SCS Youth National Championships

USA Climbing's 2008 SCS Youth National Championships were held at Planet Granite in Sunnyvale. Seeing as The North Face is a big sponsor, we set up a booth and gave out free water bottles and snacks to the kids. It was fun to meet the kids and their parents from all across the country.

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Eagle Peak & Aquarian Valley

Having just finished up graduate business school at Stanford, Dave had free time on his hands. I happened to have the day off work. So we decided to to traipse around skyline and look for rocks to play on.

4th Of July Adventure!

Eight of us and gear loaded up in two trusty Hondas to head up to Big Basin State Park for a weekend backpacking adventure. Only one Honda made it to the top of Highway 9. Four of us spied a large group of more than 30 kids and a few adults starting down the skyline to the sea trail. We contemplated whether we would beat them to Big Basin or not as we headed back to rescue the other Honda, broken down just two turns shy of the summit, pulled off the main road on a private driveway. A private driveway that happened to belong to a very friendly and generous middle-eastern man in the most luxurious and extravagant Mercedes-Benz I have have ever seen. Part of me wanted to accept his offer for help just to have the chance to ride in his leather seated, exotic wood dash, V8 kompressor, big burgundy Benz! But alas we decided to limp the sick Honda back down the hill to Saratoga. Several hours later, after shuttling a replacement Honda from Palo Alto, we all made it to Big Basin. Soon after starting down the trail we passed the kids we saw earlier, already returning from Berry Creek Falls.


cool down after 11 miles


hotties with camp towels

Bouldering At Castle Rock State Park

My buddy Ian was in town for his sister's wedding but we managed to get some bouldering in at Castle Rock State Park.

Ten Reasons Why My Birthday Was Great

I took the day off work. I slept in. I finished a book. I ate out for breakfast. I went for a scenic drive. I put my toes in the sand at the beach. I picked up a large jellyfish. I had a barbecue dinner with family. I enjoyed dessert with friends. I caught up with an old friend.

9th Place!

Winners of the 2008 Teva Mountain Games photography competition were posted today. First, second and third place were awarded $2500, $1500 and $1000 respectively. I placed 9th out of 64 photographers who submitted entries!


My three-shot portfolio entry was judged on the subject of “Iconic Teva Mountain Games”.

Michelle Pfeiffer

Dragons mouth? No problem man!

That was my order at Mango Caribbean restaurant. A Dragons Mouth smoothie and No Problem Man! soup. The soup was great and the smoothie alright. Sitting out on a sidewalk table on a warm summer night enjoying good food and great company - priceless!

Brooke, Angie and I had ditched movies on the square in Redwood City for food after about ten minutes of Grease. We just weren't getting into it.

As much as I love Olivia Newton-John I had hoped we would be seeing Grease 2 because I had just met Michelle Pfeiffer that day when she came into The North Face shopping with her two kids. At first I thought she looked familiar but then there was no mistaking those eyes and that smile. My co-worker Kevin was helping her out but I was doing everything I could to help her out too. Yeah, I admit, I just wanted an excuse to talk to her.

I may not have seen all or even many of her movies but I've always liked Michelle Pfeiffer. She was very nice and it was cool to see her just being a loving mom shopping for her kids. I tried to treat her the same friendly way I would any other customer but I think she knew I recognized her.

Kevin did not recognize her which made things interesting when he asked for her name to put some shoes on hold. I almost blurted out, "It's Michelle!" but held back and waited for him to get her attention and let her answer. After she left he commented, "She kind of looked like Michelle Pfeiffer."

Windmills

Driving out of the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon just after midnight I came upon a strange and surreal sight...

Nine large windmills, each with three 147ft long blades. With the mounting the diameter comes to 350ft. That's 50ft longer than a football field! The tips of these blades can be cruising at 170mph!

Sunday at The Teva Mountain Games

The view that I was greeted with Sunday morning.


