AK Cruising, bonus ski video

Okay, there's a big collection of stuff in this post. Most of it is from the ridiculously luxurious cruise on the Montego that AP and I were lucky enough to experience, thanks to Andy and Mica. There's a great video that Andy put together and a bunch of pictures -- I'll pluck out some of the better pictures with a few stories from the trip, then put up a gallery at the end. The video above really captures the trip well, so watch that for sure if you have ten minutes.

The other is a ski video that Andy put together from a trip in early July, 2011. Lots of cute puppies.

Sierra Pictures, At Last

AP, Hopi and I took off for a two week climbing road trip in late August/early September. We took the new van, all kitted out as a mobile home, and did a big loop through Arcata, the redwood forests, Tahoe, Mammoth, Yosemite, Reno and back up through eastern CA, Oregon and Crater Lake. It was delightful and one of the best trips we've had in a while. Lots of good climbing, good swimming and good times.

Took me a while to sort through these -- two weeks on the road will give you a lot of pictures. There are a ton in this album, but I've tried to trim it down to give the flavor of the trip. I've probably not trimmed it quite enough...

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Mt. Ellinor, southern Olympics

Anastasia, Andy and Mica did a little exploration in the Olympics last weekend, while I stayed home to clean the house and do homework. Hmmm... something's wrong here. Pictures of their ski of Mt. Ellinor below. Pictures of my efforts to de-moldify the house later.
For Linda
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The Scene
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Mica's Monkeys

Mica's Monkeys from Marcus Engley on Vimeo.

We Are Gathered Here Together

On Monday I had the honor of performing the wedding ceremony for our friends Andy and Mica. The service was held on the beach near Blue Ridge, north of Golden Gardens. The small wedding party walked down the train tracks to a locked set of steps. Undeterred, the bride and groom (and the wedding party dogs) stemmed across the gap in an oddly symbolic transition into the rest of their life together. Anastasia had me all weepy with the words she shared and we celebrated with a four hour meal at El Gaucho. A fantastic day.

Busy May

The moment we got back from our Kokanee trip we dove into a hectic schedule for the month of May. I'm wrapping up my documentary film class with Andy for a "premier" on June 8th, trying to fit in as much helicopter flight time as possible and, the kicker, taking Snohomish County's "Rigging For Rescue" class, with Mica and Anastasia.

Kokanee Hut, Nelson BC

Five years ago, when we did our first hut trip to Fairy Meadows, we fell in love with the "hut trip" concept. We've since gone to several others, but have been trying each year to get a spot at the Kokanee Hut via the Alpine Club of Canada's lottery system. We missed it again this year, but managed to grab a later winter/early spring spot when the vacancies were announced in January.

Flying

Well, now I can officially say that flying in a helicopter is superior to jury duty. After missing my first opportunity to go on a training flight with the Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team because I was compelled to fulfill my civic duty, Andy and I drove up to Taylor's Landing (the SC Sheriff's heliport) and hitched a ride on the 1974 Huey that is their aerial workhorse for Search And Rescue missions.

We spent some time going through a variety of hoist procedures on the ground, in the hangar, while waiting for some weather to move through the area. Once done, we rolled the heli out onto the pad and strapped in. Andy and I were passengers, but had flight helmets with radios and were able to listen in on the comms and ask questions if we had them. The 15 minute flight to the training area was excellent -- I couldn't help but be reminded of Vietnam War movies as we flew.

Once at the training area, the Rescue Technicians (the same position Andy & I are applying for) were lowered to the ground on the hoist, along with their gear. The pilot then set it down and we got out. The crew ran through four rotations of hoist lifts, using a litter, a "screamer" suit (basically a reinforced nylon blanket with hard-point lifting rings) and a strop (like a horse-collar that you'd lift a swimmer with). Andy and I were used as the subjects for the screamer suit and I got hauled up in the strop -- super fun, if also just a tiny bit disconcerting.

There'll be a lot more of these trainings coming, if we're accepted onto the team. Looking good so far!

Caribou Lodge - The Puppy Tour

After ushering in 2009 in a moldy, half-frozen yurt, we made plans to close out the year in comfort and style. Caribou Lodge had been good to us despite poor skiing conditions in March and it came through again for New Year 2010.

Spontaneity Arete, Le Petit Cheval

Andy has been diligently hunting for moderate alpine climbs that Anastasia would be willing to do -- Spontaneity Arete just east of Washington Pass was the latest effort. Short approach, minimal scree and loose garbage, solid rock.

July 4th, Mt. Adams Southwest Chutes

I was unusually luke-warm about this trip in the two weeks leading up to it. The plan was, like last year, to drive down to Mt. Adams on Friday, climb and ski the Southwest Chutes on Saturday, then drive to Hood and ski that on Sunday. With job dissatisfaction weighing my mood down, that just sounded like a hell of a lot of work to me.

Ymir Yurt Wars, New Year 2008-9

Better late than never.

After hearing tales of last year's powdery slopes and moldy yurt walls, Anastasia and I couldn't pass up the chance to join Andy, Mica, Kirsten, Nate, Todd and Murray (and Tundra, canine wunderkind) on a New Year's return trip to the Qua Yurt, 20 logging road miles outside Ymir in southeast BC.

Inauguration Corn -- January 19,2009

There are always other posts that I need to put up, other movies to finish, but the theme for today's ski was painfully obvious.

In the midst of a snowless January with 60 degree temperatures at Rainier, Andy, Kirsten, AP and I celebrated the coming inauguration of soon-to-be President Barack Obama with a ski of the Nisqually Chutes on the flanks of Mount Rainier.   A-fucking-men.

Inauguration Corn (right click, save as)