Wild times

Greetings earthlings!

Hope life is faring as well for you as it is for me. Lots to tell and little time to do it in. So I guess I will start where it always seems to start... the beginning. Shortly after my last blog was written and posted I hit the road. Packed up all my worldly possessions and headed to Zion. Hard to beat a good road trip when adventure's in the sights. I got myself one of them iphone contraptions, so my pictures might be of higher quality than those of the past.

This black and white here is just a photo of some rocks I thought were cool around lake Powell. Never been there before and when I saw a sign for it I couldn't pass up a chance to do a bit o' skinny dippin'.

The drive to Zion took a bit longer than I had expected, so I rolled in after it was already pitch black (probably for the best for other drivers considering how easily distracted I can be driving through a place like Zion).

For those of you not familiar with Zion, there is a pretty famous slot-canyon hike called The Narrows. It is 16 miles from start to finish, but you can also hike up from the bottom and just turn around wherever. The hike is in and out of the Virgin River the entire way. The water is freezing, and the first pool you encounter at the bottom is also the deepest, bringing the water to about stomach level.

I scoffed at all the "tourons" with their rented dry suits and rented walking sticks, almost too proud to admit that by an hour in my numb feet whispered sentiments of envy between river crossings. I saw a few other people wearing sandals and shorts and was comforted to know that there were other fools out enjoying the day too. If you look close at this photo you can see someone hiking in the water.

The nature of my stay in Zion was to play all day, find a place to poach some free camping when it was pitch black out, and then wake up to a beautiful surprise. You can see my van is packed pretty full. There was a delicate move you had to make to get into bed at night that might impress a yoga instructor. On this particular day though I decided to go for a mountain bike ride. I got up and made some coffee and blueberry pancakes on the stove and went for a sweet 3 hour ride. Two hours of unsure navigation on an old jeep road led me to a sweet hour long downhill single track ride, right along the sheer cliffs of the Virgin River.

I was lucky enough to get to meet up with my old buddy, Johnny Ray. Perhaps the name sounds familiar from very early posts (I was living in his driveway in Vegas for a while). I got to spend a day eating spoonfuls of sand with J-Ray and his niece on some relatively obscure, and clearly not very well traveled climb in the park called Chimney Sweep (very fitting).

I dont need much of an excuse to spend time in Zion, but the real reason I was there is this awesome rock formation. My buddy Colin, from many adventures in AZ, met me out there and we set out to climb this beast called Moonlight Buttress. In the climbing world, this is probably almost as well known as El Capitan in Yosemite. It is definitely one of my most crowning achievements in climbing.

The route is about 1200' tall but it isn't the height that makes it a big climb, it is the technical aspect. Some people (super humans) can climb the very thin cracks that this climb offers, but for most of us normal humans we have to do something called aid climbing. I wont try and explain aid climbing as it would probably just be confusing, but if you are curious there is plenty of information online about aid climbing.

We climbed the first 300' Sunday afternoon and fixed the lines. We rappelled out on these lines and returned to them at the butt crack of dawn the next morning. This allowed us to climb the ropes and make quick progress so that we were already 300' off the ground after only an hour. We still had a lot of work ahead of us though. To get each of us up the roughly 200' sections it took about 2 hours. Needless to say it was an all day endeavour. We ended up finishing the climb right as it got dark enough for headlamps. This awesome picture here is of Colin starting up some of the last pitches, probably about 1000' off the deck.

It was such an amazing experience and we were lucky enough to have the route entirely to ourselves. People usually line up to do this climb, and on an average day it not uncommon to see three or four groups climbing the route. Bliss. Pure bliss.

After recovering from the climb I said my goodbyes to my friends and headed further east into central Utah. I met up with my aunt Annie Bonami in some middle of nowhere place in Utah. We got to check out some cool national parks and I savored my first shower in a week. I spent the night on a real bed and was on my way again the next morning, Moab bound.

Here is another place I was pleasantly surprised to wake up in one morning. This is near Castle Valley, and the Fisher Towers outside of Moab. That is frost on a fence post with some cool desert cliffs in the background.

