Walk Your Own Line

The academics have kind of officially picked up now just finishing my second week of classes. My schedule has been pretty packed with that so its been harder to get out as much; also the weather has been kind of crappy with a lot of chilled rain. Days have been a little more standard than the first week of 0 responsibility, but we jumped at the first opportunity when classes were out and the weather cleared.

We went back to the same place where we set the first swing up but this time with bigger and bolder ideas.

We set out to build a high-line. For those who dont know what this is its basically a tight rope that is suspended off the ground (usually more than ten feet). In this case we went to set one out over a wide stream about twenty or so feet up. To do this safely we decided to set a safety rope up along side the line we were walking on. We would then clip our harnesses to that safety line. Set-up took way longer than i expected. It took close to two hours because we had to make sure that when we brought the ropes across the stream that they wouldn't get wet (it happened anyways). So anyways, we got everything set up and tightened the safety rope with a pair of ascenders. Go time.

I've set high-lines up before but had never successfully walked all the way across. Slacking on the ground and slacking 20ft up over rocks is a whole other story! I can consistently walk a line w/o falling and can even do a couple tricks but stepping out on this line felt like the very first time again! I nervously let go of the tree and took my first step out over the gully. My feet shook with nerves on end as i tried for step two. Success! When i reached the middle of the line I realized "oh dang! I can actually do this!" but as soon as i thought about how awesome it would be to finally complete a high-line I immediately thought about how terrible it would be if i fell. This thought spiked my nerves all over again! With both feet on the line my entire body swung dramatically to the left and then to the right. Desperately my feel clung to the narrow strip of webbing trying to regain control. To my dismay i managed to calm my nerves and slow the swinging. Cautiously I decided to try another step. Then another, and another. Before i knew it I had done it! Oh man what a great feeling, I was super stoked!!! I wish you could add these kinds of things to job resumes or something. Ah well these life experiences are way better than anything money could get me.

Swing, Swing, Skate, Skate

I mentioned before that I've entered this semester with great optimism and this last friday is one of hopefully many manifestations of these aspirations.

The day started cold and rainy but later in the afternoon the sun decided to come out. Looking to take advantage of this window of opportunity my friend Rodrigo came up to my room. "Dude, get your gear out, lets just look at it until we think of something awesome to do." We ended up taking everything with us: three ropes, two ascenders, one shunt, petzl trolly, two harnesses, figure eight, atc, and tons of webbing and beaners. We headed off into the woods after grabbing another buddy Robert, together we set off looking for anything "adventure." We quickly found a stream with steep banks and an overhanging tree, perfect for some "stupid human tricks." After contemplating wether we should make a zip line, a rappel, a swing, or a leap of faith (emprovised bungy jumping we settled on a big swing! I quickly shimmied out on the tree to set a webbing anchor and set the rope. Rigo elected to be the ginny pig and took the leap. Swinging out off the twenty foot drop off screaming he soared towards the opposite bank and back again! After him, robert and I took our turns with similar successfulness!

Many more stunts will be tired here.

After our swing we went strait over to a friend's house for some banana pancakes. Later that night we had college night at the skate ring, so what ever energy we had left.

Good first weekend back, I hope keep it up!

Back at the Treat

I relize that I am terrible at keeping up with a blog.

It seems to be too big of a responcibility, so naturally the best thing to do is to start another one and keep two blogs haha.

I just started a kind of outdoor log and decided to keep it online because it may or may not be useful to others. I am really not too experianced and any of the three topics I write about (climbing, paddling, or biking) but it is what it is so if your into that sort of thing maybe it'll help. The link is

http://bolteoutdoors.blogspot.com/.

In other news, simply for the purpose of having a more recent post than my last one I'll say it's good to be back at Montreat College. I had an amazing six weeks off from school and I've just started my second day of classes today. There are good vibes floating around the air with the

hopes of a great semester! We are all very excited! My friend Rodrigo and I conspire almost everyday about all the different potential adventures we will be having this year. I'll be sure to post more as these manifest themselves into being.

Yesterday my buddy Phil and I decided to add a little humor into the world. Have you ever been camping out in the middle of the woods to take the next turn in path to find things that just don't belong? I've encountered items such as bowling balls, couches, and toilets located deep, deep in the woods.

These things make me smile and i can't

help but wonder, "how? and why!?"

We decided to contribute. Phil had an old door/door frame which we decided needed to aspire to something great. So being the clever college boys that we are, we loaded it up into my truck, and drove it to a trail head. Once there, we unloaded the door, followed the trail all the while carrying the door until we found a suitable location. Once deep enough into the forest we

settled on a location between two trees. We then continued to nail the frame between the trees until it set nicely upright by its self. Behold the Magic Forest Door! Who knows maybe one day it will serve as a portal to allow some blessed child into the world of Narnia!