Oddmonster lives in a cottage in the forests of Vermont, with her two magical back-talking rabbits, six dogs and a superhero. She's a lot like you, except that she can see light through the holes in her ears.Archive for the ‘Outdoor Adventures’ Category
#54: Pickets and Dead Men: Seasons on Rainier by Bree Loewen:
I remembered Glenn telling me about finding two boys who had fallen to their deaths on an icy day a little ways above here, just at the base of the Cleaver. He didn’t have any nets or body bags with him, so he had to fly them out with the cable just hooked to their climbing harnesses. He figured that if he flew the dead boys out one at a time, each hanging from his waist and splayed out with his head and arms and legs dangling down, it would look really bad, especially since, because of where the accident had happened, the helicopter would fly right over Camp Muir and all the climbers there. He decided to hook both of the bodies in at the same time and then he duct-taped them together so they’d stay upright, so it looked like they were holding onto each other.
Synopsis: Bree Loewen survived three seasons as a climbing ranger on Mt. Rainier. Barely, but with good humor.
And she didn’t stab anyone in the throat with a piton, so that’s more than I’d've managed.
# 43: Rogue’s Valley by Kathleen Creighton:
“Oh, Jason, look! It’s like a supermarket!” She whirled, arms spread wide to encompass it all: thickets of wild rose, heavy with orange rose hips; tangles of currant and gooseberry bushes, some with a few overlooked berries still clinging to low-hanging branches. A bird flew up, flushed from cover by her intrusion. A grouse of some kind, or perhaps a partridge, Sandy thought, her mouth watering. If only they could find a way to kill it.
Synopsis: Coltish, dorky girl horse wrangler in Idaho meets surly geologist. Then, just when they’re about to get it on, Clan of the Cave Bear happens.
Sandy, I can’t believe you killed a bird with your bra, either.
#13: Body Stories: Research and Intimate Narratives on Women Transforming Body Image Through Outdoor Adventure edited by Lisa West-Smith:
At first, our Spartan diet slowed us down, our morning sugar crashes translating to falls on hard climbs, or motivation sapped by early afternoon. Then without understanding cause and effect, I came to expect–then enjoy–the shock of a body desperate for food. The natural dizzy high or climbing all day without eating translated to weakness in my legs but also a carefree giddiness. I associated that light-headed feeling with the satisfaction of a hard day of climbing. I came to equate hunger with happiness.
–Susan Fox Rogers, “Climber Girl”
Synopsis: A collection of narratives which try to explain why, according to the editor’s doctoral thesis research, women who participate in regular outdoor adventure sports are 37.3% less likely to diet.
You climb really good for a big girl.