Thanksgiving

The view from the Stein bridge - this river drainage and rocks left from the glacier. We were discussing omnipotent designer this morning, evidenced by the fact that water freezes from the top down. It's in the details.


One of my favorite spots at the confluence of Maroon Creek and the Roaring Fork. Having spent this summer tromping around at the headwaters of Maroon Creek, these waterlets have had a great journey so far, are headed to the Colorado and onto the Grand Canyon.

The Family - Milo, Eben, and Skye.

Leafpeep

Sunday morning in Crested Butte was pretty magical. Walking the dogs early down to the open space. . .


On our way home, we took a detour to Irwin Lake. Today seems all about playing with Milo and Skye. Good dogs!

Eben with his girl!


A quiet moment on Kebler Pass.


The foliage was remarkable.

Crested Butte Classic

Sorry about the 7 month hiatus from updating the blog. The last weekend in September was a beaut, and the family headed down to Crested Butte so that Eben could ride for many miles with a few other peeps. The day started with some early breakfast and coffee, then over to "HQ" - aka the parking lot!


Lovely Jeny and Super Ed came down to play too. Jeny was up for the long ride, Ed brought numerous camera lenses for mucho photos!


They're off on a beautiful morning.

The weather pattern has been pretty easy for the past few days - crisp fall weather until 2pm sharp then a 40 degree temperature drop with wind and moisture. Saturday did not disappoint. There was a lot of lightening to the west and both Eben and Jeny were a little off their ETA from lap 2. Ed and I drove up in the rain to see Jeny coming down Gothic Rd. She was cold and wet but still smiling, stoked to close out lap 2. Tough girl! This shot of Eben coming down from Mt. Crested Butte.


Eben, a happy man calling it a day after 70 mtb miles on a rigid 1x1 (and no sensation in his hands or feet). Way to go Honeybunny.

The Goods

Our friend Craig Panarisi, PSIA Demo Team member and Recreation Programs Manager - Tamarack Resort, overall great guy and stone-cold ripper took these shots. . .

You are here - This is Hokkaido. OMG.


This is Ross Matlock. Great guy, guide, ripper. Thanks Ross.


Scott McGee here - Jackson Hole's finest. Big smile.


Eben - gettin the goods.


JC - wanting and having.


Thanks Craig for making us all look good!

Last 24 in Tokyo

I love this city. I know that there is a lot going on under the surface, but this is the 1st time that I have been someplace and found myself so hopeful and intrigued about the human community.

Unlocked bicycles downtown.


The cherry trees are just starting to bloom around the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures building by Yoshio Taniguchi, part of the National Museum complex in Ueno ward. This building sits quietly juxtaposed to an edo temple gate out of view to the left and a 19th century monumental-style building to the right.

A couple sits in front of the Museum of Asian Culture at the National Museum complex.


These red gates of the Hie-Jinja shrine must have served as inspiration for Jean-Claude and Christo's saffron gates at Central Park. In typical Tokyo style, this shrine complex is on a rock outcropping in the middle of a bland business/embassy district.


Shinjuku at night. After some delightful wine and crisp sake, we were off to find a hidden little drinking area. Unfortunately, after serious reconnaissance, the cool little drinking area remained elusive and my man and I called it quits. The neon was starting to make me hallucinate.

Some sweeping generalizations from an alien tourist:

There are tens of millions of people living in Tokyo in close quarters while seeming to observe basic respect to each other, exacting de minimus violent crime, and going about the business of life with their families. People seemed to be participating in the acts of life with dignity and pride in their labors - remarkable. Returning to the U.S. in contrast, I wonder about the quality of life that could be obtained by prioritizing the community over the individual. What preponderance of community members have to participate in order to make a difference?

Squeaky Clean in Japan

A little about onsen. . .

The public bath is a great asset to any culture, providing time for members of each gender to gather together, get naked, get clean and quietly reflect (or gossip). Finland was my first taste of this excellent cultural habit, though Japan takes the concept to a whole new level.

