Chan Chan, or how we came to give our email addresses to 30 Peruvian schoolgirls

Sorry bout the lack of updates, but we have been busy travelers. Anyhow, we are up in Ecuador, in a town called Puerto Lopez. Ecuador is much greener and swarming with Vermillion Flycatchers, which never cease to impress me with their bright plumage. When we crossed the border from Peru we asked the guy next to us in the bus what sort of currency they use in Ecuador (quetzales? sucres?). Turns out they use the good ol US dollar, which is oh so convenient as we no longer have to divide everything by 3 to figure how much it costs.

We have been migrating north in seach of warmer water (which we have found!) and sun (no sign of any of that yet). Apparently the sunny season on the coast doesn´t begin for a couple more weeks. Maybe this is a good thing, since the last sunny day (in Mancora, Peru) resulted in some pretty serious sunburn on Rose´s legs. In fact, she is just now walking without a limp and it is about a week later (slight exaggeration maybe). The only consolation was that the burn was acquired during a great surf session in which she caught a bunch of sweet waves... Small price to pay? We´ll have to see how the scars turn out... Anyhow, we migrated relatively quickly north along the frigid and desolate Peruvian coast. We had a great visit with my aunt Elena, a nun living in Chulucanas, Peru. She showed us all sort of interesting local sights and introduced us to our new favorite pastime, the siesta!

Anyhow, before it drifts too far into the past to remember, I just wanted to relate a funny experience we had down by the town of Trujillo, Peru:

As you can well imagine, Rose and I blend right in down here, except for the fact that we are really white and a head taller than everyone else. We are somewhat self-conscious about our conspicuousness. In fact, the highlight of our trip so far was being mistaken for Brazilians the other day - how cool is that?

Anyhow, one day we were strolling around the ruins of Chan Chan, a huge, pre-colombian adobe city and ran into a huge herd of 12-13 yr. old schoolgirls, dressed in matching uniforms. They were out for a holiday trip (8th of October, anniversary of a war with Chile that I think Peru actually lost) and didn´t seem too keen on the adobe city. However, they were fascinated by us, especially after we started to chat with them a little bit. Pretty soon were were being mobbed with questions (How old are you? How many kids to you have? What the heck kind of name is Ty? (¨Rosa¨ rolls nicely off the castillophonic tongue)), requests for photos with us, and our email addresses. After posing for a bunch of photos and writing our email a couple of dozen times, they were so kind as to give us a ride in their bus back to the main road, saving a kilometer or two of walking. Anyhow, now we have a little sense of what it feels like to be a rock star - or at least the member of a tween-oriented pop group. Should be good preparation in case our musical careers finally start to take off...

More soon loyal readers, and maybe even a photo or two.

Ty

Huanchaco

Greetings from Huanchaco, Peru! We arrived in this quiet beach town on Saterday after spending 3 days in Lima visiting museums, dodging traffic, and trying to decipher Spanish language newspapers (things are not looking good for Pinochet´s family). Among the more unusual museums we visited was El Monestario de los Dezcalsos (monestary of the barefooted monks). It has an enourmous collection of Peruvian religious art decorating the monks´quarters, preserved from the 17th century. We toured the rooms where the monks slept, ate, prayed, made wine, and mixed medecines. The monestary was, and still is, an oasis in the midst of a pretty overwhelming city, made more so by the remarkable amount of diesel in the air. After 3 days we felt glad to board a bus for the 10 hr. overnight ride north which began with a viewing of ¨Die Hard 4 ¨ that made the journey through the endless outskirts of Lima all the more riveting.

Although Lima was stimulating, it feels great to be in a more tranquil town where a person can hear the ocean and breath clean air, smell the ceviche! We spent some time in the water yesterday, I laying on my surf board and paddling around more than standing on it. The surfers here share the waves with men dressed in blue pants and white shirts, a sash around their waste paddling slender and pointed boats made of reeds. Traditionally a fisherman´s sport, they paddle out in unison and seem to share a ride on the same wave back into shore--no competition for waves there.

Pues, we´re heading into the neighboring town of Trujillo today to check out language schools now. So, look for the next EMM in Spanish!

Hasta luego,

Rosa

Back in Time - Delicate Arch

Still in Wyoming - til October 2 when the long road finally heads south! We've been enjoying the lovely fall weather and colors. Backpacking, fishing, climbing, traveling, and catching up with friends.

Anyhow, the purpose of this EMM is to show some photos from back on the road in the spring, which we are just now getting sorted.

These images are from a great jaunt into Arches National Park for an evening picnic and light show at Delicate Arch, which is still standing in spite of the reports of a notorious soul climber/free soloist trying to tear it down...

