The Beast (Ice Climbing Part 4)

... one big, mean, difficult ice climb - the prominent line located on the infamous 'Beast Wall' section of the 'Secret Cliffs', themselves located high along 'Chestnut Ridge' in the 'Laurel Highlands' of SWPA...

... climbers Tim Anderson, Laura Hahn and Mike Royer (L-R) and the 'Beast Wall' - the 'Beast' is the line that ascends just to the right of Laura in the photo...

... staring straight up from the base of that thing - around 200 feet of vertical ice topping out through a maze of large, overhanging sickles high on the wall - Grade 5+/6...

... for scale, Tim Anderson at the base of the wall...

... and a short time later making his way high up the wall... 

... in what would be the first ascent (February 4, 2007) while exploring conditions on top-rope in preparation for a later free attempt - Tim's last "stick" at the top of the wall breached a "geyser" of ice water - most of it right in his face - that subsequently helped fill in much of the 'top-out', which Tim later commented was "pretty thin" and "probably would have been very difficult to protect considering the thin ice conditions along with the strenuous climbing needed to get that far"...

... the following weekend Eastern PA climbers Brintton Price (L) and Rob "Griz" Ginieczki (R) are in town for a weekend visit to the area...

... after spending Saturday mostly checking out the conditions along the shorter, 'Central Wall' (Grade 4+ to 5), 'Griz' decided to give the 'Beast' a try on gear on Sunday...

... 'Griz' making the initial "ground moves" off the start...

... working up the lower wall...

... moving from pretty much the last good rest ledge... 

... on to the committing, thin and overhanging upper wall...

... placing a screw from a very exposed position high on the wall...

... and topping out - if you compare these photos with the above photo of Tim topping out, you can see the top-out really filled in in just the week since Tim "breached the geyser" - lots of fat, 'blue-ice' up there...

... a "work of art" on Griz's part - no preview - no hangs -  no falls - climbed in "impeccable" style - always smooth and in control - definitely ranks up there as one of the biggest and most difficult climbs "in the east" - Brintton followed this day as well, making the third ascent overall (to date, as far as we know) - with a big assist from Tim from a week earlier...

... by the way - we were fortunate enough to capture both ascents on video - Griz's climb can be viewed on the website in the filmshort 'Taming the Beast' - will have to work on Tim's - as we recall, Tim hanging exposed 200 feet in the air and getting "hosed down" in single-digit temperatures should be (now) pretty entertaining... HA!...

Maine Coon Cat (Solving the "Ignatz Enigma")

... so have been constantly trying to figure out the "abnormal behavior" of 'Ig the Cat', such as returning to ya' when ya' whistle (when he feels like it) like a dog, "fetching" his small decoy mice when ya' throw 'em and returning them to be thrown and chased again (when he feels like it) - just like a dog -  during rainstorms chases the waves of water rushing down the roadway gutter, swatting and rolling in 'em, for fun - totally unfazed by heavy snow or freezing temperatures, was gone all night during a few recent snowstorms, with temperatures in the single digits - he comes back, so don't really worry about 'em (still beats being caged in a "shelter") - he's been around a dog full-time since being a small kitten, so figured that he thought that he was one...

... so a friend emails to me this past week - "Hey, that's a 'Maine Coon Cat' ya' got there!" - never heard of one - started "researching" them on-line - pretty cool - in short, they're a pretty common, cold weather "long-hair cat" with quite a few "special options" built in...

... Ha - check this out! - attached this photo he found on-line as well - these things can get pretty large! - up to four feet long and near twenty pounds! -  don't know the cat or gal, thanks for use of the photo...

... a little information we found on-line...

... continued - couldn't fit it all in one "block"...

... 'Ig' himself - from this morning - settin' up on the washer for scale - tungsten light - currently a "normal-size" cat - they continue growing for three to five years after birth it's said - we'll see...

... a bit later this morning - relaxin' on the window sill - natural ambient light - his coat has really filled out for the winter...

... back in August - relaxin' on a pretty hot day - good shot of his tail - looks like a 'raccoon'...

... some decent-sized feet and paws we guess - built for snow travel it's said - also known as 'Snowshoe Cats'...

... would have to say that Ig is a full-blooded 'Coon Cat' - this is his Mom - his father roamed the neighborhood for probably a year before she showed up with kittens - used to feed him, although, you couldn't get near him, same as Ig, if a stranger - he was probably about 1-1/2 times her size and looked identical to Ig, except had white paws and a white spot between the eyes - haven't seen him since probably June of this year...

... Oh Well - not becoming a "crazy cat person" - but find all this pretty interesting "none-the-less"...

Fire Canyon (Valley of Fire Part 4)

... so we still had a bit of daylight left and decided to check out 'Fire Canyon'...

... here's a slightly easier side trail that drops down in...

... ditto...

... making way into the 'fire'...

... 'Desert Dog Koda' checkin' out a small 'tinaja'...

... into the 'fire' (the red 'tint' is the result of the oxidized iron rock chemistry, by the way)...

... 'rust never sleeps'...

... you're hiking on "beach sand" ta' boot...

... constantly on the lookout for "critters and varmints" - only found this "used" 'Desert Tortoise' shell this day (actually, was 'Thanksgiving Day' from a few years back - not sure what is "out-and-about" this time of year)...

... spectacular landscape...

... went as far as this "drop" into what is probably the "official" canyon - looked a bit difficult "goin' from here - especially with a dog on a leash - plus - it's gettin' late...

... so we decided to turn back...

... bit of a 'slot-canyon', what say?...

... reversing a short, easy "scramble"...

... and back to the car and eventually the 'MGM Casino' in 'Vegas' for the 'Thanksgiving Buffet' - the prominent "peak" in the photo above is 'Silica Dome'...

... Hey Matt! - we're finishing this next year - put it on the schedule - 'Thanksgiving Day' again!...

Silica Dome (Valley of Fire Part 3)

... was watchin' the classic western 'The Professionals' on television yesterday and got to thinkin' of 'Valley of Fire State Park', where much of the photography took place...

... a pretty good movie and great cast (as well as direction, photography, music score...) - they "don't make 'em like that anymore"...

... the peak photo left is the park formation, 'Silica Dome' (Matt and Koda for scale)...

... a short hike across the desert and easy 'scramble' for a few hundred feet get ya' to the top of this thing - those are some pretty cool 'conglomerate' boulders on the norther slope...

... here's a close-up...

... along with some small 'calcite fins' protruding the sandstone rock...

... encountered quite a few 'Desert Bighorn Sheep' - here's three 'Ewes' on the east slope of the 'dome'...

... pretty nice 'panoramic view' from the summit - this is looking south into the 'Valley of Fire'...

... they photographed a segment from one of the 'Star Trek' films from this location - definitely resembles another planet - never saw the film, will have to check it out one day...

... spotted this guy on the far summit - pretty sure it is a young 'Ram' - probably three of his "chicks" we spotted earlier...

... there he goes...

... that's him again, standing below the summit, photo right - a small 'tinaja' is visible on the opposite 'peak'...

... this is viewing west toward 'Fire Canyon' - is the depression that slightly diagonals the lower 1/3 of the photo...

... viewing east - 'Lake Meade' is located further east, beyond the large 'Mesa'...

... 'Rainbow Desert' to the north...

... easy ''scramble" back down the north slope...

... headin' north across the desert and on to 'Fire Canyon', which drops to the west...