to know some people around town and I’ve been sampling the local cuisine, nightlife and music.

Who knows what the future holds, but so far, so good.

Flagstone and those crazy Hummingbirds

Andre — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:18:48 +0000

While celebrating our successful arrival at Flagstone almost two weeks ago we took bets on how many vehicles will be driving by the rv (parked on the edgy shoulder of a forest road) Mareli’s 3 cars a day made my 3 a week seem very conservative but as it turned out none came by during the first week of our forest sojourn. A beautiful spot indeed, with the satellite internet just barely lining up over the trees and enough sunshine for the solar panels to keep things running. We managed to fill our water tanks from the snow melt stream and enjoyed a daily climbing session in very pleasant weather.

Flagstone rock itself is a short half mile walk down the road and one wouldn’t know it is there except for the narrow path cutting into dense foliage at the side of the road. The path zigzags up between huge bearded pines and one feels like Indiana Jones by the time the moss covered rock opens up in front of you. After Smith Rock we found it interesting to adjust to the Flagstone friction slab climbing. Most of the routes are pretty long, requiring either a walk off or a two rope rappel. Luckily I have a canyoneering rope that we could use for this purpose but we also ended up doing several multi pitch routes.

During our first day on the rock we were buzzed by several hummingbirds which seemed attracted to the red webbing we use for anchors. They just flew straight at us hovering inches away from our harnesses. A quick search on the internet confirmed their affinity for all things red and I rigged a feeder with the red webbing. We hung it from the RV awning and filled it with nectar (¼ cup sugar per cup of warm water). It didn’t take long for our friends to start visiting and by the second day they were literally sucking our feeder dry.

We stayed a full 10 days before attempting the treacherous retreat from Forest Road 2618. The 1 mile backup maneuver went smoothly and we didn’t add to our tally of 2 punctured tires (on the way in). The helpful auto shop down the road filled our two half deflated tires and we were on our way to the coast where we are now relaxing at Cape Lookout. This morning we hiked the 5 mile Cape Lookout trail in beautiful misty conditions and tomorrow we are heading for Portland.

Napa To Oregon

Andre — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:28:48 +0000

Now in Terrebonne Oregon, Mareli and I plan to do a lot of climbing at Smith Rock over the next couple of weeks. It is amazing how much snow is still on the cascade volcanoes compared to the even higher mountains just South in California. Oregon had a big winter season as is evident in the strong flow of the Rogue River which is fed from the snow on Mount Mazama (Crater Lake). While staying at the beautiful Natural Bridge Campground we enjoyed short excursions to Crater Lake and the Natural Bridge in the Rogue right next to our camp site.

Family Reunion

Andre — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:26:40 +0000

My sister Mareli has been traveling through South America for the last 6 months. I met her and my parents - traveling from South Africa – in Los Angeles and brought them back to my campsite at the Owens Gorge. A family reunion in the Owens Valley! The last 10 days have been very busy. We started with a trip to Pine Creek Canyon. Without knowing much about the area I misjudged the distance to Pine Lake and a leisurely half hour stroll turned into a 5 hour adventure. My mom did great and if we didn’t run into a huge snow bank covering the trail at 10000 ft we would’ve made the lake. The next day saw us scrambling down into the Gorge fighting through very dense underbrush trying to avoid the poison oak. We were following Doug’s gps coordinates to a hidden spot on the Owens River. The fishing turned out spectacular with both my dad and I catching trout with almost every cast. Thanks Doug. Our stay in the Bishop area ended with a drive up the 4wd road in silver canyon to the top of the White Mountains to see the beautiful Bristlecone Pines. Some of these trees are more than 4000 years old and the wood is so resilient that it can last for more than 10000 years. The following day Mareli and I went climbing on some of the easier routes in the gorge. I was a bit sad to leave my camp spot in the Owens Valley and my home for the last 6 weeks. We spent one night in June Lake and then on to Lake Tahoe where we wrestled our way into the Emerald Bay State Park. This State Park has a maximum RV length of 21 ft but the guy at the gate didn’t know that and waved us through. There was no turning around and wide-eyed parents were frantically gathering their screaming kids as we terrorized the RV park with our 32 ft ‘monster’ RV. Luckily we found the only site big enough for the RV but we had to use a separate site to house the truck. The next day we dropped my dad at Sacramento’s airport and now we are staying at the Napa Valley Expo RV Park. My mom and sister are thoroughly enjoying the shopping and the local cuisine is fantastic.

Two Years and Two Months

Andre — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:56:19 +0000

Two Years and Two Months…. and still on the road. I have started my 3rd loop around the Western US this time slowly moving North through California before heading to Oregon and possibly Washington. Planning is futile and I prefer to keep it that way.

