September 3, 2010 - It's has been about a week working at a new school and I am starting to learn how the school runs. Getting used to the schedule and the students take a little bit of time, but the kids are starting to do well and though they still have some difficulty understanding certain things, if they are patience, I think they will eventually get it. I am also getting to know many of my colleagues at my new school. Most of them are very nice, espescially the German teachers like Dirk, Urika, and Peter. The other foreign teachers are nice also. However, there are a few of the younger teachers who are quite arrogant in my view point. There are two teachers (Tran, with a Chinese heritage and his wife, Canadien) in particular from Canada, who are arrogant, opinionated and annoying to say the least. I associate mostly with the teachers from Germany and the UK because they are more likeable and professional. The American teachers in my work area tend to commune with other English speaking teachers. Some of them are taking Grerman classes to learn the language. I,on the other hand, am learning to speak German by frequenting the local bakery and cafe and trying to talk with the patrons of the cafe. This morning, I was able to communicate better with them and was able to learn their names and shared a few laughters with them. It was quite pleasant and rather fun.

 

September 2, 2010 - I have been in Germany for a little over one week now and I am learning more about the culture and language. People here are generally nice and helpful even when I know not how to communicate in German. If I want to get anything here, I have to use the word "bitte" with almost everything I say.

 

The farmer's market here is quite amazing and there are lot's of fresh produce. There is not really a supermarket here so shopping for food needs some planning. And of course it is difficult to find things I need when everything is written in German.

 

A couple of annoying things here are that many people smoke and they tend to thrown the cigarette butts everywhere. I saw a public trash receptor smoldering because someone threw a still lit cigarette into the trash. The other annoying thing here is that pet (dog) owners here do not pick up after their pets and there are plenty of dog dropping in the street. It makes jogging around Frankfurt a tad bit dangerous.

 

August 23, 2010 - Germany is pretty cool in its cultural diversity. However, I quickly found the German people to be somewhat cautious and are not quick to respond when you say hello or good morning to them. My German friends I met in Yosemite lied when they told me there is no fast food restuarants in Germany. Today, I saw McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, KFC and Pizza Hut near the train station. There are also many cafes here and an abudant of food from all ethics. The food are all quite heavy and if I don't watch out or excersize, I am going to get really fat.

 

August 19, 2010 - I am getting ready to board a plane to Europe. Flying out of LAX is quite an ordeal. Next time, I am going to try for a smaller airport where traffic is not so busy. I hope to have a lot to write about as I explore Germany, Italy, France, and many other countries.

 

August 18, 2010 - It has been a long summer filled with may adventures. My favorite has to be fly fishing on the upper North Tongue, but all activities from climbing in Yosemite to catching waves in Laguna and exploring the Rockies were all terrific memories. The people I have met (old and new) during this past year have all contribute something positive to my life and I wanted to express my gratitude to them. The memories will be forever lasting. I am looking forward to a new chapter as I begin my next adventure in life.

 

So as I am ready to make some changes in my travel and take on new challenges, I am just reflecting back on how it came to this crossroad. I guess had it not been for the corruptness of the Catholic high school in Modesto, I would not have been able to have so much fun this past year and a half. I also wanted to expressed my dissapointment with the Catholic Church and its followers on their philosophies and stances on issues. It is sad that no one is taking responsibility for the unethical practices that is going on in the Church. Also, their stance on not recognising the equal rights of everyone shows how ignorant and still immature and primative their minds are developed. I totally support anyone who will stand up against the Catholic Church such as Ann Rice and Sinead O'Conner, to expose the corruptness that is being practiced. It also shows that there are many people in our society who are nothing but a fake and will never be strong enough to stand on their own and to walk their own paths so they have to associate themselves with groups such as the Catholic Diosce whether it is ethical or not. I had the opportunity to work with such people two years ago at CCHS and I hope they will make changes for the better in their ethical views and not just follow blindly.

 

July 22, 2010 - It was fun meeting up with Roy, Ken, Ted and their friends Dan, Jay, and Bunkie to fly fish the Big Horn River and Tongue River. We all had fun catching big rainbow and brown trout. Ken and Ted are terrific guitarists and it was a treat to listen to them play. Roy finally figured out how to fish the Big Horn after being there five or six years ago and was able to land some big fish. On the Tongue, we shut down on the lower section and caught many mountain whitefish, but I managed to land a nice rainbow and cutthroat. Everyone had a great time when we decided to head up to the North Tongue and had a field day landing cutthroats, rainbows, browns, and brookies. Ken in one spot pulled out fifteen fish. It was a great trip overall, even catching the mountain whitefish. My next destination is Colorado to fly fish some of my favorite streams there and to do some climbing, but mostly to rest and enjoy the sceneries.

 

July 15, 2010 - After spending 5 days mountain biking in Oregon and 100+ miles of single track later, I am ready to spend some time relaxing by a river. I am heading to Montana tomorrow to fly fish the Big Horn River and other great streams nearby.  

 

June 16, 2010 - It has been a while since I last logged on during my road trip. After climbing in Yosemite Valley for two months and getting on El Cap several times, I decided it was time to leave and head to New Mexico. I stopped in Sequoia National before meeting up with Kate and Stephen in Lone Pine, CA. We hung out for about four days camping and fly fishing in Lone Pine, Bishop, and Lee Vining. After that I bid farewell and headed to Death Valley for a camping trip in the desert. I arrived in New Mexico yesterday and climbed a 5.11b crack at White Rock. It kicked my butt...however it was fun. I am heading to the Jimez Mountains next.

 

May 26, 2010 - Rest day today since it has been somewhat cloudy and rainy. The forecast is for good weather after tomorrow and we plan on going up all the way on the Nose. Yesterday, I went up one pitch when it got really cold and windy. We were passed by Alex Hono and his climbing partner Uwe? on the Nose as the are planning to break the speed record. I hope we are not going to get in their way, but if we are they should have no trouble going by us. I found my first booty gear on El Cap yesterday, #9 Black Diamond stopper.

 

May 20, 2010 - As much as I like climbing in Yosemite Valley, I dislike the idea of climbing in the Valley and have to deal with the rules and crowd that are associated with Yosemite. If it is supposed to be a wilderness area, I think the administrators of the park missed the target. Yosemite is pretty much a crowded town filled with traffic and noise. Also for a park that pride on the vistas and wilderness beauty, the park's policies certainly keep people from exploring the park by restricting the time people can spend in the park. Perhaps someday they may change their policies or perhaps give the land back to the Native American, who happens to be the rightful owner. 

 

May 17, 2010 - I have not been able to get internet for sometime so many great things have happened since my last update. We have been able to climb the Freeblast on the Salathe to Mammoth Terrace and spent a night on the wall. I have met so many nice people from around the world (Spain, Germany, Canada, England, and Czech Republic). Arana and Sergei were fun to climb with when we were climbing along side them on the Freeblast. Joe and Conrad were a fun father and son team from Vancouver, B.C. who literally burned down Camp 4 each night with their huge campfires. Steve and Kate were just fun people from the England. Lutz and Isabella (Easy) were fun boulderers with Lutz almost sending Midnight Lightning. I had a great time taking Tessa, Danka, Mishi, and Marc climbing. They all did great for their first time climbing in Yosemite. Every night seems to be a great festivity back at camp with huge dinners and laughters. It has been a pretty good month in the Valley. 

 

April 20, 2010 - I just finished packing my haul bag for my climb on El Cap this week. My friend Alex is excited about making his first El Cap attempt. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and provide us with good weather. We packed supplies for three and a half days and our plan is to complete the route in three days with a day to camp at the top if there is not much snow still on top. It will be nice to come back to Yosemite Valley.

 

April 18, 2010 - I just got through climbing at Red Rocks and Joshua Tree today. It was fun to meet many nice people. We had a lot of fun climbing some cool new routes and also some that I have climbed in the past.