Here's the drill. Take your sandals off at the entryway to the onsen area - bare feet only on the bamboo tatami mats. Strip down to your birthday suit and grab a modesty towel for the watered areas. Take a full scrub seated at one of the stools, careful to wash all the soap off. (Soap is a big no no in the communal soaking tubs.) Find a tub at the right temperature for you and slip in - try not to disturb the water too much.

I really liked all the outdoor tubs. It is very refreshing to sit alone outside in a hot soaking tub while the weather howls in from Siberia.


I reserved a private onsen one early morning so that Eben and I could have a "mixed bath." Located in a remote corner of the lodge, this was an awesome little retreat - tatami mats, a little Japanese style low table with seating cushions, a pair of Danish design western chairs and the outdoor tub on the deck. If there had been a WSJ and the NFL on the tele, I think Eben and I could have spent the whole day there. Apparently, bamboo does fine in sub-zero temperatures.


Below is the view of the skiing from the Ryounkaku spring onsen.


Although there is fabulous skiing in the backcountry around this onsen (check out the piles of snow out the window), everyone was soaking with a smile at this remote onsen-hostel.

Doorways of Japan

The Japanese do a lot with the concrete box. This pair was located in Jingumae (5) one of our favorite neighborhoods.

Tod's gets cool in Tokyo - Omote-Sando

Interspersed into the myriad developments, neighborhoods and uniform concrete structures are old Edo temples. Tokyo is about juxtaposition.

In Hokkaido.

This is Tokyo

From the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, Fuji-san in the distance. This town is an insurance nightmare: frequent earthquakes and an active volcano within city limits. This is a slice of what 34million people looks like.

The eye of Shinjuku - we asked a few people who worked at the station to help us find this piece - no one had seen it. There is a lot happening here.

Bruce Lee fixy culture.

Shibuya Station, 5:30pm. My man and I had good travel roll in Tokyo. We were trying to find ourselves on the city atlas, looked up and found ourselves at the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world at rush hour. We thought this hilarious and once we swam our way to shore, could only laugh and shoot photos.

Oldtown Ya-Na-Sen. This area of Tokyo was one of the few to escape the American firebombs of WWII. Baghdad may have been cool too.

Day 1 - 5am Tsukiji Market

I have never been so jetlagged - I didn't even realize until six days later that my circadian rhythms, extreme normally, had been bent. Eben and I arrived in Tokyo at 6pm after a painless 16 hour flight and travelled another 60+ minutes to the New Otani Hotel in the central Tokyo embassy district.

4 hours later, a 5am taxi to the Tsukiji Central Mercantile Market. Too wacked to resist, we took the chaos in stride and tried not to get run over by Y500,000 worth of mackeral on an extracycle rickshaw going somewhere fast.

The tuna action. This market happens every day - eat it now, in 10 years there will only be jellyfish.

These were alive. See Eben's site for the video.

There were at least 10 warehouses with 50 rows each and as many sellers per row. Stalls are by license only and once per year the real estate gets resorted so that each vendor gets a fair shot at the preferential locations. I cannot imagine what that day looks like. .

This is what scallops on the shell look like at 6:30am. Yummy.

My man, sushi 7am - sugoi!

From here to there

Cat skiing on Chicago Ridge while Eben is with Jeny and Ed in Leadville. Hard conditions, a fun group and beautiful weather. Two weeks until Japan.

Interlodge in Niseko. A huge day yesterday, blowing whiteout, then big weather from Siberia. . .exile style. The wind was reminiscent of a Jack London story gone bad, howling blowing swirling brrr. The Yahoo Japan weather report called for it to clear at 3pm - no way. . .like everything else in Japan, the weather was magically on time and accurate.

No skiing today as the mountains were closed due to the extreme conditions. Off to tempura, soba, Sapporo Crassic and sake. This is the last ski town.