Scratched and Dented

It's again time for the REI Scratch and Dent sale, and I again found some good stuff.

Several of us went two hours early, and got in line so we could get first dibs on the deals. We were not disappointed.

I was hoping for ski boots. They had more skis, but no boots. I did find warm cycling gear, so I am closer to being able to bike in cold weather. I also found a nice pair of convertible pants. The two best buys, as you would expect, were things I neither needed nor was really looking for.

The first crazy buy was an inflatable kayak (retail $600). I couldn't pass this one up. It looks brand new, but the tag said it has a leak somewhere (which are easy as pie to fix on these), and was priced at $50. If nothing else, eBay can help support my S&D habit.

The next find was a GPS (retail $350). This one was nothing to look at. It has scratches on it, and one of the main controls was broken (the top of the joystick came off), but still felt like it worked. It was priced at $25, so I was willing to take the chance. Turns out the thing works perfectly. I just played with it and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it except for being a little worn!

Altogether I got about $1,200 worth of clothing and gear for $150. Gotta love used stuff!

Selective Amnesia

I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and I realized that I had completely blocked out my other trip to Ray Benson Sno Park. I mentioned the other two in my blog below, but as I tried to remember what I had done on the weekend before that, it came flooding back to me in a rush of remembered pain and cursing.

That weekend the downhill area (known as HooDoo) was having a Try Telemark day, where you could try out gear for telemark skiing for free with a lift ticket. I went along, knowing that there were back country trails nearby (my knees don't take downhill very well).

It turns out that it had dumped about 2ft of new snow on the trials just a few days prior to that, and the Rangers were just digging out the parking lot shelter. No one had been on the trails yet.

Furthermore, I was alone, since everyone else who drove out wanted to do the downhill stuff.

I don't know if you've ever tried breaking a back country trail on skis, but I assure you it is made more difficult when you sink up to mid-calf on every step.

Normally, the snow is packed down well enough that even when breaking trail you only sink a few inches. After all, you're on skis that cover a lot of surface area. This, I found, it not the case when there is a lot of new powder.

So, I had to push my skis forward and rely on the bent tips to bring them back towards the surface. Of course, as soon as I put weight on the now emerging ski, it would sink back into the depths.

While this was rather slow going and strenuous, it was not all that bad on level ground. "Ah, but Tony", you ask, "weren't you in the woods? With hills and curves and evil nasty invisible snow worms, similar to those Kevin Bacon dodged in the sandy desert, that tried their hardest to make you fall down into the most awkward positions possible so they could come and eat your cold dead body???".

Unfortunately, yes.

Understand that this was probably my fifth trip skiing, and that the uphill parts were hard for me on a broken trail under good conditions. In these conditions, a very small incline would do its best to simulate the kind of hill that you normally drag roller-coasters up with chains.

You see, all of the traction on xc skis is in the middle. Little fish scales that let the ski slide forward, but tend to grip when moving back. If you cannot get weight on the middle, you get no traction at all and slide backwards.

Now, take an incline where you are sinking nearly up to your knees. As you put weight on the ski, where does the weight go first? The tips, which have been bent upwards as you have slid them forward. The spring of the ski then tends to lift the middle (where the traction is) off of the ground. So, as I would try to make progress up a hill, I would find myself suddenly sliding backwards.

The other techniques to get up hills are to walk with your legs wide, skis pointed outwards, or to turn completely sideways and sidestep up the hill. Unfortunately, the skis are not attached to your heels, so either of these techniques is very difficult in deep new snow, because you have to pick up the ski to move it forward. If you are side-stepping, this means the front of the ski comes up, but not the back. This, in turn, means that you are trying to drag a large, flat-faced object uphill through heavy, deep snow. This is not so bad to do for one iteration, but rapidly turns into a task with all of the charm and none of the cuteness of walking up a long flight of stairs with two four-year-old children attached to your legs.

Needless to say, there was much cursing. But the fun doesn't stop there! I haven't even mentioned falling!

Falling on cross country skis rarely hurts (I would say never, but my keyboard isn't made of a wood-like substance worthy of knocking on). The hassle is getting up. Your legs are attached to long objects, and you have to use your poles to hoist your weight around. You get the hang of it after a while, but it is very tiring.

Now, with skis sinking nearly a foot into the snow, you can imagine that the poles were sinking a lot more than usual. Probably two feet. This is not normal, and requires a lot of extra effort to lift them out as you make forward progress.

When you fall in these kinds of conditions, you start to think that hypothermia wouldn't be so bad.

Remember, you need the poles to move your weight around; however, every time I put more weight on them, they just sank deeper. Oftentimes you need to pull a pole out rapidly to balance yourself as you stand up. Not happening.

