Short Photo Post

As advertised, this is a short post... but I highly recommend you go and look at the photography of Jimmy Chin, my recently-discovered favorite nature photographer.

Check out his photography here.

House Mouse Adventures

A brief message tonight: there are mice in my house.  There is also a hamster in my house, but we want the hamster here.  The mice arrived uninvited.

On the second floor, a baby mouse (about the size of my hamster's head) was inadvertently captured when it smelled peanut butter and fell into the sink.  My housemate, Yuki, arrived at home and found a small mouse bouncing around.  It was too small to gain the elevation required to escape the sink, though.  Yuki poured the water out of the empty peanut butter jar and captured the mouse.

That night, I walked up to the second floor to see the little critter.  Yuki carefully opened the peanut butter jar, and a very, very small rodent looked up at me pathetically.  Its fur was spiky and drenched in a mixture of peanut butter and water.  Tiny black eyes stared at me, and then House Mouse gave a mighty leap in an attempt to free itself.  Yuki slammed the lid back on.

Known Fact: I like rodents.  I decided to rescue the House Mouse from its peanutty conundrum.  I carefully transfered it to an old hamster ball.

I placed a breadstick in the hamster ball as a snack.  The breadstick probably equalled the mouse in volume.

The House Mouse was very cute.  I aaalmost considered keeping it, except it was so small that it would have escaped any cage I put it in.

At length, it came time to transfer House Mouse into a carrying container.  The next morning, Yuki was going to release House Mouse into some bushes.  I prepared a cozy little home as best I could.

The small home included some oats and a water-soaked paper towel to lick.  Ken helped me transfer House Mouse into the new container.  House Mouse almost escaped.  Finally, before I took the package upstairs, I wrote a letter so that the people living on the 2nd floor would know that something other than oats was in this oats container:

The note read:

Safe travels, small rodent!

(Note: the 3rd floor has caught and released 3 mice now... two larger mice and one tiny one.)

Mount Kilimanjaro

First, a couple more announcements:

1. I once again blog for beer!  This time I am joined in my Iron Blogging by Kevin R. of the Free Dissociation blog.  Please check it out and let me know if he starts owing me beer!

2. A couple of people have pointed out that, while the "TAIL-us" pronunciation is more common, the other pronunciation of "TAL-us" is certainly also used.  Hurrah!  Here is some celebratory talus:

From K-FREE's flickr photostream

Now, onto the topic of the day: Mount Kilimanjaro.

Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the Seven Summits (the set containing the tallest peak on each continent), but it is one of the easier of the Seven Summits to climb.  Notably, in a sense you can "just walk up the mountain" without a bunch of technical gear and ice-climbing expertise.  Because of this, I had sort of been thinking about Kilimanjaro as just a long hike.  Turns out, I was underestimating it.

This and future Kilimanjaro images are from Fabio Bretto's flickr photostream

The first clue that I'd underestimated the mountain came when I looked up just how tall Kilimanjaro actually is: 19,341 feet.  That's pretty serious.  So, sure, you can "just hike up the mountain" but you'll get HAPE or HACE (high altitude pulmonary edema or cerebral edema) and possibly die.

Wikipedia actually says "All trekkers will suffer considerable discomfort, typically shortness of breath, hypothermia, and headaches."  Citation needed, but... that's a pretty strong statement.  Lesson 1: Kilimanjaro is tall.  Photos taken on summit expeditions remind me of photos taken out of airplane windows:

The way to climb Kilimanjaro is to take a week, possibly more, to acclimatize yourself.  In fact, Tanzania's regulations require that ascents take at least 5 days.  You spend many nights on the mountainside in little camps.

Apparently this mountain kills a lot of people -- not because of falling ice or white-out blizzards, but because people don't take the time to acclimatize themselves.  Again, the take-home message is that the mountain is very very tall!

