East Coast Happenings....

It's kind of nice to be home for a bit. Not that I'm home under the best of circumstances haha, but it's still kinda nice. Getting the wisdom teeth out tomorrow afternoon [Nervous!].... at this point actually, I'm more just looking forward to having it done and over with more than anything. The oral surgeon I'm seeing is VERY good which is always some nice peace of mind, and I saw my normal dentist today, whom, in addition to filling a few cavitities, proceeded to severely chew me out on how apparently I haven't been brushing/flossing adaquately and my teeth are in worse shape than they should be for my age. I was afraid of this and I really can't be mad at the dentist becuase he is totally right, I need to be brushing ect.. more thoroughly, plus my teeth are genetically predisposed to have weaker enamel and increased susceptability to decay. Fun stuff. Anyways, I'm getting 'all patched up' in the week I'm here so to speak, so no big worries there. Enough of that boringness.

I went in to New York yesterday to visit my old friend Kari who I practically grew up with, her mom babysitted me and my sister for years when I was a kid. Though we've sort of gone our seperate ways in the intervening time, we still keep in touch pretty regularly and I haven't seen her in a few years so that was really fun. It had also been quite some time since I'd been in Manhattan, so I had a great time. I took the train from Dover and we met up in Penn Station, it's only about a 75 minute ride from where I am in New Jersey. From there we proceeded to get hopelessly lost in midtown NY wandering around trying to find a subway station; we ended up making a huge winding circle and ending up right back where we started, but it was a fun diversion since we were both busy catching up on what was new and interesting. Finally we just took the subway from Penn Station to get to the Met [Metropolitan Museum of Art], which I thought might be cool to check out seeing as I hadn't been there in ages, and it's ten bucks for students which is a pretty unbelievably deal for New York.

Anyways the Met was fantastic as usual; I particularily enjoyed the Modern Art wing as I hadn't seen those galleries before; everything from Salvador Dali to Andy Warhol to Roy Lichtenstein; just marvelous stuff. The classics were impressive as well; the Met. has to be the best major Art museum in the U.S I imagine, the Getty in LA is quite impressive as well, but I prefer the Met, it's more traditional and concise in my opinion. After spending most of the morning/early afternoon perousing the Met., we walked down to Lexington and found a classic greasy New York Pizza joint, where I had the first real, legitimate pizza I think I've had in about 2 years, it was absolutely orgasmic; nothin special, just fresh, thin crust, plain cheese slices.... but god they were good. As much as I love the West Coast, you people know nothing of good Pizza. And Bagels? Don't even get me started haha... While enjoying our pizza at window seats facing the street, we enjoyed thje quintessential parade of NY crazy and questionably-sane people... the old people in particular just seemed totally out of it. NY strikes me as a particularily harsh environment for old people. Anyways, I digress.....

So Yeah, life's not bad. Making the best of this little dental-work vacation to the East Coast haha. Also saw a few old friends from High School I haven't seen in forever which was kinda cool. Well, I'm off to gorge myself on the last solid food I'll probably be having for quite some time. Good thing I like Smoothies and Ice Cream haha... Wish me luck.
Later Kids,
Phil.

Back in Jersey for a week....

So I'm back in New Jersey for the week, as per extremely sudden plans, but in a way it's nice to be home, even if not under the best of circumstances. My wisdom teeth have been bothering me for a while now; it's been a problem I should have dealt with years ago and am now finally having to take care of. The pain suddenly got way worse at the beginning of this week, and while my original plans were to have the surgery done at the end of the summer in late July after I finished my internship up in Washington, I realized I didn't want to be drugged up on tylenol for a solid month becuase of badly impacted/decayed wisdom teeth that could screw up my whole summer; so I elected to have it done now. Originally I was just going to try and have it done at an oral surgeon in Spokane near where I'm living this summer in Washington, but after realizing that one, I didn't know anyone out here and I would need someone to drive me home after the procedure, plus follow-up stuff, I thought it might be easier to just come home to my normal dentist I know and trust and have it taken care of. A little crazy, I know, flying across the country suddenly, but hey it happens, and having not been home since last Thanksgiving [and that was only for 3 days], this is sort of a nice change-of-pace. Of course my boss at the Mine I'm interning at wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of me suddenly missing a week of work, but I think he reallized obviously I wasn't exactly happy about having this done either; but nonetheless I needed to. The surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday; at this point I'm really not nervous or apprehensive at all about the procudure; I just want to have it done and over with so I get fly back to Washington and wrap up my summer there! I'll be here through next Saturday, so if any old friends in the North Jersey/NY area are around, give me a holler.

