cyberhobo

Month: February 2006

  • Peak 11408 near Montgomery Pass

    Despite reports of cold and wind in the high country, Alan, Sarada, Jezze, and I head up toward Cameron Pass for some snowshoeing. Conditions look nice when we get there – greybird, warm, and calm. The avalanche danger is low all around today, so we try the trail up to Montgomery Pass. It’s a nice…

  • Horsetooth Bike Ride

    It felt great to get outside on the bikes today. The sun was shining, but the air temperature was cold. We’d get hot pumping up the hills on the hogback below Horsetooth Reservoir, then get blasted numb by the cold air on the downhills. The reservoir was frozen over, which made the ride feel exotic…

  • Avalanche Awareness

    I’ve been going into the winter backcountry all my life, and it’s been a little tough to admit that I don’t know squat about avalanche danger. Finally I attended a free REI class, feeling sure I would just be verifying my ignorance and finding out how many thousands of dollars worth of gear and classes…

  • Dark Star (1974)

    A satire that is still great 30 years after it’s made is rare enough, but a low budget sci-fi satire that survives that long is truly remarkable. John Carpenter hit one of his few home runs with this hilarious parody of Star Trek and 2001. What happened to him after that? I never heard about…

  • Heron Lake & Foothills

    The high today was 11 degrees Fahrenheit. We didn’t think we were missing winter, but this weather brought an unexpected feeling of relief. We know from the one cold snap earlier in the season to leave a tap running in temperatures like this, but today held another lesson for us. The running tap kept the…

  • Movie: Dandelion (2005)

    This was a little too much downer following The Neon Bible, but shared the quality of being beautifully made. The story takes a few too many liberties, but it’s supported by brilliant cinematography that balances things out. It’s a contemplation of growing up in a rural prarie town that struck some chords with my adolescence…

  • This Morning

    At last, some significant snowfall! It looks peaceful, but it was 12 degrees with a ripping wind, and I almost froze my fingertip off taking this shot. A break in the clouds over Wyoming put a soft pink line between heaven and earth.

  • Book: The Neon Bible / John Kennedy Toole

    It’s a rare depressed 17-year-old that can express that angst in a subtle and compelling novel. John Kennedy Toole was not yet employing his outrageous sense of humor when he wrote this (he later wrote A Confederacy of Dunces), which makes this a bit of a dismal, Salinger-esque read. I’m confident that Holden Caulfield fans…

  • Goldeneye Mates

    This is a pair of Common Goldeneye ducks, several of which visited our lake on my walk this morning. They were all paired up already, but the drakes were still doing their mating call. They stick their head in the water, then throw it all the way back until it hits their body, emitting an…

  • Movie: Dark Days (2000)

    I can’t think of a worthy complement for this film. It’s like finding a flower growing on the moon. The lives of several homeless people living in railroad tunnels beneath New York are documented without an ounce of hype. It’s a minor miracle that it got made at all. At first I didn’t really believe…