I am an outdoor person, so I'm up for most activities that happen in the open air. I camp, hike and rock climb quite a bit, and I used to kayak as well. I hope to get back into kayaking and maybe sailing as time and money permits. It was so much easier when I could use my parents' kayaks, but at least I have my own climbing gear!
It feels kind of silly putting my girlfriend on this page, because she is a whole lot more than an "other interest", but she needs to be here somewhere and she is my partner in most of the activites that are on this page. Maybe at some point I will re-label everything so that it makes sense. Anyhow, the love of my life and buddy in the great outdoors is Cindy. In the picture below she has her feet stained red from wearing her climbing shoes constantly for days and days, but just look at that smile! Come to think of it, that is the smile which comes from climbing many days in a row, so the red feet are not exactly incidental.
I havent been climbing as much as I'd like over the past year (2003), both because of the pressures of completing my PhD thesis, and because I tore my biceps tendon mostly off its attachment on the shoulder. For those who want the details, I had something between a SLAP II and SLAP IV tear that put me out of action for about a year. Diagnosis of SLAP tears is difficult, and the bad ones (like mine) often need surgical repair. The only guaranteed way to tell is to go in surgically with a camera; minimally invasive techniques like an arthroscopic MRI can sometimes tell a lot of the story, but they have many false positives so it is difficult to be sure if you need a repair or just some physical therapy. In my case I eventually got the surgery and seem to be on the road to recovery. Cindy and I got some climbing in over Christmas at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia and I led a scary run-out slab at the infamous Stone Mountain in North Carolina. Photos to follow I hope!
Arizona has some great climbing! I flew out with Cindy on New Year's Eve and joined Corinna to visit Mt Lemmon (outside Tuscon) and the Dragoon mountains. We had a story-worthy epic finding and returning from our only multi-pitch at Cochise Stronghold. We were lost in a boulder-field at the base for hours on the descent and only my headlamp still had battery power when we emerged on the slabby and somewhat scary sections of the path. Exit to the road was achieved at around 5am the following day! As usual I haven't had the chance to scan all our pictures, but here are a couple. On the left is the fabulous Rockfellow Dome, while on the right I am grinning with glee after making a big pendulum.
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I dont have much to say about this right now, other than to note that it is cold cold cold camping in West Virginia at Christmas. Maybe I will be back with more photos and things to say.