After getting the wisdom teeth pulled here in NJ, I'll fly back to Washington where I'll be through the end of July. After that, I'll drive down to Denver [2 day trip; stay in Casper or Sheridan, Wyoming the first night most likely, then drive the Denver the next morning and fly out] to fly from DIA back to New Jersey, then a day or two later fly to Stockholm to visit family in Sweden for 2 weeks. After this, I'll return to NJ for a few more days, then fly back to Denver to start school at The University of Colorado in Boulder [Hopefully, if my transfer arrangements work out O.K], or alternately, spend a semester at Red Rocks Community College to get the transfer credits I am lacking from my 5 semesters at the Colorado School of Mines and one swemester at The University of Arizona. Either way it will be nice to be back in Colorado, surrounded by familiar faces and territory, near a city I love, and back with my one true love, skiing. I know I know, I just transferred this past semester to the U of A in Tucson, and 3 schools in 3 years is kind of rediculous; but you know life is a journey and I feel I have few regrets and it's been an awesome experience overall so far; I think I've really been blessed by positive people and energy around me and that has made all the difference, I have faith despite the rough edges, thing's are going to be OK. While I had an amazing time in Tucson this past spring climbing, making new friends, taking fun new classes, I realized it just wasn't really the place for me, I'm not a desert person when it comes down to it; I needed my seasons, my snowy winters and skiing, my fun, ecclectic Denver cultural scene I had come to take for granted. Colorado, I'm sorry I betrayed you haha, but I'm coming back, hopefully you'll accept me ha. Honestly I think a lot of my Colorado friends won't be overly surprised I'm coming back after only one semester in Arizona. They knew as well as I did it wadn't going to be for me. Ah well, it's about the journey, not the destination, right? One day at a time. Today I slept in [god I haven't done that in sooo long haha, plus I'm still on Pacific Time..], then went to the dentist [pretty routine], then went for a wonderful, long run on the old railroad tracks-turned open space park in Chester/Long Valley, then had a great dinner with thr family. A good day. I'd say.
Peace n' grease,
Phil.

Heya

I've been neglecting this thing lately. Ah well.... should be a sign that life is more interesting than my blogging schedule allows... if only haha. I climbed a mountain yesterday. A pretty big one; Kokanee Peak and a few nearby subpeaks [Elevation 9,000-ish] in the Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park north of Nelson, British Columbia, about an hour and a half from where I'm living this summer. Amazing scenerey and real rugged, alpine landscapes, I can see why it's such a popular backcountry skiing destination in the winter. The route I took began with a decent old mining road-turned-trail, which then digressed into a bushwack through deep snow patches and alders to get to the treeline, from which it was a pretty straight shot on moderate to steep snow up to the main headwall below Kokanee Creek. I chose a promising-looking Couloir for the final summit climb, which turned out to be a really fun, interesting line; exposed but not too steep, good climbing with my new Mad Rock Mountaineering Boots [Which did GREAT on their first real trip; Yeah Mad Rock, you guys rock!] and Ice Axe, plus other random mountaineering gear. The summit was snowy, windswept, and surprsingly cold for Mid-June; Thermals + Gloves and Outerwear and I was still a little chilly. On the way down I was postholing to my knees in soft corn snow up high which kind of sucked; boots predictably got totally sopping wet but thanks to smartwool socks and some insulation my feet managed to stay warm. Bottom half of my descent ended up being a really fun glissade on firm snow; surprised how fast I got going! Stopped at a great little Sushi Bar in Nelson on the way home for dinner; I have been craving a Sushi fix ever since leaving Tuscon, and it was quite good. I must say Nelson is rather pricy for a realtively little, largely rural town, though the faux-bohemian granola hipsters who've taken up residence there wouldn't have you believe so. Ah but I mock my own people, no? ;)

Thank god for music. When everything else seems to have turned to shit, at least I have my music to keep me slightly sane. Lately I've been on a sort of Electronica fix, I've been listening to a lot of 'The Ones' [NYC Electronica/Dance Trio; REALLY good, check them out, on the 'A Touch of Class' Label which rarely dissapoints], MSTRKRFT, Thievery Corporation [Much respect], Tiga, Mylo, Waldorf, Booka Shade, VHS or BETA, Massive Attack, DubbleStandArt [Amazing group, nobody has heard of them but check em' out!!], Shiny Toy Guns, Boom Bip, Metaform [Think RJD2], Moving Units, K-OS... the list goes on. But anyways yeah thats what keeps my spinnin.