Life in the RV has been fantastic. I love the independence and the flexibility it affords and the change of pace have been terrific. Considering my beautiful surroundings, it is ironic how little I get outside. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise; after all I have been working much harder than ever before. It is what happens when you do your own thing – suddenly the chore of a job is replaced by a challenge, a disaster and a gratifying endeavor. Despite the work I have had some wonderful adventures and I have been to extraordinary places. Whenever I leave a town I ask myself, can I live here? So far the answer has been NO every time!

Life in the RV has its own routine. The RV’s got a knack for generating an endless list of things to fix. If it is not the door lock or the window blind, it will be the water pump or the cabinet hinge. When out boondocking (like I am most of the time), you have to make sure you have enough water and groceries. Going to town become a special event and one that is planned for long in advance. Town Time takes up most of your day… laundry, mail, trash, propane, groceries and then the hunt for water. Surprising how difficult it can be to locate life’s most basic necessity. I have become an expert public spigot spotterer.

Life in the RV makes you intimately aware of how much water and power you use. You quickly realize how little you really need. Using less than 10 gallons of water a day, I am still able to take a nice hot shower, cook and clean to hearts content. I have no generator but my solar panels provide enough juice to run two computers, a 24” monitor, satellite internet and all the RV equipment for at least 12 hours each day. I even use less diesel than before because I don’t need to commute. With today’s environmental issues I consider it imperative to live a low impact lifestyle and to strive for carbon neutrality. It is surprisingly easy to change and to break from unnecessary wasteful habits. While this is partly out of necessity (while living in the RV), I certainly plan to continue this lifestyle after my RV trip.

Regular life is beckoning… I expect to make yet another change fairly soon.

Downslope Wind Event

Andre — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:27:41 +0000

The Owens Valley is notorious for strong winds which are evident in the formation of the ‘Bishop Wave’ that regularly adorn the skies around here. These mountain wave clouds or ‘Foehn waves’ as they are called in other parts of the world are quite often used by sailplane pilots to set long distance speed records. Another wind phenomenon around here is the ‘downslope wind event’ which occurs when strong winds accelerate down the steep Eastern slopes of the Sierra. In general, weather forecasters can only predict that all the ingredients for such an event is in place but not if it is going to happen or not. As such, there have been numerous occasions during my visits to the Owens where a wind event was threatening to develop but just regular storm gusts of about 40 mph would materialize. Last week my luck ran out and a Downslope Wind Event terrorized us with the strongest gusts I have ever experienced inside the RV. During the height of the storm (somewhere around 2 am) it was gusting to over 65 mph. While still well below the sustained wind speed of a Category 1 Hurricane (74-95 mph) it was at the high end of a tropical storm (39-73 mph). I had to take down the satellite dish, secure everything and pull in the slide to minimize our wind profile. Even so, the RV was shaking enough to make most loose items fly of the shelves and to tip over Bambino (the giraffe). Luckily we survived without any damage which makes me much happier to continue camping in the Buttermilks below the big mountains. During April we moved from Lone Pine to Independence to Bishop and kept busy with mountain biking, climbing in the Owens Gorge and backcountry skiing up Mt. Lamarck.

What a View

Andre — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:06:53 +0000

I love the Owens Valley. With a view like this… how can you not? Sitting up in bed with a cup of coffee the view includes Mt. Langley, Mt. Muir, Mt. Whitney, Mt. Russell, Mt Williamson and numerous couloirs drenched in snow. After my terrible camping experience last week in Pismo Beach (read: neighbors with big noisy always-running generators) I look forward to spending the next month in the Owens and getting outside in this outdoor playground.

Overnight on Villager Peak

Andre — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:05:58 +0000

Villager peak is much higher and tougher than it looks from below. Starting at 1:30 pm we did not have enough time to reach the peak before sunset and it took 30 minutes of cactus-avoiding-scrambling in the dark to locate a flat spot. With no tent we didn’t waste any time jumping in our down bags consuming leftover chicken and sipping tea under marvelous starry skies. Around 9pm the air went from dead quiet to a ferocious wind storm in the blink of the eye. The rest of the sleepless night was spent sinking deeper and deeper into our sleeping bags trying to keep the blasts of cold air at bay. The hike down started early the next morning with the dreadful wind trying to push us off the narrow ridge. Beautiful views of the Salton Sea on one side and Clark Dry Lake to the other kept us grinding away at the 14 mile roundtrip. Fun, really!

Snow in the Desert!

Andre — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:07:31 +0000

After a week of camping in the Anza Borrego desert with 80 degree weather, we are finally cooling off with a little snow. The locals say they haven’t seen this much snow in 20 years. All of the surrounding mountains in the area are covered with a blanket of the white stuff. Hopefully the cold won’t affect the much anticipated wildflower blooming season that is supposed to start in the next couple of weeks. We’ve done a few short excursions in quest of sundowner locations including a mountain bike ride down Rockhouse Canyon and a hike up Alcoholic Pass. I have even gotten to take out the ass fan for a few short flights. Our next adventures include hiking up Indianhead and doing a backpack up to Villager Peak to watch the Lunar Eclipse next Wednesday night….as long as it doesn’t snow!