The Fading of a Season

 To whom it may concern,

     It is that time of the year again. With each falling leaf my sentiment grows. As the fall season slowly fades, gasping in its final breaths, the impending winter stands poised, waiting patiently with sharpened fangs. It creeps in slowly, circling ever closer. The knowing summer sun, too weak to put up the fight any longer, lowers its head and submits. I sit, heavy hearted, and watch helplessly. Nature must take it course; there is nothing I can do. 

Panoramic view, climbing near Mt Rushmore

         
     Pictures become sentiments of brighter, warmer days. I reflect back and hope and wonder if the most had been made of my time. Could I have done more? Could I have done better? With each new day the frost grows thicker and serves as a reminder... It wont be long now. I beg and plead and barter for just a little more time; It wont be wasted, I promise...
     I rifle through the catalogue of memories. Like a drowning man desperate for something to grab, I seek out things to reassure me that my time had not been squandered. The more unique the experience, the more value it holds. A memory stands out...I recall hanging 160' above downtown Denver, painting an old dilapidated smokestack to look like a pencil.



















     I smile at the thought, indeed a unique experience, but it does little to console the sadness that still twinges at my heart. The days grow shorter and colder faster and my sense of urgency increases exponentially. Affirmations are left wanting. Give me the cure for what ails me. I roll up my sleeves and dig deeper into the bank of memories.
     I must try something different... Perhaps the solution is to invoke and relive such a memory. By doing this, I could take from the experience what I was too blind to notice before. I conjure up the best idea I can... I must return to the place most sacred and dear to my heart. 

Sawbill Lake B.W.C.A.

   
     It is in the stillness of this place that the sounds of my frantic mind are slowly muffled out. In the unchanging beauty and silence, a calmness slowly washes over and cleanses me. At peace (if even only for a short while), the acceptance of things to come calms my restless soul.





     Then comes a bittersweet revelation... It is only in these moments of realizing the finite nature of life that depth and value are truly added. The changing of the seasons is not just the ending of the known; it is also the beginning of a new unknown. I become steeped in gratefulness. Though too engulfed in the moment at the time, each memory becomes a blessing to have ever experienced at all. Suddenly I am aglow. Like a death-row inmate's final meal, I hardly even have to try to savor each moment.
     I warm my hands by the embers one last time and shed a grateful tear for the memories of a well written chapter. I take a final look around, so in love and so aware, extinguish the flames from fires of old and with one last deep breath, I brace for the cold and accept my fate; further down the river we go.

Where do reflections end and the real begin?

Truly, madly, deeply,

Daniel William Janssen

Work hard, play harder

Come one, come all.  It is time again for another entry from the diary of a madman.

It has been a little while since my last one of these. But as the temps warmed up, the jobs picked up. The first of which was painting the Purina logo on the side of the Purina factory in Denver. (In case you are having a hard time figuring out what is going on in this picture, this wannabe Picasso is hanging about 85' off the deck)

As the temps have risen out here in the Black Hills, so too have the number of "tourons" in the area (especially with the Sturgis rally just around the corner).  A solitary creature can hardly get from the car to the rocks without being bombarded by silly questions ("How do you get the ropes up there?") or statements of disbelief ("You're crazy!" says the Harley rider who just rolled in to town, sans helmet, moving into day 3 of a no-sleep meth binge)




But still, as you can see... this is a place of great beauty and even the worse of the two wheelin' neanderthals seem to have an appreciation for it.

After a short break, the work load came on heavy. I spent about a week working in Knoxville, TN, had a day off, and then headed to Greeley, CO to paint a water tower.

This is a structure that has been on my working to-do list for quite a while. The climbing ended up being a lot more technical than expected which is great. It keeps things engaging. In this photo, you can see me and my buddy Matt painting. The Greeley newspaper came out and did a story on us and put us on the front page, which reminds me... I need to fire my agent....


After another all-too-short break, I was back on the road. Destination: The exotic and foreign lands of Wisconsin.
For those amongst you who are long time readers, you may recall a tale from days gone by about working at the Brewers stadium; Miller Park. Well we returned again for another week of painting AND one of the most exciting experiences of my life... the pendulum!