I was suppose to be meeting up with Johnny Ray and his niece Athena again but due to some miscommunication I spent most of my time in Moab flying solo. No worries though, I can find a good time on my own. This is my victory smile after solo-aid climbing that tower behind me (dont worry mom, its safe). The tower is not a very popular climb compared to some of the other towers in the area, so I had the whole place to myself. It was great. It was a beautiful day and a very unique climb. All in all it is about 200' tall. The rappel was free hanging the whole way and gave some very cool exposure.

Man... seems like all I do is play. That's not true though. I do work too, but it ends up being more like just getting paid to play.

Lately I have been in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have been working with a company painting the Brewers stadium. It has also been an awesome time. More often than not I wonder how I am getting paid to do what I do. Here is a picture of me hanging from my toes, painting the underside of a beam. We actually had a few of the local newspapers come out and cover the story. We made the front page of one of the Milwaukee papers. Here is the link if you wanna check it out http://www.jsonline.com/business/thrillseekers-take-on-miller-park-girder-painting-1s33hhs-134161878.html

Check out the photo gallery to see a few more shots of us working.

So anywho... that about catches you up for now. I am currently back in MN for a long thanksgiving break. I will be returning to Milwaukee to finish painting. Then I will go back to Denver where I will spend most of December climbing mountains. Sounds like in January I will be going to Florida for a month to paint a light house, so that is pretty exciting. Its a strange life I live, but I'm in love with it. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Bugs and fishes,

Dan

From the North West to the North East and All Over Again

Greetings earthlings!

It has been an exciting past few months and seems there is more goodness to come. Hate to be cliche, but I guess I will start this story from the beginning. So at the start of Sept I finished my job washing windows out in AZ. My good friend Colin and I had a send off climbing trip. We went to Sedona (for the first time). It was so beautiful out there as you can see from this picture.







We did two climbs, which we have been dreaming about for a long time. One in particular was noteworthy due to the fact that it was first climbed back in 1957. It is a tough route both physically and mentally, and to picture it climbed so long ago without all the climbing gadgets of today, makes you really appreciate the feat.


This was the last climbing I might be getting to do in AZ for a while. After Sedona I blasted off to Bremerton, WA.







The job in WA was pretty interesting. As you can see, there is a cliff right along the side of this very busy highway. We went in and cleared out all of the shrubbery along the cliff top and bottom. The next step was to rappel down the cliff with rock bars and knock down all of the loose and dangerous rocks. This was pretty dicey at times as you might imagine. After the rock face was cleared we had to drill these huge holes (sometimes up to 16 ft deep) on the face and the top. Then we used a crane to place these giant mesh panels which you can see in this photo.



The project was pretty cool and it was fun and unusual to be climbing around on this mesh covered rock face. The weather was pretty good too. We only had one day of real Seattle rain. The big downside of this project was the forest of poison oak we had to deal with. There were literally 15 foot tall trees of it and we had to not only cut it down, but then continue to work in it. Our ropes were in it, our harnesses, clothes, everything. I literally had poison oak rash from ankle to face, and I mean EVERYWHERE in between. Here is a picture of my leg, which endured the worst of it.



The project in WA ended in the beginning of Oct. I was lucky enough to pull some more work with another company. This was the most amazing thing I have gotten to do in rope access yet. I went out to Vermont and got to work on my first wind turbine. It was such a beautiful time of year to be there too. There were so many times where I was rappelling down the side of this turbine with a picturesque view all around and wondered how I was getting paid to do something so cool.

After a few days in Vermont, I was flown out to Sweetwater, TX for some more turbine work. It was very cool because there were thousands of wind turbines around. I worked there for a few days and then went to visit a friend in Austin for a few days.

It was exactly a year ago that I first even heard about rope access. In that time I have done high rise window washing, rock scaling, and wind turbine work. The work has brought me to 4 different states, and I am near getting my level 3 certification. I am very proud of these things. Anywho... that about catches you up to right now, but let me tell you whats to come.

Right now I am finishing a coffee at Colins house in AZ. I am heading up to to Zion National Park for a week of climbing and fun. Wallin' with Colin. Got some big plans and big routes in mind (I'll fill ya in later). After climbing in Zion I am going to be heading to South Eastern Utah to a place called Indian Creek for a week of crack climbing with my old buddy Johnny Ray(perhaps you remember the name from my very early posts when I was living in Vegas). After a week in Indian Creek I am heading further east out to Denver, Colorado. I will get some climbing in but ultimately will be moving there. I am suppose to be working a job in November, painting the Brewers stadium in Milwaukee, WI.

