It’s time to look forward into the next season’s prospects. However, those events are looking to be rather grandiose, and I am nowhere near pushing myself to any great limits just yet. Saddle Mountain should suffice with what time remains in the current season. I’ll either see a sea of clouds or just an ocean.
Been thinking lately. About the ocean. Vastness. Family. And friendships. Not too much, though. Mostly been thinking about God. And Love.
Not much to share other than an additional silhouetted climber and more mountainous environments. I would have been out hiking and capturing some new images this week, but some nasty illness had different plans for me. Perhaps by next week I will have put a stop to pulling out the archives: Isaac Holk climbing below Crater Rock on Mt Hood’s Old Chute route.
Some old photos are on display here of Mount Rainier (above) and Isaac Holk climbing Mount Adams with Mount Saint Helens in the background (below). Gearing into the snowy season is plenty exciting, but seeing old photos makes me want to capture something new as well. Anything creative, really. Having received a call from a Record Producer about some album cover photography today has me somewhat excited. I am definitely feeling the desire again.
Tonight was highly enjoyable. Although many would likely see it as bland I took comfort in it’s rest and development. And of course there were some costumes involved.
Step 2 in the recovery process toward my ankle’s torn ligaments went underway this afternoon. I rode my bicycle up Mt. Tabor to bask in the evening’s soft light. On my ride out, back into Tabor’s shadow, I came upon this faithful view of Mount Hood with it’s recently accumulated snow - my recovery goal sitting at step 4. Step 1 consisted of walking to a fro at work and step 3 will consist of Gorge hikes.
While my leg, ankle and foot progress back into a healthy state I find that my mind too is moving forward onto happier thoughts. Rather than longing to be in the mountains I am again thinking about when I will climb and what preparations will be required of such trips. I recall looking at Broken Top from a resting point along the Middle Sister’s south face, as seen above, and thinking of tackling it in the near future. I would like to climb it’s 9 o-clock couloir in the winter months to come.
Broken legs and torn ligaments are only a torment to my soul so long as I dwell upon the Mountains that surround me, but I cannot help but imagine. Mt. McLoughlin here looked like a rather enjoyable climb - seen from my descent off of Dutton Cliff along the Crater Lake Rim - and although I have climbed its summit, I have not taken any routes as seen from this point of view.
My grandmother turned 90 a few weeks ago. I, amongst many other friends and family, visited with Frances Evelyn Bortnem Holk and celebrated her life together. She is an amazing woman and I have a pretty neat family as well. Below my dad Raymond and his brother Eric exhibit emotions of troubleshooting.
Much of the California 1, and with it our trip, was covered in an extremely thick greyish fog-mist. As a byproduct of such weather I became rather irritable, which was a sad circumstance to our trip, but for a brief instance this turned around. When I awoke atop the cliffs at Big Sur to this brief window of blue sky and lifting clouds from the surrounding peaks life suddenly returned to me and I felt uplifted myself. This coastline is rather beautiful and I hope to see it in full glory someday.
