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Gmburns2000
Aug 19, 2008, 3:05 AM
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Hey folks,
Some of you are already regular readers, and for that I thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It is particularly important to me because it is my dream to become a writer full time someday. While I'd prefer to be writing literary fiction, it seems that my climbing blog has taken off. Sometimes life takes me in strange places, and so my climbing writing is now going to be my focus. Therefore, in order to find a regular readership, I'll be posting here all of my trip reports.
Just so you know, there are two contributors: me and my climbing partner Jeremiah. He posts about once per month and currently lives in Colorado. I try to post weekly during the summer, or at least for each climbing trip that I make, and I live in Boston.
Anyway, there are two new posts currently up: The Voo and Bolted Canyon (Jeremiah) and Snakes, Rain, Thunder, Lightning, Delays, and 10 pitches...huh? (Greg). As far as how strange life can be, my experience in the 'Gunks recently was telling.
Comments and feedback are always welcome, either here or on the blog itself.
Otherwise, enjoy and thanks for reading.
Greg
EDIT: grammar
(This post was edited by Gmburns2000 on Aug 19, 2008, 1:42 PM)
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sungam
Aug 19, 2008, 1:18 PM
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Good call on making the thread.
BTW, anyone wondering, Greg is actually a pretty good writer. (PTC+, btw, better get back to the PCI)
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Gmburns2000
Aug 19, 2008, 1:41 PM
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sungam wrote: Good call on making the thread. BTW, anyone wondering, Greg is actually a pretty good writer. (PTC+, btw, better get back to the PCI)
Thanks man, and gotta make the PCI clicky. 
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Gmburns2000
Sep 6, 2008, 10:28 AM
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A day in the life of a newbie climbing guide as he nears the end of his first full season guiding: I Recently Had a Near Life Experience, by Jeremiah.
There's a couple of other posts to come soon, so keep an eye out (another by Jeremiah and one by me).
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Gmburns2000
Sep 8, 2008, 5:09 PM
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Took a newbie out two weekends ago and had a good time overall. As a group we knocked off a must-do and had a first lead fall on gear, as well as a chance to explore The Lost City. This is the report from Labor Day weekend.
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chossmonkey
Sep 8, 2008, 11:32 PM
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Hmmmm.
I was hoping for pictures.
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sungam
Sep 9, 2008, 12:11 AM
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Yeah greg, take more pictures.
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Gmburns2000
Sep 9, 2008, 1:21 PM
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chossmonkey wrote: Hmmmm. I was hoping for pictures.
Actually, because blogger doesn't really have the photo capacity that other sites do, I've had to put my climbing photos on Flickr. If you scroll to the bottom of each post written by me, then there is a link to that year's photos of that particular destination (i.e. - 2008 Gunks).
To see all my climbing photos (the good and the bad) click here.
Because I've decided that my posts are going to be a mix of campfire stories and a guidebook, the only pics I have on the blog are beta photos (i.e. - showing where that particular pitch is supposed to go). All the action / fun shots are on the Flickr site.
Jeremiah may put more action-type photos on his posts, as his posts are primarily commentary oriented and less guidebook oriented. He also does more "vista" photos than I ordinarily do. However, when I go to visit him in Colorado in a couple of weeks, I am sure I will take more vista photos.
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jmeizis
Sep 11, 2008, 4:38 PM
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I just put up a post about my trip to the Black Canyon. Lots of pictures.
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Gmburns2000
Sep 11, 2008, 5:09 PM
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sungam wrote: Yeah greg, take more pictures.
See guys, lotsa pictures! The best one is probably Jeremiah's self portrait that I'd like to title "Blank Face."
PS - I edited the post date to put this post on top (it was the third post down when Jeremiah initially posted it)
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Gmburns2000
Sep 26, 2008, 7:07 PM
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Hey folks,
Been climbing the past few days on my first Colorado trip (visiting Jeremiah), and below is a link to our first day. More reports to come within the next week or so.
Garden of the Gods: An Intro To Sandstone
PS - there are more pics at the bottom of the post.
Posts to follow:
- Boulder Canyon
- Eldorado Canyon
- Lumpy Ridge
- Turkey Rocks
- More Garden of the Gods
- Wherever the weather allows us to go this weekend (obviously can't write that yet because it hasn't happened yet)
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sungam
Sep 26, 2008, 8:14 PM
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Yesss, been waiting for this one =)
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Gmburns2000
Sep 26, 2008, 10:34 PM
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sungam wrote: Yesss, been waiting for this one =)
Sweet. I hope to get Turkey Rocks out either tonight or Tomorrow night. We'll see though. Got rained out today, so no Red Rocks post. We went for a hike in the area after it cleared up, but couldn't get on anything because it was too wet. I wasn't that impressed with what I saw, so it may be OK. GOTG seemed a better local crag anyway.