So lots going on, and lots more coming. But I gotta wrap this up... the road is a calling and I've got promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Hope the multiverse is smiling upon you all.

Much love,

The Danimal

Alright, I realize that I put one of these things up not all too long ago, but there is much to tell. So bear with me. Looking back on some older posts I realized I had mentioned that I would put a picture of my van. Seeing as I don't have a lot of other photos for this blog, thought I might share this (and please, feel free to laugh). I am not sure if you can read any of them, but needless to say I get quite a diverse amount of reactions. Does having long hair, a stickered out van (which I sometimes live in), and an open mind make me a hippy? I don't think so, but most people do.

I have been spending most of my days washing windows at this "government insurance agency". This is the cover they keep, but the multitude of armed guards, layers of security clearance needed to access the site and such all lead me to evaluate the situation a little deeper... I am pretty convinced they are experimenting on aliens in a bunker located 200 ft below the surface (I cant say too much... I think they are watching me). Anywho, this property has a fair amount of "wild" land surrounding it. There is lots of wildlife and such; gophers, snakes, rabbits, roadrunners, owls, etc. The other day we found two little dog legs up on the roof... I believe that this was the culprit. There is a gang of about 4 or 5 owls that hang around and they have it made there. Anyways this has brought me to the conclusion that if an owl can swoop down and scarf your dog for a midnight snack, it wasn't much of a dog and you should probably just stick to house cats.

Climbing has been at a minimal lately due to the relentless heat. This has made life here very hard for me. I thought cold winters were bad, but at least you can take certain measures and still enjoy being outside. In this kind of heat there is nothing you can do to escape it besides stay inside. This is a picture of me out on a day climbing a place called the Prescott Dells (it is pronounced press kit, not press cot, as many will be quick to correct you on).




If you were paying any attention to my last blog you might remember me talking about going to a music festival in San Fransisco. This is not a picture that I took, but you can see where I was. It was an amazing time. Good friends, good music, good food, and good beer. I don't know how I got so lucky to live the life I do. Some of the bands I saw were Phish, The Shins, Deadmou5, John Fogerty, Beirut, GirlTalk, the Roots, and so many more that I can hardly remember. It was three days long which is quite an endeavor. After having such a great time it was hard to come back to an empty apartment and triple digit heat.

Which brings me to my biggest news to share...



So my days in Phoenix are dwindling. On Labor day I will be making a move to this place... Bremerton, WA. That's right, time for a new chapter in the ol' book. I am heading up there to do some work. The work is rope access rock scaling. If you have ever seen chain link fence on steep rock faces right over a highway, this is what I will be doing. The project is only suppose to last until mid-October but that is just fine with me. I will be getting a substantial pay raise with this company and with a little padding in the pocket and the great unknown waiting beyond the project, how could I resist?

So that is what is on the docket for me these days. Trying to thin out my belongings so they will all fit in my van again (it is amazing how much unnecessary junk people acquire) and selling lots of it on Craigslist. Anyone need 3 pairs of used socks, a half eaten hot pocket, and what appears to be... a.... um... well I'm not sure what that is, but I will cut ya a real good deal. I will have to leave my van in Phoenix in the meantime, so it is inevitable that I will return. I don't have anything against AZ, but Phoenix, and Scottsdale in particular were just not places where I belong. But ya know, there is just too much fun to be had for me to belong anywhere right now anyways. This was how I started my workday today. I will say one thing about AZ... it is the land of beautiful sunsets and sunrises. No where else have I been that harbors so many a picturesque dawn/dusk.

