Last Night's Adventure in London: Indoor Ice Climbing

At this point it should be clear that I had one shot too many in my Americano this morning. I'm also pretty jazzed about my experience doing some indoor ice climbing. I've done plenty of rock climbing, but I've always been fascinated with the idea of scaling a frozen waterfall. Turns out you can do that right in the heart of central London (ain't cheap though).

I rented crampons, axes, helmet and harness and got a one hour private lesson. By the end of the hour I had scaled their overhanging wall, which was pretty freaky. It is amazing how well the ice axes support weight on a seemingly thin penetration of ice. Like most other climbing though, the feet are by far the trickiest part and front-pointing witht he crampons takes a bit of practice. It was also four degrees below inside the room. 

Check out the Vertical Chill video below for a look at the wall (I neglected to take pictures):

Jackson Hole Gets 33" from one storm in October

From Outside Magazine Blog:

A major winter storm that has pounded Jackson Hole since Sunday has already dropped 33 inches of snow, Transworld Snowboarding reports. The immediate forecast calls for even more snowfall.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort isn't slated to open until November 27, but already some mountain staff are saying it's the most snowfall they've seen in October in the past 30 years.  The National Weather Service is reportedly saying that some of the strongest La Niña conditions since 1955 are currently building in the Pacific. While long-range forecasts are difficult to predict, above-average snowfall is predicted this winter for the Tetons.

The World's Tallest Man-Made Climbing Wall (Norway)

Check out the world's tallest climbing wall. Wow.

From Adventure Journal

Shifting the Educational Paradigm

Really interesting short lecture about ways to modernize the educational system. Makes some very compelling arguments. Check it out.





H/T Big Picture

Weekend Update: Nada Mucho

Nice slow weekend around London. It was cold, but saw a little sunshine. Ran some errands, read, played video games, went to the gym, bought all my grass-fed and exotic meat for the week, etc. Good to have a weekend like that every once in awhile.

Woke up at 4am Saturday morning to watch the last few innings of the Rangers beating the Yankees!! Also, went to the London ski show, which was just a bug tease since the season doesn't even start over here until January. Still provided good fodder for the imagination and wanderlust.

Met up with some friends Saturday night at an ESPN-zone type sports bar (Sports Cafe) to watch LSU-Auburn. Cam Newton is a beast. It'll be interesting to see who comes out of the SEC this year as likely national title contenders.

...And the Cowboys suck. Romo broke his collar-bone last night. Maybe now he'll have more time to focus on his passion: being a full-time Dallas playboy. He's better at that than football anyway.

With the GBP/USD strengthening, the price of gold is down significantly in terms of GBP on relatively little news. I guess markets like the UK's austerity approach more so than the US's hyper-focus on QE and stimulus. Something about spending your way to prosperity or borrowing your way out of debt... Anyway, it's killing the pace of business, so most positive momentum has been scrubbed out and now its back to me trying to grind out a little profit every day.

Great POV Footage from Utah

The backcountry.com blog posted this over the weekend and I thought I'd share. The steep chute at the top seems a little hairy, but it convinces/reminds me of two things:
1. I might need to get a POV (point-of-view) camera for my helmet to better share adventures and
2. Utah is pretty tough to beat

Hypodermic Needle from Ian Provo on Vimeo.

On Tap for the weekend

A slow weekend!

Nothing much tonight. Then to the gym and borough market (organic wild game, good produce, etc) in the morning. Followed by the London Ski Show tomorrow afternoon and then possibly going to dinner with friends or going to see Soulive at the London Jazz Club with some other expat friends.

Winter is here and other outdoor musings

Winter showed up last night (fall lasted about 3-4 weeks by my calculations). Got down to about 36 or so and won't warm up past 50. At least that means ski season here. Speaking of which...

Grand Targhee (other side of the mountains from Jackson Hole) added backcountry access this season. Grand Targhee gets one of the highest snowfall totals in the country ever year. The terrain isn't as aggressive as Jackson Hole, but the snow is fantastic. And now you can legally go OB!

Adventure Journal has a post about possibly the best singletrack mountain biking in Montana, with a video to support claims! If you have the bandwidth, watch it in HD. I bet even the non-bikers will like the scenery of this. And for those that don't know, those are some really tight switchbacks that they are navigating.

Bliss.....

Montana's Best Singletrack? from MercuryCSC on Vimeo.

Check out the Adventure Journal

Cool blog I was referred to: Adventure Journal. Used to be part of the NatGeo Adventure brand until they shuttled it. It also has a really cool print store. Basically, one-stop shopping for all the art I'll ever need. Some amazing photos in there to be had.

Weekend Update: Boyett Nuptials

A very fun, but exhausting weekend. Arrived Thursday afternoon and immediately started by picking up a car for the weekend, spending a little time with Dad (for the first time in almost 6 months) and running a few pre-wedding errands. We'll call the flight over less than restful.

Thursday night was an informal get-together for quesadillas and beer. By the time I retired on Thursday night, I had been awake for a little over 24 hours straight.

