As most of you know, Cameron suffered more than the concussion mentioned in the last post.  Without re-hashing the details, let’s just say that he exercised poor judgment…similar to that of the poor sap in the photo above.  What do said sap and Cameron have in common?  Neither was wearing a helmet.

Cameron is usually pretty good about wearing a helmet.  But for some reason, and on my birthday no less, he decided to become the Jean Van Damme of skateboard stunts and attempt something spectacular sans-helmet.  Big Mistake.  He remembers the stunt going bad, and then he has a fuzzy recollection of waking up on a friend’s couch.  Two hospital visits and two doctor visits later, he was promptly ensconced in a Pediatric ICU Unit with a 27 meter needle in his spine (or so it felt) draining spinal fluid that was creating pressure inside his now cracked (though still thick) skull.

After five days on his back (and only on his back), he was pronounced healthy enough to leave the hospital but warned that he’d be “uncomfortable” for awhile.  Today he’s a reasonably normal version of himself but one that suffers from recurring headaches and a general state of “wobbliness”.  In other words, he’s on the path to a full recovery.  He should be good to go in just a little bit, and he’ll most certainly be a wiser version of himself than the one that made such a potentially devastating choice just a short time ago.  Right Cameron?  Right…I thought so.

Thank you again to everyone that stayed abreast of Cameron’s progress.  We appreciate the thoughts and prayers.  For those of you reading this that weren’t aware of the severity of the incident, I apologize…things were a bit hectic for a few days.

When Cameron comes to Florida in a few weeks, he’ll be leaving the skateboard at his Mom’s.  We’ll play a lot of golf, we’ll get him back in Aaron’s gym, and we’ll feed him well (every other day).  Maybe we’ll let him play with a bouncy ball or something similarly low-risk.

Kristin is contemplating a school change.  In an effort to jump-start her education, she’s thinking about leaving William Patterson (where she’s an undeclared major enduring the standard fare of liberal arts) to enter a school that caters to her primary interest: interior design.  Teachers and professionals alike have declared her interior design skills to be “very good” to “excellent”, and having enjoyed her expertise firsthand, I have to agree.  She’s brilliant!  (Sorry…excuse the outrageous display of pride…)  Should she decide to make the change, she’ll dive headfirst into a program that can have her up and running in as little as two years.  After that, intern opportunities lead to careers with the likes of Ethan Allen or Disney.  I kinda’ like the idea of Disney…

We’ll keep you posted on her decision.

Mark just came off Aviation Week (a success) and is busy preparing for Sub Week.  Marine Week was fun, Surface Week wasn’t.  If there was ever any doubt about Mark’s lack of enthusiasm about being on a ship, that doubt is now removed.  He hated it.  (Kinda’ makes the Navy an interesting choice, doesn’t it?)  Anyway, given the opportunity to take the stick of a Navy Trainer in flight, he declined.  Why?  Because flight time is limited, and Mark decided to use his time to enjoy the pilot’s skill.  He experienced a bunch of rolls, dives, climbs, and upside-down flying that left him even more convinced that aviation is his first choice of career paths.  Given that our favorite midshipman enjoys a class rank of 59 (out of about 1,200), he’s got a good shot at getting his choice of career pipelines.  But then again…

…part of Sub Week includes an overnight “cruise” that other mids have called “a blast”.  The Navy has been falling short in recruiting Sub Officers for the last several years, so the sub guys put on a good show for mids-soon-to-be-Naval-officers.  Mids enjoying high class rank are recruited for subs aggressively (and I mean aggressively).  Sub school involves two difficult years of study, but at the end, graduates hold the equivalent of a masters in Nuclear Engineering.  These guys (all guys until this year) join an extremely small group of individuals worldwide qualified in all aspects of nuclear power.  Once deployed, Sub Officers enjoy some of the highest compensation in the military.  Demand in the private sector is off the charts.  All in all, it’s a great career path…

…unless your passion lies elsewhere.  So I guess we’ll see, right?

Paris is enjoying a few weeks in Girl Scout Camp.  It’s a day camp experience now, but Kristin just reminded me today that when she was Paris’ age, she enjoyed one week of overnight Girl Scout Camp.  She was angry with us for not allowing her to attend two.  What the hell was I thinking?  I let my little girl spend a week away from home in the woods?  Where were all of you to smack some sense into me?  I guess it wasn’t all bad…Kristin has great memories of her camp experience, and she quasi-chastised me for not considering overnight camp for Paris.  The only overnight experience Paris is going to enjoy in the near future is in a convent.  (Do convents still exist?)

I must be getting old.

More soon –

…which took me long enough, right?  Here’s the deal: the photos you’re about to see are from our last trek.  John and the Schmit-Dog did a mini on our last day, but for Paul and for me, this was it.

This was the hike to Half Dome.  John planned an incredible trip for us, and in his normal, be-prepared kind of way, he saved this hike for last.  When we started talking about the Yosemite trip, my input was simple and limited: seeing pictures from John’s prior excursions to Yosemite, I wanted to do Half Dome.  Period.  “Jay, what do you want to do on the trip?”  “Half Dome.”  “Jay, what airport are you flying into?”  “Half Dome.”  “Jay, how’s the family?”  “Half Dome.”  You get the idea.

So Half Dome!  I’m going to post a lot of pictures.  We took over 835 photos on this trip!  If anyone wants to see the raw footage (no commentary, no identifying info), go to EdgeProximity.com.  You’ll see a banner photo and a photo labeled “The Pix”. Click there and you’re in!  The pix are in no particular order — we’re talking raw.

Okay!  Back to Half Dome!  This was another overnighter, so you know it involved a bit of hiking and an amazing view or two.  From John’s journal:  “Jay, Paul and JG set out for the “hike of hikes” in the park as far as I am concerned.  Sunrise Lake trail head at Tenaya Lake to Happy Isles by way of Cloud’s Rest and Half Dome.”

First stop — Cloud’s Rest.  Cloud’s Rest is commonly seen in the background of Half Dome photos taken from the Yosemite Valley.  7.4 miles in, a couple of thousand feet (or so) to cover going up, the hike started off easily enough.   But when the elevation came, it became brutal.

