San Diego

Nov 15th 2014 — California — 7:24 pm

Last weekend I took a road trip down to San Diego to visit Val for her birthday. Some of the warmest November days I have ever spent in my life. A good time was had by all.

Kayaking Sunset Cliffs Group Pic Val Dog Ocean Michael and Val Sunset IMG_1373 IMG_1379

Yosemite Fall Storm

Nov 3rd 2014 — California,Yosemite — 6:23 pm

_JMS2873 The Rostrum Leidig Meadow Cook's Meadow _JMS2953 _JMS2962 _JMS2970 _JMS2974 _JMS2986 _JMS3004 _JMS3049 _JMS3058 _JMS3060 _JMS3067 Rocks

Yosemite Fall

Nov 2nd 2014 — California,Yosemite — 7:46 am

I have decided that October is my favorite month of the year.

El Cap The Merced Leconte Memorial Lodge Wash Col and North Dome El Portal Mist Trail 1 Mist Trail 2 Mist Trail 3 Half Dome Southside

El Capitan – East Ledges Descent

Oct 27th 2014 — California,Climbing,Walls,Yosemite — 8:38 am

The East Ledges descent is the quickest way to get down off the top of El Cap.

We were sitting under the rainfly on the summit trying to wait out the rain, and decided we were just going to get colder if we didn’t start moving.

IMG_2171 IMG_2174 IMG_2178 IMG_2184 IMG_2185 IMG_2188 IMG_2189 IMG_2191 IMG_2192 IMG_2193 IMG_2198 IMG_2204

The Nose, The Final Pitches

Oct 26th 2014 — California,Climbing,Walls,Yosemite — 6:25 am

Climbing from Camp 6 to the top. Once again narrowly avoiding getting rained on while we were climbing.

Ledge Overhead Carrboro Dude View At belay Last Pitch 1 Last Pitch 2 Last Move Michael Top Richard Top

An El Cap Evening

Oct 22nd 2014 — California,Climbing,Walls,Yosemite — 12:01 pm

The pictures are from our third and final night up there.

Currently it is the 3rd week in October and I have been living in the area since May 19th. There haven’t been more than 6 days that saw considerable rain during that time frame. Somehow we managed to be on El Cap for 3 of them.

DCIM100GOPRO IMG_2059 IMG_2067 IMG_2072 IMG_2083 IMG_2084 IMG_2088 IMG_2111 IMG_2125 IMG_2135 IMG_2148 IMG_2153

(Still) Climbing the Nose, El Capitan

Oct 19th 2014 — California,Climbing,Walls,Yosemite — 8:42 am

The climbing on day 3.

Started out at Camp 4 and ended up at Camp 6.

01_camp_4_first_light DCIM100GOPRO 03_richard_great_roof_looking_down 04_richard_great_roof_follow 05_great_roof_belay_from_tom 06_michael_great_roof_belay_selfie 07_great_roof_belay_looking_down 08_richard_pancake_flake 09_richard_pancake_flake_from_tom DCIM100GOPRO 11_michael_leading_from_tom 12_richard_ledge_rain

Climbing The Nose, El Capitan

Oct 17th 2014 — California,Climbing,Walls,Yosemite — 8:53 pm

4 days and 3 nights at the end of September.

These pictures are from the first 2 days.

The photos of us on the wall are courtesy of Tom Evans at www.elcapreport.com.

Big thanks to Richard for being such a cool dude and great climbing partner.

01_Dolt_tower 02_El_Cap_tower_selfie 03_el_cap_tower_clouds 04_el_cap_tower_bivy 05_texas_flake 06_Richard_Boot_flake DCIM100GOPRO 08_michael_king_swing DCIM100GOPRO 10_belay_before_camp_4 11_Richard_camp_four 12_Richard_climb

Cathedral Peak

Oct 12th 2014 — California,Climbing,Yosemite — 9:54 am

The Friday after the hang glider morning Sean and I climbed Cathedral Peak. The climbing is all quite mild but the setting is pretty special.