My teeth hurt. More specifically my wisdom teeth. Yes, random I know, but they do. I shoulf have had them pulled years ago. Now I'm dealing with the consequences I suppose. It's not that bas, but just enough of an incessessant dull ache to induce large amounts of tylenol consumption and self-pity. It sorts of comes and goes, it will bother me for a few days or a weeks or so and then dissappear only to emerge a month later as a nagging annoyance. Mostly my upper left one, which I can tell is impacted as hell.... I mean fuck, the tooth is crooked 90 degrees in my mouth, you think that would be reason enough to take semi-immediate action. Well, I'm seeing a dentist this next week in Spokane... a bit hesitant at picking someone I don't know at random, but hey I'm 2,000 miles from home,. and I didn't anticipate this being an issue, so what can I do? Being a procedure of some significance and requiring a decently long recovery period, I would MUCH rather have this done in Late July/Early Aug. when I am home, and by my dentist whom I know/trust, but I just hope it can wait until then. Seriously though, of all the damn inconvenient, fuckin annoying things to happen right now; why this??

I dragged my house-mate and fellow intern Will who I'm living with this summer along to go climbing this afternoon up on Washington Rock here in Metaline Falls. He's a good guy to humor me. We might as well be from different dimensions with what we have in common, but he's a sincerely nice guy and I couldn't say a bad thing about him. Anyways so back to climbing, I wanted to check out the 'Public Wall', which is a relatively low [30-60 ft.] overhanging limestone cliff perched above the river and the bridge a stone's throw from Rt. 31. The approach looks very short from below, and indeed it it, but it is hellish nonetheless.... steep, loose gravel, poison ivy, no real trail of any sort... did I mention steep? Ah well you get the point, easy access but still a shitty approach. So we get to the base of the wall, and I start scouting for bolts [All Metaline Falls climbing is bolted sport routes], I I remember why people say WA Rock is HARD climbing. Damn this rock is steep and overhanging? And while there are a few jug hauls, most of it is crimpy, sharp slopers and shallow, awkward pockets. Of the 70+ routes here, all but a handful are 5.11 and up. I thrashed my way up he first route I got on. I mean THRASHED... no maybe "Thrutch" is the word... that's what Cedar Wright describes as 'all out animal thrashing at a climb when you know your fucked." Yeah. Total bolt-to-bolt, "TAKE!" every 30 seconds kinda climbing. Later found it went at 5.12b [What the hell was I thinking leading that!? Haha...] First part wasn't too bas, just steep jugs, but man it got gnarly up high. I got torn up. Anyways afterr than initial slaughter I found a slightly nicer, tamer 5.10 to play on ao it ended up being a good day. And my tooth just stopped hurting. Sweet!

Thats all for now kids. Much love, Phil.

I don't know if I can do this... I can do this.

Damn. So today I drove all the way up to Nelson, for no reason really, o.k so I had nothing better to do, it's the weekend, no work, weather sucks but what else is new, and I wanted to do some final skiing up on Kootenay Pass or at Whitewater before all the snow is gone. Well the rain was pretty miserable all day, and I drove up to the Whitewater Base area where I had an AMAZING day 2 weeks ago hiking for turns and hittin some awesome chutes with perfect late-season corn snow, to find most of the snow was gone. damn. Well shit I guess I should have known better, it's been raining every day and well, rain melts snow ya know... ah well. Lesson in boredom and wasting very erxpensive gas was learned. Did I mention gas is over $4.00 a gallon around here? Yet another reason to come visit me in scenic fuckin hillbilly hell. I swear these people hate me. I have done nothing but make the utmost effort to smile, wave, pander endlessly about weather and hunting and fishing in an effort to blend in... but to no avail it seems. OK so that was a little harsh. I know I'm an 'outsider', and, well, when your in a town of 350 people, it's kinda obvious if your an outsider. Especially becuase I don't have a mullet-esque haircut, a never-ending assortment of cut-off t-shirts advertising guns, hutning, and cheap beer, or a rusty jacked-up F250 with a confederate flag on the back [yes... I know we are practically in Canada here, but you would be amazed....] Ok OK so it's really not that bad. Most people are actually quite Sane and Friendly. I'm sorry Metaline Falls, you just frustrate me sometimes. On the upside I finally met some climbers(!!!). One is a guy who just moved up here from Colorado [so we have something in common I guess haha] and is retired here with his wife and kids [he's only 40 though] and has tons of technical mountaineering and climbing experience... really nice down to earth dude, plus he guided for a while which is great cuz climbing with someone you can trust is tops. We are planning a 5 or 6 day trip to do some climbing in the Bugaboo's [Fuck Yeah!! :)] in a few weeks, which should be amazing. We are a;so going to try and hit up Wash. Pass in the Cascades soon, maybe even Squamish! The other climbers I've met [well ok, so I 'kinda' met them, but I met one of the guys wife the other day and she gave me their contact info.], they are apparently really big climbers... like road trips every weekend [Hells yea son!] only slight downside is they are very hardcore Christians [The guy works at a Bible camp].... so if anyone asks, I'm not really an atheist/agnostic hippy.... Jesus is my homeboy haha... Anyways so yeah all is good on that front. Well I ever cheered myself up in my lame-o little blog. Good Deal!
Peace N' Grease,
Phil.

