La Sportiva Katana

I decided to upgrade to better and more aggressive climbing shoes since my old ones were for beginners and way too big. La Sportiva seems to fit my foot really well and while I really wanted to justify forcing my feet in some Solutions they were too uncomfortable and too extreme for my current abilities. These ones are a pretty great combo of precise, aggressive, and comfortable.

Sushi Chef: What do you want with Hattori Hanzo?
The Bride: I need Japanese steel.

Dark Side of the Lens

Loved the starkness and simplicity of this:

Cameras help me Translate, Interpret, and Understand What I See.

I never set out to become anything in particular only to live creatively and push the scope of my experience.

Overcoming Fear

From the incredible Steph Davis, climber, BASE jumper, wingsuit flyer, blogger and writer:

The best way to dull fear is to practice repetition. The more times you are in an environment or situation you find scary, the less it will intimidate you.

Every time you put yourself in an intimidating situation, even if you don’t actually do much (i.e., you take a 4 inch lead fall onto a giant bolt on purpose after alerting your belayer, instead of…taking soaring, monster whippers onto a blue TCU as you nearly get through the crux of your project), you are STILL making progress, and you should be happy, and keep at it.

The first time I started trying to free El Cap, I was terrified! Actually, when I started working on the Salathe headwall, I was also terrified. But I gradually got used to all the exposure, and was able to relax (somewhat) up there. Just keep at it.

A Journey Through Asia

Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam in particular. Absolutely beautiful. Via Andrew Sullivan.

As Lone As God And White As A Winter Moon

Joaquin Miller – Life Amongst The Modocs, 1874:

As lone as God and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up suddenly from the heart of the great black forests of California.

You would hardly call Mount Shasta a part of the Sierras; you would say rather that it is the great white tower of some ancient and eternal wall, with here and there the white walls overthrown.

It has no rival! There is not even a snow crowned subject in sight of its dominion. A shining pyramid in everlasting mail of frosts and ice, the sailor sometimes, in a day of singular clearness, catches glimpses of it from the sea a hundred miles away to the west; and it may be seen from the dome of the capitol 340 miles distant. The immigrant coming from the east beholds the snowy, solitary pillar from afar out on the arid sage-brush plains, and lifts his hands in silence as if in answer to a sign.