Beauty is a rare thing

"Slack?" "No! F%?k!, not Slack!" I yelled down to Jim, who was belaying me 100ft below. I had just realized that I couldn't make the next move up the wide crack line, and had exchanged a few words with the abyss beneath my toes. The newly vaulted sky wouldn't lend me another fingertips worth of vertical gain, and that was a problem. I had to make a decision quick! so I resolved in that instant to down-climb the crack to my last cam, 10ft below me, and rest my shaking limbs. I thought to myself, I almost took a nice 20ft fall there...This is the story of my trip to Indian Creek, UT this Spring -almost.

Indian Creek is home to the purest crack climbing on the planet. When Jim told me about this place last summer in the Tetons, I knew i had to go see what he was talking about asap. I flew into Montrose, Colorado near Jim's home in Ouray, and we drove straight to Indian Creek. By day, we climbed megalithic rock formations in the desert all day, Interspersed with retrospectively funny moments like the one above. By night, Jim and I shared a campfire with 2 of THE most amazing girls, Adrien and Hanna, from Bozeman, Montana, that I have ever met. They camped right next to us. Around the flames we sat listening to the coyotes howl, telling our stories, and talking trash like we'd known each other from childhood. The physical exertion of the day, and the primordial flames of the night, seemed to rid me of all societal precautions and inhibitions that I'm so easily prone to in the civilized world. The mutual kinship I felt those nights is something I think few people have experienced, and the feeling is something I'll take to the grave.

After 4 days of vertical antics at Indian Creek, Jim and I drove North, to Castle valley. There we climbed a 350ft Desert sandstone tower aptly named Castleton Tower. The sensation of exposure achieved after leaving the ground, at the base of the tower, engendered a feeling of calm and satisfaction I'd formerly known only in sleep. In four rope lengths of excellent climbing, we reached the top! From the summit I looked out into the vast expanse of desert merging with sky, and almost wondered which was bigger. The wild wild west! what an adventure!

check out my pictures and see for yourself what I'm talking about!:

http://picasaweb.google.com/6footnglassy/IndianCreek2009#

Spring Break

I have one more day of school until Spring break! My mind has melted out of my ears, and I'm ready to do the one thing I'm good at -adventure!!! I'm off to Colorado on the stealy wings of freedom! What are you doing for Spring Break?

The School bell has rung

Back at UNF and I feel isolation creeping up my spine a little more with each day that goes by. I felt it this evening on the walk back to my van, after a long day at UNF. I was a stranger on my own campus. after 3 semesters, I've not yet met someone I actually know beyond a name, and an occasional cellphone number. I felt no real desire to go do something with anyone I know in Jax right now. The only thing I really have to do at these times is go home, eat some food, and lock myself in my room till my dad goes to sleep. When I'm not at work, like this evening, I just zone out for hours in my room and do nothing or occasionally go climbing by myself. I can't believe I felt so free the past week and a half out west, and now it feels like i'm imagining those good times. everything just seems so pointless and wrong here in Jacksonville.

Trampin through Texas

I road out to west texas after Christmas to start 2009.

http://picasaweb.google.com/6footnglassy/HuecoTanksAndCampEagleTrampin#

Simply put, it was a good way to start the next year of life.

Things I actually did...

1. Apply to University of Wyoming
-Nope, went climbing instead:)
2. Apply for 2 American Alpine Club climbing Grants
-Nope, but it wont take very long to do
3. Go Snowboarding
-Nope
4. Go backpacking
-Nope had to work because my coworker got cancer and I took his shifts...really!
5. Go on a road trip with no real destination
-Oh yeah!!! Sure did. Best road trip to date! Went as far west as El Paso and as far south as San Antonio
6. Buy plane ticket to Glasgow
-Nope, but probably this week
7. Climb a really big mountain
-Yep, North Mountain and East Mountain in Hueco, both sizable but not "Big"
8. Convince friends to go with me on all of the above stated outings
-Yep, Robert Granat went on the road trip
9. Get Christmas shopping done soon!
-finished on the 23rd, wrapped on the 25th at 2:00a.m.(I didn't see Santa again...typical)
10. Log some SERIOUS surfing time
-Hours surfed: 0.00hrs oy vey, I feel like I've lost my stoke
11. Limit internet usage to once a day
-didn't even touch a computer for a week and a half! yus!
12. Call and hangout with friends I haven't seen since last summer
-Called, yes. Hangout: went golfing with Lewis and hung out a lot!
13. Get tires rotated on Big blue
-Nope, I really need to do that
14. Sleep without parental inhibition
-It's amazing how well I sleep when at 1600 miles do west of Jacksonville; even when its 14F!
15. Objectivity:)
-um, well that's just impossible

