Monthly Archives: October 2012

Council

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Power for a new Montana.

This past weekend, one year ago, I drove out to Montana from Portland to attend the 2011 AERO Annual Meeting.  The drive felt familiar from ice climbing trips, and the landscaping was just as stunning as I had remembered it from previous trips.  If you’ve been following, you know that the trip in 2011 was different, because the only trip back to Portland was to collect my belongings and say goodbye.

Welcome.

This past weekend, I drove a little further east to Lewistown, Montana, to attend the 2012 AERO Annual Meeting.  Driving across the beautiful Montana landscape, I remembered AERO being introduced to me as “a tribe”, and the Annual Meeting, our highest council. Our tribe is that of sustainable living, and while we are far between on the vast landscape, our bonds are strong.

Senator Jon Tester opens the morning by video-conference. We had a nice little chat about energy conservation…

Measurement and verification data from regenerative grassland practices using cattle. Compelling.

I wish I could stick links in the photo captions, but I can’t.  Jim Howell from Grasslands LLC and The Savory Institute uses cows to heal land (and feed people).  I used to think that sustainable ranching was an oxymoron.  Now I think it might be the only thing that could actually fix our North American eco-system.

I love Jeff and Betsy Funk.  They might be two of the most influential people I’ve met in Montana.  I’ve got to figure out how to spend some time with them without making significant financial contributions to AERO (which I did, again…)

One of Jeff Funk’s amazing tools, up for the live auction. I’ll be headed back to make some more.

I’m not sure if people expected to see me again, but they welcomed me as if they did.  There was a certain sense of pride in connecting with people I had not seen since last year, and sharing that I had indeed found my place in Missoula, in Montana.  We shared successes and failures, and hopes and dreams- and more than anything, when this tribe gets together, we have a really, really good time.

Caption Unnecessary.

Blink

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It’s snowing in Missoula tonight- and while I am actually unreasonably excited about that, it feels like fall disappeared in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, rock climbing is never out of season.

I hit the farmer’s market on Saturday, then boogied to Mill Creek with Ky. The forecast wasn’t exactly inspiring.

Pre-snowstorm.

Things you don’t want to see while on route.

Climb faster Ky, it’s cold down here.

Ky took the first lead on his sexy new Sterling rope, and despite his freezing extremities, turned right around, pulled the rope, and handed me the sharp end. They were my draws, so up I went. It was blowing snow steadily as I rapped down, and we headed for home after one route.

I almost didn’t head out again Sunday, but the skies looked much nicer. I had hoped to get out with Steve again, but he was being a responsible adult (taking care of his house, spending time with his amazing son), so I met some other fine folks that I haven’t climbed with nearly enough. Mostly though, I almost backed out because these kids climb hard. Harder than me, and harder than most of the people I climb with. While I’ve been trying to push my grades on my own, there’s no better way to really step up than going out with a motley crew of folks that really expect quite a bit more from you. I was sincerely glad I went, because we had a perfect day on our own private crag at Bass Creek…

Cole gets up close and personal on an obscure trad line.

Mr. Sulock sorts out the sequence.

We made sure my new rope worked when I headed up the 11b, but the support of stronger climbers goes a long way, and after grabbing a draw (to avoid a really nasty fall into a horizontal knife), I pulled the rope and fired the moves on the second try.

Your’s truly on the classic thin traverse from arete to crack system… (photo by Michael Sulock)

We all wrapped up on a stupid fun arete climb and was home in time to cook for the week and do some non-profit work. As much as I will miss rock climbing season, it’s just about time to swing my tools…

 

 

Richer

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Waterworks birthday hike. Richer for sure.

Older, wiser… whatever.  Looking at my life on my 28th birthday, the most important thing that I can say is that my life is richer.  I have no doubts about the quality of people that I spent Friday night with, or the remainder of my weekend.  The over-committed state of my life hit hard on Monday morning, but frankly, that’s okay with me for now.

The Super Nova at Big Dipper Ice Cream. Feeds 9 easily.

Sometimes, birthdays entail more than one dessert, and sometimes I’m okay with that.

The roommates did not miss the occasion.

I had lined up plans to chase one more long alpine line on Saturday with Ky, but the weather did not cooperate.  Intermittent drizzle and dark skies meant that Ky and I were out to rescue some gear he had left on a route in Blodgett Canyon earlier this week.  That said, it was a perfect use of the day, and we came back with all the gear he lost, plus some.

Maybe grey skies make the fall colors stand out even more?

We hiked to the top of Shoshone, found significantly colder, windier conditions on the valley floor, and rapped into get the gear.  Unlike the last time Amanda let me steal Ky for the day, I got him home in time for dinner.

Just playing with the rock toys.

I finally got to the birthday workout on Sunday morning, and then headed out to share my love of the vertical with several close friends that were new to the ropes.  Jake tied in for the very first time ever, Emily ticked her second lead ever, and Tabby was just all good energy all afternoon.  I should probably pay attention to how much I enjoy teaching climbing to other people…

We are slowly introducing Jake to all the dark backcountry arts.

Clark Fork at Alberton, October 14, 2012. Perfect.

No, I didn’t send anything hard, but the day was a beautiful reminder that it is often the climbers more than the climbing, that make this facet of my life just so rich.

