Welcome, Fall Equinox

I'm still in a Summer mood and I can't shake the feeling.  Maybe it's because I didn't take my usual end-of-summer vacation this year.  Anyway, this is a problem, because the Fall is upon us, and Fall is the most beautiful season in New England.  This blog post is a photographic attempt to force me into a Fall mood.  If this doesn't work, I'll just need to take a long hike somewhere with colorful leaves.

(from photonix's flickr photostream)

Today is also, coincidentally, the Fall Equinox.  The night and the day are the same length now.  

(pumpkins from marthastewart.com)

There is music in the meadows, in the air --

  Autumn is here;

Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow,

Leaves are crimson, brown and yellow;

  Pines are soughing, birches stir,

And the Gipsy trail is fresh beneath the fir.

There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields,

  Nature yields:

And the harvest voices crying,

Blend with Autumn zephyrs sighing;

  Tone and color, frost and fire,

Wings the nocturne Nature plays upon her lyre.

        -- William Stanley Braithwaite, "A Lyric of Autumn"

(from Susan Nye's blog)

Here is Norway in the Fall:

(from about.com)

The look of Norway in the Fall is rather different than New England, but it is still beautiful.  I miss Norway.

While looking at pictures of Norway, I also came across this one.  More wintery than Fall, but man do I want to climb that mountain in the background.  I want to climb the icy ridge with crampons on my boots.

(from this Tromsø tourism website)

Back to Fall photos.  I like this one because it looks magical:

(from Yamata Orochi's deviant art page)

I think one of the keys to getting into the Fall mood is to embrace the colder temperatures.  I am still acclimated for Summer.  Once I remember how to love the cold, perhaps then I will be in a Fall mood.

(from esywlkr's flickr photostream)

Happy Fall.

Free Soloing Videos

Yes, I have already posted about free soloing, the (crazy) extreme sport in which you rock climb without a rope.  You can read my past blog post here.  For all the people out there who worry about me, please know that I am in no way tempted to pursue this sport.  (Well, sometimes people go free soloing on short walls over a body of water.  I'd consider that, but that isn't really the same because of the distinct lack of DEATH involved.)

This week, I once again became fascinated about free soloing because of this video.  The guy in the video, Alex Honnold, has climbed some world-class routes like half dome and The Nose of El Capitán without ropes.  Seriously, watch this video:

Here are some still shots of Alex Honnold free soloing various routes, with some nice music by Emancipator:

I am in awe of this guy's abilities.  Seeing him climb is inspirational.  I am not tempted to try free soloing in the slightest, but I can sort of appreciate the beauty of the sport.  He must have such a sense of freedom when he's up on the rock (at least, when he's not in fear of falling).

Here's a video in which Steph Davis talks about her reasons for free soloing.  She talks about the freedom she feels up on the rock, and the sense of being in control.  She uses it as a way to work out other things in her life.

Watching that video, I'm just thinking that I can't really imagine climbing a ladder as tall as that cliff without a rope.  But Steph Davis is more hardcore than me.  She says that free soloing the diamond is "an expression of mastery."  Yup.

There are also people who free solo barefoot.

I don't even know, man.

To end our day of extreme vertigo, here is a video from Dad about the world record high dive from a few years ago:

Now there are butterflies in my stomach and I'm done blogging for the day.  Bye bye.