Family Christmas 2011

We are always so happy to have family over for Christmas and hope to keep this tradition going for many years. Our family members say they come to hang out with family but we know that they actually come b/c we guarantee them a 'White Christmas'. Although it rained up until and after Christmas day, the white stuff did fly on the actual day, so we kept our guarantee. Some photos of the family fun:

Uncle Brandon hauls Pekay up the sled hill.

Pekay rides the snow unicorn.

The kids unwrapping their presents...

 Calder liked the packaging much more than the actual presents...

 Mmm...ribbon.

 Pekay got this super cute kitty, home-made (by momma Tara, left) from a sweater...

...and a Star Wars Light Saber from Santa Claus.

The ladies tried on their new aprons (wow, how domestic!).

Tara, Sheena, Heather, & Jane 

And the boys played with their new toys-
the low-flying helicopter was very interesting to the cats too.

Baby Nason stopped by for some play time with Calder...

but he spent most of his time climbing up & down the stairs,

with a little assistance from Don.

[I've already told Melissa & Jeremy

that I'm counting on Nason as my ropegun

to set all the hard climbs in a few years.]

There was much smooching of the little ones.

...and hugging, of course, Nana Teresa with Calder here.

We didn't get any pictures of the loads of eating that occurred because, well, we were eating. 

We ate well, though, rest assured. This year, the cooking was somehow much less stressful and everything turned out according to plan. Weird, huh? No unexpectedly dry stuffing, overdone meat, overflowing pots of boiling water, etc. Even the dishes were done in quick fashion, thanks to helpful family members.

It was another great Christmas. We missed those who couldn't be with us, but hope to see you next year. I'll leave you with this final snow shot...as I type this, it is POURING rain outside. :(

We had grand visions of creating funny, large-scale snow scenes...

(Calvin & Hobbes style, if you are familiar)

but the snow bear and snow unicorn
were all we could really do with the lack of snow.

Next year, next year.

Christmas Eve Hyak Vert 120 Rando Rally

Recently I was inspired by a group of skiers out of Utah, that were tired of traveling to ski race, so they started their own little underground rando race circuit.  I sent out an email to some friends with an idea to start something similar around Washington.  The email spread courtesy of Greg Louie and, before I knew it, we had a race set for Christmas Eve morning with a vert format.  The vert format is basically a set course with a given amount of time to complete as many laps as possible.  In our case, the course would be the Hyak ski hill, with each lap being close to 1000 vertical feet.

When the alarm clock went off this morning it was difficult to roll out of bed, especially since we were greeted with 34-degree temps and rain. When I walked over to Hyak at 7:30, there were only a couple people there, and it crossed my mind to bail. Then more and more people started to roll in, so it was on.  By race start time we had 16 participants!

The conditions were pretty crumby, with off-and-on rain, fog, and 3-4" of glop. Skiing was challenging for sure, but after it was all over, it was worth it. We had a great time, there was suffering, but it sure was nice to start off the Holiday weekend with some good exercise. Hopefully another race will be on the schedule soon.  Big thanks for everyone that made it out, and to my family members that came out to help with keeping time and bringing over some hot cider and pumpkin pie for after the race.

Approximate results below:

Seth Davis - 6 laps 2 hrs 2-3 min?

Brandon Kern - 6 laps 2 hrs 5 min

John Mauro - 5 laps

Greg Louie - 4.5 laps

Crispin Prahl - 4.5 laps

Heather Kern - 4 laps

Holly Walker - 4 laps

Kevin Curd - 3 laps

John Stimberis -3 laps

Melissa Chapman - 3 laps

Francine Curd - 2 laps

Elissa Eng - 2 + laps ?

Anne Melgaard - 2 laps

Cindy - 2 laps

Dawn Frearson - 2 laps

Katie Smith - 1 lap

Lining up to start

Into the fog

Brandon 1st transition

Seth Davis

John Mauro

Greg Louie

 Heather Kern and John Stimberis 

 

Melissa 

Holly Walker

Elissa

Anne, Dawn & Cindy

Pumpkin Pie and Cider for our efforts

Fail

Quickly put together a ski movie for North Bend Film Fest, it didn't make the top 3.  Hopefully the top three this year were better than last year, because the top three last year were pretty lame.  I guess it wasn't aggro enough?  Well here it is, not on the big screen.


The Hy(ak) Life from Brandon Kern on Vimeo.

Kendall Peak

Ed called and wanted to ski at the pass, I was a little skeptical, as the weather hasn't been great, Ed brought up some friends and then I joined them.  Conditions were great, good snow, pretty good coverage, and great weather.  Was good to get out with a friend I haven't seen for a while.

Ed dropping in off the ridge

Ed making turns

Nice

Seasonal Affective Disorder

It's the strangest thing...my body & mind seem to have been 'off' the seasons for some time now. I waited anxiously for summer to come, anticipating the warm sun and the scent of hot earth. By mid-August, when it hadn't really come, I had to mourn it in a way so I started looking forward to fall. Well, that's when summer came and I had already moved on, you know? I enjoyed the sun when it finally came, don't get me wrong, but I was thinking of fall colors, huckleberries, and cool night bonfires. And then fall happened really quick, it seemed like.