 

April 2, 2010 - Wow it's been awhile since my last entry. Since then, I have been climbing in Cochise, Indian Creek, Red Rocks (twice), and now Joshua Tree. During this Easter weekend, I took some time off and drove to Laguna Beach and caught some waves. My first time surfing was pretty cool. Unfortunately, it is hard to surf and take photographs so there is no photos of me riding a nice wave. The weather is getting nicer and hopefully, the climbing in the Valley this year is one to remember if I can get all three big wall routes (Triple Direct, The Nose, and Salathe).

 

February 5, 2010 - I have not written or updated my site since I have been resting during my winter off season of climbing. But now, I am back on a climbing trip and hopefully fun adventures await.

 

December 12, 2009 - Our society is too forgiving and complacement perhaps. At the same time we will also step on other and cheat to get ahead and not consider the consequences. The words ethical and moral have taken on a broad interpretation to accomodate the situations. I believe our society in general and on average is lacking the moral and ethical qualities.

 

I have taught in many schools from Arlington High School, an urban school to Central Catholic High School, a private school and one of the worse institutions I have worked for. The complaints that people raise about the lack of education only escalate the moral and ethical problems we face. At one school, we had 38 valedictorians the one year I was there. At other schools where there were fewer valedictorians, the majority of students were on A and B Honor Rolls. We can interprete these results to say our students are doing extremely well in school. But then why are people still complaining about the lack of preparation in our educational system? Grade inflation is running wild and teachers are pressured from every sides (administrators and parents) to inflate grades. We are promoting that it is okay to take shortcuts in our society since I can remember. For every cheater that is caught, so many others are getting through and in many instances, we are allowing them to do so and at times are in partnership to help them cheat. This is why we have to redefine the meanings of moral and ethical regularly to meet our needs. I hear people preach about moral and ethical practice, but the ones who are doing the preaching are the ones who are the doing most of the cheating. Only it is not wrong according to their moral and ethical definitions. The last school I was at resonates this moral and ethical practice. They are truly hypocrites from top down, hiding behind their doctrine.

 

November 4, 2009 - It's game six of the 2009 World Series. As I am watching the Yankees on the verge of winning the World Series, it is curious if people are wondering whether the Yankees deserve to win the title since some of their star players have admitted to using steroid in the past. Why anyone would cheer for those who have cheated is beyond comprehension. It is strange to see that cheating are rewarded in our society.

 

October 16, 2009 - "Entitlement", I always stop to ponder when I hear this word. The current generations are characterized with this power of entitlement. Rebecca came back from her trip to Hilton Head in South Carolina and described her experience there saying she felt the people behaved in such manner. The sense of entitlement can be seen in all aspects of our society. I compare entitlement to work ethic in that people feel they don't need to work as hard to still receive what they want and need. There are too many people who are lazy and want to take shortcuts or just are not producing quality work. When I was in industry, I work with several chemist and lab techs who would string their work out to pretend to be busy so they don't have to work as much. In sports, you see plenty of athletes making lots of money before they have proven their worth. Likewise, in education students want their high grades instead of trying to earn their grades and more importantly, earning and gaining knowledge. We are living in a lazy society with many people feeling they are entitled without proving their worth.

October 15, 2009 - I got all my paperwork completed for travel. Now it is a matter of waiting to see what United States Immigration will do next. Hopefully it will not take too long to go through the process of naturalization and passport application.

I have been planning for next summer bike trip to Oregon. It's hard to coordinate when people are not responding to my emails. As expected, big trips tend to get put together last minutes when people can't procrastinate any further or they find out they want to come at the last minute. In any case, it should be a great biking trip.

October 5, 2009 - What an amazing weekend climbing in Indian Creek. Micheal Wheat almost had an on-sight attempt at the four star splitter "Luxury Liner", but had to hang due to lack of stamina. We did a bunch of 5.9 to 5.11 climbs that all gave us a workout. Besides the terrific climbing, the desert valley provided the perfect setting with beautiful colors from the golden leaves of Autumn to the orange glow of the red sandstones. Today, I went cycling through the beautiful Colorado River canyon in Moab. It has to be one of the most scenic rides I have ever done.

I also wanted to say thanks to all who have read my journal and provided support with your emails. It is nice to see there are many people who share my academic point of view. However, there are a few who disagree. Hopefully, they will realize someday that they need to raise their academic standards and not just trying to inflate their grades.

October 1, 2009 - I went cycling through the beautiful Red Rocks of Southern Utah near Moab. The sunrise and sunset are spectacular reflection the spiritual rocks to life. The weather is beginning to show signs that winter is coming. Autumn is definitely here with the air crisp and cool in the morning. The cottonwoods and aspens are beginning to turn a brilliant yellow/gold color and shimmer with the slightest of breeze.

Mike is arriving tomorrow to go climbing. He has indicated the climbing in Indian Creek is difficult. Good crack techniques will help, but the rocks will still prove challenging.

September 29, 2009 - I am driving through Arizona heading to Indian Creek. It will be my first time climbing the beautiful splitter cracks of the red sand stones.

September 28, 2009 - I spent two days climbing with Hayley in Bishop and pulled a rib muscle trying to climb an over hanging sport route. It was fun in Bishop. We spent some time hanging out at the swimming hole to beat the heat. She is definitely a neat and very smart gal.

After Bishop, I headed to Joshua Tree to meet up with Tom, Derrick, and Kerry to climb some underrated climbs at Indian Cove. Kerry kept picking out these 5.7s that ended up much harder. Anyway, we hard fun. Tom had the phrase of the day. Every time he gets to a difficult section on a climb, he would whimper out "Hold me" so that he would not lose ground. He did well making it up all the climbs.

September 23, 2009 - I had two close epics climbing in Yosemite this September. One on Lost Arrow Spire and one on East Buttress of El Cap. In both instances, slow climbing partners were involved. In both instances, we ended up coming down in the dark. On Lost Arrow, we got down at 3 o'clock in the morning after Nate and Perry spent almost three hours tyrolean across. On East Buttress of El Cap, Sarah made her first long multi-pitch climb and we barely made it to the top with enough light to find the east ledge descent.

Two days ago, I took my niece, Jeannie out climbing at Pinnacles. It was a blast to climb with her. I hope she will keep her climbing up. Perhaps one day soon, I can take her up El Cap. I am also very proud of her for being such a wonderful person with a tremendous heart.

 

On the academic note, I found out the principal of the Catholic school did some substitute teaching in Chemistry. Given the fact she did not understand Chemistry when she came in to observe me, I am sure she is providing the students with a top notch Chemistry curriculum and the students are gaining much needed knowledge. They will all get excellent grades I supposed. She must be an awesome teacher to get that many students to achieve "A"s in Chemistry. I am also disappointed with some of my ex-colleagues who are not truthful with their intentions. Our society definitely are filled with disguises in sheep's clothing. And we definitely have many who lacks backbone.

 

I predict education will change drastically in the next decade and grade inflation will be the driving force for the changes. However, if everyone continues to ignore the signs, there may be a collapse in the academic system as we know it.

 

September 4, 2009 - It's Labor Day weekend and I am heading to Tahquitz to do some climbing in Southern California. I was in Bishop and Tuolomne for the past week climbing with a fellow Vietnamese climber. It was the first time I have climbed with someone of my own ethnicity. I supposed there are not that many Vietnamese climbers out there in the first place.

 

It has been nice not having to work and just traveling to different fun places. Since leaving work at the Catholic school, I have had time to reflect on the situation and realized it was the best thing that could have happened. There were so much unethical games/politics that went on there and working there would mean selling my soul to the Devil. I have worked for many principals during my teaching span and all of them have been unethical to some extent. Each and everyone had expected to have teachers inflate students' grades and hardly any of them backs up the teachers to provide a high academic standards. I figured as I continue to teach that principals can't get any worse, but I kept being proven wrong. The last principal at this Catholic school is by far the most incompetent, most enabling and most unethical principal I have worked for. She is also diluted in analyzing skills and competency and would probably give hereself an above average grade for attempting to climb Half Dome eventhough she may never get halfway up the approach much less the climb. I don't know what they teach these administrators at the universities, but their PhD. degrees/administrative licenses are worthless. 