Entry #3 to the photography contest

Saturday at The Teva Mountain Games

Entry #2 to the photography competition


Image #8000: Slopestyle event


Camp Hale Saturday night

Friday at The Teva Mountain Games

Today was sunny and dry. I had mixed feelings about this. I enjoyed being dry and not having to awkwardly grope at my camera controls with numb hands. On the other hand mid-day sun (when most of these events happen) can be terrible lighting, uncomfortable to stand in for long periods of time and tends to cause an awful farmer's tan. Inclement weather at events like these can give opportunity for far more dramatic pictures due to dramatic lighting and dramatic expressions as athletes struggle to perform in cold, wet conditions.


Friday morning breakfast at Ford Park


Image #7000: Sarah Austin of Canada


Entry #1 to the photo contest

Image #6000

Image #6000: Showing off the back of Kimber's lovely wedding dress.

California State Parks Saved!

Several months ago I wrote a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger telling him exactly what I thought of his proposal to close 48 state parks and 16 state beaches as part of his budget plan. I received a response, but it was a lame excuse email from an intern.

Today I received this email from the group whose website I used to send Schwarzenegger my two cents:

Hi Robert,

Thanks to your e-mails and generous contributions, today Gov. Schwarzenegger REMOVED the proposal to close 48 state parks and 16 state beaches from his budget plan.

I'm really relieved, and proud, that we were able to stop this plan -- together.

Once the governor proposed closing 48 state parks we jumped into action. Meeting with staff in the governor's office, working with the media, and working with all of you, we demonstrated strong opposition to the proposal to close the parks.

In one week, more than 31,000 of us e-mailed the governor and asked him to keep the parks open. The good news is that he heard us and for now the parks are safe, but this campaign has taught us that the parks need more protection. For years, funding for the parks has gone down.

While this is not the end of the fight -- we will now need to make sure we have a long term plan for protecting our parks -- it is a huge victory.

So pat yourself on the back and get ready for the next battle. We need to reverse the trend of park funding and ensure that we can protect our parks for future generations.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Sincerely,

Dan Jacobson
Environment California Legislative Director
DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org

It feels good to know that I spoke up on an issue I felt strongly about and contributed to a collective voice that was heard and answered.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Bath Time For Radley

Radley

Image #5000

Llama, llama, llama, llama, llama, LLAMA!!!

Henry Coe State Park

Typical courting scenario of most species:
male shows off mad skills, female not impressed


Dave shows off mad skills with a watermelon eating speed record
disclaimer: no females were harmed (or impressed) in the filming of this event


Rodrigo and Annie in the narrows


Dave, Lemar and California poppies


Annie A.

Sunset Over Anderson Reservoir

Beautiful sunset en route to trailhead = night hiking!

Indoor Skydiving

Emily decided that for her 30th birthday she wanted to try out indoor skydiving at iFly. Jessica and I decided to support and endorse her decision.





Jessica


me


Emily

Night Photography

Image #4000

On The Rocks

After a beautiful drive along Calaveras Road, from both the Milpitas and Sunol ends of the road, and watching a towtruck pull a backwards and vertical Mazda Miata up the embankment, my friend Steven and I found Sunol Regional Park. We hiked a mile through beautiful green wooded hills blooming with all kinds of wildflowers to Indian Joe Caves. The caves were nice and made for some good shade...but that's not why we came here. We were just two guys out to climb on the rocks...and talk about relationships with girls that are on the rocks (and/or nonexistent). The caves are formed by a jumble of large basalt boulders which make for some short but fun 10-40 foot top-rope climbs. The basalt here is of the fine-grained variety, which means smooth, which means something new for someone, such as myself, who is used to climbing on granite and recently sandstone!


Steven catching some rays.


Me getting a leg up.

Image #3000

Image #3000: Woodside High School senior fashion show.

St. George, UT

Hanging out in St. George.

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Southern Utah Slot Canyons

Taking the elevator down in Slideanide.


Losing my head in Arscenic.