You Don't Know Bruno

... was out visiting a project site for the "real job" a few weeks back - was accompanied by one of our younger guys (not long out of engineering school)... along with a few others we were meeting with a local rep from one of the city public utility providers, who in the course of discussion mentioned that the professional wrestling great, Bruno Sammartino, once lived in the area, which was now part of an expanded city park...

... "Who's 'Bruno Sammartino'?" asks our young hand... well, everyone just stared at him in disbelief and it was crickets...

(internet image)

... this be the man, 'Bruno'...

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... speaking of which, we learned that another wrestling great, 'George "the Animal" Steele' passed away last week - here's a highly entertaining clip and some great "theater" of the 'Animal' in action (along with 'Randy "Macho Man" Savage, 'Miss Elizabeth', 'Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat and "Mean Gene" Okerlund; with 'Vince McMahon' and 'Jesse "the Body" Ventura providing color commentary):

(internet clip)

... Randy Savage vs the Animal Steele, 1987...

... Rest In Peace George, "Macho Man" and Elizabeth...

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... "Studio Wrestling", as it was known at the time, used to exhibition at the local civic centers, armories and high schools and such back in the day before expanding into the much larger and successful 'World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) of today... we caught a stellar lineup at the local Junior High School back in the late 70's, which included 'Bruno Sammartino', 'The Batman', 'George "the Animal" Steele', 'Domenic Denucci' and "Jumpin" Johnny DeFazio among others... had great seats, and about halfway through the line-up, and between matches, took a quick trip to the men's room... the place was jammed, so was a bit late on the way back to ringside... on the return we noticed 'Domenic Denucci' standing just outside the locker room door and between the bleachers, dressed in street clothes (running shirt and slacks) and observing the action...

(internet image)

... Domenic Denucci...

... his bout had been first on the card and he was through for the evening - no one was noticing him as he was back of the crowd, whose attention was transfixed on the ring action - so, took the opportunity to go over and strike up a short conversation... he supposedly went around 245lbs, but looked a lot slimmer and in great condition - we were both around the same size (heavy lifting days on my part - actually think that I may have had some size on him)... so we're standin' there talkin' (heck of a nice guy) when this older lady comes up and asks him to autograph her program for her kid (still got mine) - "Dom" scribbles his signature and she then turns and hands the program to me - OK! - I signed it as well (hey, she asked) - made sure that I inked it very clearly and legible as well... so, probably to this very day there is still an old wrestling program out there with my one and only ever autograph - probably worth a few bucks by now ($1?)... wonder how many times someone has viewed it and commented "Who the f*k is this guy!??"...

The Sky Above, The Mud Below

... wanted to include this the last previous post as an aside to the "Expedition Sewing Kit" but for the life of us couldn't remember the name of the movie... after a bit of searching on-line this past week we present:

(Internet Image)

... Brilliant!!!!... 'The Sky Above, The Mud Below'... now this is a real expedition!!... 

... along with the "skull-bone necklace", love the tag lines:

"They Filmed the Actual Fertility Rites Never Before Photographed!"

"They Lived with the Guru Cannibals!"

"They Built Seventeen Bridges Across Swollen Jungle Rivers!"

"They Faced Thousands of Hostiles... Thousands of Miles from Civilization!"

"They Witnessed the Secret Orgies of the Cult of the Severed Head!"

"They Were Forced Into Intimacies with the Wives of Their Savage Hosts!"

"Only Two of Them Made It!" 

... man, not unless you got a thousand man-eating savages ruining your picnic you are just beginning to get away for the weekend... saw this film in the theater as a kid, probably eight years old, but have never seen it since - remember we saw previews for it the previous week while watching "Party Beach Monster" or something there other - was to be double-billed with some flick titled something like "World Without Sin" we recall - the trailer for which showed plenty of topless (white) babes frolicking on some "uncharted deserted isle" - sat thru 'em both twice!!... Amazon currently offers only a VHS copy of the tape, but we discovered that theres a DVD copy of a film titled "Black and White in Color" that contains "The Sky Above, The Mud Below" as a bonus feature...

... as an added bonus herein, included in our search we came across 'David Lee Roth's' (yea, of 'Van Halen' fame) account of his own early 1980's trek across New Guinea - coincidentally, he also references "The Sky Above, The Mud Below":

... from his brilliant "The Roth Show"...