OK, back to working on the next post.
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sungam
Sep 26, 2008, 11:48 PM
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=)
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sungam
Sep 30, 2008, 3:39 AM
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Heh, met someone from the knob, huh?
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Gmburns2000
Oct 8, 2008, 5:42 PM
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Boulder Bandits, day three of JMeizis' and my road trip through Colorado is up.
I've advanced a bit on the story-telling technique on using italics for his version of the events vs mine in regular font. Now, instead of using his and my name in a conversation, I'm using italics for him and none for me. You can see the difference between our conversations and one I had with a woman where I used the standard format that I normally go with:
- "SuperCoool":
- Me:
Some feedback on how this works or could be improved would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks...
Greg
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Gmburns2000
Oct 21, 2008, 10:10 PM
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Taking a bit of a break here from posting on Colorado. I'm waiting for JMeizis' comments for that, so in the meantime I'm posting up my final two weekends in the 'Gunks.
Not Running in Place: Chasing Demons in the Gunks - Part One
This will be a three-part series of ups and downs, tackling fear, crowds, and failure.
If you're looking for pics, I've uploaded all the pics from that weekend on the link at the bottom of the post, and I feel there's actually some fun stuff if you click "slideshow" once on Flickr. Of course, seeing the pics may give away the ending, but that's OK.
Anyway, as always, enjoy...
Greg
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sungam
Oct 21, 2008, 10:23 PM
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Ah, the victory scream. Careful, or you might start to feel the need to take "victory whips" as well.
Great writing as usual, greg!
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Gmburns2000
Oct 21, 2008, 11:05 PM
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sungam wrote: Ah, the victory scream. Careful, or you might start to feel the need to take "victory whips" as well. Great writing as usual, greg!
Heh - there was another one or two later on, too, but not all was so successful. My left hand is still suffering from what will come in Part Two.
And, as always, thanks!
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Gmburns2000
Nov 7, 2008, 3:33 PM
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Part Three of Chasing Demons in the Gunks is finally up: Not So Shocking Lessons Learned
The first paragraph:
"The past weekend had turned into a mixed bag of extremes. First there was the frightful glory on CCK, but that came at the expense of waiting two hours for the final two pitches. And then there was the slaying of Main Line (5.8) and Hold the Mayo (5.9), but they were followed by the failure on Birdland (5.8+). We battled cool mornings, poor restaurant service, and were blessed with warm afternoons and good food. We suffered through an overcrowded Camp Slime, a Foo Fighters post-midnight serenade, crowds galore, but we were happy to have had such a nice, three-day weekend at our disposal. The only thing left was knocking off the ultra-classic Shockley's Ceiling before heading home."
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Gmburns2000
Nov 21, 2008, 6:21 PM
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I know it's been a long-time coming, but I'm getting back to my Colorado Trip posts. Our trip to Eldorado Canyon is poste here. We knocked off three classics and got a bit of a scare at the end, but it was an excellent day overall.
The first paragraph:
Jello's comments in italics
My body stiffened the instant I woke up, and I held my breath. I would have been less unsettled had I not heard the thumping of feet on the other side of the wall. An uneasy tightness gripped my jaw, and I struggled to remain quiet while my lungs pleaded for air. Not wanting to move an inch, I let my eyes do the inspection: a naked desk sat in front of a set of partially closed blinds that barely prevented the daylight from seeping in. The small closet door was half open, and I could see a computer box resting sloppily against an ironing board with what appeared to be dirty rags on the floor. I was alone in the room, and I felt OK to roll over over onto my back and take a better look around. The room was white all over except for the jammed brown door near my feet. I felt a real pillow, one that you'd find on a bed and not one you'd take with you on a climbing trip. It's lack of give where my neck rested against it ensured an early-morning stiffness. I was happy to recognize the dark blue of my sleeping bag, but I couldn't tell for the life of me what I had slept on. "Where the hell am I?"
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Gmburns2000
Dec 9, 2008, 5:21 PM
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Jeremiah has his most recent adventure now posted. It was a frustrating day on Pike's Peak for him that took more than he ever expected.
The First Paragraph:
I was numb watching the mitten slide away down the steep coulior. "Please stop...come on stop...stop you piece of shit. Fuck you...fuck you fucking mountain from hell." I don't generally personify mountains because part of the reason I like them is due to their indifference, but whole trip had been a struggle from top to bottom and here I was less than five hundred feet from the top watching one of my mittens slide to the bottom of the Y Coulior. I couldn't help but think the mountain had it in for me this time.
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