But check this out: at altitude, things change very slowly.  Stuff takes years to grow (some of the floral vegetation is hundreds of years old).  John asked us to stop to take this picture — in this exact location — because he has pictures from prior hikes that look identical.  Maybe he doesn’t look identical (since we’re talking about some hikes over 20 years ago), but the growth and rock in the background are the same.  Exactly the same.  It’s freakin’ eerie!  Since his prior pix were of him with his shirt off, this one had to be too.

From our prior posts, everyone remembers that the green stuff is trees, right?  Yeah, it’s a long way down.

Okay, so we’re on our way!  We’re doin’ some hiking.  We’re going up.  And up.  And up.  You folks that use stairmasters at the gym got nothin’ on us!  And lo’ and behold, we come to the “Dinosaur’s Back”.  That’s not it’s official name, but that’s what John calls it.  It’s the last little bit of “up” before we make it up to the top of Cloud’s Rest:

No big deal, right?  Well…yeah!  Except if you look left, it’s about 1,800 feet down, and if you look right, it’s about 2,000 feet down.  And despite what you think you see in these always deceiving pictures, it’s really, really easy to look down!  Want some perspective?

Uh-huh.  I know it looks “wide”, but maybe this will help:

Trust me on this: vertigo was definitely a part of the experience.

Okay, so we get up there.  Then what?  C’mon!  Eat something!  And more importantly, have a cigar!

Even at 11,000 plus feet, one can successfully light a cigar…

And yes, that’s Half Dome in the background.  It’s about 1,500 feet below us, but unfortunately, nature doesn’t allow for a straight, downhill hike to get there.  First you take a circuitous route down from Cloud’s Rest (losing about 2,500 of elevation we worked so hard to achieve), and then you start back up.  But before we go, group shots!

Paul on the left, John in the middle, and well…everyone knows the ugly guy on the right.  And yes, there’s a story behind the hat…

That’s the Tenaya Valley you see in the right background and it’s the same valley John posed in front of for his famous “lost in time” shot.  Yes, it’s a big valley (we started this hike at Tenaya Lake almost eight miles ago…)  You’ll see more of this valley from Half Dome.  Anyway, to many hikers, the climb up and over Cloud’s Rest looks like hard work compared to simply hiking through the Tenaya Valley.  It tempts many…

…but as John’s guidebook pointed out, the Tenaya Valley is not a place to hike through.  Many that go in don’t come out.  Quoting the guidebook, “if you find yourself in the Tenaya Valley, you’re blowing it bad…”

So!  We don’t turn right!  We turn left!  And down we go!  Down, down, down…nature is so cruel sometimes.

Half Dome in the background again.  John perched on a nice leisurely path.  Yeah, that was the “down” part…

Soon enough, we had the Ultimate Destination in our sights.  Here’s an attempt at a literal reference:

It seemed funny at the time, okay?  If you look at the tree line at the right side base of Half Dome, that’s our final destination for the day.  Our plan is to hit the base, set up camp, and then on the following morning, make the climb up to the top just in time for sunrise.  It’s an excellent plan.

Fast forward: we’re there.  End of a long day (11 miles plus of hiking with serious elevation changes), sun setting, dinner almost ready courtesy of John, and a final cigar. Tomorrow’s goal directly behind (and above) us.

If I were a better photographer (and if the packs didn’t already weigh 35 pounds each), I’d have a camera that worked miracles at night.  Because from very near the spot where this picture was taken, the view of the stars once the sun went down was incredible.  I mean…amazing!  As darkness approached, John asked me if I had ever seen the Milky Way.  I laughed and shrugged my shoulders.  “Of course,” I said.

Wrong!  I couldn’t believe my eyes!  The absence of artificial light means “dark” is actually dark.  I know most of you are familiar with the concept, and I know some of you have experienced what I’m trying to describe.  The best way I can think of to describe it was that looking into the night sky from that spot was like seeing stars (galaxies) through the Hubble Telescope (except obviously we were on the ground).  Had I ever really seen the Milky Way?  Hell no!

Daybreak!  Almost…at about 4:30 AM, and at various moments, all of us slipped out of our comatose states to the sounds of voices.  Damn!  Someone was going to beat us to the top!  That was not part of the plan!  And it was an excellent plan!  Okay.  We’re awake.  Let’s rock.

Tenaya Valley way below.  Campsite below at the tree line.  You get the feeling we’re climbing stairs?  That’s because we basically are…

…somewhere over the decades, dedicated (crazy) fans of the Park “manicured” many of the more popular trail routes.  Mountain goats (like John) have no trouble scurrying up the sides of anything, but mere mortals (like Paul and me) were thankful for the well-placed and well anchored “steps” piled onto and cut into the side of the rock face.  This was some serious vertical going, and without the help of these “steps”, we’d have been working a lot harder.

The trail goes up and up until you reach one of the coolest sights I’ve ever seen.  This was one of the scenes from John’s prior hikes that made me absolutely want to climb Half Dome.  The cables:

Like the “steps” that got us here, these cables were installed to make the ascent up Half Dome possible for those of us born without mountain goat genes.  Notice how there’s a pile of gloves on the right at the foot of the cables.  You need ‘em.  Take a pair, use ‘em, and put ‘em back when you come down.

Paul took this photo of John and me because he decided he’d climbed high enough.  What, you’re not impressed?  You should be.  But maybe the sight of the cables took him by surprise.  At least I had the benefit of seeing pictures before I saw the real thing.  If you’re thinking “what’s the big deal?” maybe you need a better look:

Still not doing it for you?  How’s this?

Or this?  From above…

Yeah, Paul is still down there…you don’t see him?  The guy in the white shirt is John.  Paul is the speck on John’s left.  (Side note of insanity: when it was time to go back down, John says “Jay, do it like this.  It’s easiest.”  He aims his head at the bottom, grabs the cables, and runs.  I did no such thing…)

Here’s a similar view in reverse.  Yeah…it’s fun.  And just one more…sorry if you’re getting tired of the damn cables…just one more for proper perspective:

So!  What’s it look like when you get to the top?  Oh, it’s no big deal…

The outcropping the person is standing on is called the Diving Board.  I’m sure you can figure out why.  Let’s put this in perspective, shall we?  Here’s a shot from the other side of the Valley (that I did not take — from Glacier Point) just so you can appreciate what you’re seeing:

See the Diving Board?  Yeah…it’s up there.  Cloud’s Rest is the “hump” just behind the left side of Half Dome.  The green stuff on the left is the Tenaya Valley.  Can anyone guess why I wanted to do this hike?

