Prohibition

Well, the weather this weekend was prohibiting. Something like this:



I don't know about you, but I had all sorts of plans - all successively foiled by lack of sunshine. I sat in the office last Friday, observing the weather from City of Rocks, ID all the way to the coast, and back down to Yosemite - sobbing uncontrollably. NOAA gave me a mix of both 'it sucks' and 'we can't provide accurate weather data at this time'. This actually translated to 'it just sucks', but I held out hope for a longer time than was probably healthy.

However, adventures this weekend included several exciting indoor activities!

The first was, of course, sleep. I slept a lot. It was really nice. I always feel like sleep is an adventure anyways - you never know if you're going to get much of it, never know whether you're going to have crazy dreams or just hibernate like a piece of timber. Or, take for example the mornings where you wake up in a very curious location, or wake up in a completely different location. Imagine the invigorating suspense and sheer joy involved with such types of sleep. Adventurous sleeping is an art that should be respected and practiced regularly. I will refrain from informing you of where I slept, since that might be incriminating, but suffice it to say that it worked out okay.

The second exciting activity took place with help from our local Rogue Rock Gym - Joey, James, Kevin, and Jesse are all doing a fabulous job of keeping those little plastic knobbies organized in stimulating ways, and Claire and Mackenzie always have cheerful smiles to share! Though Smith, Yosemite, City of Rocks, and the like were all out of the question, climbing was still to be had!

In other news:
Frank Debaugh has some plans to trek to Bigfoot Cave in the Marble Mountain Wilderness this coming weekend. One of the deepest and coldest caves in North America, Bigfoot Cave is both extensive and insanely vertical. I asked Frank what he planned to wear, and he informed me that he'd be rockin' his 3m wetsuit. I haven't asked Frank what sort of food he's planning on bringing, but i'm sure it'll be delicious. If anyone wants to get their alpine caving in with Frank this weekend, i'm sure he'll take some additions to his adventure team. Inquire before Friday! We're open every day this week 10-6. Sort of like every week.

Also, a note: If you plan on attending Frank's mysterious cave-a-thon this weekend, make sure you bring extra socks and gear that you don't mind getting insanely dirty and/or gnarly. Also, make sure you watch out for this guy.


If the weather holds, I'll most likely be off catching up on some trad/sport climbing adventure on either Saturday or Sunday.

What are you doing with your memorial day weekend? Make it memorable! Way I see it, everyone only has a finite number of heartbeats left. Why waste any of them? Just because some of us here at the Ashland Outdoor Store are secretly terrified of inclement weather, doesn't mean that you've gotta be! If you've got the scoop on some awesome adventure this weekend, share it with us, by all means.

I'll leave you all with a small selection of 'inspiring photos', and a link to a truly inspiring video put on by Patagonia last Tin Shed season. If you missed it, check out Free South Africa. These guys are incredibly talented climbers, but they also apply full value to one of my favorite sayings: "There's no such thing as inclement weather - just a lack of adequate gear."

FREE SOUTH AFRICA!




Peace out, guys and gals. Enjoy your week!

Holy Nor-Cal Snowpack, Batman!

What did you do with your weekend?

Frank and Travis both raced cross-country at the Spring Thaw on Saturday. They placed well, and had a blast!

I should also note up-front that our lovely Sarah Spector - despite being swamped with school, never having any free time to climb, kayak, or do anything fun, and having to work almost every weekend - has at this point only two and a half weeks left at SOU! So, the next time that you happen to be in the store on a Tuesday, a Thursday, the odd-Saturday, or a Sunday, you should congratulate her on her almost-completed Environmental Studies degree! She may still be our morale booster and Hardgoods Buyer-in-training (don't know how she does it all), but she's a damn good student as well. Go Sarah! Now you can come adventure with us on weekends too!


Alright, alright.
Well, this weekend was interesting to say the least.

Because of a general lack of climbing partners, I decided to take a very early season backpacking trip to the Marble Mountain Wilderness, located south and west of Fort Jones, CA. The weather, which was dubiously labeled as partly cloudy, with a chance of thunderstorms and rain, ended up cooperating wonderfully! However, we should have brought our tele gear alongside our backpacking boots. Hiking through knee and waist deep snow - full on saturated springtime snowpack - can rarely be considered a lot of fun. All things considered, an early-season trip like that is always a rare and unique experience. You've gotta be flexible with your plans and expectations. This time, however, every single bit of it was fun. Even the sweaty, wet, and cold parts. In retrospect, I might have chosen less food and no bivy sack just to make room for ski boots.

I took off from work around 5:30 pm on Friday, and was packed, supplied with food, and on the road with my buddy Elliot by seven. By nine p.m. we were at the trailhead - Lover's Camp, several miles off the Scott River Highway. My original motivation was to hike in that same evening, and set up camp in the dark. By the time we'd arrived at the trailhead, a long work day had definitely caught up with me. We made some delicious food, and got a great night's sleep. In the morning, we skipped breakfast and were on the trail by eight. Before noon we had made it to what was essentially the only dry campsite in the entire valley above 5,000 feet. The last several miles were grueling, as the snowpack made progress very tedious. Later that day I did spy some crafty little rock nooks where one could have snagged a bivy further above the valley, but I was satisfied that we'd opted for a lower campsite near the caver's cabin. More access to streams for water. More comfy. We enjoyed a lazy day with a short excursion up to 6,400 feet, got plenty of sun, and were happy to watch the thunderstorms and rain roll right on by to the north.