After Miller Park we headed to another place in WI called Fond du Lac. Here, it was our task to fix up a public viewing platform. The old platform was in rough shape with lots of rust and even more graffiti ("Ricky" if I ever find you, I swear...)


Here is the tower after we finished. It was actually a huge effort to paint this thing. Every piece of metal you can see, and every angle on every piece you cant, had to be painted. We were all quite exhausted and tired of this job, so the end of it came with great rejoicing. And after working so hard, it seemed a little vacation was in order... Yellowstone/Tetons, here we come!!!

I had been to Yellowstone once before as a younger man, though I was so engulfed in my headphones and teen angst that I hardly recall seeing this amazing place... funny how things work.

Anywho, Lindsey and I got out there late Friday night, poached a campsite and snuck off early the next morning to avoid having to pay the fee to camp in national forest (which is usually a free place to camp). We saw a few things like the lower falls of the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone, and stumbled into the backcountry permit office.

Lo and behold, we got a free backcountry campsite and despite the huge amount of crowds at all the major attractions, not a soul was to be seen out where we stayed. One of the highlights of the trip IMHO was getting to longboard a two mile long paved path that had geysers and hot springs all along the way. One may have needed a crowbar to pry the smile off of our faces.

For any who have not had the pleasure of seeing Yellowstone, the Grand Prismatic was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. The only other place that one might see such brilliant colors is in a Sherwin Williams store.


After getting our fill of bubbling and gurgling geysers and hot springs, we hit the road and headed onward.

It is hard to explain the excitement of being a climber and going to a new climbing area... especially when that area is the Tetons. These mountains are the youngest in the USA and because of this, the most dramatic. Rising suddenly from the rolling meadows, these titans command awe and respect.

This blog feels as though it has become long and there was far too much adventure to even begin to try and retell the whole tale. I will say though, we ended up getting another backcountry permit, camped in a beautiful forest oasis amongst the mountains (complete with the best water to have ever touched our lips, coming straight from the melting mountain snow), surrounded by the slumbering giants, Grand Teton, Middle Teton, and Teewinot. We had full moon nights, warm weather blue skies, and played harder than we have ever worked.





"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar,
I love not man the less, but nature more."

-Lord Byron

American Thunder Down Under

G'day mates, sheilas, and roos alike,

     For those who don't know (or those who haven't figured it out from the cliches yet), yours truly has been spending time in Australia. Sadly, this is being typed up in the final hours before a long slog back home. It has been nearly a month since my feet last stood on American soil, and oh the things I have seen since... So as with all adventures, let's begin at the start.

     As the time drew near to depart for Australia, a blizzard rolled in and old man winter did his best to give me one last "F*** you". But despite numerous delays and having to sprint through two different airports, by the grace of god, I made my flight out of the US. Of course, not to be outdone by me, old man winter saw to it that my bags wouldn't show up for another 5 days.

     Our plane landed in Sydney and without consent our plane was decontaminated with a heavy dosing of some unknown aerosol. Despite making some bad noise about it, I have still not been informed as to what it was and the voices keep getting louder and this twitch keeps getting, this twitch keeps getting, this twitch keeps getting worse. The weather was warm in Sydney and I finally got to shed my wintertime long johns. We walked down to the harbor for lunch and it sunk in quickly just how expensive Australia was going to be. I'm talking $30 for a standard hamburger in Sydney.

     We got to stay in probably the nicest hotel I have ever been in. Due to a miscommunication I was upgraded to the "relaxation suite" where the booze and prawns were free, and the jacuzzi tub was huge. Here is the view from my tub...

     Upon seeing the room and the view, your humble narrator burst into an uncontrollable laughter, a little perplexed but oh so pleased to be in that situation. Our stay in Sydney was only a quick stopover. The next day we got up and flew out. Next stop... the outback.

     The Red Center, The Never Never, it goes by many names. The biggest town for hours and hours is a place called Alice Springs. For those of you who cant quite picture the size and magnitude of Australia, it is pretty much the same size as the continental United States. Now picture the only decent sized town is in Kansas and every other city is coastal. Now picture a desert that fills most of the country. Hopefully that puts it into perspective for you. It feels like the wild wild west though and lives up to its reputation. It is a hot, dry, and unforgiving place. It is interesting to imagine the many who called such a place home long before Alice Springs was even a city.

