Conrad Weiser Football

Sunday's football game photos are up and are available. Click Here to see the Gallery.

In Focus

Celebration!

Congratulations to Wyomissing Little League for winning the District 8 , 9-10 year old Little League Chamiponship.  Good luck in sectionals.

Dog Patch Freestyle

Flatiron Photos

Boulder's First Flatiron

Rod and I getting ready for the approach on the first flatiron.  I'm going through the photos now, I thought I would just post a few quick photos of us at the flatirons.  We climbed the east face's right side across to the north arete.  Check b
ack for more photos and a report later.

 

 

  

High Altitude Training

After living at over 9000 ft for the past two months, I became cocky with the thought that training for some long distance runs on the Continental Divide Trail (10+ miles) would be easy.  Well, it wasn't.  The lack of oxygen and 40 degree wind taking my breathe away was enough to give serious thought to stopping and walking.  In the end I made it home and past out promptly.  I've just started using mapmyrun.com which allows me to keep track of runs and keep a log.  Looks to be very handy for being Free.  FREE IS GOOD.

Reclaim

The climbing sites in Mocanaqua, PA show how an area can be successfully reclaimed for good even after environmentally destructive practices.  After the collapse of the anthracite coal mine industry in Northeast Pennsylvania, mining areas were all closed with no use left for the land.  The cliffs behind the town of Mocanaqua were filled with the coal slag of both strip and tunnel mines.  Fortunately those piles did not fully cover all of the rock and can today be accessed for climbing.  The land was bought by the Earth Conservancy to protect this land from being developed.  There is even hope for the future with plans of coal slag removal in the area, allowing the land to return to its former glory and uncovering another possible 30' of rock face.  Moc has 5 main climbing areas with severeal hidden gems with in a few miles, along with mountain biking/hiking trails for a multiuse recreational area.

Climb. Fish. Roll in dead fish.

The past few days I took some pictures of the climbing class I teach and some of Jeff fly fishing on Spring Creek.   Jeff did well catching 5, but Crazy our dog managed to find a dead sucker someone threw on the bank and promptly rolled in it.  He had dead fish (the consistency of soft wax) all over his body.  He smelled so bad it caused involuntary gaging once with in a few feet of him.  We threw him in the stream before he got to ride home in the trunk of the Jeep with all windows down.  The smell was still obnoxious.  Well, here the Click Here to see the photos. 

On-On

It's called "hashing" and it began in the UK in 1938 by a few friends looking for some physical activity to help get rid of their weekend hangovers, while including some beer drinking fun and running.  I participated in my first hash yesterday as a "new boot" with the Nittany Valley Hash House Harriers the local kennel here in State College. 


The run is a spectacle in itself with 20 some people running through the woods, over streams, and hiking up mountains.  You follow a trail of flour dots left by the hare the day before, to "checks" where possible false trails and dead ends are waiting for you.  The non-competitive atmosphere lends itself to calling those winning F.R.B.'s (front running bastards), beer checks and a log that must be worn by the winner the following week to discourage maximum effort. 

The weekly hash is followed with an On-After that is filled with singing and festivities from those whose names are BBC, Salty, Glassterbator, Echo, Sux2Blow, and many more.

Thanks to BBC for inviting me to the NVHHH run #990.  I encourage you all to search google for your local hash and give it a try. You got nothing to lose, and as they say "If you get it shape, it's your own damn fault!"

[Nittany Valley Hashing House Harriers - Website]

2 Daves and a Marathon

    Two former Penn State athletes, daunted by the fact that rolls of fat were beginning to consume their mid-sections, and muscle mass slowly tapering from their legs, decided to do something about it. On March 25th, 2007 - Former Big Ten selections Dave Walters (#12 ranked MF in  the country in 2005) and David Gray (#65 DEF in 2006), will participate in the Cape May County, NJ marathon. Goaded on by the negativity spewing from the mouth of Jeff Chambers, and the yawns of Crazy Dog - these two former athletes have decided to embark on a quest to work their once finely-tuned bodies back to their previous chiseled Atlas-esque build both were so accustomed to. While Dave Walters is used to hiking the perilous dangers of the mountain at a rate of 25 miles a day, he decided, why not run 25 miles in a few hours? These two washed-up athletes will return to the competitive arena that has consumed the previous 22 years of their existence. Whether its jogging back from Zenos on a Wednesday night or jogging across the street to Locust Lane Apartments , the next few months for the two Dave's will be focused on achieving a 3:30:00 marathon.

2 Daves and a Marathon - Click Here!

YMCA Internationals

The YMCA Internationals took the Monday Night Colorado Championship with a record of 7-1-1.  The team consisted of three stellar Americans, a flashy Brazilian, and the tough Chilean.  Some may say that our wins were controversial (biased teams), but after consulting sideline officials our streak continued. 

The first picture is of the team YMCA Internationals in its entirety and the second is of the co-captains, Bobby, myself, and Chris.

Copper Mountain - Day 2

Skied Copper Mountain last Sunday and today in beautiful weather.  They only have 4 lifts open and 12 trails or so, but it was nice to start skiing in early November.  Next week on November 15th Winter Park is opening and we will no longer have to make the 90 minute drive to Copper.  Took these photos at Copper today, hope some of you can make it out here soon to do some skiing. 

The first photo is me (some sort of 70's comb over) and Felipe eating a lunch of champions courtesy of SMR breakfast buffet.

Second is a picture of the "SKY" shoots in the backcountry that were formed by avalanches.  They are supposed to spell out SKY but from this angle it's hard to see.

The third and fourth photos were taken 2 full lifts and 1 tow lift later on the very top of the mountain.  12,000+ ft.

Next road trip to Copper Sunday depending on how I feel, then Winter Park Thursday for the second day of the season.

Live Gametracker What?

As you may or may not know the Big Ten Championships for men's soccer are this weekend being held at Ohio State University.  With out television or radio coverage (not that I have those anyway) and no internet in my cabin, I have found myself in the lobby of Snow Mountain Ranch yelling at the computer screen and CSTV's gametracker.  This must be the worst possible way to ever watch a soccer match.  The only information provided to a viewer during the run of play is SHOT, FOUL or OFFSIDE enough to make you go crazy.  But the way I look at it is that it's one more fan supporting the Where's Waldo Seniors (what a great analogy) with out being there to tailgate and yell at the other team.

Whatever the outcome of this weekend, don't worry Waldo, you already have a ring and much more.  Goodluck.

SHIT!  NU scored!  COME OOONNNNNN!