27

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Today is the last day of my life that I will be 27 years old.  Towards the end of my workday, a client tore into me for wasting their time.  Given how much I enjoy other people wasting my time, the feedback hit me hard.  As usual, I stewed over our exchange through most of my otherwise enjoyable evening, but eventually came up with something better to think about.

What am I looking forward to leaving behind in my 27th year?

I’m a contractor now, and generally that means you wear your man-pants (aka. Carhartts) to work- and a thin skin doesn’t last long in the office.  After my gym session tonight, I realized I’m looking forward to leaving behind my willingness to take offense.  If you are reading this- I’ll look forward to your help keeping me focused on that goal.

Everything

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It is my favorite season.

“I like your life here Skander.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Margaret and I were driving back from a perfect day of rock climbing in Mill Creek, and her observation, like her visit, helped flush away some of the chaos that I’ve been keeping at bay lately.  How do you describe a weekend that encompasses every conversation, every part of yourself, all of your past, all of your future?  Well, it was Friday noon through Tuesday morning, but everything is a lot.

Home grown tomatoes at the PEAS Farm

Margaret and I met at Northwestern while working to push sustainability into the engineering school agenda.  Her intelligence, tenacity, and unlimited joy were obvious from the start, but I never suspected how our friendship would grow.  After Northwestern, Margaret moved to Alaska and my subsequent expeditions were always bookended with homemade bread, midnight sunsets, and time with her and her amazing boyfriend in their cabin in Palmer.  We share common dreams for sustainable business, social services, and food systems.  We pursue common goals for introspection, self-enrichment, and service to others.  She was the last of my summer visitors this year, and early October celebrated her visit with clear skies and perfect temperatures to enjoy the best of Missoula.

Topping out one of Margaret’s first real rock climbs.

First Friday, climbing at Mill Creek, hiking on Mt. Jumbo, visits with farmers, were a perfect introduction to Missoula, but under all of it, the real highlight was in the conversation that never seemed to stop.  Margaret doesn’t mince words, pull punches, or let questions go unasked- and neither do I.  More than anything else, our friendship is rooted in a clear deep openness, and we didn’t waste the short time we had together.  The questions she is able to ask helped me verbalize some emotions that I haven’t been able to express, and to admit some feelings that I haven’t been able to face.  Some visitors I’ve had have made me wonder why I’m making life happen here, but showing Margaret around Missoula made me realize how well this place fits my life- or perhaps, how well my life fits my life, here.

Boulder, Colorado

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My mind is not on getting this posted tonight, but more on that towards the bottom.  Participating in the PassiveHouse conference last week left no time for writing.  My trip was sponsored by the fine folks at Zola European Windows, and I had a very good time both at the conference (in downtown Denver), and romping around more colorful places, like Boulder.

Zola- the only folks I know that can make a R-10, triple pane, 19′ wide sliding glass door (thanks to my boss for modeling).

Surprisingly, I’ve never spent much time there, but Boulder is kinda hilarious.  The outskirts feel more like most little western mountain towns- copious outdoor recreation, lots of very fit people and fancy bicycles, and a Walmart here and there.   But downtown is more unique- trust fund hippies play guitar next to the Gucci storefront, and the smell of gourmet, organic, fresh ground coffee is overwhelming.  There is public bike sharing, and an amazing vintage theater.  Half of me wants to move there, and the rest of me knows to stay away- but probably just because I wouldn’t feel unique anymore.

Classic (damn street lamp ruins my photo).

The theater architecture was nice, but the line-up was unbelievable…

There is something about being in an unfamiliar place that allows me to step away from myself.  My view of things around me becomes more detached, and more objective- my normal introspective investments drop away in pursuit of new-ness.  Seeing new people in new places, reminds me that we are just people- doing whatever it is that we do.  Our individual heartbreak or triumph becomes far less important in a crowd of strangers.  Part of this blog is about the search for the most authentic version of ourselves, and when no one around you knows (or particularly cares) who you are- its fun to take the opportunity to be exactly who you want.

In between professional responsibilities, I enjoyed a session with some like minded outdoor folk at the Alpine Training Center, and caught dinner with my friend Jen, who drove all the way from Greeley just to make it happen.

Home away from home.

The conference was certainly valuable- lots of practice talking about what I do, seeing some really cool projects (the Marshall project), learning new stuff, and making new connections.  It was also hilarious to realize my own cousin was also presenting- we had a very good time catching up on the past 5 or 6 years since I’ve seen him, and I really appreciated his presentation on the Thousand Homes Challenge.  It always takes a while to see what shakes out of these sort of things, but the vibes were good, and some of the interactions were… unique.

5 people debating the merits of a window detail. Only at a PassiveHouse conference.

Stand and deliver. My cousin gets it done.

By Sunday afternoon I had as much PassiveHouse as I could actively take-on and was grateful to meet a good friend and former co-worker from Portland for dinner and a local jazz jam.  It’s been a while since I put my name on a list and sat in on bebop tunes, but it’s amazing how the changes still come back.

The previous commentary about feeling detached is at odds with my mood tonight.  I went to invite some friends together for this weekend on facebook, only to notice that one of them seemed to evaporate.  Just like anything else, the social utility is just as good at taking people apart as putting them back together.  With all the traveling and dedication to task at hand, it’s pretty obvious I’ve got a fair amount of work to do at home as well.