     The parallels are quite interesting (and sad) between the plight of the Aborigines and the Native Americans. Those that choose not to just reside in their government allowed land/reservations seem to have a hard time in modern (let me rephrase that; white) society. There is a very distinct and harsh line drawn between the White's and the Aborigine's and the attitude seems to be one of mildly-annoyed tolerance, much like a house guest you would like to have leave. So sad that it was their house long before early Europeans kicked down the door.

     Surprisingly, for a place that is notoriously dry, it rained on us at least four days. It was nice as it caused the weather to be quite tolerable, although there were a number of days where it was 105 in the shade. The job in which I was out there to do went smoothly (I cant tell you anymore about it or your computer would self-destruct and I might have to kill you (but who really wants to hear about work anyways?)). Unfortunately there was only one car amongst the guys I was working with, so exploration was minimal. We did get one day where we kinda drove around to see the sights. Above is a watering hole which was a great place for a swim. If one were so bored, or so inclined as to try and watch sports on TV, you should be warned... they don't have golf, it's cricket. No (American) football, just rugby. Oh, you wanna watch some basketball?? Nope, you get netball... netball? Really? There was one sport that was quite fun to watch called Australian football. It's like rugby and soccer had a lovechild who's a violent drunk. 

     Anywho, the job finished up and it was time to leave Alice Springs. The guys I was out there working with all flew home, but I had other plans. {Here is where the story gets interesting} Leaving Alice Springs, we all flew back to Sydney. The following day I caught a train down to Melbourne (pronounced Mel Burn). After spending the night and the better part of the next day there, I caught a flight out to a place I have long dreamed of visiting... Tasmania! Let me tell ya folks, if there were a place handcrafted for a man of my nature, it is Tasmania; wild, rugged, and desolate. If one were so inclined, one could surf in the morning, mountain bike in the afternoon, and climb in the evening in total solitude and with minimal driving.

     I would like to take this moment to stress how amazing couchsurfing (https://www.couchsurfing.org/) is to anyone traveling. I stayed with two different hosts while in Tasmania and the amount of trust and generosity bestowed upon me by these gentlemen is almost hard to grasp. From airport transportation, to being fed and entertained, to being allowed to use a personal vehicle without any hesitation (they drive on the left side of the road mind you... now that's trust in a total stranger).

     One of the things I got to do was go to an animal rehabilitation site. This place, called Boonarong, takes in wallabies, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, and Tasmanian devils that have been injured. There must have been at least 70 kangaroos here and everyone of them was friendly, pending you had some tasty oats to feed them. Here is a little joey nibblin' some oats.

I had a few goals in mind for my time in Tassie. Jumping in the Southern Ocean was one of them. The next day there I drove down to the very southern tip of the island and had myself a quick dip.... very quick. Again, as you can see from this picture: solitude.
    
     The absolute highlight of my entire trip was something that has been at the top of my "bucket list" (I despise that term) for a long time. There are these very iconic rocks right off the coast of Tasmania in a place called Fortescue Bay. I have seen these pictures (and perhaps you have as well; do a google search on the Totem Pole) and dreamed of climbing them one day. Allow me to paint the scene on this one...

     My partner and I (a guide which I sadly had to pay a hefty fee for) began the hike in on this beach. Walking along the shore as the waves crashed in, the sun began to shine on this pristine white sand beach with no signs of civilization. We found the small trail and had an hour and a half hike in through old growth rain forest. The humidity and smell of fresh, healthy earth was so thick you could almost chew on it. After the pleasant hike in we came to the cliff. We dropped our backs and hiked down to the edge to where the rock was in view. The cliff was about 300 feet straight down to the ocean and my guide kept offering me the precautions similar to that a mother might have with a 4 year old near a cliff edge. We rounded the final corner and there it was... The Moai.