So the other day, I went for a hike with Anne. She had never hiked Ingalls and since it is a classic, we headed East, thinking we might even get some sun. Sun, we did not get. As we got closer & closer, I became concerned we'd be hiking in dreary rain, but when we got out of the car, snow flurries began to fall. Pretty quickly, we were hiking in a full-on blizzard, with wind so hard you had to turn away from it.

 Reuben was covered in snowballs by the end...

There are three main highlights to the Ingalls hike: the brilliant larch trees, tame/aggressive mountain goats, and huge views of Mt. Stuart. On this particular day, Anne got to see none of the highlights. The larch had already turned, the mountain goats were probably sleeping in a cave b/c it was a crazy blizzard (duh!), and Mt. Stuart was nowhere to be seen. At the top of Ingalls Pass, I kept repeating "Mt. Stuart is like RIGHT THERE" emphatically, but that didn't help Anne see it. :)

Wrapping it up here...While we hiked in snow, I was ecstatic, happy to be heading into winter. And then, I had the weirdest thought: "Get ready for several months of this (sigh)." It was fleeting, but concerning nonetheless. I love winter! It is my favorite season. I live someplace where we don't see ground until June. I better not feel like sighing on the first snow. How could I think such a thing?!

 Home, starting to look like home.

Have no fear...we got out skiing on Friday and Saturday in dry, fluffy powder. The sigh of dread was replaced by a joyful squeal. I must've been temporarily suffering from seasonal affective disorder but I'm cured now.

Chikamin Peak, the view from our living room

Montana

I went on my semi annual Montana prairie dog shooting / coyote shooting / deer hunting trip last week with my friend Mike from work.  With La Nina last year and then the plague, combined with snowy cold weather there weren't a lot of dogs to find.  The deer populations took a hit as well, with neither Mike or I getting a deer.  There were a lot running around but they were either on private no hunting land, with fawn, or wrong species.  Oh well, we had a great time, spent a lot of time hiking some beautiful country, drank some Jack (Yukon that is), hung out with cattle ranchers, even watched a John Wayne movie on a barely functional TV courtesy of the ranchers guest trailer.

Mike with a coyote we called in

Big, beautiful, eastern Montana

Warm Sun?!?

A couple weekends ago, we made the last minute decision to go East to Vantage with friends Hillary & Jamie for some climbing. The weather report said a high of 42 but we were hot in our tee-shirts and wishing for flip-flops. No complaining from me!

 Hillary on rope

 Jamie

B was full of energy but we were all tuckered out.

Betties at Smith Rocks

A crew of us Betties went to Smith Rocks last weekend, catching a great fall weekend on the rock. It was super cold when we arrived and set-up our tents; our tents were frosted over the next morning. Each morning, we enjoyed coffee (thanks Anne!) sitting in the sun in front of the massive rocks of Smith.

On day one, we spent a good deal of time hiking around trying to figure out where to climb. Eventually, we got on some routes at Pleasure Palace and Mesa Verde Wall. At Mesa Verde Wall, we met some cool people while we waited and waited and waited to do Cosmos and/or Screaming Yellow Zonkers. I finally lead Screaming Yellow Zonkers but, by then, it was getting late...so I took it down and we headed out on the long hike back. It was a beautiful hike with the full moon shining on the Crooked River and reflecting off the rock faces.

Dawn, Christy, and Anne

 Christy

Dawn...it wasn't as slabby as it looks here. 

We had more luck on Sunday, climbing several routes at the Dihedrals, all of which were fun and relaxing. A huge rock fell off a route just to the right of us, a good reminder to us of the dangers of climbing. Thankfully, nobody was beneath that route and so there were no injuries.

 Anne, in the crack

 Christy

 Me, having fun on 5-gallon Buckets

We were again some of the last to leave the crag...back to the car and then out to eat (Terrebonne Depot- awesome!) b/c we were all starving.

Monday morning, we awoke to rain and a sky of dark clouds. So we hit the road and headed home. It was a great weekend.

The Tree of Life

A whole month has passed and we have no pictures to show for it. We've been climbing a little nearby, enjoying the summer that finally came in September and has now left us. We've been working on the yard (renamed the 'mud pit'). Not sure what else we've done with our time, to be honest.

I haven't done a movie review in awhile so I thought I'd post about 'The Tree of Life' (directed by Terrance Malick), which goes down as one of our all-time favorite movies.

Check out the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlYYreuK8vo. You've probably missed it in theaters so check it out on DVD when it comes out.

My review: This movie is breathtakingly beautiful. At a couple points in the movie, I sobbed at its beauty alone, not even the story line. It is not your typical fast-pace, Hollywood style movie; it is very artsy and different, sometimes too slow, but I liked it all the more for the ways in which it strayed from the norm. There were scenes I could've done without and it was a bit too long. However, the cinematography was outstanding, the music was perfectly complementary, the dialogue was sparse but meaningful, and the movie concept (not exactly a plot) was profound. In reading the reviews and talking with other people who have gone, it seems you will either LOVE this movie or HATE it. There is no in-between...all the more reason to check it out. It is truly a work of art.

Banff- Lake Louise Climbing

There are some crags at the end of Lake Louise so we spent an afternoon trying out the climbing.

 Rosie, the crag dog, joined us as her owners were somewhere else

 Kyle, currently a flat-lander, feeling the vertical rock again

 the lagoon climb...there was a tiny island 

that you had to wade to in order to get on the rock.

Owen, pulling one of the mantle moves