... all good stuff!!...

Update: 02/26/17:

... picked up a DVD copy and checked it out this morning... Holy Hell!! - been years since we'd seen it, and then at 8 years old - cannibals, leeches, head hunters, flies, torrential rain, more leeches, heat, more flies, freezing temperatures, even more leeches, mud, even more flies, floods, tropical disease... and leeches and flies... the best thing that could happen to ya' on this trek was to die... highly recommended viewing - we give it 5 skulls out of 5... definitely gotta' get us one of those skull backpacks...

What Not - RP's, Stitch Kit, Snow Cat

... read that German-born Australian climbing legend and engineer of 'RP' small wire brass stoppers,  'Roland Pauligk', died recently. Those things were pretty much mandatory on many sketchy, blank un-bolted face climbs and usually saved your ass when you felt that you had climbed yourself into a jam - or at least made ya' feel like you were out of a jam until ya' were. Searched high and low this morning for the set of six I had, which for some reason aren't on the old gear rack, with no luck. Recall that I may have lent them out (?) to an old climbing buddy and have apparently never got them back... Sh*t!!... but, alas, have no need for 'em anymore, anyway... no need for that fight...

... here's an old set of 'Black Diamond' small wires similar to RP's - don't recall if they're brass or aluminum, though - look like brass - need to clean 'em up (sure we will) - hey, what's up with that small broken size 1?...

... looks well used... took the only ever leader ground fall on that thing to end its days - went flyin' after about fifteen feet up - snapped that wire and the dynamic force on the (about 5ft) lower, small slotted TCU placement fractured the lip of the sandstone rock seam when loaded and it popped as well - landed hard on the ground in a perfectly seated position - hit so hard it popped a lens out of the glasses I was wearin' - after about twenty minutes of searchin' for the lens and recovering some nerve, went back up and finished the route - spent the next three weeks nursing a very sore tailbone, though...

... constructing a "bomb-proof" placement out of small wires is virtually an art form - especially if you're totally pumped and gripped and "hangin' on for dear-life"... a "good-man" above - the small-pro master "sewin' it up"...

... thank's for all the fun, Roland...

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... came across our old (man - use that work a lot these days - second time here) 'Black Diamond Expedition Sewing Kit' while searching for those RP's... never actually used it on an "expedition" and come to think of it, have never really been on an "expedition" (depending upon what your definition of an "expedition" is) - but it works just as well when not used on an "expedition"... 

... bought it at the time to repair a ripped tent - that small stitching awl works great - have used the thing a lot over the years to stitch tents, packs, jackets, jeans - even stitched a rubber raft tube once - and have gotten pretty good at it... recommend using 'bowstring nylon serving line' for a heavy duty stitch - pictured a spool here but ya' gotta' get it separately from any shop that sells archery gear - a dab of super glue on the final stitching knot works great, too...

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... finally got some winter weather this weekend - just in time for spring (almost)...

... this guy's happy and in his element...

Sidney and Fuji

... "Do what's right once, twice and three times. If what you do continues to be right, do it ten times more. The least you've done is something right many times, and practiced a quality of greatness that eludes most day after day"...

- Dave Draper, 'Iron on My Mind'          

... Strongman Matt sent us some video footage of 'Fuji', a former shelter dog that he and the brothers recently acquired. Fuji is currently in training and will shortly be companion to 'Sidney Taylor'. Sidney has EDS, or 'Ehlors Danlos Syndrome'... to quote Matt - "this dog will save her from falling because it will recognize her seizures before she has them so she doesn't fall (and potentially bleed to death if injured and unconscious) because the condition causes the collagen in your blood to fall apart"...

... Sidney...

... Fuji...

(Brian Gugliotta and Adam Swiecicki video)

... Fuji's training under the guidance of Janet McGowan Edberg, lead service dog trainer at 'SmartyPaws Canine Coaching' in Las Vegas, NV...

Careful Out There

... took a ride out the shooting range last night and discovered this...

... recent large rockfall...

... view from the drop zone...

... splintered this large tree and made a mess of the pistol range...

... included the KJ for scale - that's a big sandstone rock - don't think there's anyone under it - no one reported missing so far... broken in three pieces - the upper arrow indicates it's prior resting place... must have been a pretty spectacular sight to see...