Definitely a funky sort of trip - half backpacking, half waging war against wet snow. The whole time I was wishing i'd had the determination to pack in tele gear, but the original mission this weekend was to check out what the season had in store for us down in northern California. I didn't feel like packing 30+ lb. in for an overnight. I have to admit that the skiing definitely would have been worth it, however. The Marbles have a much higher than average snowpack right now - every single creek and river I saw was busting at the seams. This definitely means we're going to have a lovely and long backpacking season - with the best trips being taken later in the summer. Elliot and I also saw a 150-200 foot overhanging wall, with tons of pumpy climbing, and some tiny cracks - all in beautiful rock! The face was located about three miles up from Lover's Camp, off the trail. Very inspiring. Backpacking trips this summer might have to be modified to include a combination of climbing, caving, and trekking! Anyone who wishes to join is more than welcome.









And alas, now it is Tuesday. Friday seems so, so far away.

Don't let it get you down though. The ability to keep yourself stoked on the little stuff is invaluable. And don't forget your chocolate. I find that it's almost impossible to face a day head-on without a little chocolate.

I know the weather this week isn't going to be ideal, but get out for that trail-run! Meet up with AOS climbers at the Rogue Rock Gym or our local crags after work! I'm always stoked on outdoor climbing (Frank too) basically at any time of the day - including after dark.

Also, I should note that if anyone can come up with a successful way to get Bryant Helgeland climbing outside on a given afternoon/evening, I'll definitely buy that successful motivator the next round at the Creek, or wherever he or she holds their evening forays into the mysterious and relaxing. Seriously, I ask him every day. *Sigh*

Before I go, I have to add that if you've got an adventure idea that you think the AOS crew would like to know about (this includes just about everything), then stop on by and propose your weekend expedition, or share your story with us! We get stoked on other people's ideas, and we love hearing about your adventures as well.

We'll see you out there, enjoy the crazy southern Oregon weather this week!

The calamitous lack of conviction

Ah, spring. We've really got it lucky, living in this valley.


Winter's still got us in what occasionally appears to be a slipping, sliding, full-handed pinch, but the 'sunny season' is here!

Lucky enough, it would seem that in the Rogue Valley we're never stuck with the true brunt of a 'season'. For example, last week we were able to enjoy five or six different types of weather in one day! Was it Tuesday, or Wednesday maybe? Seriously, what other donut hole location experiences such diversity of weather? Absolutely nutty.

I digress.

A calamitous lack of conviction has been recently brought to my attention.

Conviction, you say? Of what type? In this context, I speak of the most valuable type of conviction. The best type of conviction. My favorite conviction. The act of devoting every ounce of energy towards a single goal: to pursue incredibly awesome and ambitiously unyielding adventure, always. As much as possible. Uh. Every day.

Local adventure enthusiasts are shaking their heads in dismay. And those who have more free time... are laughing mercilessly.

Work leaves little time for play, as it would seem. Even the most dedicated weekend warrior finds that weekends these days leave scarce time to completely satisfy the burning lust for exploration. But we persevere! The 'season' is almost here, and every bit of spare time we can find must be utilized intelligently. In order for us to feel more stoked about this weekend, i've included what I hope is some mild inspiration, and a recap of the last couple weeks' events.



Recent trips worthy of mention, carried out despite lack of truly adequate time:

Yours truly enjoyed a quick climb up Mt. McLoughlin several weekends back. Wonderful snowpack and a beautiful day!



Hardgoods buyer and charisma-chief Frank Debaugh came up with the incredible idea to gather firsthand beta on Bigfoot Cave, found in the Marble Mountain Wilderness. In fact, I wouldn't even be here writing this right now! However, this was actually botched because of cold feet. Or perhaps the propensity of getting cold feet? Ground and water temperatures in Bigfoot Cave can cause hypothermia in minutes this time of year. Regardless, it was a brilliant idea, and some people got very excited (He'll get to it soon, with a little help from his friends, and AOS Adventure will be there to cover it).

Frank Debaugh and a crew from Southern Oregon University also killed it at Smith Rock this past weekend. Good climbing all around.

And of course, there is still spring skiing. The tail end of it! Or maybe with how much snow we've had late this season, the midst of it. Define at your leisure.

Anywho,
thanks to Roger Strong and Mike Kurilich, the lovely lads at Black Diamond Equipment Ltd., Bryant Helgeland and I were out to try some sick new backcountry gear, which will be available soon. The four of us - including Bryant's impeccably trained Nanuk - took a fast day trip up Mt. Bailey to enjoy some fine spring skiing. Gorgeous sunny day, and enough vertical to keep us satisfied for the following work week.







It was a great day. As a result, I strongly urge everyone to check out Black Diamond Equipment's super solid line of backcountry ski gear. Those guys are doing an inspiring job of designing skis and boots for next season.

Though the amount of free time for adventure is never enough, we solider on still. Our alpine climbing season will be long this year! And despite a slow start, we've had a killer winter. We all must remember to thank Ullr for his lovely presence this year.

With the weather holding fairly stable, at least one AOS member is off to the south this weekend - early-season backpacking, scoping the snowpack still present in the Marble Mountain Wilderness of northern California! Photos and a full report will be available by next week.

Also, good luck to Travis and Frank, who will be racing in the annual Spring Thaw this weekend. Get 'em boys!

I urge everyone to get outside in the next couple days, whatever that may mean to you. Don't let your lack of undying adventure conviction manifest its ugly head this time around. Go enjoy our lovely valley. May your conviction be strengthened. May your strides be long. May your lungs breathe deep. Go seek adventure!