The Evening Redness in the West

Indian Creek, Utah.  End of my first day of splitter climbing, last November.  No scalphunters or gigantic, bald, erudite, bloodthirsty demons encountered.

Serenity Now!

I feel like I've used that title before, but I don't care.  When I look at this picture, I hear those little chimes used in yoga classes to bring you out of Shavasana.  Serenity now, indeed.

Road to Nowhere

Late afternoon busting through lingering storm clouds over a very pleasant bike path near Copper, Colorado.

Woo!

Rising Dark

Ominous title for a pleasant little post.  JS on Tube Steaks Tomorrow, a pleasant little hand crack!  The best part of the route is the many opportunities for laybacking, which I, sport climber, never appreciated so much before I entered the land of the splitters.

Natural Light

Evening sun through denuded cottonwood trees, in the valley between the cliffs of Indian Creek.  A break from pictures of climbers.

Ruins on the Mountain

Looking down the Khumbu valley towards the inexorable, inevitable evening clouds rising over Ama Dablam.  These ruins are on the east side of the river, across from the "village" of Duhgla.  We...should not have been on that side of the river as the sun set!

Halfway to the "Wedding Day"

Yours truly putting up Wedding Day, 10b, as the sun sets behind the dihedrals of Smith Rock.  For an easy route, this had a bit of  a heady crux for me.  Stood there like an idiot for a while before I could commit- sometimes a good no-hands rest is a liability!  And while I was dithering, the guy on the 12+ around the corner whipped out of his crux about five times.

The Remains of the Day

Bonfire, dying.

On the Farm

End of the day, cleaning Sex Farm, a 12a, down in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky.  Shot from a recessed shelf about halfway up.  This was our third day climbing and the first with sun and dry holds; the first day I really got to taste what the Red has to offer.  Which is a lot!

Away!

Imma go here.  Imma do this (sorta).  Back in a week!

Dam.

In the lochs of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, China.  I seem to recall spending the night in this boat stairway.  Water goes up, water goes down.  Very. slowly.

Island life

Some friends of mine are in St. Lucia right now...

Jerks.

Meanwhile, I went down to Occupy Philly and was aggressively hit on by one cop and about ten drunk homeless men. Oh, and there was some protest action too.  Not action-action, a la Oakland or PDX, but the somewhat more civilized kind.

Oh, and this picture is from a trip to St. Croix (guess I can't complain too much...), taken on film and somewhat shittily scanned, hence the grain.  Still, I find it a soothing image. 

Dew

Sunrise dew on the bushes outside my tent, Dolly Sods, WV.

Ama Dablam

Egregious gap in mountain pictures!  Too many goons on rocks- gotta step back and get the whole boulder.

Everest gets all the press, but Ama Dablam, just south of the big man in the Khumbu Valley, is easily the most arresting and beautiful of the peaks in the area.  Also one of the most visible- it is one of the few mountains that you can see from a variety of points in the valley.  This was taken from Dughla, just across the river from the end of the Cho La pass.  I wanted so badly to get some quality alpenglow shots on this trip, but was each day foiled by the relentless march of late afternoon clouds.  This was the closest I ever got- within about 10 minutes those clouds had rolled up to envelop me.  Still, I think this came out quite well.

Uncomplicated

It's just pretty.  Sunset, Half Dome, Yosemite.  About as idiot-proof as photography gets.

Back!

And I have new mountain pictures to prove it.

The Maroon Bells, most beautiful set of mountains in Colorado (Don't believe me?  Just ask any calendar).  Shot was taken around 5am from around a mile and a half down the trail, at Crater Lake.  Unfortunately we were too far underneath them by the time they started to get alpenglowed for them to retain their distinctive shape, otherwise this would be in glorious color (just like all those calendars). 

Compooter is borked!

Possible hiatus, inc.  In the meantime, here's a pretty mountain.

Sunrise in Dole village, Nepal.  I love the way the shadows play off the geological strata in that mountain.

Night & Day

Renmin Square, Chongqing, before & and after sunset.  This was indeed a People's square, an evening gathering place for a city the size of Pennsylvania (in area- it's population is more than double PA's) - tai chi, group dances, children's martial arts.  Great, positive energy; a joy to experience, even from the outside.

Kathmandu- Durbar Square

Not gonna lie- I'm pretty proud of this shot.  Especially considering I took it without a tripod.  Steady hands, ya'll.  Let me surgery you.

Anyway.  Once a great temple complex, Durbar Square in Kathmandu has become a hectic evening market frequented by tourists, locals, and cows.  The cows, incidentally, did not seem so happy or healthy.  Lie down-stand up-poop-take a step-lie down.  There's a mental image to go with this e-tangible one- they complement each other, no?