"I'm into soul shit, reclusive, and I do hibernate, cuz society is useless"

"I'm into soul shit, reclusive, and I do hibernate, cuz society is useless"... Ah one of my favorite quotes by Vancouver hip hop artist Moka Only. Lately with all the rain we've been having here in washington I feel like going into hibernation haha... It's just been raining all the time; even the locals are sayin this is really unusual for this time of year. Hopefully there will be a break soon, I miss the sun, running, outdoor stuff.... what I really miss is climbing. When everything F#$%in' sucks, I can find peace in my head climbing or skiing. Skiing and hiking last Saturnday was so amazingly. refreshing. I got to the top of this peak and by boots were soaking wet and my knee was feelin funky but there was nobody around for eons it seemed and I crested this ridge and saw the view to the south and west and just had this primal yell moment, like 'Aggggghhhhh I would feel so silly doing this in public but it just feels good to be alive', kinda moment... yeah corny I know, but it's all I got right now. I feel kind of cut off from friends and family. I don't get cell service here [kinda refreshing I guess really], don't know anyone other than the people I've met so far, and don't really have people in this part of the country I can go visit. I know, I did it to myself in a sense, but it's been pretty good so far, and things are starting to happen for sure, good things hopefully ha... The neighbor across the street stopped me the other day and was like "I saw you posted an ad up on the town message board in the grocery store [truth be told I did] looking for climbing partners around here, you should talk to this guy Blake who lives 2 houses next door, he's a huge climber and goes every weekend almost" Holy Shit! Thank you neighbor guy! I don't know who this guy is or even when he might be home but I think I'm just gonna knock on his door and introduce myself... I'm kinda afraid to, what I he's like "who the hell are you?"... but he's a climber I met he's cool... I just really hope this works. please please. Well anyways that's enough egocentric self-pitying pandering from me for now haha... I mean c'mon seriously... I'm stuck in one of the most beautiful places in North America for a summer.... world-class skiing, climbing, mountaineering, and biking is at my doorstep. What am I saying? :)

I just got this super-sweet sweater in the mail I've been waiting for all week. I know that's really random, but I loooove this sweater. It's made my 'Matix', a skate/ski/snowboard-wear company, and i found it on my favo. impulsive shopper 'mega deal' website, www.whiskeymiltia.com It's just plain red and gray horizontal stripes but I really dig it and it's super comfy. Now all I need is a hip coffee house where I can lounge around sipping on a latte and reading a book while checkin people out haha... But alas I don't want to drive an hour up to Nelson B.C [where there are plenty such establishments] when gas is $4.00+ a gallon.... plus I'm not really a prentious wannabe-hipster I swear I swear... :) But man I just wish there were some more hang-out spots other than in the grocery store [ohhh yeah... lol] or loitering along the 1/4 block of semi-open businesses in 'downtown' Metaline Falls. Ah well. Oh and the sun just came back out(!) so I'm going for a run!
Peace,
R.H-Pizzle

You can always dream big....Mount Robson, Canadian Rockies King

Lately I've taken a fascination with climbing Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies at almost 13,000 feet. This is a very serious, hardcore peak and has maybe a 10% summit success rate among climbing parties, something you don't often see on a sub-5,000 meter peak. This mountain is just incredibly awe-inspiring as it towers so high above eveything else in prominence, difficulty, and reward. It is certainly over my head for this summer; while half-day's drive from where I am living in Metaline Falls, Washington, climbing this peak even via the 'easier' trademark route is not something I have sufficient alpine ice/glacier travel experience to attempt. Ah well... in ther future. Here's a great link with photo's and descriptions courtesy of Summitpost...
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150397/mount-robson.html

Recent Happenings.....