Things to do

1. Apply to University of Wyoming
2. Apply for 2 American Alpine Club climbing Grants
3. Go Snowboarding
4. Go backpacking
5. Go on a road trip with no real destination
6. Buy plane ticket to Glasgow
7. Climb a really big mountain
8. Convince friends to go with me on all of the above stated outings
9. Get Christmas shopping done soon!
10. Log some SERIOUS surfing time
11. Limit internet usage to once a day
12. Call and hangout with friends I haven't seen since last summer
13. Get tires rotated on Big blue
14. Sleep without parental inhibition
15. Objectivity:)

New URL!!!!

I randomly decided to change my blog to mark-walters.blogspot.com I think the old one was too long, and cliché.

Foray on Foster Falls

Last weekend 5 intrepid souls from Florida set out into the frigid hills of Tennessee in pursuit of real rock. The pictures that follow recount their epic quest:











For further pictures on their quest for the holy hard rock, consult this web address: http://picasaweb.google.com/6footnglassy/FosterFalls#

Bruegel

I'm taking an art history class this semester and I really like it! After finishing the Northern Renaissance painters, I am a huge Bruegel fan, especially his winter scenes! He is credited as the first person to paint landscapes as the main focus of the painting, rather than just a backdrop for an event or human subject.

The Hunters in the Snow, 1565
The Numbering at Bethlehem, 1566
Winter Lanscape With a Bird Trap, 1565

Fresh air this Friday

Memorial park in Riverside

Mt. Yonah

This past weekend, my friend Jason and I went up to Mt.Yonah (about an hour and a half Northeast of Atlanta) to test our skillz on real rock. For those who might not know him, he's an old friend from highschool who started training with me this summer at the rock gym. We left on Friday afternoon right after I finished class. The drive up was sooooo long, it should have taken no more than 7.5hrs, but ended up taking about 9.5hrs because we were stopped for 2hrs in legendary Atlanta traffic, at 9:00pm??? Anyways, when we arrived in Cleveland (the closest town to Mt.Yonah) around 1:00am, we found a relatively unsketchy parking lot to spend the night in at a 24hr supermarket. I would have had a great night's sleep, but some random guy was pressure washing the sidewalk in front of the store from 1 to 4am, so it sounded like a machine gun going off in the distance for 3hrs straight. Jason lost his cool a couple times and flailed around uncontrollably in his sleeping bag screaming...it was pretty funny to watch. This was his first time sleeping in a van. Obviously, sleeping in a van has its drawbacks occasionally, i.e. crazed friends and loud background noise. When the sidewalks started glowing with an immaculate brilliance, the pressure washer stopped, and we finally got some sleep.

Mmmm, goober and bagels!

Saturday morning started out ruff. Jason woke me up around 9:ish and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep; besides, this was my 2 days off from school to rest and recover, and by-golly I was gonna get a little R and R if Jason went psycho on me again or not!...Yeah, I ended up getting out of my sleeping bag about 5 minutes after Jason started trying to wake me up. I woke up a little pissed at first, but I knew we came to climb, not to sleep in an over-sized refrigerator of a van, so I arose from my slumber.



Alas, we were up, we were minutes away from a great climbing destination, we were stoked! All I could think about was hanging off a 300ft cliff and looking out at the mountains thatbegin the Appalachian trail just across the valley. Jason said it felt surreal that we were really about to go climb real rock; it hadn't kicked in yet that he was actually in the mountains.



