Fall is underway here in Leavenworth. Kids are back in school, the light is softer and the air has a chill. Liz and I are finished with work for the season and for us this means an opportunity to use the changing of the seasons as a time for personal reflection and growth. For a lot of climbers this much time off would warrant road trips or weekend visits to nearby destinations, but for Liz and I, this time is a stay-cation. We’ve been reading, catching up on the missed yoga, enjoying using our oven again, and generally enjoying life. The cooler temperatures mean we’ve been able to get back down to the crags and domes that line the canyons, the rubber on our shoes is feeling a little stickier and our palms a little less sweaty. We’ve had some visitors this week as well, my brother Taylor managed to make it our for a short visit, getting a quick tour of the area with a hike up to Stuart Lake and a lap up the tireless Castle Rock, sending the six pitches of Catapult and Midway with ease. Scotty’s back with Shakaka and has fallen right into our routine of climbing and laughing, and drinking coffee.
This last week the seal has finally been broken and we are no longer immune to the fires that have plagued the west this summer. With a 9,000 acre conflagration burning just to our east, the valleys are filled with smoke that make everything very beautiful, and very stoned. While I’m motivated to get out and bike, run, and get back up to the mountains, the thought of exerting myself in these smokey conditions is keeping my pace a little bit slower. But we are considering escape plans to get our heads out of the haze and breathe easy till the fires clear, time will tell… the smoke was getting to me on our last human powered trip to climb on the February Buttress and Hobo’s Gulch.
For now I’m here sucking it down, thinking about the 350 movement and riding a bike in a smokey world. Is smokey Leavenworth a vision of our future? When we were taking the bus back from SLC, while winding on the roads through Idaho, our driver commented on the smokey air, all the fires burning, and how the air reminded him of Iraq. Flashbacks aside, what does this say about our world. What are we doing and where are we headed? War and conflict, amongst each other and with the environment, is changing our atmosphere and making it less healthy. If you’re not familiar with the 350 movement, check it out. For an analogy, my basic understanding is that our world is like a giant garage in which we’re running our car, we’re not purposefully trying to kill ourselves but that’s what we’re doing, as we run more and more cars, the air gets to thick to breathe, and eventually even the engine won’t be able to run. In the future will it not be the forest fires that make life inhospitable, but our own actions and lifestyles? from some of the smog and inversions I’ve seen in Utah Valley, this seems like a real possibility. What will it take to quit this unhealthy addiction and adopt methods of transportation that don’t burn and smoke, but actually make us all healthier? All I know is that it seems like a good idea not to be riding my bike up Icicle Canyon right now, and even moderate climbing leaves me more dehydrated, head ached, and toned feeling. So enjoy the fruits of our leisure with this short video of a day cragging at the J-Y Wall, and a bunch of pictures of us climbing close to town. I’m still working out how to share the video with the most quality, bear with me while I figure it out.
Peace