So that ought to about do it for now. It is hard to say when I will be able to get another one of these up. I wont have a computer in Bremerton, but rest assured, I will have my camera. So until the stars align... don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Truly, madly, deeply,

Danjerous

We're all here, cause we're not all there

Gather 'round folks, it is time again for the tales of a madman on the loose. It hasn't been so long since my last post, but so much has gone on. Where to start, oh where to start...
This here (for those who haven't seen it yet) is a picture of me working on the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Phoenix. By far the coolest project I have been on at work. If the picture doesn't illustrate it well enough there is about 300 feet of open air beneath me. There is a rotating restaurant at the top of this building and it got hit bad by the big sandstorm you may or may not have heard about. Anywho, it was All-Star Weekend so they needed the job done quick. Luckily we got the bid. After each window drop I took it upon myself to drop beneath the restaurant and hang upside down with nothing but air beneath me. Ya cant help but feel alive when staring down at your own mortality.
I am also proud to say that I am now a SPRAT certified level II technician. I got the opportunity to go to Denver for another course on rope access. I passed with flying colors and went from a "rope worker" to a "lead rope access technician". So that is pretty neat. This picture is of a rope rescue. I am the one being rescued here but you can see that it is somewhat complicated.
Anyone one who knows anything about me ought to know that I can usually find some fun, even in work. While in Denver I got to stay with my sister at her new place and they were more than kind in showing me around. This is from "The Garden of the Gods". It is a very neat city park with lots of climbing to be had, though I got to do none. A storm rolled in so it gave some great colors.
While in Denver I also got to tour the New Belgium brewery, the O'dell brewery, and the Fort Collins brewery (and when I say tour the brewery, I mean, the tasting room). I also got to do some whitewater rafting and even some climbing in the Rockies. This picture here is from the hike in to our climb in Estes Park. It was a beautiful day and everything went perfect.
Here is me at the top of our climb called Georges Tree. It was one of the toughest climbs of its grade that I have ever done (as I was warned). In the background is Longs Peak. There is a big wall up there called the Diamond and yes, as I am sure you imagined, another place I intend on climbing.
Here is one more picture I got from a solo trip up the Four Peaks Wilderness outside of Phoenix. I went to do the ridge traverse but only got on half of it. The views were worth the efforts anyways. So I think that should about do it for this one. Life remains exciting and impossible to predict. In a few weeks I am heading to San Fransisco for a three day music festival with some good friends. I'm doing my best to not lose my marbles in this awful summer heat but ya cant lose what ya never had, right?

Much love,
Dan

Going mad in the summer heat

Hey guys, here we are again. Life has been interesting to say the least lately. The daily highs are usually 115, give or take 5. But it is a dry heat, so it isnt quite as bad as it seems... or so they say. This first picture was from a real treat at work. That is a big glass sculpture hanging on the wall. It needed to be dusted and I was lucky enough to be the one to get to do it.
Most of June has little precipitation and thus, not much for sunrise or sunset views. However, it is now July and (believe it or not) monsoon season. This was how I got to start one of my work days. Seems like it is usually pretty hard to have a bad day when you begin like this. Work as been fairly uneventful lately but I am looking forward to a break from work and the heat at the end of July. I will be heading to Denver to visit my sister and go back to school to get my next level of certification for rope access. So that should be a grand ol' time.
Since it is just too damn hot to be climbing around Phoenix these days, my weekends have been spent up in Flagstaff. It is one of the coolest places I have been. It is a really neat town and there is endless camping, climbing, outdoor fun all a stones throw away. This picture above is from my 4th of July. Pleasant as the day may appear, it was a monsoon, and there was plenty of thunder, lightning, and rain to top it all off. And by the way... if you have never experienced a monsoon in the high desert... you are missing out.
One night when it was raining and we couldnt climb we decided to go to the Grand Canyon. It was my first time there and it was so beautiful. We didnt really get to explore the area that much but I have a feeling I will be back there for such things at a later time.
This is a place called Oak Creek. This is on the road that passes through Sedona to Flagstaff. It is a basalt cliff with tons and tons of crack climbing... my favorite. Escaping from the triple digits in Phoenix and hiding in the ponderosa forests of Flagstaff is my only link to sanity these days (more like a climber's trail than a road, haha).
So that will about do it for now... seems like I always have more to say until I try and write one of these blogs. I figure the next time I get around to doing one of these will be in August, when the heat will be cranked on full blast. So stay tuned to see how fried my brains get down here in the lonely southwest desert.

