SCII conditons on Friday Dec. 11 - We drove to the parking area, hiked in and shot photos of the conditions. Wow, it never ceases to amaze me how fast the ice comes in here. Just the previous day I went to check conditions and there was ice, but not that much. By now I shouldn't be surprised at the amount of ice here as it is some of the biggest, earliest and most reliable ice in PA. Next weekend I'm sure the lines will be in great condition and we'll be picking our way up old favorites. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that with a little luck and some kindness from the weather I'll get an early season crack at the FFA of The Sick-le my long standing project! I first climbed it via top rope early in the 2006/2007 season after visiting climber Joel Toretti and I scoped it out from afar in late season 2005/2006. The fickle, Sick-le has been eluding me year after year. Then in Feb. after another in and out PA ice season, I was bolting the mixed section and checking the solidity. I was under the gun to get on or wait another year. I had just put a bolt in and kicked the monster to knock down the dangerous daggers near the bottom of the main sicle. A loud creak and the massive free hanging SICK-LE itself came crashing down a mere foot from my face while hanging from the rope. The decision was made for me, it was not to be climbed that season. The fall and explosion was massive and I was glad to NOT get on (crushed). Makes all that little rockfall most rock climbers experience seem trivial by far... Videographer Ray Burnsworth caught most of it on video. While a short video was edited for our personal viewing. Rayman willing, the whole spectacle will be put out for viewing after the FFA. Check out Ray's webpage to see various footage of SWPA climbing and more. http://www.wildfilmproductions.com/cinema.htmlAbove photo: Laura checking on our local playground of 100'-200'+ lines at SC II. The Sick-le is the last large flow on the right end.
It's not every day that one meets a cartoon character, let alone a bicycling cartoon character. And so imagine my delight upon learning that I live just minutes from one. Allow me to introduce:Bikeyface!
The heroine of Bikeyface describes herself as a "common commuter" type - who wears "non-spandex" clothing, "inappropriate cycling footwear," a hounstooth patterned helmet, and a "bikey smile" as she pedals around greater Boston on her bike, Marlene Dietrich.
Occasionally she will don a cycling-themed accessory, such as this gear pendant (okay, so they're the wrong type of gears)...
...or a beard/muschachio balaclava, to compensate for her lack of facial hair on chilly winter commutes.
But who is Bikeyface really, the woman behind the cartoon and the knitted facial hair?
Well, all right: She is Bekka. She is a painter with a non-painterly dayjob, to which she commutes by bike. She lives in Somerville, MA. Before that she lived in LA and rode her bike there. And she is from New England originally.
The bike she currently rides is a tiny Surly Cross-Check in her favourite colour, which she got last summer and loves. It is called "Marlene Dietrich" because it is sultry and feminine, yet with a tomboyish edge. Of course. Other bikes she has owned have included an Electra Amsterdam and a couple of hybrids, but Marlene is the preferred ride - used for both commuting and long distance recreational cycling.
Of all the people I've met so far via the cycling blog connection, meeting Bekka has been my biggest "the worlds collide" type of experience. Besides living walking distance from one another, we discovered that we have some uncanny non-bikey things in common and spend more time talking about those than we do about cycling. It sometimes feels as if we are interacting as two different sets of people: the real us, with our bikey alter egos hovering in the background. We've talked a little about identity - how we both come across differently on our blogs than we do in person, and how people react to that difference when they meet us. Whereas Bikeyface is a perky, mischievous and boisterous character, in person Bekka is subtle and analytical, and rather difficult to characterise. Visually, she is striking: A soft and delicate face withenormous, unusually shaped blue eyes - the type of face that belongs in a 1930s French film and not so much in a 21st century bike cartoon. I would certainly like to paint her some time, as herself.
The snowpack is rapidly melting, which allows for quick and easy access to the alpine. Most of the Wonderland Trail, for instance, has melted out (save Panhandle Gap area.) The meadows are in full bloom, yet the upper mountain still has a fair amount of winter snowpack. Time to climb...
The good news, is that we have NO news. Other than a spate of warm weather (i.e. HOT WEATHER,) things remain consistantly quiet on the mountain.