Once again a little late for the year end, but here is what I was up to in 2018.
I started out in Needham visiting relatives and getting a bit out of shape while the polar vortex raged outside. Then back in Bishop I threw myself at bouldering and climbing and gradually regained some fitness. I also helped in establishing some new climbs in the Owens River Gorge as well as continued taking photos there and in Pine Creek for the upcoming guidebooks (which came out in the fall). This was pretty much the pattern through the spring broken up with a bit of destruction/construction work, a few visits by friends, a little biking and mountain biking, and a trip to Red Rocks for the Red Rocks Rendezvous as well as more climbing. Other adventures included Stand Up Paddleboarding on Mono Lake, the Owens River, and some mountain lakes (a little later in the season), cross country skiing, hiking up little peaks, working on handstands, slacklining, and of course more climbing and bouldering.
In May I did a bunch of garden work putting in some volunteers from a friend. These did quite well and later on I had a few months of pretty much all-you-can-eat cherry tomatoes and was able to give a bunch away - a very nice first for my gardening. I also had a fair number of green beans a few cucumbers and some basil and I should have had a lot of grapes but a roving gang of racoons ate most of them despite my efforts at deterring them.
In June I started getting into the mountains more with climbs up Mt Goode and Mt Humphreys and helping teach at the Mammoth Yoga Festival.
In July I went backpacking over Taboose Pass to camp out a few nights and climb some peaks. Then things started to get busy with the Wanderlust Festival by Lake Tahoe and getting ready for the Sierra Challenge in August (mostly planning things out and cleaning up my place to host a cookoff one afternoon). We got really lucky with the wildfire smoke and managed to not get totally smoked out. I didn't try to do a whole lot of bonus peaks this year but I did jump in a lot of lakes. By virtue of being over 50 and climbing all the challenge peaks I got the green jersey (fastest time climbing all the peaks for anyone over 50). Just when it was time to get some rest I switched gears and headed east to help out with YogaSlackers teachers training in Virginia (mostly taking photos). This was a lot of fun and I got to catch up with and meet a lot of awesome folks but it was also exhausting and I didn't get much sleep.
Meanwhile Julie was in Thailand and convinced me to join her in Laos for rock climbing in Thakhek. So I did my best to get things ready and then drove down to LA to teach slacklining at the Mountain Adventure Film Festival with Tom before flying to Thailand and then on to Laos. There we spent a few weeks living at the climbing area trying to build up the endurance needed for the long overhanging limestone climbs. Then we took a break for the Konglor Loop motorbike trip and the chaos of a big festival in Thakhek complete with boat races on the Mekong, chanting monks, all sorts of street food and vendors, concerts, and inflatable bouncy houses. We continued staying in town and commuting out to the climbing or to explore caves until it was time to head back to Bangkok for a quick visit with friends and a trip to Ayutthaya before a marathon trip back to LAX with a long enough layover in Beijing to get out of the airport and walk around town for a few hours.
I made it back to Bishop in time to vote and before the first hard frost. This meant I was able to harvest about 60 pounds of ripe and green tomatoes which I am still eating - although the pickings are getting slim. I got in one day of alpine ice skating as well as some more climbing before heading back east for the holidays. I managed to get a lot more climbing in this year - 118 days and although I didn't climb anything super noteworthy I felt like I got mostly back into shape. I also finally finished my Colorado 14ers trip reports (just 2 years late) and visited 2 new countries (if you count a few hours in China).
I owe many thanks to all my friends who have supported me in person or from afar.
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