With much love,
Dan

Come one, come all. Hurry, hurry, hurry, step right up. It is time again for another one of these silly ol' things. Feel like it has been a while. This is largely due to the fact that I no longer have Internet at my disposal. Not quite sure if I had mentioned in the last one, but I am currently residing in Scottsdale, AZ, in my first real place. I got myself a little studio apartment near Old Town. Close enough for me to bike to work most days. I have had plenty of roommates in my day (sometimes 8 at a time) and living alone is certainly a change of pace. Anywho, these first pictures are from a trip I took back to Vegas with an old friend. Most people get their thrills in Vegas in the casinos and clubs.... fools. Here is where the real wild times are. This first picture is from a monumental climb we did. It is a route called Epinephrine. It is well known all over for its 400 feet of very slick, very strenuous chimney climbing. If you look close you might be able to see a climber up there, but that big crack is the chimney we went up. You put your feet on one wall, your back on the other, and your faith in the creator above. It was the hardest and biggest climb I have done to date. We climbed over 2000 feet in one day... car to car in about 12 hours.

This is me flexing my muscles at the top of the climb. It was truly exhausting but so worth the abuse. While I was in Vegas we also did a few other climbs (one of which I had a mean encounter with a few years ago). My buddy also had some friends in town for a bachelorette party, so we hung out with them on our rest day. Chillin' on the 32 floor of some nice hotel right on the strip, over looking the pool and drinking beers is a good way to recover from an ass-kicking on a rock.

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Work has been going pretty smooth lately. Maybe a little too smooth... you can see me catching a few Z' s on the job here, hahaha (keep in mind there is a fountain about 60 feet below me). I am logging lots of hours on rope and very excited to be able to get enough hours to go for my next level of certification. I will keep you updated about that

Here is a first for me... a Gila monster. This little guy kinda caught me off guard while hiking to do some climbing. They are small, but much like a kimono dragon, they have so much bacteria in their mouth that a bite from one can be fatal. He didn't seem too concerned about my being there but it was pretty neat. Still haven't run into any snakes, scorpions, or spiders out in AZ yet... yet. AZ hosts rattlers, scorpions, black widows, brown recluse spiders, and Africanized bee's (these ones scare me the most... there is no where to run from them when you are tied to a rope, up on a rock).

This is a picture of (most) of the crew working on the Barney's of New York building I had mentioned in my last blog. It is nice to have some new projects... keeps things interesting. This is a giant glass cube that we cleaned. Pretty funny to see the people inside, willing to spend more money on clothes then I did on my van. Speaking of my van, I have acquired quite a collection of bumper stickers. I get plenty of diverse reactions to them... I will try and snap a photo of it and post it up on my next blog.



I have also gotten to go home twice since my last post. The first time was for my cousin's wedding and currently I am actually sitting in my house in MN after a nice long memorial weekend up at the cabin. Got to see the family and my good friend. The weather was kinda cold and rainy, which most people seemed bummed about, but I was psyched about. When I go home tomorrow I will be going back to the oven. I am anticipating mostly triple digits until late September... fun fun.

I thought this picture was pretty funny. Seems like the 'Merican dream... morning beer, rubber waders, and a wiley look in the eyes.

Here is a picture of us putting my the dock. It was actually pretty fun to do. (Nice job supervising, dad). I got to do some kayaking, and some fishing and all around lounging. The time flew by and now I must prepare for another regular old week.

So let's see... don't have any sorts of plans lined up for anytime soon, though I am sure I will stumble into plenty of adventure (the fuel of my life). My sister and her husband are moving to Denver pretty soon. We are trying to line up a hiking trip in the Grand Canyon or Zion for October, but that is quite a ways away.

So that ought to about do it for this one. I recently turned 24 years old and had to celebrate in a manner worth remembering... what better way than sky diving? That's right, my first time. I wanted a photo of the actual dive, but the jackals wanted 60 dollars for it. So this will have to do. This is me in my jump suit a few moments after I landed back on earth. For those of you who have never skydived before... you must. It was one of the greatest times of my life. I will certainly be doing that again, and who knows... BASE jumping someday? Only time will tell.

Remember folks... don't do anything I wouldn't do. But if you do, think of me.


Now and until the end,

Danjerous

Because it's there.

Howdy y'all,

Well lots to talk about. I got a bunch of cool photos for this blog, all taken by other people (some of whom were total strangers). So lemme dive right in. This first picture here is from Cochise Stronghold. The biggest rock is called Sheepshead and if you can see the big crack going up the face of it, you will see the climb we did on it. We had amazing weather and the route to ourselves. It was pretty awesome.