In addition to the lovely arch view, Rose and I met some fascinating expat Russian amatuer photographers on a whirlwind (5 day, 4 state) southwest photo tour. They noticed Rose and I eating a dry supper of bread and cheese (and a cucumber) and gave us a beer to wash it down with. Then they included us in their celebratory dessert of port and fresh grapes (nice combo!) and entertained us with tales from their epic photographic odyssey. They were ecstatic about the photos they nabbed of the arch, and relieved to be travelling without their wives, who apparently prefer souvenir shopping to marathon 5 hour drives between photo sites - imagine!

Enjoy the photos,

Ty

Delicate Arch

Back in Ol Wyomin

As usual, I'll begin this essential mass message with an apology for the long gap. My only excuse is that Rose and I are reading the latest Harry Potter, and things have been looking pretty desperate for our hero...

Anyhow, here is the latest. We have been back in Lander for the last couple weeks, and are oh-so-relieved not to be living out of a cramped Cavalier any more. We enjoyed a great visit with our friends Brian and Katie, who flew out from Vermont to visit and spend some time in the Wyoming mountains. We carried all our climbing gear into the Tetons for some bouldering (it was rainy). Then we spent a few days back in Lander, staying up at the cabin, climbing at Wild Iris, and playing music and bridge. Finally, we embarked on a five-day trip into the Cirque of the Towers. In spite of the continued rainy weather, we were able to climb Pingora, Wolfs Head, and Mitchell Peak, do some great bouldering, and catch some fish. Rose was especially successful in providing fish to supplement our meager, sugar-free diet of various dried foods. The Grouse Whortleberries were in full swing, as well as a few blueberries, but they seemed to take more calories to gather than they provided in sustenance. It was fabulous to spend some time with Katie and Brian, and sad to see them return to VT. Check out a few photos here:

Back in Old Wyoming

Last weekend Rose and I ducked up to Tensleep, WY and attended Nowoodstock VII, a great music festival at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains. Saw some good music, including Tensleep's own Jalan Crossland, the Dan Walker band, and a really tight Colorado bluegrass band called "Great Divide". We also got some climbing in up at the Mondo Beyondo in Tensleep Canyon.

That's all for now, the only other major news is that we are departing for Peru on October 2! Hasta luego.

Haida Gwaii

Well, the truth is, we've been hearing some disgruntled rumblings from our loyal readers about the general lack of essential messaging lately. And the only argument I can make in our defense is that being retired is not all about watching the clouds and wondering what to make for dinner. Especially not when you're visiting Barbara and Charlie Mack on Haida Gwaii (aka Queen Charlotte Islands) Ty and I just arrived in Lander, WY after spending 2 magical weeks with his folks in BC. Winnowing down the trip to a handful of highlights is a tall order, but here's an attempt:

After arriving we didn't waste much time in setting out for a 4-day kayaking trip that took us out to the untamed western side of Haida Gwaii to visit the site of an old Haida village. On the way, we paddled over miles of a colorful, watery universe including colonies of bat stars, sun stars, sea enenomies, moon jellies and muscles. Rock crab scuttled around in the eel grass, and we caught some tasty rock fish. At the village site we found two totem poles still standing in the abandoned woods amid giant ferns and moss-covered hemlock and sitka spruce. The paddle home was exciting for several reasons including the two orcas we saw and the fabulous blue tarp sail that Ty rigged up for our double Kayak, allowing us to sail most of the way home. On the paddle home we also stopped by an amazing little organic farm on Maude Island, to do a little weeding and learn about the challenges of organic farming at the end of the earth.

Our visit with Barbara and Charlie also included some fabulous bear viewing, salmon berry picking, music playing, halibut fishing and some wild hikes and runs through the mossy rainforest of Haida Gwaii. Certainly experiencing all the wildlife and the beautifully rugged landscape of the island was a great adventure, but perhaps my favorite moments of the whole trip happened at the dinner table where we all had a chance to tell stories, polish our political diatribes, laugh, and enjoy the colorful bounty of BC (inspiringly, the Macks are on the low-carbon 100-mile diet).

The entire trip up to Canada was a lot of fun, from being harassed by Canadian customs officers at the border crossing (you don't have jobs?!?!), to our last night in a funky little town-owned campground in Milk River (Ty's place of birth). In fact, our only disappointment in Canada was with the quality of the programming on BBC radio, which Canadians explained was normal since the entire "regular" BBC staff takes the whole summer off and the B-team is left to run the show. That and the tiny cups of coffee at Tim Hortons (Canada's answer to Dunkin Donuts) - I really felt like an American saying "You call that thimbleful a Large?"

