Nobody tells me to "have a nice day" here

So......... Finally back in Scotland 3 years and one week since I left. I'm not really sure what has changed but its easy to see whats different. Dad has been re-introducing me to scottish food with a trip to the pub for a pint and a toastie (grilled cheese for you americans) on the way home from the airport and pie and beans for lunch today.

I flew back from the USA yesterday, subjected to two of the worst films ever made (drill bit taylor and maid of honour) on the plane. As ever my time in America was amazing especialy the people and thier kindness. Emma and I drove from Bend oregon down to los angeles hitting some beautiful places to climb and hike along the way before picking up a hire car for the way back up. We ended up back in bend chilling out, climbing and mountain biking. I feel lucky in that having now been up and down the west coast of the states it seems that I have ended up in the best part (of the pacific coast). The real question now is whether i will make it back there next year.

Below - some photos of the road trip


Welcome to America (pronounced murca if you want to sound authentic)

Me in the back of the van
The campsite the night before we climbed the SW face of Cathedral peak (seen in the background)

The Matthes Crest - the cuillin ridge of the high sierras? (thats a scottish climbing joke!)
Mount Hubris (otherwise known as "the ogre" - you can see his face) in castle crags national park. We climbed up through the left eye to the right hand summit.
The campsite at boulder creek lakes in the trinity alps
The van being "bear proofed" below cathedral peak.

Emma (bottom of the pic) on the Matthes crest

Emma doing the awkward step across on cosmic wall (mt hubris)

End of the season

I have now finished work in the US for another year. The final course was fantastic covering a lot of ground through the mountains and finishing up on the Deschutes river once again. Emma has arrived and we are now about to head off south through California on a road trip in my friend Ryans van. Heading down inland towards Yosemite and Tuollome then probably back via the coast to fly out of portland in a months time.


anyway some photos

Luis at dawn at the base of the hayden glacier

Below - a group of students (different group) raft past as one student prepares to jump and I try and climb the crack at "nookie rock"Steve (my co-instructor) on the final fixed line on three fingered jack with mt jefferson behind

Below - its not all sunsets and summit days. learning a new skill, night one in the mountains - how to eat dinner and not be eaten (by mosquitos)storm clouds coming (jefferson wilderness)
Below- cold and unable to go anywhere, the students tied in place on their way up "three fingered jack"Storm hitting the west side of the sisters (middle on the right and north on the left)Lightning touches down about a mile away (the sisters can be seen on the right of the photo)

Below - a long day on the mountain. Beckett with mt washinton and the sisters behind. taken at around 530am having been fixing ropes up the peak for an hour. Slightly outside remit. Steve "summer ML" ironside leading up the hayden glacier on the way to middle sister with broken top in the background

Getting old

So I cut my hair yesterday as well as the usual beard trim when I come of course. It is slightly alarming when teenagers consistently guess your age at between 35 and 45. I do have white hair in my beard and my hair was kind of long so I figured that was it. Then I went to the store today to buy some beers and the girl at the check out didnt ask me for ID. everyone gets asked for ID, its America. What is going on? So I have just finished my first stint here as "course director" for a 22day white water and mountaineering course. At best this job entails me paddling rivers, climbing mountains and generally hanging out in beautiful places on my own and at worst involves me dealing with parents, behavioral issues, airlines and phonecalls. It was a pretty good mix for me and now I have 4 days off before the next 25 day stint. After that Emmas coming over and we are off on a climbing road trip south through Oregon and California. Woo hoo.

The cool tree at buckskin camp on the deschutes.
South sister reflected in Camp lake. The Ridge in the foreground was my access route over the mountain to get from one group to the other. Colby's birthday cake (no bake cheese cake with strawberry jam) which we ate while the students were on solo.
The chipmunk who kept trying to get into my food on South sister
A typical river campsite on the lower river in the early morning. The students and staff are doing "pump and stretch"

A helicopter lands a bit close to one of our gear boats (bottom left) as the desert burns.
The life of a course director. Checking messages on my phone and drinking coffee on the summit of middle sister (10,056ft) at 8.30am. I then carried on to the summit of South sister (in front of me and 10,300ft) for lunch. A good day but a tiring one.
Ryan and Colbies tent with the moon behind on the East side of North sister
Climbing the middle sister via the south ridge with students.

