What a difference a year makes! 2013, the Non- season

May 12th 2012

This photo was taken a week earlier, last year........we have yet to even venture out on the trails this season and the leaves have yet to even bud on most trees.

Pent up energy to say the least!

2013 COGGS Gala Raises $19,000!

Candyland:  Spirit Mountain, Duluth MN

Great job COGGS!

Every year COGGS puts on a Formal Gala and a silent auction.  This year the funds raised over last year were nearly double!

Amazing work COGGS!  Glad to be a part of that!  Now if we could just get the weather to cooperate so we can spend it.......

2nd Annual Duluth Mayors ride: Bikes are getting bigger in the Zenith City

Big tires and big dreams in the city by the lake

Getting lessons from the master

 This was the second annual Mayor's ride here in Duluth.  Last year was a good year, but this seasons ride illustrated where Duluth cycling is going in the future.  The ride which started as usual at the City Hall ended at Valentini's on London Road and was concluded with lunch and speakers.  The place was packed.

Congressman Oberstar killing it on the road

Its news worthy.  Duluth is behind bikes

There are some big dreams for Duluth as a cycling city.  Certainly most folks who read this blog know about the Single Track that is coming, and coming soon.  However it was really inspiring to hear about the transportation advances as well.  As most Duluth cycling advocates would tell you, there are some sketchy places to ride your bike in our city.  I was especially happy to hear that there is going to be an addition to the Lake Walk path that will be reaching west.

People are always asking about how "scary" it is to ride a mountain bike.  I aways laugh and relate to them that the most scared I have ever, ever been has been on a road bike, in traffic and in Duluth.  A classic example was actually when Eric Peterson and I were knocked over by the plow on Grand Avenue this winter!

Its been a long time coming, but there is no doubt that rolling on two wheels is improving in D-town.

Close but no Cigar: Wait for the Trails to dry 2013!!!

Dont do this to your trails!

I try extremely hard NOT to be the preachy advocate.  However, when the trails are muddy, the trails are muddy and riding, walking or dancing on them is not to happen.

So spread the word, things are drying out, but they are not even close to dry enough so please stay off the trails and let them heal up so when they are dry, we can have rock star riding versus rutted out chunder.......

If you have the jones, head south.  The MORC trails look to be open.  Cuyuna is open as are other southern tier trails, so go check em out and see amazing things the other clubs are up to.

Oh yeah, FYI. tire width (Wider) and low PSI does not mean you can ride wet trails!

1st Ever Lester River Kayak Race 2013

Braaapp!!

Confusion

One reason I love Duluth is the fact there are a whole host of adventurous activities that go on "IN" the city limits.  Ice Climbing, Mountain Biking, Skiing, XC skiing, Hiking, Climbing and of course Whitewater Kayaking.....yup whitewater kayaking.

Talk to any hard core kayaker in the area and they will tell you that the city itself hosts some amazing steep creeking, and when the water is up the paddlers are charging.

So it was really cool to hear that some of the more veteran paddlers decided to hold a Steep Creek race on the Lester River.  Not your typical race, this course had multiple 20 foot plus drops, some technical rapids and even the "flat water" would challenge most neophyte paddlers.

Zimny and Decker and the crew did it right.  Permits, insurance, safety boaters and even a last minute course change signaled that this was not a bunch of rookies looking to shred the gnar.  These guys were dialed and it showed.  With 19 racers heading down what can only be called an "extreme" course they ended the day with zero trips to the hospital and no trips to the morgue.

As a photographer it was a dream.  You could not have a more scenic river and a more interesting subject matter.

Thanks to the paddling crew for the awesome event and congrats for pulling it off.  If I were a jealous man, I would say I am most jealous of the folks that were able to paddle that stuff as I will NEVER be in that crowd!

That said, though what a cool crew, the whitewater gang gets huge props in my book.  They play hard, throw down on the river, party hard and hang tight....

Busted nose

Nate Heydt goes Swooooshhhhhhh!

Yup, look closely.  There is a kayaker under there.

If you swim, you drink....out of your river bootie! Ross Herr and Chris Baer getting their stomachs ready.

Thumping the deeps...just another Dtown urban paddling gem

Love the one your with (Duluth, MN): Homegrown Music Festival 2013

At some point, you turn around and stand your ground.  You dig in.  Entrench.  Bear your teeth and and get your hair up.  No more running, no more wandering no more wondering.

Not sure if this comes with age or with mentality or upbringing but I am seeing it happen here.  People in my town, taking stands and making their town become the place the want it to be.

The Homegrown Music Festival is a prime example of that.  What an amazing event and what an amazing success story after 15 years of ups and downs organizationally.

I have been a some part of the Festival over the past 14 years and have watched its success from a far.  However color me impressed last night when after a late business meeting on trails and dinner with a long lost friend (in town for the festival) I stumbled over to Grandma's Sports Garden to see Charlie Parr and saw a line, literally blocks long down the street.  Then it hit me.  This baby is off the ground and flying and man, that is so freaking cool.