This is also at Cochise. I love to climb and I get to do it 7 days a week. It's not always in the mountains but it is still pretty sweet. The company I work for out here just made a big achievement. We got into the SHARP program. That pretty much means OSHA regards us as a super safe company, which means a lot in this field of work. Anyways, that is kinda cool. We also get to do some odd jobs here and there instead of always washing windows.

This picture here is from a day when we were asked to remove sun shades from windows. You can see the louver hanging off of my harness. This is me in my office chair. We have a couple of promising leads of some other cool work. We are waiting to hear back about two really tall buildings we might be working on (one is 20 stories tall!). And for those of you who know anything about fashion, we are working on the Barney's of New York building. I guess its quite a high end clothing store; occasionally closing it to the public so celebrities can shop alone in it kinda thing. We also still go down to Tucson from time to time to work at the university down there. We don't have many more of those trips left though.






Here is a picture my buddy took on the top of a climb in the McDowell mountains. They are very close to Phoenix and can almost feel remote at times (*Note: Ignore the suburban sprawl in the background).


This is a really cool climb called The Razors Edge. Some guy was nice enough to send me this photo he took.

















This past weekend was a long weekend in Joshua Tree for me. A few buddies and I took a climbing trip out there. Lots of crazy looking rock formations there. It was great going back again. I have not been there since about when I started this blog. It's neat to see the progress I have made since then. It is also crazy to think how much has gone on since then. Time really flies, doesn't it?

<-----(If you look closely at this picture you can see me getting high on some of California's finest crack)

So as always... lot's going on, and lots to look forward to. In April I move into my first real apartment. I got a studio near Old Town, Scottsdale. Seems like a pretty cool area and it's close enough to work that I can bike. I also get to go back to the Midwest for my cousin's wedding. Then a cool concert and a climbing trip to Red Rocks, Nevada. So stay tuned, folks... the adventure never stops.

Madly,

Danjerous

The New Year in Arizona

Howdy,

Got some pretty neat stuff to talk about since my last one of these. I hope the new year is treating you all as well as it is treating me! So I guess I will just dive right in.

This first picture is from the Superstition mountains. There is an endless sea of climbable rock and needless to say, a place where I spend a fair amount of time. Weaver's Needle is that big pinnacle on the right.



It has been a bit hard getting accustomed to big city life. Traffic, lines, and lots of other people have been absent from my life for a while and it is a change of pace to be living in metropolis. But for those willing to make an effort to find it, there is endless beauty in Arizona. Almost every single night there is a picturesque sunset. This was what we walked out to on another crazy day of climbing in the Supes.






Work has been pretty cool too. I may have to post another blog soon just so I can show some pictures from this cool project we just did. This picture to the right is from a house we wash windows on. It was THE most expensive cash purchase in all of Arizona. It was some ridiculous number like 12 million. This was their pool and hot tub in the backyard.

We have also been going down to Tucson on a weekly basis working at the University down there. They are building a bunch of new dorms and we are washing the windows.


We are still mostly washing windows at the Optima Apartments but we have had a few jobs kinda out of the ordinary lately. We recently installed a few windows and we are going to be getting a couch on a balcony next week. So it has been staying pretty interesting. This picture on the right is a "core shot" I did down in Tucson. The windows we wash have sunshades on them and the corners are sharp. It is a big hassle to deal with them when we go down there and you can see why here. Pretty exciting, right?



This past weekend my buddy and I went down south to a place called Cochise Stronghold. It is near Tombstone, AZ but fairly difficult to access. It was a long, rough road in but there was hardly anyone else there. This picture is from the start of a climb we did called Moby Dick. It is a 600 foot, moderate climb. We had perfect weather (except for the wind at the top) and not a single other person was there.





Moby Dick is a route that goes up the left side of Whale Dome. Can you guess why it's called that? Cochise is one of the coolest places that I have climbed. There are a bunch of big knobs on the route, called "chicken heads". It is pretty much like an over-sized granite door-handle. For a lot of the route we would just sling the chicken heads for our protection. Kinda spooky but pretty fun.






So I suppose that will about wrap it up for now... thought I had more to say... Going climbing again this weekend so I better go hit up the hot tub before I drink a few beers to prepare. It ain't easy being me, but someone's gotta do it.

Dan