Yaak Crack Attack

Been a while since I tossed a climbing picture up here, so why not go all-in with an egomaniacal one?  This is me leading (alright, it was pretty hangdoggy) Yaak Crack, a 5.11d (!) in Red Rocks, NV.  Had some really interesting, if powerful, moves including a clip off a dicey hand jam.  Unfortunately I got stumped at the last bolt, the second crux.  Yay for perma-draws!  And yay for my friend grabbing this badass shot!

On point(e)

The brother and I stumbled upon this rock in a precarious pose while backpacking on Mt. Hood.  Idle hiker?  One-in-a-million glacial runoff deposit?  I know I'm pulling for the latter.

Hawkward!

Cause it's an owl.

Airports upon a hill, part two

The Lukla greeting committee, a combination of would-be porters and the (not pictured) Nepalese military.  Very few of these men, if any, are Sherpa- most porters in the Himalaya are of other ethnicities such as the Rai, Tamang, Magar, or Gurung, drawn from even poorer areas of the country without the big-money tourist draw of Everest or Annapurna.  Female Sherpa take portering jobs (internal ones rather than directly for the tourists, or so it seemed), but the men mostly stick to the high-prestige, highish-profit mountaineering and guiding.  Judging from the attitude of our friends' guide, some (most?) Sherpa look down on these ethnic interlopers a bit, especially those from the lowlands (who tend to be Hindu rather than Buddhist).

Airports upon a hill, part one

The tarmac at the Lukla airport, elevation 9,400'.  It can only be accessed in fine weather as there is no radar (in the planes or the airports).  It is bounded on both sides by cliffs- one to crash into, one to fall off of, and there is literally no buffer for either.  It was built at a 12% slope, not due to the (immense) difficulties of engineering an airstrip on the side of a mountain previously accessible only by a 6-day walk from the nearest paved road, but intentionally- planes need the downhill to achieve take-off speed, and the uphill to slow down fast enough to stop before the cliff wall.

Apparently a show on the History Channel titled Most Extreme Airports (historical!) rated Lukla the most dangerous in the world.  But I have to say, given the challenges of the environment and the volume of (impatient, lazy) tourists that come through there, I think the safety record is actually pretty impressive.

Although I am amused by the fact that the runway was initially graded by a few days of villagers running back and forth, packing down the earth with their bare feet.

Cities upon a hill, part two

A few days deeper into the mountains, and things get much less developed.  These are a few yak farms on the edge of Dole village, which in addition to the smattering of private homes, consisted of two bare-bones lodges.  At this altitude, too, wood-burning is prohibited due to extensive deforestation, and so our only source of warmth, the common-room stove, used dried yak dung as fuel.  Sustainable, but acrid as hell.  Makes for a much earlier retreat to the sleeping bag.  But it don't matter, cause mountains!

Cities upon a hill, part one

Namche Bazaar, elevation around 12,000', in the Himalaya.  According to wikiped, it had a (permanent?) population of 1,647 as of 2001.  And at any given time in the season, I wouldn't be surprised if there were about that many tourists as well.  Or more.

Namche is the gateway to the upper Khumbu, the reward atop the first major climb and the most comfortable place to take a few acclimatization days.  Pretty much all of those buildings are large, relatively (relatively) posh lodges.  The rest are bars (AC/DC on a loop!), bakeries (ubiquitous!  a Nepalese predilection?  pandering to tourists? regardless, sources of amazing deliciousness, especially considering the difficulties of cooking at altitude), and random amenities (banks, gear shops, bookstores, roughly a bajillion gift shops, etc.).  We spent two days here; playing asshole & hearts over baked goods and learning to play Settlers of Catan in het Nederlands.  

The tail end of the monsoon was still beating us with near-constant rain, but every now and again the clouds would lift a little bit and give us some of our first mountain views.  This was taken on our short little acclimatization hike, from near the Syanboche Airport (used for evacs, supply runs, and the very, very rich) on the hill behind the village.

In the spotlight

A room of statuary, deserted but for the guard.  Not sure what museum this is in- the Met?  The PMA?

Balls.

Apparently I'm still feeling abstract.  Defunct fountain + public art, Girona, Spain.

Metallurgy

More beauty amid decay: texture and color swathing an abandoned house in Bodie, CA.

Dichotomous

Juxtaposition in Shanghai; out with the old.