Garage door being repaired...

As I post. Apparently the door is in fine shape, just the supporting hardware is rough. Repairable for a lot less than replacement since the door is (of course) a custom size. 15'8". Not 15' or 16' (both of which are standard).

Is anyone surprised at something in my house/setup being non-standard?

My log from climbing in the Alps

This log starts with Tuesday, July 15th. I arrived at the hut on Monday, about mid-afternoon. Reinhart didn't get there until the evening.

Tuesday: Via Leni on Pizzo Spazzacaldeira -- route on a lower buttress of this mountain. 5 pitches, 120 meters. Single toughest move around 6B to 6b+ but could be aided past. (I didn't, Reinhart did on lead.)

Wednesday: Ostturm (east tower) - of Piz Balzet. Holy cow are the approaches long.

Thursday: Klettergarten (Piz dal Pal ridge?), lead 5a. (maybe 5b? Or top-roped it?)

Friday: Spazzacaldeira, to the "Flame". Crazy down-climbing. Slipped while doing hiking/scrambling near the peak. Scary, scary. Flame: 5c+. Hiking poles are really handy on steep terrain.

Saturday: rest day. Down to to town. Bank card didn't work. Bought some groceries.
Did a bit of internet.

Sunday: Geisterfuhrer route (ghost route/lead) on Piz Balzet, well mostly... quite an adventure, left around 6am, back to hut well after dark, around 11pm. Scary, scary, scary. I don't think alpine climbing is for me. Piz Balzet: 2869m; we started near lake level (2165), close to 700m vertical. (Book says 650m vertical.) Didn't quite make it, very close, less than 50m vertical from summit (Reinhart did another route later, says about 5 minute scramble from top. Doh.) Down-climbed a gully. Yuck. Then over a ridge, and down a trail to the hut. Down the trail mostly in the dusk and dark. Hiking at night very different... slow... a lot of stepping by feel. Hiking poles really helped.

Monday: recover from Piz Balzet expedition. Up for breakfast around 7am, then back to bed until 2pm or so.

Tuesday: Andamente - 5 pitches of Trad on Spazzacaldeira, up towards the North Ridge (east face). Some tough, but very interesting climbing. We got back to the hut late, but not after dark. Had more adventures in rappelling.

Wednesday: Punta Albigna, route Steiger. (Apparently very popular, there were something like 6 or 7 groups going up it when we were.) Mixed sport and trad pitches, and I ended up doing a bunch of both sport and trad leading, including accidentally something in the 5a range for Trad. (Also lead 5b sport, but that was ok.) 15 pitches, some 45m or so in length. Started reasonably early, got back in time. The down-climb included a very uncomfortable traverse accross some slabs that got steeper towards a drop-off below. Also broke a hiking pole -- teeter-totter rock.

Thursday - body said another rest day. Reinhart went climbing with a guy who works at the hut and who had never done, but wanted to do, a multi-pitch climb. (The guy had a few days off.)

Friday: rain day, so another rest day. When I mentioned to someone at the climbing gym I was headed for the Alps to climb, he said I should have at least a couple weeks, cause it could rain for a week. We've had 10 days straight of good climbing weather -- so I'm already ahead, I guess. Reinhart says this is the best string of good weather he has seen in the Alps, too.

Saturday: have had a sore throat for a couple days. Hiked up with Reinhart to another route on Piz Balzet -- starting far closer to the peak than the long one. Couldn't find the route. He wanted to go up a ridge, but weather was iffy -- so I bailed. He soloed the ridge (which was ok). By afternoon was feeling better, so went and did the nearby (just below the hut) slabs with Moritz (who works at the hut, but had the day off). The crazy Swiss had a bonfire at night... the wood would have to have been flown in by helicopter. Slabs: "Seeplatten", route "Wassersinfonie".

Sunday: thunderstorm this morning, going to see if things clear up later. Went bouldering with Moritz -- nice local boulder. Did several problems, gave him 2 new probems he hadn't thought of that we both did, and a couple more that are "projects", one really tough looking. Thunderstorm with hail around 3:30pm.

Monday: another day of rain. Doh. Lots more solitaire.

Tuesday: teleferique, bus, train, and now killing time in the airport.


Quick grade translations from the French technical system that I made notes with:
5a - 5.6; 5b - 5.7; 5c - 5.8; 6a - 5.9; 6a+ - 5.10a; 6b - 5.10b; 6b+ 5.10c. Of course, all grades are "subjective and approximate" and translations between schemes are that in spades.

I'll have pictures, too. They take more processing.

Working garage door...

I now have, once again, a working garage door.

And, if you're used to the old one... be gentle with it now. It moves easily without a fight, you don't need nearly as much oomph.

More errands run...

New climbing shoes. (Others are worn out.)
Replacement of some climbing gear I left with Reinhart.
And restocking of the liquor cabinet. (More port, too.)

Dinner....

What should I do for dinner? It is too hot too cook. It is WAY too hot for Pho. I just had a bowl of sorbet, maybe I can put the decision off for a bit.

Pictures from Climbing in Switzerland

This is a narrated set of 34 pictures from Switzerland. I've hidden it behind an LJ-cut cause I didn't want to throw this onto everyone's home page.

( many, many pictures )

My favourite pictures...

In case the huge post of pictures is too much... just look at these two. They are my favourite, where I managed to capture a gorgeous sunset.

( sunset pictures )

If you want full-resolution copies, let me know. I'm using one for desktop on my netbook, the other on my home machine. I'm not sure which is going to go on my work laptop.

Regardez les jolies fleurs

I have found myself inspired by pecunium and (more recently) soul_diaspora to try not just for "I was here" photos, but also to photograph flowers. (And, by how well a couple of the shots I got in Mexico turned out.)

I don't think I have anything quite as striking as a couple of the shots from Mexico, nor as nice as the sunset shots, but I do like these as well:

( Read more... )