So over the past few weeks I've found myself travelling over almost half the U.S, en-route from school in Tucson, Arizona to a summer internship in the tiny town of Metaline Falls, Washington, in the Selkirk Mountains near British Columbia. As always, I throw myself into some crazy new situation with usual reckless abandon and little regard for what I've gotten myself into. I knew I was going to be living in a small town, but this transcends 'small' and resembles something closer to an outpost on the edge of the world at times haha... Really though it's a very nice place, population ~400 or so between the neighboring villages of Metaline and Metaline Falls.

It's a bit of an awkward interface between a very small, rootsy arts-culture and retired scene and a modestly booming mining town, replete with the tough, mostly conservative blue-collar transients who travel the country looking for jobs in a very specialized and close-knit industry. I'm working as an geology intern at the Pend Oreille Mine, an historic Lead-Zinc Mine a few miles north of town, recently re-opened in 2003 by Canadian Mining giant Teck-Cominco, the current owners.
The mine is a fascinating operation; there is something fundamentally compelling abouy literally wrestling raw resources out of the earth, as much as that crosses my environmentalist leanings. It's a relatively small, tidy operation, producing only about 2,000 tons of ore per day from purely underground workings [pretty small by mining standards these days.]

On a similiar note, I often wonder how I ended up working in the mining industry, who's traditionally very conservative, blue-collar, "huntin and fishin" roots seem to clash so much with my very leftist, eccentric, hippy-outdoorsy style. I think it's been a great experience though, I''ve always loved minerals and geology, and the outdoors of course, and the people who work in this field for the most part are very passionate about their jobs; to them it is a lifestyle more than just a career, and in our increasingly disenfranchised society it's genuinely refreshing to see people who love the work they do.
I've been in Metaline Falls now for almost 3 weeks, and the time has really flown by for the most part. Sure, it has it's slow moments, sitting wasting time on the internet [ahem... :)], wishing I was in a trendy coffeehouse or restaurant or club in Seattle or Denver, surrounded by the pretentious hipsters we all love to hate, instead of my myself feeling like an island in the middle of a no-nonsense, rural-values ocean. I find while I'm really not the city type at all, the one thing I really do miss is the culture, the social vibe, the ability to really seek out and connect with like-minded people. I found this past spring while studying at the University of Arizona in Tucson, for one of the first times in my life I felt like I found a group of fun, good people who valued me for who I was, face value, no-strings-attached.

It's so refreshing to be liked for who you are. I guess I am pretty outgoing and friendly and though I've thrown myself in all these haphazard new situations, I've been able to find people to connect with. This time I'm not so sure yet; I'm hoping so though, I know there are other young people out here that must be into climbing and hiking and mountaineering and skiing and the like.... hell I don't expect them to discuss my new favo. song by 'The Ones' or why Thievery Coropration is the greatest electronica group ever or my thoughts on the political situation in America... I just need a place to start, some sort of common ground to get to know people on. I promise I'm not as pretentious as I'm sounding, I'm just having trouble finding the right words. I've found so far, just being humble and staying true to myself has been the best way to get to know 'the locals' and be accepted.

I know, I know, I'm only here through the beginning of August, scarcely 2 months from now I'll be headed back to Tucson, then flying back to the East Coast to see the family [Ah how I love New England in August...], then over the Oslo and Sweden for 2 weeks to see that side of the family. So really, why does it matter if I vibe with anyone here, it's about the work experiience [excellent so far] and the outdoor opportunities [Backcountry skiing in May, check. Hiking big super-gnar peaks in B.C, check. Mountaineering in Cascades, check. Sea-Kayaking in the San Juan Islands, check.].

But you know, I think as much of a loner as I make myself out to be, I crave interpersonal connected-ness. Don't we all? Well, tomorrow is a new day, and I'm going to keep with my current motto of 'one day at a time' becuase you know what, that's me right now, I don't know where I'm going but I know who I am haha... so when yoyr in Metaline Falls, Washington and you see a tall readhead guy with some crazy outfit and shades driving a red ford pickup with a million bumber stickers.... wave. I'll wave back.
Peace n' all that good shtuff,
Phil.