Thursday, May 24, 2007

Done


And that's it for school folks! Here are the pictures from my (last) graduation. The part on stage is me getting the top nerd award (academic excellence) from the Dean. Proud moment indeed. Can't wait to get the actual degree signed by Arnold. I will definitely frame that one and hang it next to my autographed Mr. Olympia shorts.

Mt. Shasta, Part Deux


Two years ago, Goeric and myself attempted to climb Mt. Shasta. Things were different back then: kids would not listen to that foreign rock music, and snow would fall in the mountains during the winter. This year the snow cover was extremely thin, so we abandoned our initial plan to climb through Clear Creek and chose Hotlum-Wintum instead. Perfect weather made for a great couple days in the mountains. My dad (who flew in all the way from Belgium for this) and Goeric made it to the top, I turned around a few hundred feet shy of the 14162ft/4316m summit (altitude sickness again, I'll bring oxygen next time for sure). This was the virgin journey for my telemark skis, amazing sticks! I am sure Goeric will put together a killer video, but in the meantime here are a bunch of pix.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Canyons'r'us



This weekend we went to Zion, where Maureen had organized a surprise weekend for my Birthday. The whole trip was amazing, with Friday night spent in Vegas partying in a 57th floor suite at the Wynn's with Haas people, then driving to Zion for two days of Canyoneering. Over the weekend, our very own Eagle Scout Alex managed to herd our motley crew (Mike, Wei, Tom, Denise, Benjy, Misha, Maureen and I) down Keyhole Canyon and Pine Creek Canyon, a rather formidable feat indeed. The idea is that you follow the path of an intermittent stream through a crack in the beautiful sandstone formations characteristic of Zion National Park. A few passages require rappelling down the slick rock, sometimes right into the water below. Speaking of water: if you followed the descriptive links above, did you notice that the people are wearing wetsuits? As we learned after our first excursion, this is not for comfort, but for survival: the water in the canyon stays very cold (48F or 8 deg Celsius). I did not bring my camera on Saturday, but here are a few pictures from Pine Creek (on Sunday) and The Narrows (Monday). Mike's pix, Alex's & Misha's. Best time in Utah ever!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Vote for Pedro

Two weeks ago, Pedro paid us a little visit. He posted some pictures here and there.