And the not so good part of the job - removing staples from a student head by head lamp (photo courtesy of Ryan)

Sport climbing is neither so what is Aid Climbing?

So today I went aid climbing, yesterday I was working. Really I wanted to get into the mountains but the snow level is still very low and it would have been a horrendous slog. I therefore convinced Ryan (who planned a day of sleeping on the couch) to come and climb the monkeys face with me. The monkey face is graded 5.8 A1 and while i dont usually climb Aid routes i thought it would go pretty easily. (for the non climbers Aid is basically pulling on the gear, or in this case bolts that are in the wall for protection and involves lots of things I never usually use such as little portable ladders called "etriers" and a whole host of techniques I have never learned. The photos should show exactly how cl0se the bolt were but it still felt kind of strenous. It was great to just be out and laughing at each other followed by a trip home past the pizza shop that sells 24 inch pizzas, it really was a good day. I have also spent a lot of time on the deschutes river recently for work which is awesome but is a very cold river flowing through the desert. I really feel the need for some trees and mountains but hey it might happen soon. Tommorrow is my other day off before another 25 days in the field so I am off to kayak the metolious river. This could be highly amusing for my friends as it has been a very long time since I kayaked whitewater.





Sunset on the deschutes river

















Below- the monkeys face. the aid pitch goes up the left dark side and a climber can just be seen two thirds of their way up it.



















Ryan seconding the Aid pitch and Dave with a freshly baked foccacia on the river.

Raftin on the Dechutes (this was taken by accident as I was fiddling with my camera but I kind of like it)

Lisa putting in a big pry to get her raft back on track in "wapanitia" on the dechutes

Ryan crimping on a bolt at the top of the Aid pitch

Now its back for some more work

River photos and general work stuff

Buckskin Mary Camp on the Dechutes - Family course
Chilli for Dinner - staff training on the Deschutes
One of the 4 gear boats on the Deschutes - Jess in the princess seat with Kellen and steve at the oars.
A Lesson on something? - Deschutes

The put in for the Clackamas river
Beckett and Whitney trying to look all serious - the deschutes river
Kellen asleep on one of the four gear boats - early morning on the deschutes.
A student going off the big jump on the Deschutes - Family course

Me demonstrating how not to do the big Jump (I just like to look where i'm going) deschutes river family course. Photo coutesy of steve ironsides

As promised. Glaciers and stuff

The video was a fair bit of effort on my now old laptop but hopefuly is of some interest (or humor) to some. Really it is for an all staff day in a couple of weeks but is now complete. I left Australia I flew to Oregon, slept for 3 hours, got in a van and drove to mt hood (i think around 3300m+) got hammered by some scottish weather, left a lot of gear up there, retreated and then went back up for some more. Since then I have been on Lead instructor training which involved some educational stuff and also some amazing rivers including the Deschutes, the white salmon (Washington) and the Clackamas. It has rained so much here onto the epic snowpack (largest in ten years?) that all the rivers were much bigger than expected The river photos, while cold, do not really match the mountain photos but may well follow.

Apologies for the language in the movie, I only filmed when things were really going wrong................

okay so the video appears to have worked so here are the best of the photos

Ryan overcoming the cornice (the first good weather day)

Below - me trying not to look at where Eric want to take me. (I am probably watching an avalanche (or mt st helens) as the snow pack was pretty unstable that day) - taken by Mick.

Next one down - Drew prodding a crevasse on the Reid glacier with the rope teams silhoutted.

Next one down - Camp at Illumination saddle with Mt Jefferson beyond.