     Standing proudly like a sentinel guarding the cliffs, this thin pillar seemed to defy gravity and the great forces which sought to knock it down. It was truly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Even now, recalling that moment it nearly brings a tear to my eye. We geared up and made the rappel down to the base. There was one climb on it in particular that I wanted to lead (be the first to climb, placing gear along the way). The rock was perfectly dry and "the best conditions" the guide had ever seen it in. I began the climb which started on the side facing away from the photo. The climb spiraled up to the top, going directly over the water. It took your fearless leader a moment and a number of deep breaths to ignore the crashing waves below and keep climbing. The summit was reached and I shit you not, all around us in the ocean, a group of dolphins and a lone whale were jumping out of the water. There are truly no words that could express what I felt at that moment.

     We climbed one last route (a very hard route this guide had put up almost 20 years ago) and headed out. We made it home safely and I drank, ate, and slept deeply, feeling like I had truly accomplished one of the greatest goals in my life.

     Reaching the top of The Moai marked the climax of my trip and after that, it slowly began to sink in that the end of my trip was nearing. It has since been a slow progression to get home and I now sit in the Sydney airport waiting to get on with my 23 hour trip home.  There are a hundred other things which were worth mentioning about this trip, but sadly those must be kept to myself. It is not clear yet what the near future holds for me, but rest assured, I will be enjoying myself in the meantime. I hope you are too!

Truly, madly, deeply,
Dan

Old man winter is dying

Hello, hello,

So here we are again. It has been a solid three months since the last one of these was slopped together... seemed it might be time again. So onward we go.

Since returning from Guam back in December, work as been at a total stand still, but I have taken a number of small vacations. Now, I know what you are thinking...  "Just what he needs...", right? "Some vacations to help cope with his oh, so stressful life."

The first of these was a short trip back home to MN for the holidays. A few days after Christmas, my lady Lindsey and I flew to Arizona to soak up the sun (or so we had hoped). We some how planned our trip right in the middle of a cold snap in AZ. "Cold snap in Arizona?" you might be wondering, bemused. But in fact there were a number of days where it was warmer back home in Rapid City, SD than is was where we were. There was even one day when it was 13 degree's (Fahrenheit mind you) when we started our hike into a climb.


This picture here is from one day of climbing around Phoenix with my ol' buddy Colin (you can see Colin and Lindsey sitting back to back as I climb to the top).


We spent about 10 days in AZ in all, traveling from Phoenix up north to Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Prescott, and Sedona and then back south to Tucson. Maynard James Keenan, front man of such bands as Tool and A Perfect Circle, has a winery in Jerome, AZ. We stopped in there and had a few AZ grown, rock star made wines.

The view seldom seen...a panorama shot from the top of a spire climb done in Sedona (you have to click on it to see the full picture). Another day of freezing winds, numb fingers, and yet amazing scenery and solitude.









Despite a few trips here and there and the occasional nice day for climbing, life can move a little slow when you have months to kill, days and days of bad weather, and not much to do. Assigning yourself little projects seems to help pass the time and one of the projects that has been occupying a lot of my life is making music (forgive the shameless self promotion here). If you find yourself bored please stop over here (https://soundcloud.com/dirtibirdi) and check out what I have been working on.

Another new venture yours truly has started dabbling in is putting up new climbing routes. Basically what this means is going out, searching for potential routes that no one has climbed yet, and trying to climb it. In doing this one is faced with a much greater adventure as you have no information ahead of time about what to expect or how difficult it might be.


Here is a picture of Lindsey getting ready to rappel off of a new route that we put up. The bolts in which we are entrusting our lives were placed by us, by hand. Being the gentleman, I let her go first...

So aside from these things, not a whole lot else has been going on. We recently returned from a trip to Colorado in which we did a bit of climbing, and saw some familiar faces.

Here is another panorama, this time taken in the Badlands of SD (again, you must click on the image to see the whole photo).

Allow me to wrap this up with my most exciting news yet... I will be leaving for the land of croc's and roo's this week, heading to Australia for some work in the dead center of the outback. Australia is a place I have dreamed of visiting. I have travel plans for when the job is over but you will have to tune in next time to hear about them. Hope all is well, all the time, everywhere.

Dan