 

After having worked at a private school, the academics in public schools are comparable if not better. The private schools just think their academics are better since they have less obnoxious/trouble making students (not by percentage however). In truth, they just have higher inflated grades, but not much knowledge to accompany the high GPA that are on their transcripts. For the parents and students out there who are disagreeing, please compare your GPA to your first SAT's score and AP scores to see if they match up. A 4.0 or higher GPA student should not be getting an SAT score less than 1400 or for that matter be going to a junior college because he/she is not accepted to a four year program. It is definitely a waste of money to send your kid to a private school so that your child can go to a community college or even a state university. As for the moral and religious teaching, if you can't teach your kids those things at home, than you should not be parents in the first place.

 

August 11, 2009 - After returning to work yesterday, I was met with some not unexpected news. I left my job due to conflicts with people who don't understand or don't care to provide a true valued academic. That's ok if they want to inflate grades and play politics with their clienteles to make themselves look good. I supposed they are reading this so let me just say how unethical their approaches are in their process of getting a piece of paper to proclaim their "knowledge" or lack thereof. In all my years, I don't think I have worked for anyone who is as ignorant, incompetent, and corrupt. It's ashame that the Enron process of cooking book is still in practice in our academic and society.

 

August 10, 2009 - I left Tuolomne yesterday after spending five days climbing with Julia and Mark. They were fun to climb with. It was Julia's first time climbing in Yosemite and I am glad she had a great climbing trip.

 

July 27, 2009 - Well, after I dropped Roy off at the airport, I just had to drive back to the South Platte for an extra day of fishing since we had one extra day left on our camp site. I was treated to one of the best fishing day on the South Platte. I fished a new section of the stream and was treated to several big rainbows and browns. On my way back to California, I stopped on the Arkansas River for a couple of days of fly fishing near Granite, CO. There were a few browns caught but the fishing was relatively slow and the fish were not taking the caddis. Surprisingly, the fish were not taking caddis on the Frying Pan either. For some reason, this year on many of the Colorado streams including the South Platte, trout were taking beattis and almost ignoring the caddis. I was on the Frying Pan for the last three days and the fishing was terrific. I caught so many fish and had so many large trout on that made my arms sore. The largest trout I caught was in the range of 20 plus inches. However, I had larger fish on, but was not able to land them since they did not want to move and I was not able to nudge them from the fast moving water they were in. A good way to end my trip to Colorado this year was to lose one of the biggest trout I had ever hooked on a fly line.

 

July 21, 2009 - I just dropped Roy off at DIA after a week of fly fishing on the South Platte River in Colorado. Roy had what I called an amazing fishing trip landing many fish and quite a few large trout of over 16 inches. We had a fun time not just on the stream, but back at camp also.

 

After re-supplying my camper, I am off to the river for more fishing until I have to get back to Yosemite for some rock climbing.

 

July 12, 2009 - I spent the morning fishing the Blue River in Silverthorne, CO. The fish were slow to take early on with the temperature on the chilly side. I had one small brown on a caddis pupa. As the temperature warms up a bit, the caddis and also some baetis emerge and the rainbows were just going on a feeding frenzy. I must have at least a dozen fish on prince nymph and caddis pupa, losing two fish and landing the rest. On average, the rainbows were around the fourteen inch mark. I landed an 18 inch rainbow that has a wide girth and beautiful orange-red colors. After spending the morning fishing, I took a little siesta and then went on a nice thirty mile bike ride, again at high altitude (9,000 feet). 

 

July 11, 2009 - I spent this morning fly fishing a mountain stream at the top of Copper Pass. The fly I used was a size 18 blue wing olive and the brook trout went crazy for it. The largest brookie caught was about 10 inches; not big, but very pretty looking trout. Afterward, I went for a bike ride from the top of Copper Pass to Vail. The ride is about 50 miles round trip. Unfortunately for me the ride is at 12,000 feet in elevation and from Vail to Copper, it's all uphill. Basically, I did one leg of the Triple By-Pass bike ride to benefit heart disease. It would suck to get a heart attack while riding this ride.

 

The weather became dark and it is starting to thunderstorm so my plan to fish the Blue River is being postponed while I sit at a coffee shop in Dillon, CO. I met some nice climbers at a local shop (Wilderness-2nd Hand) and exchange some climbing stories and infomation.

 

July 10, 2009 - I am enjoying my morning coffee on top of a mountain pass near Copper Ski in Colorado. It's pretty neat to be able to get on-line and update my site at camp. On route from Yosemite, I took U.S. Hwy. 50 through Carson City to re-supply my Trader Joe's olive bruschetta and other goodies. On the road, I met some nice people (BLM employees) in Bridgeport, CA and near Austin, NV. Yesterday, I stopped in Basalt, CO to fly fish the Frying Pan River. It was a terrific day with almost perfect weather. The fishing was very good and I almost completed my Frying Pan fishing slam of catching a brown, rainbow, cutthroat, and cutbow. The highlight of the day was landing a nice 18 inch rainbow and losing my flies to two very nice browns that were at least the same size or bigger. With Roy coming in on Monday, I am taking a relaxing day to finish reading my book, "Peace Like a River" and enjoying the nice weather here on Copper Pass. I'll be heading to Dillon tomorrow to fish the Blue River which has always been a challenging river for me to fish.

 

As I am enjoying my morning coffee, my thoughts also turned to the problems we faced in education. Everyone assumed that if you don't do well that it is considered failure. What's wrong with failing at something that few people even attempt to try? I recently climbed up El Cap, the Nose. It was my third attempt. I "failed" the first two times, but it was still considered successful attempts since I was able to learn a lot about the climb and about myself. Eventhough I made it to the top on my third attempt, I would not consider it to be an "A" effort since I know I can do better and there were many mistakes we made that could have been avoided.

 

Many of my colleagues (teachers and administrators) in education have different opinions of success and failure. They believe that success equates with an "A" and failure is when students have not been able to achieve that mark. Schools (administration) rate themselves by how many students are achieving A's and B's with of course more A's than B's. With Obama's pay performance proposal, schools with higher grades and standardized test scores will have higher pay. It could be that those schools are just inflating grades and cheating on standardized tests by giving students with pre-test questions and doing some fancy record keeping to bring test averages up. One of the things that will be seen if pay performance becomes policy is higher grades and test performance. Grade inflation and cheating at upper levels will become more prevailent and no one will be able to evaluate what is true success. Educators already are having a difficult time right now deciphering the true ability of students and everyone in education (especially at the college level) knows the inflation of grades is getting out of hand. Being an average student nowaday is having a 3.5 grade point average. I thought a "C" means average.  

 

July 3, 2009 - Today is my last day in Yosemite valley. What a way to finnish my summer climbing trip than to end it with climbing the Nose on El Capitan. As a way to recover from the big climb, yesterday, I went climbing with Amy (she works here at the Ahwahnee Hotel and new to climbing) for her first multi-pitch climb. We did C.S. Concerto and Amy also did her first simul-climbing to go with her highest climb to date. I am heading to Tuolomme this evening for some rest and fly fishing on the Lee Vining. Afterward, I'll be heading to Colorado to fish the South Platte River. I can't wait to come back to Yosemite and climb El Cap again in September!

 

July 2, 2009 - After another rest day, I am almost recovered from El Cap and able to reflect on this climbing trip during the month of June. I am starting with my most recent memory of El Cap and stopping at Camp 6 on the wall to find it to be a waste dump filled with bottles, trash, and bodily wastes. It shows that many climbers are irresponsible and inconsiderate and are not respectful of nature. The Nose is definitely a fun climb, but I am saddened to see how it is littered and treated so poorly. El Capitan deserves all the respect and shame on all the climbers who have desecrate the famous monolith!