We hiked up the trail for about 30 minutes to reach the base of the first major cliff face, and in no time we were climbing. I belayed Jason on his first outdoor route. After he left the ground, he was stoked and spooked at the same time. I think the experience of climbing outdoors for the first time, with the possibility of taking a real fall, was almost TOO real for him to fully accept. After he climbed his first route, I went up to the top and showed him how to do his first rappel (descending the rope to the ground). It's not easy to lower yourself down backwards into a yawning abyss, but he did it anyways. As for myself, I climbed a dozen routes or so and rappelled them all. Thats a lot of climbing for one day! It was an honor to teach my friend "the ropes" (haha) of climbing from scratch this summer, and then to climb with him on his first real climbing trip. I suppose it's a proud parent type of feeling. Nothing to get all teary eyed over though. Over all, it was a great trip, my premise to every trip is to have fun, and to keep the adventure high, and I think I did.

Motivation

I wrote this about a week ago and was hesitant to post it, but after thinking about it I guess i will:

Now that I'm back in school my time is getting extremely occupied. I have become the person I have always loathed -namely the workoholic, always busy, always tired (but without the opportunity to make it up unlike the summer), impatient, intolerant, always trying to be productive type.

More and more I realize that If I'm not suffering, I feel guilty and low. If I am not sacrificing sleep, time, mental well-being, etc for something, then I, in an innate sense, feel I am doing something wrong. Throughout my entire life, I feel like the more I suffer, strive, endure, and demoralize my own self the more I am praised. This world praises those who suffer with honor, nobility, stature, statues; and disdains those who enjoy life, take a long vacation, do what they want instead of what they "should", seek pleasure instead of a goal. It is like society has this malevolent, contemptuous evil eye for those who seek pleasure. Three weeks ago, I read a passage in a book by Schopenhauer, which said that suffering is what we humans strive for to no end. The next day I went to church and my very own pastor said in his lesson that we should all seek to suffer!!!!!!!!!!! I almost shat myself when he said that. And now after hearing that, and considering it here, I'm thinking, "man I'm screwed, my future is to suffer? why do we do this to ourselves, to one another?!" What a way to live. One way to interpret this is to say that "oh Mark, you are just looking at it wrong, just think positive. things that you see as negative are in truth positive...yatayatayata" Then I guess in that case, all is nothing and nothing is all, that is -"its all relative." Bullshit

Farley antics

Some passing thoughts and what I'm up to lately

- Yesterday I had a friend tell me that "There are a thousand interpretations of love...fucking is just a thousand and one." This he said after a brief discourse on the philosophy of short term relationships. I'm so confused with life in general right now that all I can do is laugh because it sounds hilarious. Maybe that's all I should do anyways?

- This winter I want to go on a snowboard mountaineering trip. I can't decide on where to go.

- I'm obsessed with hiking across the Scottish highlands next May. This country made me realize my fascination with bleak, featureless landscapes. I've been planning this since December 07.

- My parents are pressuring me on a daily basis to change my major from literary and cultural philosophy to something "more practical." My ration el is, if i have to go to college, everything else I could study would be a waste of my time, pointless; I mean whose to say that one field of study is more practical than another. If they're teaching it, it obviously has some practical application. Socially, it is awkward claiming a philosphy major. Everyone who asks what my major is gets this concerned look on their face, and if I don't mention the words "grad school" after stamping my own forehead with philosophy, they get this look on their faces that screams "Do you want to throw four years of your life away?!" WTF Today even, I saw Mrs.O'Connor, a teacher of mine from Stanton, who did exactly that to me. She even mentioned grad school for me! screw that!

- I really want to transfer to the University of Wyoming by next Spring semester.

- The Summer Olympics are pretty cool and I'm inspired by the marathon runners. I like the winter Olympics more, because I love snow sports, and Hockey is the mightiest of spectator sports.

- I think I'd like to go to Mongolia for a while. I learned alot about it when I read The Travels of Marco Polo

A Realization

Have you ever looked at a picture of a mountain or driven passed one and said "That would be pretty badass to stand on top of that one," followed by the crushing reality of "yeah right, maybe when I grow wings." I think thats another reason why I'm so motivated to climb, so that when I see those giants, I can get the upper hand. Exposure is inspiring.

The Tetons!

Two weeks ago I set off on the biggest adventure of my life -I went to Grand Teton National Park with no goal other than to climb and explore the Rockies.

Lewis and Clark were right here!


