Dan's Outside

I go, I see, I do, I walk, I think, I like…

Deadly Trek Up Half Dome

From an SFGate article: Rangers re-examining safety of popular hike after a fatal fall from cables during final ascent

Nohara didn’t have time to speak or even shout before he slid off the side of Half Dome to his death, becoming the third fatality within a year off the 4,800-foot granite dome.

The death of Nohara on Saturday is forcing Yosemite rangers to re-examine safety on the long trek to Half Dome, a grueling 17.2-mile round trip that culminates with a dizzying 400-foot climb up a ladder-like contraption made of cables and wooden steps leading to the top.

“We need to be concerned about visitor safety and look at it seriously, but the fact that it is wilderness makes it a unique situation,” said Ranger Adrienne Freeman, the park spokeswoman.

This accident is tragic but the fact is that it isn’t possible to eliminate all danger from outdoor activities, particularly those in the mountains. There is always some element of risk, even in situations where risk is not the main goal of those participating. Thousands and thousands of people have ascended the exposed Half Dome “cable route” – and they have been rewarded with an astonishing view and a powerful sense of accomplishment and connection with the natural world. There have been very, very few serious accidents or fatalities.

While the park service should look at safety issues (and has probably done so all along) it would be tragic if an accident like this one led to overly restrictive changes in trail management.

June 19, 2007 Posted by | Commentary, Trails, Yosemite | Comments Off on Deadly Trek Up Half Dome

Temporary Archive of Old Site

I have temporarily archived the old dan’s outside web site content at outside.danmitchell.net.

June 15, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Temporary Archive of Old Site

Random Collection of Weekend Stuff

Outdoorsy thoughts on this early June weekend… that I’m spending indoors.

  • About that “indoors” business… Two factors are conspiring to keep me inside on this beautiful feels-like-summer spring weekend. First, we’re nearing the end of the term at the college where I teach and the grading and other work has been stacking up. So this weekend I did a grading marathon (almost finished!) and took care of some of the other administrative tasks needing attention. I thought I might get out for at least a brief urban hike, but alas.
  • Two of my kids are graduating during the next week – a daughter from college (Go Kelsey!) and a son from high school (Go Jameson!) – so I’ll be spending a lot of time on related family stuff during the next few weeks. It’s all good!
  • The foregoing aside, school is out at the end of June and then the summer is mine!

About others in the blogging world…

  • Tom at Two-Heel Drive posts another dry run for one of his upcoming articles in the Mercury-News this one about hiking at big basin state park. His newspaper articles tend to be quite short, so catch the pre-story at his site – it is more extensive and includes a lot of photographs…
  • Speaking of which, Tom’s photography has really improved a lot. I enjoyed his trail snap shots from the beginning, but his recent photographs have become quite nice as photography. Nice work, Tom!

OK, I’m done now. Back to grading. :-)
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June 10, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Random Collection of Weekend Stuff

What is Fun?

A post at favorite oboe player’s blog got me thinking about the notion of fun today and why I love to do things that are sometimes quite hard and challenging:

I don’t always go to movies to have fun. I don’t go to concerts to have fun either. I have fun when I go to Disneyland. (And I admit I love Disneyland … sorry to those of you who don’t get it! I become a little kid the minute I walk through that gate!)

I go to movies, concerts and operas to be moved. I go to learn something new. I go to somehow be changed. I go for a variety of reasons, but fun isn’t usually one of them. (Okay, maybe when I go to see goofy movies, but those are fairly rare for me.)

I want to be left with something when I am done with whatever event I’m attending. I love it when, days later, I’m still thinking about what I saw or heard. And I want to feel something … even if it’s anger. I don’t like to walk away thinking, “Whatever” or “So what?”

It occurs to me that is pretty much why I’m willing to carry a large, heavy backpack up and down over high and difficult mountain passes, sometimes for more than a week at a time. If the definition of fun is “smiling broadly or laughing outloud because, gee, I’m just plain having a good old time,” then backpacking, most of the time, doesn’t qualify. (Though sometimes, with the right group of friends, sitting around in the evening doing whatever it is we do does qualify as plain old fun!)

But the experiences do teach me (often about myself), move me, stay on my mind, and most certainly leave me changed in ways that are worth any amount of sweat and pain.

Well, almost any amount… :-)
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June 9, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on What is Fun?

