Important Safety Tip

If you are planning to stop at a small town in Nebraska on your drive home, please be sure to check that it is not graduation weekend for the local branch of the state university. Finding a hotel in a cats-and-dogs thunderstorm is no fun.

The Long Road Home

I’m currently packing the van for our return to Pittsburgh. We’ve spent the last few days relaxing in Colorado, spending time with family, and (in my case) working. While the trip has certainly been good–beyond expectations, really–we are all ready to be in our home, in our beds. (Of course, this hasn’t stopped us from […]

Hueco Tanks Photos, Part Two

From Hueco Tanks 2010

Goodbye, Hueco Tanks

We’re currently in Socorro, NM, on our way to Denver, CO for a few days before heading home. Our last week at Hueco was a good one, though we had the full service of weather conditions, including some very chilly temps on the second to last day. Jen and I spent our last two climbing […]

Hueco Tanks Trip Report #3

We are waiting out a dust storm (with winds up to 60 mph) in El Paso at a Microtel. We have two more climbing days before we head north to Colorado. We’ve been solo for the last week, as Paul, April, and Silas returned to Tucson. The weather has been decent, albeit a bit warm, […]

Hueco Tanks Trip Report #2

So, here we are, back at the Microtel at the El Paso airport, taking a break from the campground. We’ve got a few more days of climbing under our belts, including a couple more tours to the East Spur. My finger has been feeling a bit better, so I’ve been climbing, though still avoiding tiny […]

Hueco Tanks Photos, Part One

From Hueco Tanks, Day One

Hueco Tanks Trip Report #1

(Photos are forthcoming) The drive to El Paso, Texas passed without incident. Three days on the road, including one and half to cross Texas. Western Kentucky and Tennessee were particularly pleasant to drive through, but the central part of Texas is horribly ugly, with lots of refineries and oil wells. It is also incredibly windy. […]

Cow Farts

Orion Magazine posted an excellent essay by Bill McKibben regarding the recent accusations of cattle farming as a chief cause of global warming. McKibben points out the following bit of history: Still, even once you’ve made that commitment, there’s a nagging ecological question that’s just now being raised. It goes like this: long before humans […]

Doping

Recently, it came to light that Laurent Fignon, the professorial French rider who served as Greg Lemond’s foil in the late 80s and early 90s, doped during his racing career. He admitted as much when he also admitted that he had cancer, and that perhaps there was a link between the dope and his disease. […]