Poor neglected blog. I have thought of you many times in the last month or so, but only in the fleeting, abstract sense with which one thinks about filing one's taxes, rather than any kind of productive way.
Which is not to say that there hasn't been anything to write about. I have, in the fashion to which you may be accustomed, done all manner of stupid things in the last few weeks. It's actually hard to believe that the last post was a mere four weeks ago. It's a long time for a pokey little interwub blog, but it felt like much longer. In the last few weeks I have crashed a car, missed a flight, driven until 2 in the morning twice, scraped roadkill off the highway with a broken piece of a reflector post, been on a relationship building boot-pack, received an awesome haircut, mailed someone a box containing exactly three pine cones and played a one-time-only acoustic cover of "Call Me Maybe". But not only has the moment for blogging about those escapades passed, if I put those stories in the internet I'll have nothing to talk about with anyone who sees me in person.
In fact, I'm only writing this post to explain an even longer break in posting which is about to begin. I am now back in Canberra where I will settle down to something that approximates a real life in what many people think of as the real world. Many people have said that I've been living the dream. While it's true that my time in the hills has been generally awesome, coming back to Canberra feels more like going to sleep than waking up. But if I am going to sleep here it's just a peaceful beauty sleep. So when I eventually leave town again, with my complexion clear and composed, hopefully the blog will spring back to life. The alternative is to regularly email my parents, which I have not been very good at so far.
Thanks to all the folks I met along the way. In Rossland there's my winter family, Robbi, Fleur and Maud, plus the rest of the folks I skied and hiked and hung out with; my artistic collaborator, Brad, and my wealthy patron German Anna; my unnaturally patient boss Brian, as well as Chris, Colin and Vickie at Powderhound. Thanks also to the generous and always motivated Ward in Penticton and all the other folks who shared some rope time with me at Skaha - it was vastly better than soloing. In New Zealand there's Barrett, Lindsay, Caroline, Dan, Doug and Irene (who aren't actually in NZ anymore), Dee, Eric, and Lee. Sorry I had to leave early - I hope you're slaying the pow for me in this latest storm and saving the best for last at Broken River. Thanks also to Joe for showing me around some new terrain at BR and Olympus, and for taking some cool photos. I'll see most of you guys again early in the new year. Stay in touch.