Let me show you my inspiration (this was in addition to John’s pix of the cables).  Here’s John from a previous hike…on the Diving Board…doing it as only John can…

He calls this shot “the doctor told me to keep weight off my left knee”.  This shot was my ultimate inspiration.  Here’s my attempt at duplicating his pose (note sheer terror and trepidation):

The Valley is still in a shadow because the sun is coming up.  When the trip was over, and I was lying safely in a hotel room bed, I did a little “back-of-the-napkin” math and determined that it would take between 35 and 40 seconds for one to hit the ground if one were to fall off this damn thing.

Okay!  Check out the hole to my right (your left) in the above shot.  That little cave leads to another hole directly beneath me.  That’s called “the King’s Chair”.  John showed me around in there, and then we grabbed a couple of pix:

You guessed it: that’s John hanging out of the King’s Chair.  Wanna see what he saw?

There’s the Tanya Valley again.  And yes, it’s a long way down.

A few more shots:

John snapped this of me while I was snapping shots of him.

And here he manages to catch me doing something I hate to be caught doing: staring in absolute awe…

Yeah…it was that amazing.

I’m going to leave it there.

The hike back down was tough.  It’s 5,000 feet plus down (6,000 in these pix), and believe it or not, “down” can be harder than “up”.  Once we hit town, we gobbled pizza and ice cream.  We needed it.  I lost 12 pounds on this trip!  What a trip it was…

Quick notes:

It took me forever to write this post because I was striving for perfection.  In the end, I decided I’d slap it together and forget perfection, but as you can imagine, with over 835 photos and this being the centerpiece of the trip, I wanted to do it to “right”.  As noted above, if you want to see a bunch of raw, unedited, uncommented pix, go to EdgeProximity.com.

John is trying to convince me to go Grand Teton this summer for a little rock climbing (as opposed to “hiking”…which sure felt like climbing to me).  I think I’m going to pass.  The trek involves some 5.7 climbs which are no problem for guys like John, but hanging from a fingernail while looking down at a few thousand feet of “exposure” is not in my repertoire right now.  “Jay, you might want to practice your pull ups!”  Oh, and coming down on that particular climb requires two rappels…one over 120 feet.

Plus, we’ve got some new ideas in the works that might require my undivided attention come summertime, so I’m going to be forced to live vicariously through John on this one.  Of course, when he comes home with great photos, I may well be “inspired”.  Look what happened the last time he did that…

Yosemite Three

Yosemite Two

Yosemite — Mount Hoffman and early travels

Yosemite — a taste

As most of you know, we spent most of “the Holidays” in the New York area. It was great seeing family and friends, but as always, we didn’t have enough time. We did a lot, but we would have liked to do (and see) more.

I don’t have a lot of pictures from our trip. It was just that kind of time…we enjoyed everyone’s company, we had a great Christmas, but we were fairly “relaxed” when it came to pictures. So I’m not going to include any here.

Quickly: the kids (in order) –

Mark continues to excel at USNA.  Out of modesty (on his behalf…certainly not mine), I won’t mention his exact Order of Merit (class rank — the all-important number) , but let’s just say he’s in the top 100 out of about 1,250. The top 90 even. Did I say top 80? Okay, we’ll stop there…

Kristin…Kristin! Oh my God Kristin! Kristin just finished her first semester at William Patterson. She did well. Okay, she did very well. How should I put it…umm….she kicked ass! Everyone getting a visual?  Kick, kick, kick!  I’ve got a number in mind…hmmm…does something around 3.5 sound right?  Yeah…that sounds about right.  Nice!

Cameron…oh Cameron…

Cameron’s big hurdle this past semester involved surgery.  He managed to finally get one of his knees to go in a direction it wasn’t designed to go in.  Everything took a back seat to pain, surgery, and recovery.  But he’s going to bounce back this marking period, and his Fencing team is dying without him.  They send me notes telling me so…

Paris: the youngest of the four that benefits greatly from the experience of her siblings.  They treat her like gold, and she worships the very ground they walk upon.  Watching Mark, Kristin or Cameron with Paris is like watching magic — it never stops amazing you.  Mark and Kristin were each here (separately) after Christmas (Cameron was practicing his limp), and Paris loved every minute of it!

Like her oldest siblings, she is an academic wonder.  She’s a first grader reading on a fifth grade level now, and she’s just wrapping up third grade math.  She reads encyclopedias for fun (I’m not making that up).  She can tell you more about how the human body functions than most adults can.  She explains planetary movement to me.  On the way to the bus stop this morning, I got a lesson on the North and South Poles and why they’re so cold (and how that relates to the cold spell we’ve been suffering).  She is something…

Anyone get the idea that I’m proud of my kids?  Amazing…all of ‘em.

Speaking of “cold”, wanna see what happens when you combine Floridians with water and cold?  This looks like a gardening experiment gone awry…

I have no idea what someone was thinking here, but it involved running water when it shouldn’t have…

Okay!  This next chunk is about boxing.  For those of you not interested, please stop here.

A little background:

As usual, Mark worked out with Aaron Jaco while he was here, and we’ve got some video.  Mark asked me to get him the video for review, and the easiest way to do that is here on the site.

This is not a “normal” video.  I didn’t edit anything — I simply slapped together raw footage with a few explanatory comments.  No cool soundtrack.  This wasn’t intended for regular public consumption — it was simply a learning tool for Mark.  But since it’s here, we might as well explain it.

(By the way, Kristin enjoyed a session at Aaron’s gym too.  Yeee haaaaaaa!  Isn’t life great, Kristin?  Kristin?)

Okay, everyone remembers Aaron, right?

Yeah…he’s a hard guy to forget.  If anyone new wants more info on him, get it here and here.