IMG_0912 IMG_0913 IMG_0914 IMG_0915 IMG_0920 IMG_0924 IMG_0925 IMG_0928 IMG_0931

Glacier Point Hangliding

Oct 11th 2014 — California,Yosemite — 8:53 am

To continue what was a pretty surreal couple of weeks, two days after I got down from Half Dome I worked some of my days off monitoring a film crew.

The first day I met them at 6:30am at Glacier Point. The plan was to film some hang gliders who were eventually going to land in the valley.

Hang gliding with a permit is allowable in the park. Base jumping is not.

IMG_0841 IMG_0842 IMG_0847 IMG_0854 IMG_0856 IMG_0860 IMG_0861 IMG_0864 IMG_0874

Half Dome Helicopter Evacuation

Oct 6th 2014 — California,Yosemite — 10:44 pm

Myself along with 80 tourists getting pulled off the top of Half Dome by helicopter due to the Meadow Fire spreading on Sept 7th, 2014.

A big Sunday.

Yo Jed and Germans Talk Writing Groups Incoming Ship Germans Leave Chopper Off Group On Top Watching Approaching Ship 2 Sentinel Dome Trio Jed Y Yo Chopper Landing Cockpit Dudemanbro 85 Percent Dome Down

Yosemite Meadow Fire: The Sequel

Oct 4th 2014 — California,Yosemite — 8:25 am

I have a huge amount of respect for the pilots whose job it is to fly a helicopter full of water through narrow canyons and get as close to a tower of smoke and flames as they can before dropping their cargo.

One thing that has resonated with me since I’ve been living in California is how huge of an operation fighting wildfires is. The ground aspect of fighting this fire involved sending several hundred firefighters up the Mist Trail to work and camp in LYV in the ensuing days.

Also, when you look at the pictures of the flames shooting over the tops of those trees remember that most of those trees are probably 100ft tall, at least.

“I am become Time, the destroyer of worlds.” – Vishnu, the Bhagavad-Gita

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Yosemite Meadow Fire

Sep 30th 2014 — California,Yosemite — 7:15 pm

Pictures of what was known as “The Meadow Fire”, in Yosemite National Park, spreading into Little Yosemite Valley and eventually to Cloud’s Rest on September 7th, 2014. A persistent drought combined with windy conditions meant the fire spread quickly.

These were taken from an Iphone in the early afternoon as the fire progressed.

Eventually the 80 or so hikers stranded on Half Dome were evacuated by helicopter with combined efforts of several local rescue agencies.

IMG_0651 IMG_0653 IMG_0657 IMG_0662 IMG_0666 IMG_0671 IMG_0672 IMG_0674 IMG_0678 IMG_0679 IMG_0682 IMG_0685 IMG_0691 IMG_0694 IMG_0695

Jump

Sep 13th 2014 — California — 10:28 am

We got down from the Prow and the next day we drove to Parachute Center in Lodi and went skydiving.

I was strapped to the front of a dude from Hungary named Roman who didn’t speak much English.

Highly recommended.

Sean Loading Plane Inside Richard Sign

The Prow, Washington Column

Sep 6th 2014 — California,Climbing,Walls,Yosemite — 8:57 am

Last week Richard and I climbed The Prow on Washington Column. This was the first time I had ever slept in a portaledge and the first time I have ever done a route where you have to haul all your gear up with you.

The route is steep and exposed, tall compared to the rest of the planet but a short wall by Yosemite Valley standards.

Props to Richard for swinging leads with me, all his help with rope management and hauling, and his easy-going attitude.

Start Pitch One Pitch 6 Half Dome Evening Richard Coffee Half Dome Morning Strange Dihedral Up Canyon Richard Climbing Richard Leading Second Night Evening Summit Yo Getting Down

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