 

During my stay in Yosemite valley in June, I met Ines Kevric and Polly Robinson and took them climbing. I give Polly lots of credit for persisting and completing the climbs we took her on. Ines on the other hand, climbed strong for someone who is rather new to the sport. The fun part was having dinners (feasts) with them. Mike Wheat came out from New Mexico to climb with me and I feel bad that he was not able to climb El Cap with me. I hope he is not too disappointed that weather and slow climbing forced us to back off our attempts. James from England gave me an untrusted sense and I avoided climbing with him even when he asked to climb East Bruttess of Middle Cathedral with me. Dan from Texas whom I met last year is back again this year. He is going on a year road trip in his sportsmobil camper van. That is so cool. Andy from Salt Lake came like last year drove straight to the Valley to climb the Nose with me and then drove staight back home after three days on the wall of El Cap. There was Stefan from New Zealand who has such a wonderful excitement for climbing big walls. Like me, he just wants to be on it no matter how much the wall is kicking his butt. We met two nice young climbing rangers on our climb of the Nose. Eric (aka-Grass Hopper) Bissell and Alex (aka-Shakespeare) are very good climbers. Eric almost gagged when he was trying to clean the wastes at Camp 6 on the Nose route. Andy and I were short on water and energy and were glad to know that they were climbing just ahead of us. It was fun to bivy at the ledges with them. My friend Chris Gonzales, what an effort to try to climb the Nose in a day only to succumb to exhaustion from the heat of the sun. Tom Roar is an interesting fellow of 73 year old and still going strong with his rappelling and rebolting routes to make them safer for climbers. It was an honor to climb with him even though his routes are predictably dirty and "not fun" to climb. Tom (T) and Andy (G) from NY and DC were two nice fellows. Although they did not get up El Cap, I really respect their attitudes about climbing.

 

All in all, it was a fun time in the Valley. Although I made it to the top of El Cap (Nose route), I did not conquer El Cap, not even close. Rather, it conquered me and gained more respect from me. I am looking forward to the next time I get to climb it again.

 

July 1, 2009 - I feel completely drained of energy after spending three days on El Capitan, Nose route. Andy and I endured three days of 90 plus temperature with a shortage of water. We were two gallons short on water on the climb. On the Stove Leg pitch, I was completely exhausted and over-heated. After leading the pitch, I was spent and doubled over trying to recover. There was a bit of cool air flowing through a wide crack and I placed my tired face against the crack trying to take in the cool air to regain conciousness and strength. After two attempts to climb the Nose, Andy and I top out on June 30th at 6:30pm, totally out of water and almost out of energy. Climbing the Nose required many things to happen in order to get to the top. Patience was an essential requirement which we at times lack. Once we got to Camp 4 up on the Nose, determination and adrenaline kept us moving. I don't view this climb of the Nose as a successful climb for all the mistakes (not bringing enough water and at times pushing our tire bodies to their limits and being impatience) we made. We were lucky El Capitan allows us to finish without too many scars.

 

On the climb, we got caught by two climbing rangers, Eric (Grasshopper) Bissell and Alex (Shakespeare). Their purpose was to climb the route and pick up trash at each anchor. At Camp 6, Eric dropped one of the waste bottles and it leaked its foul content. Both Eric and I were about to faint from the stench.

 

My friend Chris Gonzales attempted to climb the Nose in a day but in the end ran out of energy to do it under 24 hours. His effort was still impressive in my book.

 

June 26, 2009 - Getting back to the Valley brings a good sense of soul to my life. The outdoor and fresh air provide rejuvenation. I spent the last two days helping Tom Roar (73 year old) replaces bolts on anchor on the Lost Arrow Spire. It was an experience that I'll remember, but hopefully not duplicate. Tom is a nice guy, but I think my days of climbing and rappelling with him is over. Climbing with someone who is that old is risky. I am still impressed with his active life style.

 

Tomorrow, I plan on making a second attempt at climbing El Cap, the Nose route. I have a good climbing partner in Andy so I think the chances are good. However, with El Cap, you never know what can happen.

 

I am also using my journal as a forum to express my issues on anything and everything. Since I am an educator, many of my concerns will relate to teaching and the state of education. If anyone reading this does not know that grade inflation (cheating by educators) exists in education, then let me be the first to inform you that it does. Recently, I had an end of the year meeting with my principal where she demmanded that I give out 30%-40% "A's" in the subject that I teach (chemistry). It is amazing how everyone, especially administrators in schools try to cheat on students' grades to make their school look good. I have taught in many different settings (and have worked with many administrators) and by far, the private (Catholic) school I am at is inflating grades greater than any other schools I have taught. I would not be surprise that they are also changing students' grades without teachers' permission. Soon I think we will reach a hyper grade inflation and perhaps that will collapse education as we currently know it. It is just frustrated to work with or for stupid people who have no idea what a good education is except by the number of "A's" they are handing out. Grade inflation in our school system is like climbing 5.10 in a climbing gym and think that you are a badass climber until you climb a real 5.10 in Yosemite Valley which will kick your ass. My current admistrator is by far the most incompetent and enabling person I have worked for. She doesn't seem to grasp the idea that for something to be worth anything, it must be difficult to achieve or obtain. Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. And those who can't teach, become admistrators. How it rings so true!!! 

 

 

June 21, 2009 - I dropped Mike off at the airport yesterday after two weeks of climbing in Yosemite. We did not get to climb the Nose for many reasons, one of which was weather. Even if the weather held up, I think it would still have been the same result. The Nose is a hard climb for many average climbers, especially those who have never been on a big wall. I am hoping I'll be able to get back on the wall in a week if all goes well. If not, I have plan on giving it another go in September.

 

June has brought some unpredictable weather and mishaps in Yosemite. Search and Rescue had to helicopter 42 people off Half Dome after a hiker fell to his death on the cable. Along with the hikers, the rescued stranded climbers and lost campers. A busy month for accidents.

 

During the two weeks, I met some nice people and some not so nice climbers at Camp 4 that I would not climb with. Daniel from Colorado was a nice fellow and we had a fun time climbing Central Pillar of Frenzy. Of course there was Mike Wheat, my climbing partner from New Mexico. He and I climbed Royal Arches and spent a lot of time on the Nose to never get furthur than pitch #6. Mike and Joy from Colorado were two fun people who brought their baby to Camp 4. Mike last year did the Nose in 13 hours, while his wife Joy and climbing pal, Sarah did the route in five days with Joy making almost fifty attempts at the king swing. Talk about determination. Sarah Silverman was a trooper on Central Pillar of Frenzy. Her first true 5.9 almost made her exhausted, but she manages to pull through in style and did not pull a "Collins" on me. Matt and Katia from Minnesota were an interesting couple we met while climbing Royal Arches. When the rain came, we opted to retreat while the continued on only to get throughly soaked on the third rappel. Tom and Andy were very nice climber from New York and D.C., who like us got spit off the Nose due to wet weather.

 

Then there is James from England who I did not have confidence climbing with him. Not that he was a weak climber or anything, but his cheeky attitude sort of turned me off and his over confident cautioned me to avoid epics with him. Another Sarah at camp gave me some concerns about her "enthusiam" for climbing. Sometimes you just have to go with you gut instinct about people.

 

All in all, it was a good two weeks in the Valley.

 

June 16, 2009 - Well, it has been an interesting climbing trip so far. I did my first climb using hammer and pitons with Tom Roar (72 year old climber from the past). Mike finally get to climb off width and loving it...not. We met and took Paulie and Ines (two girls from Kentucky) out climbing today. With good weather tomorrow, Mike and I are planning to climb up to Dinner Ledge on Washington Column.

 

This summer has been a tragic summer in the Valley. Two people died on Half Dome as bad weather cause one person to slip off the Half Dome cable while another hiker died from a heart attack. 42 people had to be rescued by helicopter on Saturday after rainy weather caused people to be stranded on top of Half Dome.