National Trails Day – No Excuses!

Tom Mangan posts a reminder:

Reminder: National Trails Day is tomorrow. … For all you Nor-Cal folks, the Bay Area Ridge Trail organization has a bunch of stuff happening tomorrow. The Santa Clara County Open Space Authority also has a little shindig happening in south San Jose.

Here’s a Goggle News search of Trails Day events.

Now you have no excuses not to be hiking tomorrow. [Two-Heel Drive]

I see that there is some sort of event in the South Bay at a park I sometimes visit – I may just pop over there via a little hilly route from Calero Park.
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June 1, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on National Trails Day – No Excuses!

A Lesson on How to Read Testimonials

A recent incident where a man enrolled in a survival school program died of dehydration while the guides didn’t offer him water causes me to read the school’s testimonials in a whole new light. From their web site:

  • …the place to go to gain primitive survival skills.” – The Ultimate Adventure Sourcebook
  • “…the BOSS program is in a league of its own…” – Shape Magazine
  • “After roughing it with the BOSS, you’ll be ready for just about anything….” – Men’s Fitness Magazine

… like meeting your Maker?

Another web site memorializes the victim.
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May 8, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on A Lesson on How to Read Testimonials

Where did the Dweebs go?

I’ve been a follower of the Mammoth Dweeb Report web site for its up-to-date and sometimes eclectic weather and climate reporting. However, the site seems to have gone AWOL and I only get an error message.

Does anyone know what happened?
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May 7, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Where did the Dweebs go?

Regarding Today's Photographs

If you are going to stand for several hours in light rain on cold spring evenings at Wawona Tunnel View, you might as well bring a camera. :-)
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April 25, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Regarding Today's Photographs

Gear Lust Becomes Gear Disappointment

(An old article – posted here so as not to lose it during the site transition.)

At Two-Heel Drive, Tom writes:

Fed up with buyer’s remorse. Something that occurred to me over the weekend: Almost every piece of gear I’ve ever bought has turned out to be the wrong thing. Tents, packs, sleeping bags/pads, you name it. They serve their purpose but are always flawed — primarily in comparison to some other piece of gear which has the attributes my gear lacks. … [Two-Heel Drive]

A rainy weekend pack trip seems to have provoked Tom’s Monday morning philosophizing – he was not completely dry and he found himself pondering the various gear options he might have resorted to – follow the link to read his piece.

Two interesting topics come up in his post: gear lust and expectations. I think almost all of us who hike, packpack, ski and so forth succumb to gear lust on a regular basis. There is always some piece of gear out there that is too cool to resist, some new piece of equipment that promises to improve our experience, an answer to a long-standing problem, or something that simply looks to be well-designed. I can report that, for me at least, the affliction never seems to go away completely, but it does moderate somewhat over time.

Tom also touches on the issues of what sort of performance we can really expect from our equipment. To read advertising copy one might imagine that with a particular tent, shell, pair of socks and so forth that one will be able to stay dry and warm all the time. Sorry, but it just isn’t so.

When it rains you will get wet, and when it snows you will have to deal with cold. Its not so much that your gear will make the difficult, uncomfortable, or risky conditions disappear – rather it is that you can draw the line between comfort and disaster a bit closer to the comfort zone.

I’ve been rained on quite a few times while on the trail. The difference between me – when I’m equipped properly – and someone who is less welll equipped (and perhaps less experienced) is that I may only get damp while they might get soaked; I may react to the cold sooner. If I get a little damp, I have strategies for minimizing the consequences and for drying out.

On the other hand, Tom does intend to try to get a handle on gear lust for awhile, and that is a good thing. (Though, Tom, what was that about a bicycle? :-)

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April 17, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Gear Lust Becomes Gear Disappointment

Start of California 'Green to Gold' Season

In the part of California I live in this is the time of year when the typical low altitude green explosion of late winter and early spring comes to an end. I was out hiking this morning and grasses are in the in-between stage now – still quite green on the right slopes with good moisture and/or shade, but going brown fast in the drier areas.

Unfortunately, our rather dry winter also seems to have taken a toll on wildflowers. In one spot where I usually find a hillside covered with white lupine, today I saw only a few scattered flowers.
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April 15, 2007 Posted by | Commentary | Comments Off on Start of California 'Green to Gold' Season

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