I went a total of about 1.5 miles in a little over 2 hours. I was trying to reach a snow shelter, but when I saw a big uphill section .25 miles from the shelter, I decided I'd rather ski through burning sulfurous pools in hell.

I tell you, the trip almost put me off skiing for good.

One might wonder: "and you went again the next weekend for what reason?"

Um....peer pressure?

On the plus side, I found that I was much better at it. I guess all of that struggling was good for something.

Fun With Research

I have settled into my new job as a research assistant. It is an interesting experience to have an office in an academic building where you also attend classes. Basically, I go in at 8 and leave at 5. During that time I read papers, do homework, go to classes, attend talks, and do whatever reading/writing/thinking that my adviser tells me to do.

I have my pictures hanging on my office walls, and my post-doc office mate has arrived from Germany.

Now if I could just get into my class homework as much as I am enjoying the rest of it...

Skiing Like a Madman

Well, I have officially graduated to moderately competent in cross-country skiing. I've been out in the snow for the last three weekends running, and am feeling pretty confident. I even went down a pretty hairy hill with bumps and all sorts of unevenness and didn't even break anything. Heck, I didn't even fall down.

The last two weekends I went to Ray Benson Sno Park, which is in Santiam pass between here and Bend. It is a bit of a drive, but the trails are great, as are their shelters. The only downside is that there are snowmobile trails. Nothing breaks up the tranquility of skiing through the woods more than unmuffled two-stroke engines spewing noxious gases. Aren't these things meant for transportation in the Yukon??? Ah, outdoor adventure for those averse to exercise. Don't get me started on Jet Skis.

This week I have started initiating trips for the UO outdoor program. Basically, you plan a trip, post it, and people sign up to go. The program gives the trip initiator (i.e. ME) free gear rentals. Score! They also have large vans you can rent, so if you get a big group you can all share the costs of transportation.

I am planning on taking a group night hiking up the Butte this week, and next week I am taking a group up Eagle's Rest to do some star gazing. I'm hoping someone has a telescope they can bring along.

In February they have Kayak practice sessions at the pool, so I am going to try to get competent at kayak rolls so I can suggest a sea kayak trip to the coast. I had planned to do some kayaking in the Sound last year, but didn't end up going. Looks like if I plan it right, I can do it this summer for a lot less than I expected to spend last time.

Blog in The Headlights

I've just returned from a week-long trip to Utah. Bubbles the Crag-Finding Wonder van survived the trip with only one more dashboard light illuminated than when I left, bringing the total to three (check engine, airbag, and oil change). They're good for making passengers nervous, so I try to keep as many of them going as I can before actually heading in for service.

I've decided I should start calling my van Sparky instead of Bubbles. I think I'll treat "Bubbles" as the van's Porn Name from now on. I'm not sure why I want to call it Sparky...it just seems to fit. Every time I find myself coaxing it through some rough spot, I find myself patting the dash and saying "Come on sparky!". So, there it is.

You might wonder how my van got the name Bubbles in the first place. The Crag Finding part is obviously related to climbing, and the wonder part has to do with the four-wheel drive.

Bubbles was what the previous owner had named it. Had they never told me that, I would have blissfully christened it something different, but once someone tells you a factoid like that, you either guard it like the formula to Coke, or find some way to make use of it. I certainly couldn't tell the story of the van's previous name without some social protection from the obvious soul castrating tauntings due a single white science-pedigreed male driving a mini-van that used to be called Bubbles; four-wheel drive or not.

Therefore I decided that I should keep the name. People don't taunt an intentional joke.

Sparky The Crag Finding Wonder Van -- Porn name Bubbles

Anyway, you might want to hear about the trip. Well, I was originally going to Utah to see some friends, and do some adventuring in some slot canyons. I had the wet suit for dealing with the short swims in cold water, all of the gear for doing the rappels into the various abysses, USGS maps of the interesting canyons, etc.

I talked to a park ranger in Zion National Park, and he described the conditions. I relayed these to my partner Renn. Renn decided he was getting too old to freeze his butt off in a canyon, and decided he'd rather not.

So, I ended up just going and visiting friends. I essentially hung out indoors the entire week.

Still, it was a nice trip. Saw some movies, ate good food, hung out with gay actors on New Years Day (my friends are heavily involved in Theatre). You know, the normal kind of stuff.

I am now, however, so lacking in recent exercise that I get winded on a flight of stairs, so my friend Danae and I did a little night hike up Spencer's Butte, which is a nice hour-long round trip hike up a big wooded hill South of Eugene.

I wonder what snow conditions will be this weekend...