Aaron has a twin brother — Adam.  Adam is also a professional boxer.  This is Adam’s promo shot:

This is Adam recently destroying an opponent and being awarded the victory:

(That might have been the only shot Adam’s opponent scored…who’s bleeding?)

Another one for the ‘W’ column

So!  Adam is a great guy outside of the ring, and at Aaron’s request, he gladly agreed to let Mark come over to his (Adam’s) gym to work out.  Adam is getting ready for another pro fight on January 22nd, so this was no small deal.  We really, really appreciate him making the time for Mark.

In a little “kill two birds with one stone” action, after some warm up, Aaron decided that Adam was going to spar some four minute rounds.  (That’s a one minute “bonus” for those of you unfamiliar with boxing.)  The format was straight forward: Mark and another young guy would take turns going one minute each with Adam.  That means the young guys get to rest so Adam gets a relatively “fresh” opponent every minute.  Oh, and Aaron would set new “rules” for each minute: “Adam, left hand only!”  “Adam, you can’t hit him!  Slip and move only!”  “Adam, body shots only!” You get the picture.  Adam was put at a distinct (and new) disadvantage every minute.  Like it mattered…

As you’ll see, Adam is going at about half speed.  I’ve seen this guy fight.  He’s a pit bull.  No mercy.  If his opponent slows down or drops his hands, the opponent is dead.  He was gracious in allowing Mark to work at “learning” speed…

The video is below.  You’ll need Quicktime to see it.  If you don’t have Quicktime, a link should appear that takes you to a download site (it’s free).  There’s a control panel on the bottom of the video, but if all you see is a black box, double click on the box to start and single click to stop the video.

Mark has improved a lot since the last video we posted of his sparring sessions with Aaron.  Some of that comes from boxing with the team at Navy.  But a lot of it comes from the time Aaron made for him while Mark was here.  Aaron went all out to be available for Mark over a whole bunch of hours while Mark was here (and we appreciate it!).

Oh, and Kristin will confirm…this shit will tire you out!  Enjoy!

Back to our heroes…

John, Schmit-Dog, Paul and Jay need a rest day.  The Tuesday of our trip was planned for exactly that — rest.  But in typical mutant fashion, our organizer (John) views “rest” as relative.  What he considers “rest”, many would consider “I think I want to curl into a ball and die”…

Okay, so it wasn’t quite that bad.  As John writes in his journal, Tuesday was a planned “down” day.  “Down” meaning no plans for big, long treks, but “down” also because we ventured down into “the Touristy Valley” to see some sights.

First stop: Tuolomne Grove, home of a huge grove of Sequoia Trees.  We parked the RV and skipped our way about a mile down and into the grove to see some of these amazing trees.  How amazing?  Well, even though Smitty had experienced some powerful sights on our hikes to Hoffman and Vogelsang peaks, and even though he enjoyed views and vistas that most people only experience in books, when he looked up at his first Sequoia, the words “Holy Shit” escaped his lips for the first time on the whole trip.  Yeah…the trees are that incredible.

When most people think of “big trees”, they think “Red Woods”.  And they’d be right…in a sense.  Red Woods are taller than Sequoias, but when measured by volume, Sequoias are the largest living things on Earth.  The Largest Ever!  These big guys can grow to almost 380 feet with a 26 foot diameter trunk.  They come in at 6,100 tons.  Nothing bigger has ever lived on the face of our planet.  We’re talking “big”.

They’re also one of the oldest living things on the planet.  While the smaller bristlecone pine is older, Sequoias can be 3,000 years old while the Red Wood is a relatively young sprite (about 2,200 years old).  That’s 30 centuries folks…it’s hard to wrap your mind around that kind of age (especially when the thing we’re talking about is still living).

Here’s a young one –

So…you’re thinking “what…that doesn’t look so big.”  Right?  C’mon!  Be honest!  And you’re somewhat correct (even if you are a doubter).  The camera can’t capture the size so well.  So check this out:

That’s John standing inside of a Sequoia.  And here’s the rest of us (just for kicks):

They’re big trees!

Need another perspective?  How ’bout this shot of a fallen Sequoia –

Or John standing on it –

From the bottom side –

Want more amazing things to consider?  How old would you think the fallen tree might be?  How long has it been lying there?  I’ll leave the first question for you to ponder, but as to the second?  It’s probably been lying there for a few hundred years.  Wow, right?

After the Sequoias, we started down into Yosemite Valley.  The Valley is where most folks go when they think “Yosemite”.  Getting there is an experience in itself, and the views from the car as you look over the road sides at your pending death and destruction are more than enough for most folks to say “I been there”.  Plus, the views of the surrounding mountains and water falls are spectacular.  We figured we’d do the tourist thing…and get a look from below at the top of the very heights we planned to conquer over the next two days.

First, let’s talk waterfalls.  Most of us have been to Niagra, and we think Niagra Falls are some pretty big falls, right?  And they are!  But check out Yosemite Falls:

First, it’s important that everyone understand that we did not take this photo.  I’m sharing this to provide some perspective…this photo was snapped by someone else from the Yosemite Trail during the Spring months when the water flow is fast and furious (due to snow melt).  The water flow is just a little slower in July, and our shot was from the Valley floor:

Do the cars and the bus at the bottom of the photo give you a better idea of the size we’re talking about?  Yeah…it’s huge.  And the Falls that catch your eye are the Upper Falls.  Look lower and to the left.  Yep…there’s more…that’s the Lower Falls.

From the top of the Upper Falls to the bottom of the Lower Falls is 2,420 feet.  That makes Yosemite Falls the biggest in North America and the sixth largest in the world.  By comparison, the highest points of Niagra are 173 feet (Horseshoe, on the Canadian side).  If you think Niagra is beautiful and awesome (and it is), just imagine something as big as Yosemite.

