Outdoor Minded Mag | Tales From A Wandering Albatross

Joshua Tree, California

My first piece has been published on the Outdoor Minded Mag website! I also did the layout, of which I am quite proud. It’s really fun to mess around with making things look just how you want them on the page, and I can spend hours tweaking spacing and sizing… it’s amazing how much time passes when you’re moving pictures around.

This piece has been in the works for quite a long time, since the last time I went climbing in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, which was a few years ago (2010 I believe…). It started as a journal excerpt, written as we were driving back to and from the climbing sites, and added to while waiting for pizza at Miguels after a long day of climbing (the pizza shop/campground/place to buy any gear your need or want/hang out for climbers in the Red– Miguels Pizza and Rock Climbing Shop). I had wanted to finish it for a while, but other things got in the way (life is annoying like that sometimes). Glad I could finally get it done, and especially excited that I could get it published and share it with everyone!

Here’s an excerpt:

Rock climbing is like an infection, some tiny bacteria that snuck in through a cut, multiplied, and almost without knowing it you’re speaking the lingo—words like “beta” and “redpoint” and “crimper.” You’re wearing the unofficial uniform of patched down jackets and ratty torn pants, spending hundreds of dollars on ropes and carabiners and bits of webbing and tight uncomfortable shoes, driving hundreds of miles so you can haul yourself up hundreds of tiny ledges and holds. It’s hard to figure out why you do this. It’s also hard to rationalize why being a climbing bum isn’t a good (long-term) life choice. – See more at: http://outdoormindedmag.com/why-i-climb-2/#sthash.w5bxg7OG.dpuf

Check it out, “like” it, share it, tell everyone you know! And do the same for OMM, because it’s an awesome magazine that everyone should read on a daily basis. Especially because I’ve now edited two pieces (and written one), which are contributing to the general awesomeness.

Link: Why I Climb

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

Currently, my life is like this:

The Flatirons, just a short walk up the street from the house!

I am now living in Boulder, Colorado, in the basement of my good friend’s family. In exchange for room and board, I help out around the house, drive the little sisters all over the greater Boulder area, and help take care of the dogs. My friend and his mom are currently in Antarctica, so my nanny/dog walker/chauffeur/entertainment buddy/dish washer services should be in less demand once they return.

Max on a boat in Antarctica, looking chill.

Side note: To read about Max’s adventures, check out the blog on his photography website: Max Wilderness. He’s got some neat pictures up from his most recent adventures in Patagonia and Antarctica.

Buddy, one of my furry charges. He’s not nearly as innocent as he looks.

When not driving Mikayla and Ashley to and from school and/or swimming lessons and/or doctor appointments/massages/yoga, I spend my days working on an online travel writing class, which is offered through MatadorU. They have a website full of many wonderfully written articles and pictures on all sorts of topics, from more traditional travel fare to pieces on social issues to food to interviews. There’s something for everyone there, and I have spent many an hour exploring the site when I meant to be working. Counts as research, right?

Check it out here: Matador Network

I am also now an editorial intern with Outdoor Minded Mag, an online magazine based here in Boulder. Or, I should say, that’s where Lauren (the editor) lives and works, so that’s where it’s based at the moment. She’s a very awesome person, and yesterday we spent hours holed up together in a coffee shop working on laying out some articles. It was a lot of fun, and I’m really looking forward to working with her. She recently skateboarded from Boulder to Denver, and wrote about it on the site (check it out through the link below). The website launched 6 months ago, so we’re still getting things put together, but I see the magazine heading in a great direction and I’m excited to be a part of it.

Check it out here: Outdoor Minded Mag

I’ve been climbing whenever I can, which isn’t quite as often as I would like. Wednesday I met up with a friend and we climbed for around 4 hours straight. My arms were so tired I could barely make it up a 5.8 by the end of the session. Climbing routes are rated by difficulty, the most difficult being a 5.15, the easiest being a 5.0. I usually climb 5.10’s, and some easier 11’s. 5.8’s are easy, beginner routes, that I normally do as warm-ups.

This site explains the rating system much better than I can: Rock Climbing Ratings

Climbing Castleton Tower in Utah, 2011. That’s Max’s foot, I’m climbing.

I’m hoping to break out my poor downhill skis, which have been languishing in the basement for the past two years, and ski on some real mountains, and in some real snow! Last time I skied was in Ohio, and I’m not sure that counts (and yes, there are places to ski in Ohio, I’ve been to three of the five “resorts”. Didn’t realize there were that many, I just looked it up). Although that one snowboarder who was in the Winter Olympics, Louie Vito, is from Ohio. Columbus, Ohio, which is about as flat as it gets.

I have a few leads for paying jobs, since climbing gym memberships, lift tickets, and gas are a bit pricey. I’ll keep you updated.

That’s all for now, folks!