Good job, great work and congrats to all the folks who have brought Homegrown to Duluth after 15 years!

One week ago today: Winter Wonderland

Exhibit A: Snowflake catching apparatus

One week ago today.  We had nearly two plus feet of snow on the ground and we were getting a 15 inch dump.  Today it is going to be 65 and the snow is almost gone on South facing slopes and the rivers are raging...

Exhibit B:  Snowflake Catching Apparatus in use

Leaky waders: Trout Season 2013

Fished hard and put up wet

 SKIED into my favorite fishing spot this weekend.  That is a first.  I could have (and should have) done it much earlier but was not sure the ice was out yet.

It is on trips like this that I learn about how hard I am on gear.  If you take a look at my canoe it has some serious scratches on it (and its a year old). You handle my skis and the bases are literally scored and scarred, they look glaciated.

My fishing poles are shorter then when I bought them, because I had to replace the tips from busting them off on trees, bushes and car windows.  My bikes are no better off and certainly my camera gear has been pushed well within inches of its life and shows it.

Yup.  Not going to win any beauty contests on the gear side of things.  I used to have a buddy who was in a similar way, he would buy two Gore-Tex jackets when he had to update his rain gear.  A really cheap assed one and a really nice one.  He only wore the cheap assed one on trips, and the nice one at home or in town.  I asked him why, and he said because he KNOWS he is going to destroy the nice one on trips.  I like that.

Gear is made to be used and abused.

Well my waders are proof of all of the above.  Patched, sealed, patched again and taped.  They are begging to look like a quilting project.

After dealing with them on Sat, while wading in really, really cold water, made even colder by the snow melt I realized maybe they have had their day.  Might be time to start counting the shekels and looking for the Spring Specials....

Into the water

Bumbling Naked over a Perfect Landscape

The World is your bike path

 Last night we put a sick kid to bed.

Always stressful, I did not have the energy to get my cycling gear together before I myself went to the clouds.  On top of the sick kid, the weather orb said rain, sleet and snow over night so the chances of me rolling out for an early morning ride were slim.

However at 6am as the sun drove through the curtains I realized that the crust riding would be totally perfect.  I flopped out of bed, grabbed what gear I could scrounge in my half awake state and headed for the door.  Along the way I passed my camera bag and I paused.  It would be heavy, it would take time to load up, blah, blah blah.

For awhile now I have been trying to actually leave the camera behind.

Or at least carry a smaller one as it frees me up to concentrate on my activity and not my shooting.  The catch 22 of course is that I love both.  Today I opt for the small camera, despite the lack of battery and shove off thinking only of riding.

The crust was totally perfect.  I was able to ride through the deep woods as if I were on Cement.  I giggled like a three year old for 99 percent of the ride.  Eventually my loop took me back to the Thomson Res and even that ice was perfect.  Still thick and safe.

By now I was lamenting leaving my camera gear behind.  This was truly a special morning and the weather report is thankfully saying lots of warm weather from here on out, so this is most likely the last morning for this mayhem.

 I choke back the thought and concentrate on enjoying the conditions.

Half way back across the lake I stop near the Midway River to enjoy the sight.  The light is nearly perfect.  Clear with a slight haze making it a photographers dream.  The stellars and dendorites, sparkle like gems in the crust and the hoar frost gleams in the sun beams.  Perfect.  Now I am engrossed in the spectacle and almost in pain in not having my big rig.

 I snap a few shots and watch my little camera battery die.  I shrug it off.

I put one foot on the pedal and prepare to ride again when I decide for one more look and as I look up I see the biggest and most beautiful wolf stride mere feet away from me.

Out in the open lake, the rim light streaking across him, his breath steaming in the early morning air.  I am stunned, he is stunned and then he streaks off across the lake, a vapor trail in his wake.

I pedal home feeling Naked and unprepared...

Tuesdays Pow is Thursdays Cement

Phat lines and Friends 4/20/13: Duluth Ski history in the making......

Cheers to Ryan Zimny, John Morrison and Casey Krueger for stepping up!

Sometimes all things come together.  Sometimes the moon the sun and the stars all line up for something positive.

The late winter has been that for me.  While I hate the snow right now (I am stoked for dirt!) the amount, the type and the late spring weather have actually been a boon for hard core skiers.

Due to the floods in June 2012, we were witness to both the loss of some amazing terrain and the creation of even more.  However that terrain is only skiable if it has a lot of snow on it and a lot all at the same time.  Not something that usually happens in Minnesota.

As a former, recovering ski addict it has been impossible not for me to see these lines (as well as many I have been watching for nearly a decade) and get the shakes.  It has always been just that though, a fever dream.

In the last decade I have never seen enough snow at the right time to make these lines a reality.