Freeridden, or freeloading on Freerider

Success! Over the period of four days I was able to free climb El Capitan via the route Freerider, a three pitch variation to the Salathe Wall that skips the oh-so-impressive (and burly!) Salathe headwall.

I lucked out and met a fabulous partner Tom Moulin while I was up mini-traxioning (rehearsing alone with a self belay) the upper pitches on May 17. Tom was also hoping to free climb el cap, and had already stashed a bunch of food, water and bivy gear to support such an effort. So, after a weekend in the Bay Area and a recon trip from the ground (via some handy fixed ropes and a bunch of climbing) to the boulder problem pitch (the technical crux) with el cap veteran and great climber Nick Martino, we headed up the route, swapping leads, following free, and hauling only a light bag.

A marathon day one brought us to "The Alcove", a great ledge below El Cap Spire. A whole bunch of quality and pretty damn physical climbing including the fearsome monster offwidth pitches. We then took a rest day at the alcove, during which I finally knuckled down and finished Wuthering Heights - neither Tom, nor Cedar and Nick, who climbed the route a day later and shared the Alcove our second night and were resting the next day could be convinced to read more than a page, despite the fitting title and the fact that it was the only book at the bivy (only book on el cap?).

Day three took us up to "The Block" - only 5 pitches higher in a shady morning's climbing. I led the boulder problem pitch and fired first try, to the relief of my extremely thin tip skin. Tom fired the boulder problem on his second try and had the pleasure of leading The Sewer, the foulest pitch on the route, which was soaking and muddy as usual, uggghh. We rested all afternoon, ate most of the last of our food, obsessed about the coming pitches, and tried to ignore the overwhelming smell of urine that accompanies many el cap bivy ledges when it hasn't rained in a while.

Day four took us 8 more pitches to the top. I took my only fall of the climb following the first corner pitch above Soux le toit ledge in the morning, but lowered back to the belay and sent it next try. The second corner pitch, one of the toughest on the route, was nice and dry and I was relieved to fire it first try, but not without a pretty good fight. The traverse over to the "Knights of the Round Table" ledge (where the route leaves the Salathe) felt desperate, with the ricey footholds and exposed position, but I managed not to fall. The final four pitches, including the somewhat fearsome wide pitch went smoothly and we topped out around 3:30PM. We then rapped the route and cleaned off all our stashed gear and trash - this was the part that I dreaded but it went pretty darn smoothly and we were back on the valley floor well before dark and had plenty of time for a shower and pizza at camp curry.

I am eternally indebted to Tom, who was a great partner for the route and put in a lot work stashing all the gear that let us do the climb without hauling heavy bags. Tom came really close to a free ascent too, missing only the second monster (which he actually lowered down to on our rest day and laybacked!), the first corner, and the traverse pitch.

Anyhow, a huge relief to have finally achieved a long-term climbing goal. Now my friend Brian Lenz is out from Jackson for his first week ever in the valley, and he is helping keep me from resting too much, and distracting me from moping around and missing Rose, who is now home in Wisconsin, where I will be joining her in a week. West Face of el cap tomorrow so I gotta rest up...

Ty

Freerider

Friends, Faithful readers of our not-so-faithful Essential Mass Message,

I wish you could have seen what I just saw, the sight that moved me to do a number of things, including but not limited to, calling my parents (who sadly weren't home), contemplating calling everyone who ever knew about Ty's desire to free climb El Cap, and finally sending out an Essential Mass Message. This is really the perfect medium to communicate something that is so inspiring it's too big for the phone. Not to be seen from the ground with the naked eye, only visible through high powered binoculars, Ty Mack is now about 1800 feet off the ground on the face of North America's most majestic (and absolutely fucking huge!) monolith, El Capitan for the first of four days he'll spend on it. He and his partner Tom started at 4 this morning, and if you're familiar with the Freerider route, they're now on the monster off width just below El Cap spire. I felt a little strange peering at those two specks moving (with remarkable speed) up the wall, as I could see them, and they could not see me, but the absolute certainty and skill with which they moved made me resist pulling my eyes out of the binoculars. Ty might turn a becoming shade of red if he reads this, but watching him on that wall, practicing his art, made my heart swell.

Well friends, I hope you are practicing your art too. When I left for college, my dad gave me a short list of things he proposed one should always do; besides cleaning hair out of the shower, living lightly on the earth, and being in the company of folks who love you and whom you love , he advised that people should always be doing something that they love. I hope you are now, (I mean besides reading our blog).

Cheers,

Rose