... about three years ago - the lower arrow points to Tim Anderson putting up a new ice route at the time... the upper arrow points to the rock... Wow!... the route forms right at the water seep from the base of the rock strata - note the wet vertical fracture at the tip of the arrow and to the right of the small overhanging sickle located just above Tim's noggin - and the eventual fracture zone if you look again at the previous image... a retrospective Yikes!!...

... we'll let the circumstances speak for themselves...

Fortress of Solitude (Part 2)

... a recent short documentary...

... thanks 'Red Rock Multimedia' and producer 'Brian Gugliotta' for the use... good work...

Nevada 156

... a very cool 17 mile stretch of highway linking the low Mojave Desert (via Rt. 95) with the high country of the Spring Mountains and Mt. Charleston, Nevada - an approximate 10,000ft elevation gradient from the desert floor to the Mt. Charleston summit...

(internet image)

... the route bi-sects all six climate zones of the Mojave Desert - the progressive cooler temperatures as one ascends in elevation throughout the climate zones in turn produce life zones where different species of plant and wildlife exist...

(internet image)

... from lowest elevation to the highest, the six life zones are the Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian, Hudsonian (sub-alpine) and Arctic (alpine)...

... viewing west from around EL7,000ft toward the Spring Mountains...

... the change in habitat is similar to traveling from the Desert Southwest to the Canadian Arctic...

... Nevada 156 viewing east toward the low desert from around EL6,000ft...

... low desert panorama from near the 'Desert National Wildlife Range', around EL2,000ft...

... that's about as technical as we get - visit local "desert rat/mountain man" (and PhD Ecology) Jim Boone's excellent website, 'BirdandHike.com', to get more information than you can mentally process on this area and the Desert Southwest in general...

... when out visiting 'Strongman Matt' we like to spend at least one day out exploring some new (to us) area of this fantastic wilderness...

... some limestone cliffs...

... Juniper berries...

... Barrel Cactus...

... pine and juniper canyon...

... this past visit we did a bit of "hiking about" between EL4000ft and EL6,000ft, or the Upper Sonoran Zone, and it's diverse mixture of desert shrubs, cacti and Joshua Trees...

... and abundant wildlife such as Antelope Squirrels and Black Tailed Jackrabbits (seen here - look close - he's well camouflaged) - had tallied twenty-five jackrabbit sightings in about a half hour of hiking before we quit counting - managed an acceptable photo of two...

... lots of diverse bird species - saw a few large ravens (above) and a few hawks which themselves are particularly cool to view when cruising low and on the hunt... parked just up-road from a relatively recent roadkill jackrabbit (the day of this image) that we noticed had one large raven and one hawk jockeying for position on the carcass - the hawk actually landed on the stem of a very close Joshua Tree providing a very cool photo opportunity - but after a minute or more of fumbling with changing to a longer camera lens he was gone... couldn't get either bird to circle any closer after that - tossed the jackrabbit off of the pavement surface and into the adjacent brush, hoping to return a bit later after they'd forgotten my presence - came back in about a half hour and the carcass and both birds were gone...

... the entire territory is pockmarked with small wildlife dens and burrows...

... figured we hike over to these distant ridges - about four miles round trip...

... which involved traversing several wide 'arroyos' (or wash, gulch, dry drainage, gully, draw - take your pick)... surprising how rugged the landscape becomes when ya' venture off the pavement - not as flat a desert as it appears...

... was out the previous evening and stumbled across these wild Burros...

... thought we'd have some fun and spend some time trackin' them today...

... not hard, just follow their well worn trails...

... and turds...

... but their pretty cagey - will just circle right back around unseen if you're not smart about it... was a really windy and chilly day, so we hiked across desert to put the wind in our face and circled right back around playing their game - note the obvious wildlife trail in this image...

... Matt tracking along a selected game trail...

... just after stumbling across this large Elk antler shed...

... was a pretty nice one - was a bit surprised to discover it at this lower elevation as the Elk are said to inhabit the higher elevated forest zones... Mt Charleston is the only known habitat of Rocky Mountain Elk in the region...

... after a bit of effort, finally came across this small herd of four Burros - pretty cool...

... they'll let ya' get to maybe within 200 feet of 'em then book - but maintain that buffer...

... a final image we kind of like with this black haired guy (or gal) against the large desert backdrop...