Introductions

Bailey and I on a cloudy Mt St Helens WA 8,300'.  April 2012. 

Let me begin by welcoming you and thanking you for stopping by my blog!  The ultimate goal of this webpage is to raise awareness for the Pan Mass Challenge fundraising bike-a-thon.  The PMC is a 33-year tradition of physical fitness and support for the Jimmy Fund, the fundraising wing of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Located in Boston, MA, Dana Farber has been a world leader in cancer research since 1947. In its 33 years the PMC has raised and contributed $375 million to Dana Farber and in any given year is responsible for half of Dana Farber’s total revenue.  Every penny of the PMC’s rider-raised donations goes to Dana Farber, and I hope to raise $4500 before my contribution deadline in October 2013.  Donations can be made to my ride at the PMC website here (thank you!).  As I am fundraising over the coming months, I will also be training for the 192-mile ride from Sturbridge in central Massachusetts to Provincetown at the northern end of Cape Cod.  In addition to the gym and the bike, I will be training the best way I know how:  by climbing mountains.  Mountaineering, backpacking and hiking have been passions of mine since childhood, and I cannot think of a better way to get in shape for the ride.  This blog will keep you updated on my fundraising and training progress and take you along on the outdoor adventures.

Bailey at Crag Camp cabin, Mt Adams, NH 4,200'.

My girlfriend Bailey and I moved from Massachusetts to Oregon last year so that I could go to graduate school.  I hadn’t been accepted anywhere mind you, I just knew that I wanted to go back to school and that I wanted to climb some big mountains.  I had a great job at the time, working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Mass.  I built and operated all kinds of machines in a Carbon dating lab.  I spent my time poring over tiny fragments of wood and the fossils of ancient microscopic sea creatures.  My job was to extract all the carbon atoms so that we could count how many of them were radioactive ‘Carbon 14’.  Knowing how long it takes an unstable Carbon 14 atom to decay, how many were there to begin with and how many are left, we could tell you how old your sample is.  I worked with great people and did interesting work and went swimming in the Martha’s Vineyard sound every day, and every free weekend I drove the five hours up through Boston to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to hike and climb.  

Tom and me on the summit of Mt. Bond NH 4,700' White Mountain National Forest, September 2010. 

I have been hiking in the Whites my whole life, at first with the boy scouts as a grade-schooler.  The Carter range, the Bonds, the Kinsman range, Franconia ridge and of course the Presidentials, I still feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what this place has to offer.  I remember one of my first long hikes in the Whites, on Welch Mountain in the southern ranges.  I remember nearing the summit and walking out onto the rolling granite slabs that Welch is famous for.  With the wrinkled green carpet of the White Mountains sprawled out in front of me, I decided that the grueling two thousand foot staircase of rocks I had just come up was well worth it. A decade or so later I had worked my way to the technical routes of Huntington and Tuckerman’s ravines and winter summits of Mt. Washington, the highest mountain in the northeastern US and home to some of the most dangerous weather in the world.  These peaks were a great training ground for me, but with bigger mountains on my mind, I turned my sights to the west. 

The Presidential Range in late spring from Jackson, NH.  Mt. Washington 6,288' dominates the view. 

The Huntington Ravine headwall.  Technical climbing routes on this face lead to Mt. Washington's summit plateau above. 

On Mt. Washington's summit plateau in good conditions at about 5,000'. January 2010. 

Me, Tom and Jamie, Mt Washington NH 6,288'.  March 2009. 

After convincing first myself and then Bailey that it was a good idea, I quit my good job and we moved to Portland, Oregon.  As an outdoorsman, the Pacific Northwest had always drawn my interest.  I had a couple of old friends living in Portland, and there were some good graduate programs at schools in the area.  We settled in a quiet corner of the city, and I got to work on school applications and doing as many trails as I could afford gas to get to the trailheads.  The Columbia River Gorge, the Coast Range, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens, Crater Lake and many more.  It was one hell of a year, to be quite frank.  

Bailey near Mt. Defiance, Columbia River Gorge OR.  June 2012. 

The summit of Mt. Hood OR 11,250' in perfect conditions.  June 2012

Me on the summit of Mt. Adams WA 12,276'.  August 2012.  Mt. Rainier in the background. 

Bailey heading up the slopes of Mt. St. Helens WA.  April 2012. 

Bailey and I hiking in the dark, Crater Lake National Park OR.  July 2012. 

Sunset over Mt. St. Helens from camp at 10,000' on Mt. Adams WA.  August 2012.

Luke and Simon near the summit of Mt. Hood OR at around 11,000'.  June 2012. 

Bailey on the Cape Lookout trail near Tillamook, OR.  May 2012. 

Bailey and I above Wakeenah Falls, Columbia River Gorge OR.  April 2012. 

Simon and I on the way up Mt Thielsen OR 9,200'.  September 2012. 

Bailey prepping for a predawn start on Mt. St. Helens.  April 2012. 

Crater Lake from Mt. Scott OR 8,900'.  September 2012. 

Multnomah Falls trail, Columbia River Gorge.  May 2012. 

Smith Rock State Park, Oregon desert.  March 2012. 

Jamie at camp at 9,000' on Mt. Hood OR.  March 2012. 

                Once we were good and comfortable in Portland, I was accepted into a Master’s program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, so we packed up once again and moved north.  Since that time I’ve been busy getting used to school and yet another new country, and of course starting to explore my new local mountains.  I will be pushing myself into as many trips as I can manage and will do my best to keep you all updated on these, as well as all other PMC training and of course the fundraising.  So, thanks again for visiting, please come on back, and please please DONATE! Thank You!

 

The North Shore Mountains behind Vancouver's West End.  My new backyard.  January 2013.