We also hit Bridalveil Falls.  Here’s an anonymous photo (again for perspective — we did not take this):

The photographers took this photo from above.  We were at the base of the Falls.  Bridalveil measures 620 feet high — not a small guy!  And our view?  Well, we looked up –

Trust me — it’s huge.  What’s amazing is that sometimes, and usually during the summer months when the water flow is a bit slower, the wind can gust hard enough to temporarily stop the flow of water.  That’s what it looks like, anyway…what really happens is that the wind blows the water flow back up and over the top.  From below, it looks like the falls have stopped.  From above, you get really, really wet…

Want some big rocks?  Check this out: el Capitan, one of the most famous rock faces in the world…

There are actually two sides (or faces) of el Cap that meet at “the Nose”.  I have a ton of photos of el Cap, but I chose this one for a reason.  It’s actually one of the “closest” photos of one of the faces that we have.  That face is 3,000 feet from top to bottom.  And even though it’s big, you’d think that you’d be able to see someone hanging off the side of it, right?

Think again.  Look as hard as you want, but I doubt you’ll find the climbers that were on this face on this day.  Even with binoculars, they were near-impossible to find and make out.  John actually spoke to two groups of people who were lying in the field (from where this photo was taken) as they watched friends climb the face.  That’s how we knew there were climbers up there — their friends and families were keeping an eye on them from below.

el Cap is one of the favorite walls for all types of climbers.  The Nose was first climbed in 1958 — it took 47 days.  Today, free climbers (folks with no equipment) “speed climb” the Nose in hours.  The record is 2 hours 37 minutes.  One enterprising lunatic has actually climbed the Nose twice in one day (he had different partners for each climb).  Tommy Caldwell did it in 23 hours and 23 minutes.  “Did it”…as in climbed that 3,000 face twice…in under 24 hours.

How popular is el Cap?  Well, check out the back of our “base camp” (the RV):

The image on the back of the RV was taken from a point very near to where the RV is currently parked!

So!  What’s on the agenda for the final, phe-nom climb?  What lies ahead?  Check out this bad boy from the bottom…because you’re soon going to see a whole bunch of shots from the top.  Say hello to Half Dome –

And look very closely at the little outcropping on the top left.  That’s called “the Diving Board”.  Keep that in mind as we prep the next installment…

Yosemite Two

Yosemite — Mount Hoffman and early travels
Yosemite — a taste

…this trip was supposed to be documented in days…not weeks!  Life has been keeping us extremely busy, so please accept my apologies.  I won’t make any more promises, and I won’t throw out any more excuses.  It is what it is and it will be…whatever.

Just in case, I’ve included links to the prior Yosemite posts at the bottom of this one.  I’ll do that for each future Yosemite post as well.  If you need a refresher, click away and go back in time…

For now, let’s talk about Day Two.  Day Two wasn’t really Day Two…it was Day Four.  But it was Day Two from a hiking point of view, and after our Mt. Hoffman warm-up, we set out for Vogelsang.  Vogelsang Peak sits at 11,516 feet.  We started at the Rafferty Creek trailhead near/in Tuolomne Meadows (elevation about 9,000 feet give or take).  The guidebooks list the hike to Vogelsang Pass as “strenuous” — our trek would take us to the pass and then up to the top.  Good thing we “warmed up” on Hoffman.

This was a two-dayer, folks.  Full overnight gear in the packs with clothing for cold weather. We were going up.

At the start, the weather was beautiful…head fake!

Yeah…that’s me.  The Florida boy.  I brought my own little bit of sunshine with me in the form of board shorts.  As you can see, the weather at the start was incredible.  In fact, the weather for the whole hike and trip was incredible…albeit a little chilly up on Vogelsang (you’ll see…).  Paul Schmeling and the Dog are waiting patiently in the background while John snaps the moment for posterity.

Off we go!  The hike starts off relatively mild.  The elevation gain is manageable, and the views are amazing.  Here’s our goal –

Notice how jackets have already been busted out.  Yeah…it was starting to get chilly.  Oh, and check out the packs: Smitty’s is deceiving (John classified it as “dense”…don’t let the size fool you), and Paul is bringing his queen sized mattress just to make sure he’s comfortable overnight.

Up, up, up we went.  Mutants (like John) make this stuff look easy, but I gotta tell ya’ (as I have numerous times in prior posts already)…climbing UP when you’re at any kind of elevation is “challenging”.  John planned this whole trip for us, and he planned it incredibly well.  Our base camp was “at elevation” meaning we could sleep at 8,000 to 9,000 feet every night.  This makes the climbs more “doable”, but no amount of expert planning prepares neophytes (like Smitty, Paul and me) for the actual doing.  You gotta suck a lot of wind to get where you wanna go…

Check this out: one of the High Sierra camps at the base of Fletcher Peak.  Vogelsang would be to the right in this view (when you’re standing there) –

High Sierra camps are amazing.  Most of the white “buildings” you see are really tents on platforms.  The camps are very popular because campers get to enjoy the hike “to” the peaks, but they get to stay in relative comfort once there.  Obviously these camps are popular (and full).  High Sierra camps feature “real” food, bathrooms, and even showers.  None of these amenities are technically available to those of us passing through, but the good folks that staff the camps are generous with their time and any “extra” provisions.  While munching on blueberry pancakes (courtesy of Thom at the camp), we were encouraged to use the bathrooms and fill our Camelbacks with water.  I know…bathrooms and pancakes don’t sound like a big deal from the comfort of your living room.  But trust me…when you’re humping a heavy pack up the side of a damn mountain, the pancakes are a God-send and the bathrooms run a close second.

Thom was also a good source of information. As John writes in his journal, “Thom gave me some beta (“critical info” is the translation for you newbies…Jay) on the climb up Vogelsang and told us where we could camp up by the lake.  He told us to stay in the wind to keep the mosquitoes at bay, but our spot on the ledge was a bit too windy and blew away our tents just as we were setting them up.  This was a bit exciting for all of us and really got my adrenaline pumping.  We found a more sheltered spot by the lake and made camp…”

(Yeah…tents blowing off an 11,000 mountain will get your adrenaline pumping, alright.  Thankfully we recovered everything…)

The lake.  John is referring to Vogelsang Lake — the spot we planned to stay for the night.  I have a ton of pictures of the lake at ground level, but those aren’t as fun as this one: here’s the lake from up high (near Vogelsang Peak) taken the following day.  Fletcher Peak (the mountain in the background of the High Sierra camp shot) is to the right –

That’s Paul and me taking in the sights.  You can’t see it, but our campsite is way, way down on the left side of the lake.  This picture was taken after our unsuccessful bid for the top…

“What?  You didn’t make it to the top?” you’re asking…

…and the answer is ‘no’.  We got close, and it was very frustrating to fail in our attempt, but let me explain.

