2009 November

Near White Rock, NM

Do we deserve this? Probably not, but it doesn’t prevent us from basking in warm sun once again high on the banks of the Rio Grande at the The Playground. Sean joins us for the ride. We dangle ropes on a couple of enticing climbs, and we’re all used up well before the sun is. It hardly matters to me that we seem to climb less every time we go out – I still just want to do it again.

Routes:

Texas 5.8

A strenuous lieback route! Or is winter just making us weak?

Flying A 5.11-

I feel impressive for a move or two at the bottom, then I start to moan, and soon dignity is out the window.

I was convinced I’d never run again, but many miles of hiking experimentation had already put me on the minimalist footwear path. This book convinced me to try running again, very cautiously, despite my fear of injuries. So far, I’ve done more running in my Vibram Five Fingers than I’ve ever done before without pain or injury. On the contrary, I’ve finished every run so far filled with joy and hope.

In addition to inspiration, the book is packed with fascinating stories centered around the mysterious native Mexican Tarahumara runners, as well as some amazing research that uncovers our evolutionary running heritage. The book delivers on its subtitle: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

How many times has someone used this site to encourage President Obama to make progress during the climate talks in Copenhagen? I wrote a WordPress plugin that will instantly create as many atomic counters as needed, and some client side AJAX to keep track of all the different types of actions one can take. Try one out, and maybe we’ll see how the site handles six figures, or seven…

Near Santa Fe, NM

Kate asks for a desert hike, and we think of this trail we haven’t been to in a while. The scattered mines make good rest stops, some with a platform for an age-old game of toss-a-pebble-into-the-black-pit. There are pretty nice views here too, a chance to race a train, and some good New Mexico sights like a lonely airstream and a stretch limo parked in a hilly dirt driveway.

• GPX Viewer Track Map and Graphs (viking-20091122)

Near White Rock, NM

Despite below-freezing temperatures, we stay optimistic and pile into Kate & Mark’s Prius with our climbing gear. It looks good when we park, but then the sun disappears behind a cloud and a frigid wind starts to blow. Persistent, we drop some topropes anyway, and are rewarded by the return of sunshine and gradually warming temperatures. Another win for stubborn idiocy!

Our routes:

Upper Kor’s Crack 5.9

Never disappoints. I may even be close to a stable sequence!

Chuckawalla 5.8

It’s wide, but I’m getting comfortable enough to think maybe I should lead it…

Chuckawalla Right 5.10

Ann says Mark and I both find different sequences up this entertaining bit of face climbing

Lower Kor’s Crack 5.10

Ann and Kate do much better than Mark and I on this one. I fight my up with maximum effort with a couple of falls, fingerlocks barely sticking, but do far worse on my next try. Mark starts with lots of falls but eventually nails a sequence that works for him.

Could a 16-year-old Irish girl make a major advancement in the highly cerebral field of cryptography? It seemed as if Sarah Flannery might have done it with her 1999 science fair project, and when the London Times put a story about her project on the front page, she might as well have. This a great story about the strange places mathematical curiosity can take you. I’m happy events conspired to bring Sarah’s projects and this book into existence.

This video sharing application was built with the CodeIgniter PHP framework and makes heavy use of the Facebook API. Both of these were new to me when I came on board to fix some problems with the existing application. My impression of CodeIgniter is good, I may use it again for web applications that don’t need a whole content management system. The Facebook API does not leave such a good impression. Despite a maze of online documentation, I had to learn the important things through experimentation. I’ve learned a lot about sharing content, especially with Facebook, but the customized videos are still magic to me!

Near Cuba Independent Schools, NM

This volcanic peak is the closest thing I’ve seen to Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower in New Mexico. It captured my attention first on our 2004 Continental Divide hike, and I’ve returned to the areas several times since. Unlike the monolith in Wyoming, there is one non-technical (no ropes needed) route up this peak. Jesse joins me to give it a try, carrying two 25-pound dumbbells in his already uncomfortable pack for “training weight”. Just to make sure he reaches the training potential of this hike, I fail to find the correct trailhead (twice!), resulting in a full-circle cross-country Tour de Cabezon. It’s lovely without a heavy pack! The walls are inspiring, and views of other “volcanic necks” in the ethereal light beckon from the horizon. Wisely, Jesse drops his training weight for the final scramble to the top. This is hiking with both hands and feet, including a few moves that feel like real climbing, for several hundred feet. We meet some other people scrambling down but have the summit to ourselves. The descent is slow and arduous, and we finish our hike through sweet desert air as the autumn light quickly fades.

• GPX Viewer Track Map and Graphs (viking-20091107)

Near White Rock, NM

There are so many different climbing areas around White Rock, we think we may just spend the winter exploring them. Today we discover The Playground, an almost beach-like sandy bench under a cliff with a lot of crack climbing, much of it top-ropeable. There is one other party basking in the warmth today, and we trade routes with them.

Our routes:

Upper Left Roof 5.9

Great variety on this route – stemming, polished fingerlocks, thin face, and a final strenuous sidepull to the anchor.

Beginner’s Hand Jam 5.9

Beautiful jams at the bottom, with an exciting steep finish.

Fingertip Layback 5.10d

I surprise myself by cranking through the big, thin moves at the bottom. Fun! Then I fall off a little roof midway, and have to detour to the right, still too pumped to finish without more falls.