That all changed this week.  Two 20 inch dumps of heavy wet snow covered these lines and then good cold temps at night and solid warm sun in the days has created a paradise I have not experienced in my time in Duluth.  Unfortunately with my arm still busted up I was not able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked to, but I did get to get some great photos of some buddies skiing history....

420 Bowl

Ryan Z throwing hammers 

It was a two crew day.  In the AM Ryan Z came out and skied a couple of great lines and helped me get some killer images of the slides.  It was cool to have him on board as he lives just a few doors away and was able to visualize the opportunity as much as me.  He showed up an hour early for the tour.  I was a bit hung over from the evening out, but I tossed my stuff together and we had an awesome time.

Clear and cold 4/20/13 Morning

Pink Floyd skier on April 20th 2013

Clouds moving out...

Ryan Z getting jiggy and thinking about paddling all at the same time

Braappp!!!

After a quick trip to town and the Smelt Celebration I ripped back home in time to hook up with John Morrison and Casey Krueger.  I had to brow beat them stupid to get them to show up.  It was a nice warm, sunny 4/20/13 day!

They had their own parties to attend and lets face it, despite being super fun, these are relatively short shots.....

I realized however that this was a once in a decade event and I pestered them until they arrived.  I think they were happy once they did.

Casey Crushing "Ranger"

Naming "Trout Slayer"

The snow conditions had improved since Ryan and I had been there and the extreme west facing chutes even had soft, soft snow.

Every line was a first for all and thus the names started being bestowed.  Who knows if we will remember them once they are going to be skiable again?  Shit I might be 60 before it happens again, if ever...although they are saying 11 inches tonight!!!

Braappp!!!!

J-Mo in the pixy sticks

Stoke

Another round please...

Snow, tragedy and trees on the road in Southern Minnesota 2013

Old Miss

We are gnarled and torn

I had a crazy road trip last week.  It was a swing into Southern Minnesota and Wisconsin.  The trip itself was not crazy, the tone and the mood of it was however.  I was stuck in the car listening intently to NPR and the Boston Marathon Tragedy.  When I say tragedy I mean the whole thing.  The poor folks and the suspected bombers.

I had nowhere to go.  I was just sitting there Marinating in the story.  I thought long and hard about the victims and how stupid it all was.  Then as the chase and the apprehension of the two boys that most likely perpetrated the crime I was forced to really think about them.

What I really started to think about was brothers and how much I love my brother.

Then I thought about what intense madness and love must have been involved to make them go out and bomb the marathon.  Then to listen as they were hunted down, to have your brother shot next to you, to be the worst person in the world at 19 and then to lay dying in a boat while the world watched and waited....it was pretty damn emotional stuff to thing about.  I also was touched as a parent.  No matter how horrible a crime these two committed they were somebodies kid and those kids got so steered wrong that it was hard not to lament all if it, all of the tragedy and the brutal stupidity of it all.

Meanwhile I was listening to an amazing weather report.  20 inches of snow predicted in my hood.  April 19th?  New records for snow broken, my wife and child stuck at the Airport....what a crazy damn week.

Visually all I could see were trees.  Everywhere I looked they seemed so tortured and so bleak.  Just sticks bearing witness to the human craziness.  After a while I had to stop and photograph them just to stay sane.

Ride Riding Hoods walk to Grandmas house

Bones of the earth

Eagles over tragedy

Eventually I reached Minneapolis and it was full on storming.  I set down at the Happy Gnome and was immediately set upon a very "interesting individual"  I was not sure what his game was, but whatever it was it was intense.  Despite his ever present jabbering I was able to drink a really good Rodenbach and have a good meal.

In the morning I woke to this....

4/19/13

Unwelcome Friend: Winters April Return to Northern Minnesota....

Nice day for a picnic

Pickem up truck stuck..Redneck shame.

Well, just when we thought we were on the right track we get our butts handed to us.  That is Duluth for you.  One minute your loving it like a long lost friend then the next your looking to toss it out the door and tell it to never come back....ever.

All that said, when you get handed snow...go skiing.  The crust has been amazing and that is a blessing I guess.  Good news is that I am in the last phase of healing and am able to just start getting on the bike and the skis.  No major aggression, but some exercise for sure.

Three inches of perfect fluff on concrete

Ryan Z getting low on the twitchy sticks

The world is groomed!

We received about 14 inches of snow on Thursday night.  Thank goodness Chris Godsey (Bless his soul) came out and helped me dig out.  My arm is getting better but shoveling dense snow is not yet approved as of yet.  Since Friday however we have received another 4 or 5 inches of snow on top of that.  You could not have better conditions for backcountry skiing around here.

The runs are short and lower angle for the most part, so the firm base allows more speed and lighter gear.  What a hoot.  I was also able to get in a nice Fat Bike Ride as the mornings have been firm.  So not ideal, but what the hell choice do we have?  The ice is still thick on the lakes but you can see it starting to rot......

River ice

Die, Frosty DIE....

Greenland from the Plane: Belgium trip 2013

Greenland from the plane