As you saw in the photos, despite the calender reading “July”, there’s still snow on the ground at elevation.  Our attempt at the top began early in the morning — very early.  With temps dipping considerably overnight, the snow on the ground is really better described as “ice”.  Later in the day, after the sun has had a chance to beat down on the mountains for a bit, the snow will get softer and even a bit slushy.  Soft and slushy snow is easy to navigate.  Ice is not.

So on the morning of Day Two (in trek days…not trip days), we set out to conquer Vogelsang.  And we hit ice.  Lots of ice.  Here’s John thinking “WTF?”  We’re literally about 400 feet from the peak, and we were stymied.

Getting UP the ice wasn’t the concern.  We found all kinds of plausible ways to navigate the ice going UP.  It was the DOWN part of the equation that concerned us.  Even though we were only 400 feet from the top, when it came time to head back down, one slip on the ice would mean a fast descent.  Really fast.  Really fast descents imply lack of control (getting the picture?) and lack of control means bouncing off of things that tend to be harder than one’s head (i.e. boulders like the one John is standing on).  And believe me…even though it looks like that particular boulder would quickly stop one’s uncontrolled descent (and it might), chances were good that after a good bounce, one’s uncontrolled descent would continue.  That would mean more bouncing off of things generally harder than one’s head.  In fact, we learned later (while reading the Emergency evacuation reports at our base camp) that one poor soul did exactly that three days before our attempt.  He bounced his way off the peak and down a thousand feet or so before he finally came to a stop.  Unfortunately for him, his “stop” included two broken legs.  A helicopter evac-ed him out.  Ooopsie…

From John’s journal: Thom may have thought we had ice axes and crampons, but this chute looked a bit dangerous”. Understatement!

More of the killer snow…

That’s Paul and me standing in a rare “safe zone”.  If we found a way to put padding on all the rocks, we might have continued up.

After a lot of deliberation, we decided “the mountain will be there tomorrow”.  We wouldn’t be there, of course, but that’s an old saying that keeps hikers alive (courtesy of Dave Jopp, a friend of John’s that’s even more of a mutant).  It means we can always go back another day.  The mountain ain’t movin’…

But nonetheless, were we frustrated?  How frustrated?  I don’t know…you tell me…do I look frustrated here?

Yeah…I do.  I look old too (but that’s another post).  Paul looks happy. Paul is always happy.  Sometimes you wanna throw his happy ass down the mountain, but that too is another post…

(Paul was a great addition to our group!)

So!  What was it like overnight?  Cold.  Cold!  Here’s the morning garb as we get ready to set out.

My shorts weren’t bringing any Florida sunshine, lemme tell ‘ya.

The hike took us two days, a lot of “up”, the corresponding “down” the second day (which hurts just as bad as up, believe it or not), and we covered about 20 miles.  Not bad for three rookies led by a mutant, right?

More to come!

Earlier Yosemite posts:

Yosemite — Mount Hoffman and early travels
Yosemite — a taste

]]> http://trunzo.com/2009/09/03/yosemite-two/feed/ 1 http://trunzo.com/2009/08/13/birthday-wishes-to/ http://trunzo.com/2009/08/13/birthday-wishes-to/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:45:03 +0000 Jay http://trunzo.com/?p=905 Chris!

Since we can’t join him for the day, I don’t have a “blowing out the candles” kind of shot or anything.  So I tried to find something that captured his persona…his “essence”, in a way of speaking.

Happy Birthday Chris!  Enjoy the day!

Grammy and Kristin were here for a week (ending this past Wednesday).  Kristin is excited about the start of school, and Grammy was excited to hang with the girls (Kristin and Paris).  Mark flew in on Saturday and added to the mix, and then Cameron joined us on Wednesday.  We’ve been having a blast!

But!  All of this fun and games makes it hard to gather thoughts and photos from Yosemite.  I promise more Yosemite is coming!

Until then, let’s talk boxing.  Whenever Mark is here, he loves visiting Aaron Jaco.  Everyone remembers Aaron, right?  Former National Boxing Association Light Heavyweight champ.  Trainer extraordinaire.  All around good guy.  If you need a refresher on him, check out  this post.

So Mark wants to train with Aaron.  As an added bonus, Cameron decides he wants to as well.  Cameron’s first day was Friday.  It’s safe to say he learned a lot, but it was a tough day for him.  Everyone’s first day is a tough day.  Cameron threw more punches, did more push-ups, and did more ab work than he’s probably done in his entire life.  All of this in one, joyful hour.  But he did it!

After the workout, I asked him what he thought.  “I’m going to puke”, he said.

“Nah”, I said, “that’s just your ab muscles doing a little spasm thingy.  You’re fine!”

“I might need Mark to stop the car.  I’m not feeling so good.”

It turns out we made it home without stopping the car.  On the way, I said “Cameron, you did such a great job today that tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to kettlebells.”

“Oh my God, Dad.  Is he worse?”  (Kettlebells aren’t a “he”.  Kettlebells are weights.  Cannonballs with handles.  I think Cameron was a little tired.)

So Friday was a success!  Mark and I enjoyed the workout, and Cameron is really looking forward to Monday.  Yes!  He’s excited!  This is a good thing.

As an added bonus, Mark sparred with Aaron on Thursday.  Aaron likes to “slow things down” when sparring with someone new to the sport.  He coaches the whole time, he offers a ton of encouragement, and he’s pretty easy-going on his sparring partner.  Do not confuse “easy-going” with “easy”.

Mark busted his butt.  Aaron had fun.  We have the video to prove it!  It shows Mark — decked out in a 2009 Detailer shirt he won from an upperclassman.  And it shows Aaron — shoes off, having fun, hands down while encouraging Mark to “throw your jab!”  Mark learned a ton…

…but learning can hurt.  Check it out:

Important note to current or future plebes that get clever and find this: Mark is most certainly better now (when you read this) than he was in the video.  You probably want to exercise a little discretion.  Comments about this post or video will absolutely make your day-to-day more difficult.  Just a thought…

Venice sends fireworks up from a barge in the jetty (making the beach an ideal place to watch).  But as an added bonus, three other communities further up the beach (looking north) use their beaches for fireworks too.  So while our main show is going on, three others are going in the background.  It’s pretty cool!