This video shows The American Alpine Club's climbers' ranch, which i used as a base camp and where I met some of most adventurous people I've ever known! This day I went tramping around the valley floor scoping out my new home. Two days after I took this video, I saw a great big grizzly bear walk right past the boulder I shot this video on!!! yikes

This 800ft cliff is called the Snaz, which I climbed with Jim Donini

On top of The Snaz with Jim, one of the nicest guys I've ever met! Can you tell I'm elated?!?!

I took this one after we finished the route, and were rappelling down. I'm only about 300ft off the deck here but man that's a long way down! I think it's funny that this cliff is in a place called Death Canyon! I'd say that's appropriate

Another day, my friend Sue and I climbed a route called Baxter's Pinnacle, a 400ft...pinnacle

check out the view from the top of this pinnacle!!!!

My feet are bigger than the trees, imagine how big my head is at this point

After one rappel, we headed down a steep snow filled coulior where we had to down climb through a snow cave and then cross it as you'll see in the video below

Floridian crossing a "glacier"


Some time later, I was able to borrow some crampons, an ice axe, and a pair of ice climbing boots from some friends to solo South Teton!!!!!!

Just above snow line

And then there were clouds...
South Teton



Once I decided to go down, I did about 4 long glisades down to a place called the Lower Meadows,which is just a lower snowfield, but hey its sounds nice I guess...



In no time I was out of the storm. Then I made the long hike back to the climbers ranch and took a very long nap. And thats it in short...mission accomplished, I explored a part of the Rocky mountains, I saw a grizzly bear, I scared myself silly, I had the best two weeks of my life... The rest are just shots of my awesome cabin mates and some of my favorite random pics. Enjoy!

my hilarious cabin mates

My cabin

Sunrise in the meadow

The cook shelter the morning I left for home

Finally

Almost done packing

I'm almost there, almost to the Tetons. I don't really know what to say about it. I leave tomorrow (Saturday), and from there I'll let mighty mountains dictate my steps. I have no plan, other than to climb. I think I'm starting to understand why I like climbing so much. Climbing mountains is quite literally the physical embodiment of an innate ideal, characteristic in us all on some level -that is, to persevere and overcome the challenges that is life. Now if I could only begin to understand the opposite sex...wishful thinking I guess

Well, when I get there, I'll do my best to post a visual. It is supposed to snow there tomorrow, so who knows, it could be all white when I get in???

Wouldn't let you miss it

Yesterday's stunning sunrise from my backyard

Good Lord

My Life

This past Monday, I had a huge 8 page paper due in English, and the first half of my in -class extended essay/final exam. Yesterday, I forgot that my English professor assigned us three 1 page essays to be turned in by today (Wednesday). Since Sunday, I have had worse than usual insomnia, and as a result, I have slept a total of only about 8hrs.Today, I showed up in English, completely comatose,from lack of sleep, and found out that I forgot to write those 3 essays. This messed up the little mental composure I had left, going into the second part my essay/final. At this point I thought to myself, "Alright, I'll just get this essay over with and zone out in the rest of my classes, since I don't have anymore tests or quizzes today." After time was called, I handed in my clumsily written essay, and headed to math. Once I got to class, my math professor came in about 10 minutes late and announced, to all his 100+ students including myslef's surprise,that we were having a test today on what we just learned over the past two days; this all because he's an absent-minded bafune who didn't plan for enough time to take our last test before the final next week. And we just finished taking a test 3 days ago for the last section! After I took the "pop test" I stumbled into geography, which thankfully had no surprises, listened to his lecture for an hour and fifteen minutes, and then went home. When I got home at 1:30, I just crawled into bed and planned to sleep this living nightmare away until work at 3:00. Well, I ended up sleeping past my alarm to wake me up for work, and so I didn't wakeup until my boss called me at 4:00 to see where I was. I was pretty startled by this awakening, especially considering what all had happened so far today, but I got out of bed and rushed off to work. I arrived at work, disillusioned by the sequence of events leading up to that moment, but my boss didn't seem that upset about my tardiness, however he hasn't had a chance to talk to me about it yet. When i got off of work, I came home, laid in bed wide awake until now (3:30am), and I don't know if this was just a really sick dream that I haven't woken up from yet, or whether this is my life.