 

June 10, 2009 - I am finding out that climbing a big wall like El Cap involves so many things to go right in order to be successful. I climbed with Mike and James from Great Britain the first day. Neither are experience in climbing a big wall. I led the first four pitches to Sickle Ledge and that was when Mike started freaking out about the exposure. Seeing that gave me concerns about climbing the rest of the route. Conditions of rain also is keeping us grounded since it was told that several climbers were struck by lightning a week ago while topping off El Cap.

 

June 6, 2009 - Besides the fact that it is D-Day, it is also the first marking day of summer vacation for me. I am in Sacramento waiting for Mike to arrive from New Mexico. Ideally, I would give Mike a few days to get use to climbing in Yosemite. However, the weather predicting is giving us a small window to get on the Nose so therefore, Mike is going to get on the job training sort of speak. We are planning to get on the route on Monday and with luck and planning, get to the top by Wednesday or Thursday.

 

May 24, 2009 - Tioga Pass opened over Memorial weekend, so I spent this week doing a little fly fishing and hiking up in Tuolomme. The weather was perfect and sunny. On Saturday, I fly fished on the Lee Vining outside the park entrance. I caught a few rainbows and browns and amazing sceneries of the high Sierras. On Sunday, I went hiking up to Cathedral Lake. There is still plenty of snow on the trail. I was rewarded with terrific views at the end of the hike.

 

It was a good weekend to get away and relax, since I had a hectic and frustrating work week. It is bad enough to find out that many of my top students are unethical and they cheat and lie whenever they get a chance, but to find out my boss is similar leaves me with little hope for this world we live in. I have little respect for someone who I know catered to students and parents and give them what they want when they have not earn it. Enabling...perhaps...this might be to the extreme end where it can be called cheating.

 

May 18, 2009 - I spent the weekend climbing in Yosemite with Shino. We did the normal Nutcracker climb and then Jamcrack as a way to introduce new climbers to Yosemite climbing. She did well, but it was definitely harder than she anticipated I think.

 

Getting back to work this morning being greeted with politics at work is not a good way to begin my week. On the bright side, I have two more weeks and then it is off for the summer. 

 

People today have a strange sense of entitlement in our society. It's bad enough when students feel they are entitled to higher grades, but when adults in K-12 education think that way then I feel there is very little hope our society as a whole is moving in the right direction. In my ten plus years of teaching, I have never met as many people (including those I work for) who influenced grade inflation as I have in my current job. The lack of ethics, the greed I see in the community I am working in is absolutely astonishing. I guess I can take a little comfort in being vindicated someday when education (K-12) crumbles. Just like financial institutions' downfall due to greed and unethical behaviors, educational institutions will do the same for the reasons of greed and unethical behaviors. If anyone is reading this and you don't agreed (believe) with me, well I hope you are right for humanity's sake. However, I feel the greed of humanity will eventually be our downfall.

 

May 14, 2009 - Three weeks until Mike and I are going up on the Nose of El Cap. We are anticipating this will be an adventure for both of us since it will be the first time we are attempting this route. As long as we take proper measures, it should be like any other climb.

 

May 10, 2009 - We ended a fun weekend of climbing with an easy climb on After Six. The day before, Sarah and I did Royal Arches. We made good time, but still ended up rappelling with head lamps the final two pitches. On the route, we met up with two climbers, (one from Canada, eh?) who were cool characters.

 

I stopped by Camp 4 to retrieve my guide book from Stephan and found out he and Exel made the climb on El Cap (Nose). Brandon, for some reason decided not to climb. It has to be difficult to fly all the way from Australia with the intention to climb El Cap and ended up not doing so. For Exel (17 years old), he has to be one of the youngest climber to climb the Nose. He is the youngest climber I have met to have climbed the Nose.

 

April 26, 2009 - It is Sunday morning and I am at home catching up on work and letting my right rotator recuperate from the climbing I have done. I decided to visit the rockclimbing.com forum which I don't normally do. As I read the discussions, I was disappointed with the views of many climbers who condone drug use (marijuana, alcohol, and other) before, during and after climbing. Social drug use I can understand, but many of the climbers on the forum thought they have the will power to do drugs and still stay in control and not be impaired. It is unfortunate that these guys are giving the climbing community a bad image.

 

April 15, 2009 - It was a very good climbing trip to the Valley. I was able to get some quality climbs in during this trip. I also had the chance to meet some nice and interesting climbers from Austria, Isreal, and Australia. Axel is a very young climber (17 years old) from Australia and is a very good climber. He and Brandon will be going up on the Nose in a few weeks. Hope the weather will cooperate for them. I think I have converted Stephan from a boulderer into a big wall climber. After climbing up Serenity and the few pitches of the Nose, Stephan is addicted to trad climbing.

 

During this trip, an interesting event (epic that could have been avoided) occur on the Lost Arrow Spire. Three climbers got stranded due to stupidity. According to reports from hikers and other climbers, these three guys were drinking and smoking pot before they even got started. Witnesses hiking the Upper Yosemite Fall trail said they were still drinking and smoking at noon or one o'clock and have not started their climb. Their casual, dumb approach to the climb resulted in finding themselves finishing the climb in the dark. Unfortunately for them, they did not even bring head lamps and ended up stuck in the notch of the spire. Search and rescue had to bail them out the next day. What gets me is these idiots think this was a cool adventure just because no one was hurt. If you are reading this and happens to be a sane climber, I will post their picture so that you can avoid climbing with them. I would not want to be on the same cliff with them much less climb with them.

 

April 14, 2009 - I am sitting in the Awahnee Hotel today on a rest day and relaxing by the big fire. I went up the Nose first four pitches) with Stephan (from Austria) and John (from New Jersey). Yesterday, Axel (from Australia) and Tavis (from LA) and I went up the first three pitches of the Salathe. As I am reflecting on the week, I begin to find the myself looking forward to June when I get to climb the Nose with one of my good climbing partners and friend Mike (from New Mexico).

 

 

February 8, 2009 - It was a typical climbing day that began at 6:00 am with a stop at Starbucks for coffee and then driving the two plus hours to Yosemite. The day before, we decided to chance that the weather will hold out long enough for us to climb so we planned to meet early and try to get as much climbing in before the clouds drop rain or snow on us. When Carl and I arrived in Yosemite, we drove down and warmed up on Bishop Terrace. The start was a bit wet which was a sign for what was to come later. After climbing at the Church Bowl, we decided to climb Nutcracker. As Carl was leading the first pitch, it began to snow/sleet sporadically. The rock was wet and slick. Carl did an excellent job leading what I would considered, in retrospect, a psychologically difficult lead for a 5.8 since we were not able to stick our feet to the rocks. We came down and then went over to climb Five and Dime. The whole day, I think we may have been the only two people climbing in Yosemite. The feeling of having the entire park to ourselves to climb was quite peaceful. One of the best things about climbing in the Valley during the winter and early spring months is the quiet serenity as you climb. 

 

January 17, 2009 - This is my first entry for 2009. I have to say that it is off to both a wonderful beginning and a rough start. Let me start with the wonderful beginning with my friend Mike from Santa Fe saying that he was given the go ahead to join me in June to climb El Cap and Half Dome. Besides, that news I have met several new climbers that are fun to climb with this so far. Now for the rough start to the new year. First, there has been a tragic shooting/murder that is associated with my job resulted in the death of two kind adults that happened just two days ago. This weekend I was hoping to get away to reflect and meet Julia to climb in Red Rocks. As unfortune goes, my camper van broke down in the town of Visalia, CA and I am late showing up to Red Rocks. I pride myself for never flaking on anyone climbing or not and I am not about to do that now. The car rental shop opens at 9am, I have already made reservation, my camper van is at a shop (cost to repair will not be on my mind), and as soon as I transfer my gear I'll head off to make my climbing appointment even though I'll be late. 

 

November 30, 2009 - Climbing during Thanksgiving with Bryan and Megan was fun. We had no epics and came down with plenty of light each day. Besides the wonderful company, it was rather a normal Thanksgiving  with no epic tales of climbing in Red Rocks. 

