2008 What a Year in Adventure-ness

Reflecting on the adventurous aspects of 2008…  One of the best ever for me second only to 2000 when I travelled the world for 6.5 months.  This year I was so fortunate.  Five foreign countries, two new mountains climbed, fourth Chicago to Mackinac sailing race, surfing, skiing…  I must list all the adventures and trips I was lucky enough to participate in this past year, and be so grateful for the opportunities I was blessed with.

1. Elwha Trail hike in the Olympic Mountains West of Seattle with four good buddies.
2. The 100th running of the Chicago to Mackinac Sailing race, on a J120 named Valkyrie, placed well in our class, finished in around 55 hours.
3. Cruised the North Channel of Lake Huron on a 38 foot Ericson sailboat owned by my parents with a highlight being Topaz lake.
4. Nantucket Massachusetts for several days with my oldest friend Spencer and his family, driving on the beach, catching bluefish from the shore, enjoying old friends, meeting my namesake, Cormac Thomas Carney
5. Upstate New York at my girlfriend’s grandparents’ “camp”, waterskiing, kayaking, mountain biking, swimming.
6. Climbing the highest point in New York State, Mt Marcy, ticking off the 12th state high point on my quest to do all 50 of them.
7. Jamaica for work, Kingston.
8. Cayman Islands to visit my cousin Megan for a few days.
9. Jazzfest in New Orleans for a bachelor party
10. Numerous mountain biking excursions around Chicago
11. Numerous sailing parties on my boat, a 28 foot Ericson christened the Imjatse after a Nepalese mountain I climbed.
12. Rock climbing in Red River gorge, Kentucky
13. Rock climbing at Mississppi Palisades twice
14. Summiting Mt Belford, a 14,000 foot mountain in Colorado, then sleeping in a bivy sack on its flanks overnight in about 15 degrees.
15. Pilgrimage to the original Chipotle in Denver
16. 35 person white water rafting trip sponsored by the adventure ministry I run at church, running class III and IV rapids.
17. Kayaking the Vermilion River in very high, fast water.
18. Costa Rica!  Staying at my friend’s resort, surfing, jungle hikes, four-wheeling.
19. Talon’s Challenge at Vail, skiing thirteen black and double black runs in a single day with a reward of a free beer and a free hat.
20. Skiing at Aspen with the family
21. Moving my friend’s sailboat 200 miles down the intracoastal waterway from Norfolk to Beaufort NC, just my father and I.
22. Two winter attempts of Mt Humphries, the tallest mountain in Arizona, each a failure, but getting closer and I lived to climb another day.
23. Thanksgiving in Boston
24. Ten person caving trip that I led through Buckner’s cave in Southern Indiana.
25. Ski trip to Wausau Wisconsin and Granite Peak Resort.
26. Raced the Cohasset Triathlon
27. 40+ person sea kayaking trip led by my group

What a wonderful year, with lots of love and great relationships started, nourished, and deepened during all these adventures and trips. 

I have to give a lot of credit for this year to Tim  Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek for his writings and inspiration to live like this – thanks much Tim and all the best to everybody in 2009.  I always wanted to live like this but never knew anybody who did – I didn’t think it was really possible until I read Tim’s stuff and embarked upon the adventure.  Inspirational.  This year has been the best to date for my business, relationships, and adventures and experiences.  I hope for an even better 2009 and hope for the same for everybody.  I have to copy some of Tim’s stuff from a mentor of his here  – good food for thought:

“While many are wringing their hands, I recall the 1970s when we were suffering from an oil shock causing long lines at gas stations, rationing, and 55 MPH speed limits on Federal highways, a recession, very little venture capital ($50 million per year into VC firms), and, what President Jimmy Carter (wearing a sweater while addressing the Nation on TV because he had turned down the heat in the White House) called a “malaise”. It was during those times that two kids without any real college education, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, started companies that did pretty well. Opportunities abound in bad times as well as good times. In fact, the opportunities are often greater when the conventional wisdom is that everything is going into the toilet.

Well…we’re nearing the end of another great year, and, despite what we read about the outlook for 2009, we can look forward to a New Year filled with opportunities as well as stimulating challenges.”

Mount Humphreys take II

No dice!  gorgeous day again, started at 6am and took a fellow from Phoenix with us who happened to be a pro photographer for a Phoenix paper, met him off this blog actually.  Terrific guy, into all sorts of adventuring.  Fun to have with us and very competent and an amazing photographer, you’ll see the pics attached.  This day was fairly windy.  We made it up to about 45 minutes from the summit, and heartbreak city – we had to turn back to catch our flight.  David continued on.  I was frustrated but oh well – I get to go back and attempt it again one day.  It was beautiful.  Stumbled upon a B-52 bomber crash site from 1944 on the way down – cool to see and it will stick with me, 8  airmen lost their lives there.