Paris was prepped and ready to go!  Check out her tattoos –

Things start heating up as sunset approaches.  The crowd starts building…

…and the ever-present drum circle gets freakier and freakier…

…oh yeah.  You gotta stay upwind of these folks or you end up getting just as whacked as they are…

Patriotic spirits are high…

And we’re getting close to sunset…about 40 minutes maybe?  The sun is hiding on us…

…while Paris entertains herself while waiting for the show to start.

And then…

Boom! Check it out!

The show was great (as usual), but the interesting part of the night always revolves around the “resident-fired” fireworks.  Fireworks are legal in Florida, and the beach gets pretty smoky from all the lunatics trying to blow their damn fingers off.  We saw geniuses lighting entire boxes of sparklers (while pointing them at their little kids and shouting “hey!  look!”).  More candidates for the Darwin Awards aiming roman candles at their pre-adoloescent offspring…you name it, and we saw it.

Sanity prevails in some parts, though.  Some folks take their boats into the intercoastal and set up their own show with their own barge-like platform.  Rivalries develop between boaters, and as we walk to our car after the show, we get another show that looks and feels like a war zone.  Call it “local-flavor”…

The day was a success!  Stephanie is visiting with us for the weekend, so we enjoyed good company.  We had some barbeque before hitting the beach (the kind somebody smokes for days on end…not the one in the backyard)…Cameron, where were you?  The drum circle girls were looking for Kristin…all in all it was a momentous day.

Oh, and it’s also Peter’s birthday!  Happy Birthday Peter!

Well…it was.  Cold, that is.  And rainy.  I wouldn’t call the month “bad” because…hey!…we got to see a lot of folks that are very important to us!  But the weather prevented us from doing a lot of things we would have liked to do, and as a result, our photo collection is sparse.  In fact, the gloomy weather must have had an adverse effect upon my thinking skills.  We had a beautiful day in Albany hiking with Peter and Mona, but did I take any pictures?  No!  I blew it!

So.  Let’s look at what we do have.  First, we arrived in the area and immediately caught up with the kiddies.  Yes!  Paris adores her time with her siblings, and this visit was no different.  We managed to get ‘em all!  Can you believe it?  And…we even met the lovely Michelle.  Cameron finally introduced us to his date after what…18 months?  “Hey Cameron!  Do we embarrass you?”  Hmmm…maybe we don’t now, but gimmie a minute, okay?

Michelle!  This is the young lady who will someday suffer my hands around her neck because she and Cameron text each other incessantly!

I’m kidding, Cameron…put the weapons down.  Here is the lovely Michelle sitting with the hairy version of Cameron:

Fast forward.  We hit Sami’s house, we hit Grammy’s house, we hit Oma’s house, and we descended upon Peter and Mona’s house.  We were all over the place during the first two weeks of June, and it rained non-stop.

Kristin had her prom.  Kristin had graduation.  Christopher graduated.  And Cameron’s birthday is Monday!  We had a lot to celebrate!

Since I had to leave a little earlier than expected, we celebrated Cameron’s birthday on Thursday.  Here are the greatest girls in the Universe enjoying lunch!

I have no idea what is happening here.  Obviously hairy Cameron has become hairless Cameron, and Herb has got some hair action going with that napkin.  Cameron thought it was funny…

And here, the Hairless One opens yet another birthday card.  He looks frustrated!  I guess it does get difficult opening such a large number of cards with checks and cash falling all over the place.  Such work!

We’re not following any chronological order here, so let’s jump back to our Broadway excursion.  Paris (and Mary Kate, Karen and I) ventured into the City to see The Little Mermaid. Fantastic!

Walking in the City!  When Mark, Kristin and Cameron were little, they used to beg me to “go walking” in the City.  We were never allowed to take a cab no matter how cold, how windy, or how rainy it was.  They loved — absolutely loved! — walking in the City.  Cameron was just a baby, so he got pushed around. What did he care?  I have pictures of all of us on the Empire State Building.  Alone.  It was so damn cold that no other person was silly enough to go up 100 stories in the snow and wind.  And when we came down?  “No cab!”.  We had to walk to our next destination and to our car.

So here are Paris and Mary Kate doing a little “walking”.  Paris isn’t as big a fan of New York City compared to her siblings, but she knows how to get around.

And what’s this?  Get ready!  Line up!  We’re here!

Cameras are not allowed in Broadway theaters, but I had mine ready.  We were in the second row, and I had some prime shots lined up.  But the seats were a mixed blessing.  I was in clear view of several Camera Nazis and ultimately, I decided against any photos because I figured it was a bad idea for Paris to see me being escorted out of the show.  It might have left a blight on her day.  I did find some promo shots online and, though not great, they give you a sense of the stage scenery and setting.  It was very impressive!

The “water” is colored sheeting of some sort with light tubes on the top to give it shape and a boundary. It rose and fell in realistic waves.  The performers all wore custom made (and costume appropriate) “heelies”.  If you have kids, you know the shoes I’m talking about.  The large wheel embedded in the heel allowed the actors to glide across the stage like fish gliding through water.  They even had to “wiggle” to get moving (just like a real fish).  Ursula (bottom left) was elaborate and brilliant!  The photo doesn’t do justice to the human-sized octopus moving convincingly across the stage.

Ariel was the show favorite, of course. And then Sebastian (no pix, but he’s the crab). But Paris’s favorite “off” character was this guy –

He’s the chef tasked with making dinner for Eric (the prince) and Ariel.  And he decides to make fish.  For a mermaid.  Pretty funny…

Last night in town!  At least for Dad, anyway…

Carnival!  Paris loves carnivals — what kid doesn’t?  And she has perfect, carnival companions…Kristin and Cameron!  The girls get ready to do some violent, multi-directional, torturous ride from Hell…

The operator wisely put Kristin on the outside.