 

October 26, 2008 - I just got through a hard climbing weekend for my standard. The first day of climbing involved me leading this off-width 5.10a crack called the Gripper, I think. By the time I got to the top, I was so out of breath that I had to rest for almost ten minutes before I was able to put my climbing partner on belay. The next day, we did another off-width that again zapped my strength. I don't think I will schedule so many off-width climbs any time soon. On top of that, my doctor sent me my physical blood work, with a positive test for Epstein Barr virus. I told my climbing partner (Lou, from MN) that I could use the fact I have Epstein Barr as the reason for getting whipped by the climbs, but more likely it was the off-width that did me in.

 

September 28, 2008 - I did a soloed climb today (with rope of course) in Yosemite. It was definitely a change in pace and thought process from the climbing with another person. At the top, I took a long break to catch the view of the Valley below. It was quite a peaceful experience with many senses made awared from realizing it was just me alone on the rock.

 

September 22, 2008 - When do you encourage and assist someone you are climbing with versus when you just let him/her figure things out? Everyone climbs differently and have different approaches. In sports climbing, safety and concerns are not as crucial as in traditional climbing. Clip a bolt and move on so in sports climbing, there can be alot more outbursts of encouragement. In traditional climbing, your climbing partner may be nervous enough and the encouragement can become a distraction or can be taken in the wrong context. Some climbers like hearing encouragements while others take encouragements as condescending remarks. Climbers can be a sensitive group of people.

 

September 2, 2008 - Labor Day weekend this year was quite an adventure. I climbed Snake Dike with Sabine starting on Sunday that almost ended on a Monday. The route that the guide book said will take about 7-8 hours to climb took us almost 15 hours. Now that we have climbed it, I can safely recommend to others to at least do it once, but it's a climb that you don't need to repeat unless you enjoy long approaches and long descents. Our weekend began with a rude awakening from Yosemite rangers at 2 am for camping illegally. Sabine was caught as she was taking a nature break in the middle of the night...good thing it was the numer one break.

 

August 10, 2008 - Summer vacation and my road trip from rock climbing destinations to finding the pocket water where the large rainbows are hiding has officially ended with me gazing at a trico hatch on the South Platte River in Colorado. Roy ended his fly fishing trip on a terrific note having an excellent morning catching a nice brown and a big rainbow on a stream that can only be described as mesmerizing. The trout were plentiful, wild, and magnificent looking.

 

August 6, 2008 - Fishing on the Arkansas River was amazing. This year, the water is higher than normal due to the huge amount of snow Colorado received during the previous winter. The Caddis Pupa that was killing the trout last year was not as productive. However, the trout went crazy for the Caddis Emerger. The fishing is very good, but the views are much better as I found myself at times just standing in the middle of the stream staring at the mountains and rushing water. However, I felt bad for my friend Roy who is having trouble breathing at this high altitude of over 9000 feet. So far, he has not been able to do much fishing, since it was all he could do just to walk to the stream. We are heading to the South Platte in Eleven Miles Canyon. Hopefully, the lower altitude will perk him up a bit and he will not work so hard just to catch his breath.

 

August 2, 2008 - What a ride we had yesterday. We did a 14 mile uphill climb to Old Monarch Pass and then a 20 mile descent on Agate Creek Trail. The day before, we did a 40+ mile ride down Monarch Pass to Rainbow Trail. All together we rode over 80 miles in the last two days and over 150 miles on this mountain biking trip. Everyone's legs is feeling the lactic acid, especially Peter who is not a climber. Normally, he is very fast on the downhill but, the climbs took energy out of him. I would have to rate this bike ride as one of our more punishing ride as my whole entire body is still aching from the ride. I am glad to take a rest day and get ready for a fly fishing vacation on the Arkansas River near Leadville, CO.

 

July 30, 2008 - The day begins as a nice sunny morning with Michael, Chris, Leo, and myself riding the Monarch Crest Trail. It was going to be our epic mountain bike ride for the trip. Everyone by now has gotten used to the altitude. Leo was riding strong and climbing well. We even passed other riders heading up to the summit. We met up with Peter, a rider from North Carolina on the trail and invited him to join our group. At the top of Monarch Pass, we rested and was treated to a spectacular views of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks. It was all downhill from the summit with lots of single track descent. The weather was perfect with only a few clouds and cool temperature. Our epic ride however was met with an unexpected misfortune as we arrived to the trailhead of Marshall Pass. While Michael and Peter were figuring out which direction to take, I rode up the trail a bit. I heard a scream from a distance and then I saw a person on an ATB riding in desperation towards me screaming for help (cell phone to dial for 911). I said I did not have a cell phone, but that one of my friends at the trailhead has a phone. He told me his brother is badly hurt and is possibly dying from an ATB rollover accident. I directed him to my friends and then rode on to see if I was able to help in any way. When I got to where the accident was, I found his brother badly hurt (broken hip, broken jaw, in lots of pain, possibly bleeding internally, and fading into unconsciousness). His father was there and thankfully was also a doctor and was able to keep him somewhat stablelized. I told them that the ambulance was coming and asked them if there is anything else I could do. The boy (15 year old) was in real poor shape and so they asked for me to call for a helicopter rescue. To make a long story short, the helicopter arrived about half an hour later along with the ambulance, fire department, search and rescue and to the boy to Denver where he is in stable condition but is still in a coma. During the waiting time for help to arrive, we managed to help calm the family (from Texas) of the victim since they were quite shakened from the whole incident. When the boy was finally helicoptered away (we had told they family that we would stay until he was safe in proper care), did we continue with our bike ride. Only 25 more miles to go and it was a little somber at the beginning. We completely our ride through some amazing single track with steep descents. Certainly, it has to be one of the most unique experience I have encountered. Peter did an excellent job communicating with 911 dispatch and with the first responder people on the ground to help with the rescue effort. I hope the boy will survive the ordeal.

 

July 29, 2008 - We biked the Foose Trail in Monarch, CO today and was treated to amazing vistas of the Colorado Rockies. At the top of the climb (12,800 feet) we had a terrific view of the Continental Divide. The ride down was challenging with slippery rocks and roots every where. I had one endo and several spectacular falls, all resulted in getting back up laughing at how great the riding was and the wonderful single track through aspens. Eventhough the air is thin at 12,000 feet, so far we have managed and it seems as though everyone is riding stronger each day.

 

July 28, 2008 - The mountain biking in Aspen, CO was terrific. However, it was hard for us to get use to riding at altitude. Leo was getting constant headaches, but still manages to outclimb everyone. It was really nice of Leo to plan our biking trip for us. He was very meticulous and left all details to Chris and Michael to review for approval. Fritz was great for leading us on the Rim Trail...awesome downhill.

 

July 24, 2008 - Yesterday's climb in Eldorado Canyon on the Bastille Crack was a memorable climb indeed. The Bastille Wall has claimed the life of one local (Boulder, Colorado) climber and another who was seriously injured when he decided to solo a route (Werk Supp). I went climbing with Manuel from Switzerland and his girlfriend Natalia when the unpredictable weather in Colorado turned nasty and began to rain with a sudden flash of lightning right above us. Needless to say, we were not in the best location to avoid being struck by lightning since we were on pitch 4 and wearing alot of metals (climbing gear). My climbing partners hurried as fast as they were able to climb. However, Natalia was just beginning to learn how to climb so she was only able to go as fast as her ability allows her to climb and in the situation (thunderstorm) not fast enough for anyone's comfort. She did great inspite of the scary situation and we did manage to top out since the last pitch was a short sixty foot gully and quickly hiked off the rock.

 

July 19, 2008 - I just recently purchased my Sportsmobile in Springfield, IL. It definitely makes long road trips a much better experience. So far, I have taken it to Colorado and have parked it in some very scenic locations. Recently, I was fly fishing on the Big Thompson with the Sportsmobile parked near Rocky Mountains National Park (amazing views waking up in the morning). On the fly fishing note, the fishing was spectacular with the rainbows hitting on baettis (hare's ear, prince nymph, and march brown) and a few on caddis fly.

