Summertime and the livin's easy

 Greetings!

How's it going? It has been a little while so it seemed I should slop another one of these things together. Lots has been happening, so this should be interesting.

I have recently gained employment with a great company called Radome Services LLC. They had me out in VA for a little over a month working on this here radome. This is basically a giant, heavy duty Kevlar balloon that is used to protect radars and antennas from the elements.

The old domes were about 20 years old and needed to be replaced. We had a bunch of prep work to do but the really cool parts were lifting off the old domes and putting the new ones on. The lift days involved two cranes, one of which was a 50 ton crane (it needed another crane just to put it together), 50 day labors to work the tag lines, and then my crew. The crane would pick up the dome and pluck it right off.


(This picture above is what the dome was covering, but this is classified, so shhhhh)
*Note; Photo removed due to graphic nature....


Putting on the new dome was a bit more complicated. It was basically the same process in reverse but there were a lot more potential wind/snag hazards. I wished I could get a photo of the lift because the deflated dome looked like a giant jellyfish with all of the tag lines hanging off of it. 

 The work was cool and I got to do some pretty cool stuff on the weekends too. This is a picture of the Luray caverns. If you are confused about what you are looking at, there is a small pool of water reflecting what you are seeing on the ceiling. I also got to go to Washington DC and see my childhood friend Chris. The boy who got his head stuck in our deck railing and use to help me throw large clumps of dirt at passing cars is now a respectable young man, doing good things for this earth. I also snuck into a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. I stayed long enough to watch them play their popular songs but left pretty quickly... there is just something about watching guys "rock out" who look like they are dodging wheelchairs and depends.


Anywho, after such a long time of working and not climbing I needed a fix. Luckily my old Phoenix friend, Colin, was on his way out to visit me for a climbing trip. We climbed around Boulder for a few days and then headed to a place called South Platte. The climbing was pretty cool but this storm was one of the more memorable parts. We were at pretty high elevation and the lightning was right over us.

We then headed to my old stomping grounds... the Black Hills. The weather was a bit cold for most of it, but we were still able to make the most of it. If you have ever driven through the Needles, you might recall the Needles Eye. This is a picture of me on top of the Needles Eye after climbing a notoriously dangerous route, which I was unaware of (thanks for the warning, Colin).

When it was too cold for climbing we made the most out of the beautiful scenery. Here is a buffalo who seemed to care about our presence as much as a bear cares about a tick on its ass.

 The trip ended too quickly but I was able to get a nice climb in with Colin and my roommate, Franklin (the two hooligans in this photo) in the Rockies.

I was also surprised one day by a face from days gone by. My friend Angela, from my NV days, happened to be in the area and surprise, surprise... wanted to climb.

We decided to do a pretty big climb a bit deeper in RMNP, so a bit more was involved. We ended up getting back country "bivy" permits so we could camp near the route.

We hiked in one afternoon with our climbing gear, and a minimal amount of camping gear. It was a 6 mile hike in with a fair amount of elevation gain. There were reports of a half mile stretch of forest with severe wind damage and a horrific amount of downed trees. We were aware of the challenge and ready to face it, but lo and behold as we were hiking in, the chainsaw crew was hiking out. They had told us they had just finished clearing the entire trail (saving us a few hours of tree hell). "Our saviors!" I exclaimed. I didn't have much to give them but I shared my bag of skittles to show my gratitude. Lucky us.

We weren't allowed to bring a tent in to this back country area, but there were these big boulder caves that people had created. Stones had been assembled as walls underneath big roofs to block the wind. It was like a little hobbit hut.


This was the view out of our "patio". This is supposedly one of the most scenic areas in RMNP called Glacier Gorge. The next day we got up and did our climb and had awesome weather. The hike out was pretty grueling as we were so tired, but still thankful that the path of trees had been cleared.

So that should about catch you up. I am in the middle of paragliding lessons right now. I have flown twice, and it is pretty awesome. Perhaps another hobby to pursue.

I have a few more weeks off before my next job, and lord knows it will probably be filled with climbing. Once I go back to work in early July I will be heading to New Hampshire for three weeks (working on radomes). Here is the real kicker... right after NH I will be flying to Norway (for work) for a month. Hoping I will get to extend my stay and travel, and who knows... perhaps some paragliding on the fjords? Come on now... this sounds like a fictional adventure novel.

How did I get so lucky?

I hope all is well for anyone still reading these, and anyone who isn't.



Bugs and Fishes,

The Danimal