Click on some of the pics below – he’s a pro for a reason.

Mount Humphreys

Great day on the mountain! Beautiful blue sky, easily found the trail with some help from the rangers. We checked in at the snowbowl lodge and got our backcountry permit right at 11, right at the cutoff. They were extremely nice and helpful, and warned us about avalanche prep and danger. We set off across the ski slope and past the crowds of skiers and into the forest. Climbed up and up and up, no need for snowshoes as the trail was packed. Was just ehat I expected last year but didn’t find it. The trees started thinning out as we neared the ridge/saddle. Jeff was slower than myself and had to wait on him, not bad though. As the trees thinned out the wind picked up and I added layers. A storm rolled in and against my will we turned back – sun was going down plus the wind and clouds. was into a pretty good smowstorm by the time we got back to the car. Felt good all day, we’ll give it another shot early tomorrow morning. Good times.

Mount Humphrey’s, tallest mountain in Arizona

I head to Arizona tomorrow to climb the highest peak in the state.  It will be snowcovered, at least up to my waist and probably higher.  We’ll have snowshoes and winter gear, plus headlamps that hopefully we won’t need.  Should be a great time.  3500 feet of elevation gain – we’re expecting 7-8 hours round trip.  Breaking trail will be hard work.  Avalanche danger is possible with the recent giant storms out west.  And the last mile is on a very exposed ridge with wind routinely up to 80 miles and hour so I’ve heard in some accounts.  Should be a great adventure.  I tried it last year but didn’t have snowshoes – so climbed the connected Agassiz peak by walking up packed ski trails.  Only 300 feet shorter, still a good accomplishment.  This year I’ll have a partner, so that should help.  It’s been a while since I had a successful summit.  My last three have been unsuccessful, the other two being Huayna Potosi (17,000 or so) in the Andes and Mt Orizaba, highest mountain in Mexico at 18,000 feet.  Got a work conference in Scottsdale Satuday which wil be fun.  My buddy Jeff will be coming with – he’s been shut out his last two climbs as well – we hope to break the streak but won’t be foolish in order to do so – if conditions are poor always best to live to climb another day I always say.

Christmas, Mt Humphreys, Birmingham, Boston

Had a bunch of great Christmases – drove home to Birmingham from Chicago, stopped by South Bend to pick up my 92 year old Grandma, she’s great.  We had a nice time chatting and sharing a meal on the drive to my folks place.  Great time there as well with my sister, her husband, and my two awesome little nieces, Brooke and Courtney - so much fun!  9 months and 2 yrs old, the 2-yr-old is great, running around, having a great time, talking.  Bright red hair.  They took off and it was just my folks and Grandma and I, Lisa went home to Boston for the week.  Went to a beautiful presbyterian church celebration where my 92-yr-old Grandfather still plays the caralon on Christmas Eve – amazing man.  And his wife, my Grammie was there as well.  At the end of the service they shut the lights off and everybody has a candle and flame is passed from one to the next, very cool as the place slowly lights up with a warm glow.  Then I headed back to chicago for a day or so, then hopped a plane to Boston for another terrific Christmas with Lisa’s family and aunt and uncle and cousins – 8-yr-old twin boys – how fun and crazy they are, what a great time that was.  I feel like I am stressing ages in this post for wahtever reason.  Had a nice time at their house.  They are very much into food and have a Christmas tradition I really like – lobsters and tater tots!  Yum yum.  And a bunch of other delicious meals, as usual.  They know how to eat.

I head to Arizona for a conference in a couple weeks – will stay an extra day or so and attempt to summit Mt. Humphreys, the tallest mountain in Arizona at about 13,600 feet.  It will actually be a pretty serious undertaking.  Lots of snow.  It shut me down last year as I climbed the wrong peak in the snowstorm that prevailed – Mt. Agassiz, which shares a a saddle with humphreys.  Terrific beautiful and refreshing day despite the mishap – which was also due to extremely deep snow, which was very difficult going – forcing me onto the groomed ski slopes.  My friend Jeff will be joining me this year so we’ll have two to break trail through the thigh-deep snow.  We’ll see how it goes.  3500 feet of elevation gain.  Half the fun of an adventure trip is the planning of it and I’ve spent the better part of tonight doing research and printing out topographic maps and reading trip reports.  Figuring out what gear we’ll need.  I don’t think crampons but probably snowshoes.