Hi Folks!
I’ve been incredibly busy whipping this site together. Great news is, there is a forum soon to be appearing on here. Comments can be made…and comments can be made from those comments..and so on. :) One thing I’m looking forward to is creating a partner search/meetup section for all these activities. Incidentally, I was happy to recently link climber, Lisa Rands up with fellow climber, Donna Kwok. Lisa, who is headed out to China to climb, read Donna’s interview on here and wanted to meet more women to climb with. This site will be a great resource for that…
I finished interviewing superstar snowboarder, Jess Kimura (photo at left) over the phone last night – her work has her in Mammoth currently but she’s headed back to Canada after this trip. She must be one of the most adorable girls on this earth…and I’m not saying that just because she’s an asian/white mutt like me (she’s half Japanese, half Canadian) but she is super sweet – very forthcoming – insanely talented (skater, rider, writer, filmer, builder, etc..) and hilarious…..interview soon to be up.
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If you haven’t had the opportunity yet, please check out the amaaaaazing documentary, ‘Afghan Star’. No, there isn’t exactly actions sports involved – but the documentary really exercises your thoughts about living in a war-torn country….and also being a woman. I promise that you’ll find it interesting and pretty crazy…
The premise is about a group of young Afghans competing for the ultimate pop-star title of “Superstar” (almost like ‘American Idol’). But what ensues is almost horrifying – especially for one of the female contestants. You’ll stay gripped in your seat – and then won’t believe how lucky you are to have certain freedoms – because even to sing and dance can have tight regulations if you are a girl. It’s really worth it to watch…I saw it on HBO on accident (I never watch tv but was at a friend’s house in NYC at the time).
A trailer here:
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Anyway, due to several injuries (left pointer finger completely swollen up with pain and tendonitis in both my hands) I haven’t been climbing. It’s driving me nuts….but I’ve focused on trail running in Red Rocks’ beautiful steep canyon trails and swimming in a local pool.
I’d really like to climb my first big wall soon here – start with the Leaning Tower then something more aggressive if all goes well. We’ll see how that goes – finding an experienced and patient partner is definitely the first necessity. My mind and eyes have been consuming the book, “Big Walls” by John Long and John Middendorf. A bit old, however still great information; the basics and the reading is so good…these guys were actually pretty artful, expressive writers. It comes off musical in a practical sort of way….
I’ll leave you with some photos from a brief trip to the Gunks last month. My partner Dave and I went to The Lost City and toproped the day away since neither of us had gear. Thanks to Dave Dougan for the photos and the tour!
Have an awesome weekend. Enjoy it! :)
My Gunks partner, Dave Dougan…either checkin’ the tree tops or the clouds. He’s memorized the secret trail to “The Lost City” so no need to look down.
feeling gunky in ‘The Lost City’…NY
Where the wild things are! In ‘The Lost City’, Gunks, NY.