One phrase you can apparently use to describe Mount Kilimanjaro, which I think is awesome, is "Afromontane sky island."  Afromontane means it's a mountain in Africa, and "sky island" refers to the fact that Mount Kilimanjaro rises up from largely-flat surroundings.  It has a prominence of 19,308 feet with respect to its surroundings, making it ranked 4th in the world for prominence.

I highly recommend you check out this panoramic image showing Kilimanjaro from a nearby African town called Moshi.  Zoom in, and consider how big Kilimanjaro looks compared to its surroundings.  Maybe you can start to get an idea for why this is one of the Seven Summits.

This is probably a bad time to say this, now that I've spent my blog post discussing the dangers of Mount Kilimanjaro, but there is some non-zero probability I'll attempt to climb this eventually.  My friend Yuki and her brother and father are planning to climb this mountain at some point, and I've asked that they keep me in the loop.  I'll make sure they (we?) take at least a week to climb.  And that no one dies.

I might do a series of blog posts on some of the Seven Summits.  I'm particularly interested in the Antarctic summit (Vinson Massif), the European summit (Mount Elbrus), and the North American summit (Denali, or Mt. McKinley).  Feel free to request that I focus on certain aspects of the mountains/the climbing experience.

Until next time!

Important Talus Announcements!

I have some important talus-related announcements this week.

First, the long-overdue announcement about pronunciation.  I had always considered myself somewhat of a talus expert, and yet it turns out that I'd been pronouncing the word wrong!  You probably have been, too.  The word is pronounced "TAIL-us."  Seriously.  Yes, it's weird.  I am still not used to it.

This is earth-shaking news in the world of Talus Slopes.  To help us cope with the sense that everything we knew is wrong, here is a photo that reminds us that life will go on, and so will talus.  This photo is talus from 1899!

Photo from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Second, once again, I no longer blog for beer!  My fellow "iron blogger" has stepped out of the competition after raking up a debt of, I believe, 4 beers.  I need to cash in.

Would anyone else like to join into an iron blogger blog-for-beer pact?  Just let me know!  Remember, threatening me with owing you beers is an excellent way to keep high-quality Talus Slopes content coming to you every week or two!

From Dru!'s flickr photostream

Lastly, you should go check out my brother's blog.  Cole and his friend Simon have created a blog about adding tasty foods together in order to make gross foods.  It's called "If You Like A..." You suggest disgusting combinations, and they post a video of themselves making and eating said combinations.  Here is the first video they posted:

Check it out by clicking here!

Extreme Cold: Wim Hof and Tummo

This week, I learned about a guy who can withstand extreme cold.  Here's a picture of him during what I can only believe must be normal bathtime for him:

(from the Guinness World Records)

This man is Wim Hof, and he gets cold professionally.  He holds the world record for being immersed in ice, 1 hour and 44 minutes.  He is known as the "Iceman."  He likes to go running and hiking wearing only a pair of shorts.  He ran a marathon north of the Arctic Circle wearing only shorts.

(from urbanslot's blog)

He also holds the world record for distance swimming beneath ice: 55.5 meters.  You can watch the video of him setting the record here:

He tried to climb Mount Everest wearing only shorts, but he failed due to a foot injury of some sort.  My favorite quote from Wim Hof is this: "Edmund Hillary's ascent of Mount Everest was a testament to human achievement; my climb of Mount Everest in my shorts will be a monument to the frivolous, decadent nature of modern society."

That's a pretty funny reason to do something.

Wim Hof practices the Tibetan meditation practice of Tummo, which somehow creates body heat.  There have apparently been some studies that show people's fingertips getting warmer during this meditation.  Something about chakras.  But who am I to question it, when the practitioners can do things like this:

(from http://www.yogallimite.com/ via Wikimedia Commons)

(from care2.com)

Wim Hof uses Tummo to adjust his "mental thermostat" and keep himself warm while he climbs mountains barefoot, wearing only shorts.  He wins the Talus Slopes hardcore award of the week.  Here's to you, Wim Hof.

(from thewondrous.com)

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.