Couldn't sleep past 3:30am or so because of time change, so I got up and took care of some things that had piled up from the office. Then, got to enjoy a Crossfit workout at my old box, Crossfit Underworld. Once normal people were awake, it was time for the groomsmen to go on their organized journey to the Texas State Fair. Plenty of fun and a few adrenaline-inducing rides. I left the group a little early to catch lunch with Stephen Coy (mexican!). A few hours later and it was time for the texan-themed rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at the YO steakhouse. Buffalo fillets and plenty of wine (and espresso to boot) helped fuel one of the better rehearsal dinners I've attended. Doesn't hurt that the two people getting married have notoriously rowdy friends and good senses of humor. Best toast by far goes to Holly Bright for uncovering footage of Meghan and Andrew in a student film for a french class where they pretend to be French lovers united by a passion for fromage Behold, the power of cheese). This was years before they started dating.

Saturday morning was more of the same, but I was able to sleep in until 6am this time! Another Crossfit workout with Monk and then brunch with the groomsmen hosted at the Boyett's house. Homemade casseroles, fresh fruit and plenty of caffeine got us all feeling like ourselves again. Then it was off to a really old barber shop for grooming and hot shaves with a straight razor. 

We were left with a little bit of time to grab a quick nap and then it was time to put on the formal attire. Andrew allowed us all to wear our own tuxedos, which was a relief to this odd-shaped participant. He also got us great looking, custom-fit vests and bow-ties as a grooms' gift. All in all, we were a pretty sharp looking bunch, but were definitely outdone by the ladies. I unfortunately was not able to take any pictures, but the ceremony was really pretty. Took place in an already cool room at The Adolphus and the altar was set up in the center for a theater-in-the-round sort of effect. Tricky to execute, but I think it worked out extremely well and allowed for a really small feel to the wedding, even with an already small guest list. And I didn't even forget or drop the rings.

Great food and a bad-ass band made for a perfect reception. It didn't hurt that many of my closest friends and family were all in one place. It made for a really efficient way to see everyone and I wouldn't have changed a thing, except maybe to switch to water a bit earlier...

Sadly, the good times had to end and I caught a noon flight out of DFW to connect in Charlotte en route to London. Landed about 7:30 this morning and took a train directly to the office.... exhausted, without a voice and with a full week of work ahead of me. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat though. 

Boyett wedding here I come

I'm closing the office for two days for a Frenetic touch-and-go in Dallas for Andrew Boyett's wedding. Excited to see friends and family.

I'll report back on Monday.

A New Model for the Long Term Price of Gold

The first truly unique thinking on the price of gold that I have seen in awhile: modeling the long term price of gold versus a 2% line in the sand on short term US Dollar real rates. Fascinating stuff for econ nerds...

Link here

H/T Reformed Broker

Wing Suits are the coolest things ever

This is just all around ridiculous. I've seen similar videos before, but perhaps you haven't. In any case, I want one.

Best Countries in the World

Newsweek has released a list of the best countries in the world by education, health, quality of life, economic dynamism and political environment. Check out the cool interactive here

1. Finland
2. Switzerland
3. Sweden
4. Australia
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11. USA
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14. UK

Hanging out by a volcano

Check out this video via the Outside Magazine blog of Drew Bristol hanging out 100m from an active lava spewing volcano. A long lens makes him look even closer than he actually is. I'm kind of disappointed that he doesn't fry a fish by holding it up or something.

ESPN Magazine: The Body Issue

So Sports Illustrated has the swimsuit edition, which is of course cool, but its pretty much the same thing every year (except the body paint!). ESPN the magazine has The Body Issue. Basically, shows off the forms of some top athletes. Much more interesting to me to see what a supremely functional form looks like for various endeavors.

Check out a slideshow of some of these here

Weekend Update: Oktoberfest

I've been busy since getting back on Sunday, so apologies for the delayed post. Short version: Munich is pretty, Oktoberfest is huge and a cool experience, Bavarian beer will whup your ass if you're not careful and lederhosen is actually really comfy and apparently still socially acceptable throughout Bavaria.

Long version, and eventually pictures, after the jump (click the title of the post)

History of Rap

Two posts in one day? It must be Friday and I must be overly-caffeinated.

Light the Wick

Yesterday afternoon I got some email saying that Teton Gravity Research was debuting their newest ski film Light the Wick at a concert hall near my flat in London. I have always wanted to go to these things, but they don't usually make much of an appearance in Dallas. I convinced Stew to join me.

Stew doesn't ski much and he loved it too. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Also, look into one of their productions Deeper on iTunes. They showed a preview and I will watch it on the plane to Munich later today. (Also, our office espresso machine arrived yesterday.... consider yourself warned).

It is the first ski movie to have a 3D sequence and the overall quality was amazing. It got me totally pumped to steal some weekends and get some high-altitude backcountry turns in Chamonix this winter. Preview after the jump (I embedded HD, turn it off if you are downloading slowly):