Monday, February 24, 2003

well it looks like ice season is winding down here in the south. i have not found any decent scratching or swinging the past two weekends. it looks like the spring rains are moving in early so it is time to start planning a april trip to colorado to keep from going into withdrawl symptoms. i cannot believe how busy work is so i guess it is for the best that the ice has melted. if anyone knows of any decent ice in the n.c., ky., or w.v. areas please let me know. i would love to do a weekend trip or two before the entire southeastern season ends.
i have added some n.c. skiing to the website and done a little more work in the ice section. looks like we will be switching to rock climbing and cycling before long.
michael

Thursday, February 06, 2003

time does pass quickly...
it doesn't seem like two weeks since i last posted but the server time stamps seldom lie. life has been super busy still. work has picked up tremendously of late. after having a poor year in 2002 i believe some of the new administration's policies are starting to take hold. december through february is usually my slow business season. that is why it is always so easy to take time off for ice climbing. this december was actually quite busy and we just closed the books on a very good january. all this while still getting 22 days of ice climbing and 7 days of skiing thus far this season. we now have more work piled to do than we can probably get out in the month of february and more coming in regularly. if this keeps up i'll have to re-evaluate the length of this years mountaineering trip. i really hate it when work interferes with climbing but a living has to be made.
the ice climbing down south has been outstanding this year. there have been climbable routes in condition for the past 5 to 6 weeks. with what has hung on through this last warm spell and the predicted weather pattern it should stay around for another week or two at least, if not longer. this may be one of the more consistent years in recent memory. i have climbed a lot of ice that i had never climbed before this season including three new routes on whitesides, a couple of new things at grave yard and two new routes here in hall county georgia less than 10 miles from the gainesville city limits. it was two routes of about 100 ft. with the harder being grade 2- and the easier being grade 1. the temps were below 10 degress and the ice on both was no more than an inch or two thick. not very hard but not very safe. i have been watching these falls for 15 years and never seen them frozen in any form. i was so excited that when i grabbed my boots and tools out of the truck i forgot my new helmet and by the time i realized it i couldn't spare the time to go back to the truck. the "crux" of the harder route fell off after i climbed it while i was climbing the easier route. when we managed to climb blue falls earlier in the season the crux fell off before the second could follow it. i watched a good deal of it fall off just below my feet leaving me on wet rock. lots of fun.
i have done a fair amount of work on the website of late. most of it has been in the ice climbing section. i have added to the whitesides section. added a graveyard page. started my gear section and worked on my technique page. i am still in the middle of major construction here so keep checking back. the ski and snowboard sections both have seen some work. i have also worked a little on my reloading section and several other sections. i have lots of new material to post just need enough time to get it all put together. hope everyone is doing well and remember the troops that are currently defending our way of life and the ones soon to be committed to an even bigger front. have faith that waht we are doing is for the greater good and support the president in his decisions. off soapbox.
michael

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