 

July 8, 2008 - My summer climbing in Yosemite Valley ended today with a nice relaxing climb of Commitment, 5.9 with Sarah (an employee at the Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge). The last campfire was a wonderful mixture of cultures from France, Cechz Republic, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Canada, and USA (photos will be posted in Camp 4-July 2008). Most of the people there for the last night were nice and all were unique in someways. Monica from Cechz Republic is a teacher so we chatted about school and other things. John and Charlotte (a bloke and a bird) is a nice young English couple from BC doing a summer road trip and were blown away by Yosemite's grandeure. Alberto from Spain is the life of the campfire and is planning to climb El Cap, Nose Route with Valentin (Germany) and Ed (England), who by the way have not had any big wall experience. It should be interesting and it should be an epic, but an enjoyable one I think.

 

The end of the summer climbing provided me with many new friends that I hope to continue to correspond with in the future, but it also ended some friendships because of things that happened during some of my epic or near epic climbs. The cummulation of my summer was climbing Half Dome, Northwest Face Regular Route, my first real big wall climb that took us two days of climbing. I should be happy with this effort, however I am not because of what transpired during the climb and afterward that made it less enjoyable. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience in understanding people and how everyone will react. Always, in tense moments, the true natures of people appear and I learn who I can rely on and who I can't.

 

The summer in the Valley also provided a special event when Hans Florine and Yugi Hirayama reclaimed their speed ascent of the Nose route with a time of 2:43:33 beating the Hubers' time of 2:45:45.

 

July 6, 2008 - A close epic on Half Dome occured as we climbed the Northwest Face Regular route over the July 4th holiday. The rope got stuck and we were running out of daylight to make it to Sandy Ledge so that we can bivy for the night. There were tensions among us and that was not helpful and I think it will be something that will be eliminated in my next big climb. In the end, we managed to finish the climb of Half Dome the next day. This is my biggest climb to date and it provide me with a lot of information on big wall climbing and what to do on my next big wall climb...hopefully an El Cap climb. For me the epic continues after the climb. Hiking off, we took the Half Dome cable/trail back (~8 miles). My two climbing partners took off ahead of me and started running down the trail. I got to the trailhead just in time to catch the last bus back to Curry Village only to not find my climbing partners and car and missed the last bus back to Camp 4. In the end the 8 mile hike turned into a 9.5 mile hike back as I ended up walking to Camp 4 from Curry after not finding my climbing partners. To say the least, I was not happy being left to walk the extra distances and since all my things (sleeping bag, money, my car keys, and cell phone) were in the car, I ended up sleeping through the night with no warm clothes nor a sleeping bag. All this occur while my climbing partners were drinking beer and eating tri-tips. The least they could have done was to wash my cooking pot that they used to cook the meat.

 

While climbing Half Dome, I met Andy and Jason from Salt Lake City. They were nice and definitely patience in the climbing process during our first day of climbing as daylight was ticking away from them as well as for us. We worked together to make sure we all ended up on a decent bivy without going too late into the night. In the end on the second day, I saw them topping out and congratulation to them on their successful attempt of Half Dome. 

 

June 29, 2008 - I returned to the Valley after an exciting week in the Bay Area for an AP conference on how to teach environmental science. Nonetheless, I was much happier to be back climbing and seeing Hans Florine and Yuji Hirajama (sp.?) trying for the speed record on the Nose. They were just off the pace at 2 hours, 47 minutes and change. It was definitely fun watching them climb. While I was at El Cap Meadow bridge upon my returned to the Valley, I ran into a wonderful trio (Cyndras, Abbie and Mark) who were checking out the El Cap climbers through Tom Evan's telescope. Apparently, Cyndras use to climb with Unsoeld in the old days along with other Yosemite greats. Abbie herself climbed with Lynn Hill, Bobbie Benson, and Steph Davis when she was a young girl starting out. The chance meeting with them turned into a fun climbing adventure on Lost Arrow Spire the next day when Abbie and Mark accepted my invitation to come along an do the climb and tyrolean across the spire. They did an excellent job on the climb and not even a whimper when they had to look down to see how high above the Valley floor they happened to be (photos are posted in Camp 4-June 2008). As we were coming down Yosemite Fall trail in the dark, we ran into a Korean hiker apparently in bad shape hiking very slowly down using his cell phone to light the trail. I don't think I will need to elaborate any further about his dire situation. He has hiked up to the spire with only 500 ml of water and was now paying for his mistake of not carrying enough water and a headlamp. He was to say the least very happy to see us and we hiked down safely. When we drove him to find his friends, they were in the process of talking with a park ranger to report him missing. We casually approach and and reported missing Korean hiker found.

 

June 19, 2008 - It is a rest day finally, which gives me time to process my thoughts of the past three weeks in Yosemite Valley. I have met some wonderful and interesting people at Camp 4 this time around. Site 6 at Camp 4 seemed to be the site people gathered around each night. I met Yoki from Japan who came climbing with us on her last day there and barely said anything, but stop by the next morning to say goodbye and was excited to come back to Yosemite next year. Ben and Georges from Germany were hilarious when I met them on the first day I was there. They ended up climbing Snake Dike and calling me from the top of Half Dome when they topped out. I met Brandon from San Diego and Donnie from SoCal who are climbing bums who knew all the little tricks to exist at Camp 4 without paying, even the park entrance fee. Brandon and Donnie, along with a few other climbers showed me how to get free food (pizza, etc.) off of tourists' plates at Curry Village. Lore from Belgium was an interesting gal who manages to climb and stay at Camp 4 without paying and without much climbing gear except for harness, shoes, and a grigri. I took her climbing once on Royal Arches and it almost turned into an epic when on pitch nine she did not move for 20 minutes and did not repond when I shouted down to see how she was doing. Sheila, from Australia is on a world climbing trip or should I say bouldering trip. It was interesting to see someone come to Yosemite to only boulder and not climb. She did end up on her last day climbing Nutcracker for her first multi-pitch in Yosemite. Marc and Francois are strong climbers from Montreal. They completed Steck-Salathe on Sentinel in an epic long climbing day leaving Francois pretty banged up, but quite satisfied for having done the climb. Tim from Colorado was a funny climber who at 6'6" looked hilarious with his shirt in a turbin on his head as he climbed Serenity. Alberto was an enthusiastic climber from Spain and as I am writing is enjoying the long hike down North Dome gully with Matt from Colorado after climbing the South Face of Washington Column. I'll be climbing with Alberto on Lost Arrow next week. While John and I were on Washington Column, we ran into Collins, Ron, and Willie from Vancouver and Scotland. They had on the most wonderful helmets (see their photos posted at Camp 4-June 2008, duct tape is so versatile) and personalities. There were a few others who camped with us to hike the Valley. Byungchul Kim from South Korea did not speak much English, but managed to convey his joy at being in the Valley. And there were others, but I have forgotten their names. However, their photos are posted and I hope they enjoyed their time meeting me as I did meeting them.

 

For Declan, Monica, Hugh, Kirby, and Kathy it was fun getting you guys to do a little climbing and hanging out at camp with you near Tioga Pass. For never climb before, Declan did an awesome job on his first multi-pitch climb on Great White Book.

 

June 11, 2008 - Yesterday, we attempted Half Dome, Regular route and I was throughly beaten up by a climb I did not even finished. It was poor planning on my part for trying to climb the route in two days with a light ration. I did not expect it to be so cold and since we went light, it meant sleeping through the night with only a down jacket. The approach to Half Dome took it out of me and I was left with little strength and the lack of sleep left me unable to do anything else. We did climbed up to pitch 6, but retreated when I realized how slow we were moving. Had we continue, our two day plan to climb the route would have turned into a three day epic with us spending two cold nights on the ledges with little food and water. Nathan, my climbing partner was disappointed at my decision to retreat, but in the end I think I made the right decision and I think he also realized that it would have been pushing it had we continue.