Here they are getting on some other Death Trap.  This thing was called “Hurricane” (or something)…Paris is all smiles here, but in the end, she decided it was a “terrible, terrible” ride…

Why?  Well…would you ride something that goes round and round at high speed that some stoned, illegal bolted together the night before?  Look at this damn thing…

I don’t want to put unneccessary fears in the heads of any of my kids, but I think Paris is starting to figure out what makes sense in life and what doesn’t.

Speaking of which…I just got off the phone with Paris moments ago.  She’s having a blast with Tonte Stephanie at the Warwick house.  She’s got a few more days of New York before she comes home.

Mark is on a training block doing a little sailing.  As it turns out, he’s doing multiple, short trips instead of one long one.  His first was not his cup of tea.  They sailed from USNA to Baltimore, down to Solomons Island, and back to USNA.  He tells me that “Monster (the energy drink) plus no sleep plus waves at night are not a good combo.”  He didn’t lose his dinner, but it was close.  Apparently they sail through the night and the boat has to be manned (obviously).  He also complains that sleep is impossible because “tacking and jibing is loud and rolling into the wall tends to wake you up”.  One mid was hospitalized after hitting his head while trying to sleep.  Poor kids.  Getting paid to sail…

Hey!  Future Plebes!  Mark suspects that some day, when he might actually be responsible for some of you, that some of you may find this site.  Whenever he tells you to stop whining, refer him to this post!

(He will most certainly make me take this down…)

Kristin in Florida in three weeks!  Mark soon after.  Cameron soon after that!  Yeah Baby!

]]> http://trunzo.com/2009/06/27/june-mega-trip/feed/ 0 http://trunzo.com/2009/06/06/marks-new-best-friend/ http://trunzo.com/2009/06/06/marks-new-best-friend/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:05:19 +0000 Jay http://trunzo.com/?p=641 In our last post, we mentioned Mark’s new best friend — Aaron.  First, a little background…

This year, Karen decided that a “great” Valentine’s Day gift would be for the two of us to start training with a lunatic.  Specifically, she wanted to find someplace where we could box and somebody that could help us learn how to do it.  When your spouse suggests that a great way to demonstrate undying love is to beat the hell out of each other, one has to wonder about the state of the relationship.

It turns out that beating the hell out of each other is optional.  We opted out.  But a beating still takes place, and that’s the beating administered by Aaron three times a week.  I have a new-found respect for boxers — it is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, and I’ve done a bit of “difficult” in the past.

Meet Aaron Jaco.  He’s the National Boxing Association Light Heavyweight Champion.  He’s licensed as a boxer, trainer, and corner man in Florida.  He’s psychotic.

When we first met Aaron, he gave us an idea of what we could expect if we decided we wanted to train with him.  He’s an excellent salesperson.  Why?  Because during that first session, he encouraged us, he told us how great we were doing, and he told us he was impressed with our physical fitness.  That was Day One.  On Day Two, it became clear that we would need a ton of encouragement, we were far from great, and what we considered to be a decent level of physical fitness was really just a joke in the boxing world.  I can’t speak for Karen, but I have never worked so damn hard in my life.

I’ve also never had so much fun.  The workouts can be incredibly hard sometimes, but we always have fun.  After a few weeks of enjoyable torture, it dawned on me that someone we all know and love would benefit greatly from some time with Aaron.  That someone is Mark.

As most of you know, Mark is a good runner.  He’s an excellent fencer.  In High School, he enjoyed high State rankings in both.  Today, he knocks off 4:30 miles during workouts and thinks nothing of it.  He’s fast, his lower body is incredibly powerful, and he’s lean.  In short, Mark is in amazing shape.  A Perfect Victim for Aaron.

Mark’s first session with Aaron was a good one.  We always meet Aaron at 8 AM, and after a successful hour, Mark spent the rest of the day (and all of the next) complaining about how much he hurt.  I took this as a good sign.

Not wanting to miss any fun, Aaron suggested that Mark should try some sparring sessions.  At the Academy, Mark spent a semester learning how to box the Navy way, so he felt fairly comfortable getting in the ring. It turns out that boxing the Navy way is a lesson in how to remain standing while getting beat up.  At the Academy, learning to box is defensive.  The Navy prefers mixed martial arts on offense.  That class doesn’t happen until next year.  Ooops.  Good thing Mark learned how to take a punch.

First off, here’s the ring –

Looks like a great place to get beat up, right?  Karen and I are very, very familiar with it.  Just to get a complete picture, here’s some more of Aaron’s gym –

Okay, with the background set, please meet Aaron’s protege — Brain Karp.  Brian works and trains with Aaron, and he’s a tremendously fit 21 year old.  Perfect for Mark, but did I mention that I got to spar with him too?  Oh yes, the old guy gets in the ring with the young guy.  Oh my…

Doesn’t Brian look happy?  This picture was taken about 30 minutes after he went four rounds with me and seven with Mark.  Mark looks a little whipped, right? You don’t even want to now what I looked like.  Brian looks like he had the time of his life.  Like Aaron, he encouraged us both, told us how great we were doing, and kept saying how impressed he was with our first-time efforts. This, of course, means we’ll get beat up even worse next time.

There were a few highlights: here’s Mark trying to take Brian’s head off.  Mark made contact, but Brian made most of the punch miss.  If Mark’s experience was anything like mine, Brian followed up with two body shots that hurt like hell –

Here’s a shot that Mark put on Facebook.  He calls it “trying not to get killed” -

No matter how hard the beating, everyone has to clean up after themselves.  Here’s one exhausted puppy rolling up his wraps:

And here’s the man himself telling Mark how great he did.  Did I mention that Aaron is an excellent salesperson?  Despite the whoopin’ we took, Aaron has convinced Mark that he will spar again.  Mark returns in August.  Oh boy…

Mark looks a little tired, doesn’t he?  Oh…we covered that already.

Okay..Graduation!

This post was supposed to include a video of Kindergarten Graduation Day for Paris.  I’ve got a couple of hiccups to work out, and hopefully I’ll have everything ready within a few days.  I’m a little obsesseed with video quality — I could post something now, but it wouldn’t be up to our usual high standards.  So..stay tuned!