 

Camping at the base of Half Dome was amazing however cold we may have felt. The glow of the stars shimmer on the face of the cliff and made for a wonderful backdrop as we lay there and stare upward. A resident bear kept us company through the night and stopped by every now and then to wake us up. He was a crafty bear and was able to climb not just trees to get to food pack, but he was able to climb up 5.7 chimnies to get to food.

 

June 8, 2008 - I arrived in Yosemite Valley on June 4th. While waiting at the Kiosk to get a camp-site, I met two climbers from Wisconsin cooking up a batch of onion with scramble eggs. A climber (Tim) from Colorado was there and we later met up to climb Serenity Crack. An interesting climber from Belgium is also at camp. She has been climbing for six months and with no climbing gear, she somehow managed to go climbing most days by borrowing gear from other people. The people I have met so far are from all walks of life, but we all shared one thing and that is we want to be climbing bums and not have to work for a living. 

 

It was nice to see some climbers from the past and share climbing stories since we last seen each other. Oakley got to finished her After Six and even led the chimney pitch in style without even tearing up her knee pads. So far, this is shaping up to be a good summer.

 

May 31, 2008 - My summer climbing and traveling begins this week. I waited for the last bell that signified that school is over and my focus now turns to climbing/fly fishing and having fun being in the outdoor. I feel so at peace standing in or near a stream or hanging from a rock wall. Naturally, my summer begins in Yosemite and so I arrived this week at Camp 4 where last September, I had the lucky pleasure of meeting some extraordinary climbers (Leo Burke, Alex and Tomas Hubers). Camp 4 is an interesting place with all sort of people. For Len, I hope our travel plans will cross paths again so we can share a climb and compare our Sportsmobiles. For anyone who doesn't know Len, just listen to his joyous, booming voice as he climbs...the love of being in the moment.   

 

May 11, 2008 - We climbed up to Sickle Ledge on the Nose route yesterday. Everyone I have spoken with have said the first four pitches are the most difficult to climb in terms of gear placement and they are correct. I learned a lot from yesterday's climb and the knowledge from all my previous attempts have given me more confidence in climbing this route, but there are still much more to learn. There are still worries I have with climbing this route though, because accomplishing a climbing goal requires a team effort and the dynamic of the team is so important to whether we will make it or not. I realized that one of my climbing partners going on this climb with me is impatience and also a bit over confident. If I make it up this climb, I am not sure if it will be with the original partners that I made plan to climb with. Having a good climbing dynamic is always important when it comes to climbing with someone. It doesn't matter if your climbing partner is a better climber, equally as accomplished, or just a novice as long as he/she is there to enjoy the climb in all aspects. However, when a climber is complaining about having to wait and is being impatience, then for me it makes the climbing not so enjoyable. And if my climbing partner is impatience about waiting at the start of a climb, will that means he will also be taking unneeded risks trying to made up time? That's something I don't want to find out after we have begun. In any case, I am going to have to re-evaluate this attempt at climbing the Nose and who I will climb with.

 

May 5, 2008 - Yesterday's climb up East Buttress of Middle Cathedral almost ended up as a mini epic for John and myself. The day started out sunny and mild, almost perfect climbing weather with the sun shining on us and the spring temperature that was forecasting an early summer. We were happy and chatting with other climbers on the wall (a ranger from Colorado who was in the Valley taking a rescue course and a couple of climbers from Florida who are spending their summer in the Valley) and soaking in the warm sun and checking the views of El Cap at each belay ledges. But then things went from beautiful to nasty as the wind picked up and it began to rain a bit. I was already on top of pitch eight and with one rope, John and I did not have that many options. As the two parties below us bailed using two combined ropes, John and I finished the climb. Luckily, the weather held out, it stopped raining and we were able to top out. The climb however, was not the close epic part, it was the descent as the gully was still snow/ice covered for most of the way down. Normally, it is a three rappel descent, but with the snow, we ended up making six. Our rope got wet and we were soaked with ice water. It rained a little and we were to say the least, a bit cold since we only had t-shirts on. On the last rappel, we caught up with two other climbers from Bavaria and they were nice enough to let us rappelled off their double ropes, which saved us alot of time, otherwise, we would have to make two rappels with our one 60m rope and making and ice anchor for the final descent. It took us longer to come down than it was to climb the route. We were chilly by the time we reached our car, but a quick change to dry clothes and some smoked sardines brought a smile and warmth to our faces.

 

April 6, 2008 - Today, I woke up all banged up from trying to climb up to Sickle Ledge of the Nose. I was already a humbled climber when I first began climbing four years ago, but now I have an even greater appreciation for what life is giving me which is an opportunity to fail in climbing and amazement for all those who have been able to climb this route before me. It took us about five hours to climb the first three pitches. On the third pitch of The Nose, I fell three times at the crux near the top of the pitch. The first fall was about a 40 foot fall and the other two were about 20 foot falls each. When we got to the top of the third pitch and looked up at the fourth pitch, we realized how close and how far we are from Sickle Ledge and definitely no where close to the top of El Cap. The fourth pitch is short, but it looks so impossible for me to climb it. It got late so we backed off and rappled down. Next time I will be better prepared for making this pitch.

 

March 31, 2008 - I spent my Spring Break climbing in Yosemite Valley this past week. It was an amazing experience because of the people I met in Camp 4. I met Mark Moore, an old-school climber, who did the first ascent of Ginger Crack in Red Rocks, one of my favorite routes. He was quite a character. His daughter Oakley, named after Annie Oakley, is working on a unique project filming a documentary on climbing history. She has a wonderful personality and looks really cool in her climbing knee pads. It was great meeting them. I also climbed with Nick and Bryan over the break. I caught Nick on a fall on Moritorium and got my finger torned up against a sharp rock. The best part about this climbing trip was the time spent at camp getting to know people. There was one close epic encounter when I took Javier and Trevor, climbers from Idaho, climbing Bishop's Terrace. Javier has never built a trad anchor, but neglected to tell me about it. He also tied his daisy chain incorrectly through only the leg loop and it was luck he did not leaned back far enough to get flip upside down. Everything turned out fine in the end, we even laughed about it afterward, after the mistakes were caught and corrected. I'll never forget this trip, not because of the close epic, but because of the people I met. They were all wonderful. 

 

December 25, 2007- It is beautiful in Telluride, Colorado. There are new snow falling each night, but the temperature warms up by afternoon. The winter fly fishing is good on the San Miguel. Few people fish during the winter, although the scenery is spectacular.

 

December 15, 2007 - Climbing in Red Rocks Canyon was chilly today. Collin, Rudy and I did Johnny Vegas (5.7) with a 5.10b second pitch variation in Oak Creek Canyon. On the climb, Collin noticed a celeb climber, Joanne Uriste, who along with her ex-husband put up many routes in Red Rocks.

 

October 18, 2007 - I am leaving Camp 4 today after spending almost a month and a half climbing in the Valley. The weather is cold and it looks like it will snow. Hopefully Tioga Pass will stay opened.

 

September 23, 2007 - After several attempts to climb the Nose, I decided to come back in June when the weather is warmer and the days are longer. The route gets so much traffic that it was not possible to get on without getting in the ways of climbers planning on going all the way up.

 

September 18, 2007 - I got on El Cap (Nose) for the first time. It felt intimidating at first. The view looking up is spectacular. I lead the first two pitches and felt comfortable on the wall. My goal is to get as far as possible in one day of climbing and then rappelling back down. I also got a chance to climb with Leo Burke and I was impressed with the way he climbs given the fact that he is 71 years young. It was a priviledge to have a chance to climb with him.

 

September 9, 2007 - Arrived in Yosemite Valley today to beautiful clear sky and perfect climbing weather. I met some cool people at camp and they are eagered to get on El Cap.