Yosemite March 2010

Kitty and I headed off to Yosemite for a short climbing/skiing trip at the end of March. The weather was great although there was plenty of snow on the ground. We went up to Glacier Point Apron to do the Grack Center - a beautiful finger/hand crack up a slab to a Yosemite-style pinnacle. Three pitches, all with a great view across the Valley to Washington Column and North Dome.













The "15-minute" approach felt more like a 45 minute death march, but we got there and the climb is excellent. Three pitches up, then three rappels down.

We cleverly decided to take a shortcut back to the trail and car and ended up in an incredibly dense forest and amazingly wet swamp. When we finally staggered, scratched and with our feet soaked in a foul mud, out of the wet parts of the trek, we came on half a dozen fresh bear scat piles, then a big, beautiful cinnamon bear.
















Next day we headed up to Badger Pass. Had a great day of Spring skiing. No lift lines, great snow till late afternoon when it hit 50F and got a little slushy.







Wonderful trip

Going Downhill Fast

It has been a nice winter. Another little storm dropped a foot of snow in the Sierra and John and I headed back to Northstar.

9F when we woke up, but it turned into a perfect day. Sunny and cold, no wind. Having lots of fun in the snow this year.

Northstar 2010

It was a long weekend. John and I headed out Saturday night to Truckee, then up early to check out a new (to us) ski area - Northstar@Tahoe.

Pretty upscale place (OK, pretty yuppie place)- like Los Gatos meets Disneyland with chairlifts and runs.

But, I really liked it! Lots of loooong easy runs. It started out warm and by mid-day was 55F. Great spring skiing in February.

Youth Climbing League 2010

John is competing this year again for our local climbing gym in YCL. He is getting good. Tied for second last week, 3rd this.

The Slippery Slope

Had some fresh snow fall in the Sierra so we "zoomed" up to Truckee on Friday night (Bay area traffic heading east is incredibly bad on Friday nights). One of my colleagues very generously gave me the key to her wonderful cabin.

Rolled in late, got up early, had breakfast at the Wagon Train in Truckee with stuffed animals staring at us glassy eyed then off to Sugar Bowl.








At the last minute Dexter joined us. Perfect weather, good snow. Had a great time. The boyz hit pretty much every run. Kitty and I worked on our carving.

Holidays at Whidbey 2009

Frances spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the hospital threw a little curve at our holiday plans to catch the train to Whidbey Island for the usual Bolte get-together. But, we managed to get flights for a shorter visit than planned so off we went.




The folks were looking good!

Becky was looking relaxed

The Oregon crowd was there

Lots of card games (Grandpa remains the champ and guru)







We hit the Everett Climbing Gym








We hit the slopes at Mt Baker








We rang in the New Year and decade!

A slightly-less-merry-than-usual Christmas

The plan this year for the holidays was to celebrate Christmas in Santa Cruz and head up to Seattle on the train Christmas Day night. But, on Christmas Eve Day Frances had abdominal pains that went from really painful to much worse. By 6:30pm we were in the emergency room.


A night of tests and a morphine drip instead of sugar plum fairies. The diagnosis: a giant gall stone and badly inflamed gallbladder. Surgery on Christmas Day. No fun at all for poor Frances, but it worked! She is feeling much better after the surgery.

John is guarding the tree and presents till his mother gets back.

80--the new 55

My Dad turned 80 this year. Zipped up to Whidbey Island to participate in the wild celebrations.















He is doing great.








The weather was pretty awful - cold and rainy. Didn't get in the way!

17 and counting

The gal turned 17 this year. With her birthday guitar--a wonderful little 1974 Yairi nylon string.

Kitty on the big stage

Thursday of this week Frances and I went to a luncheon with about 200 other people to see the 2009 "Be the Difference" volunteer awards for Santa Cruz County for this year. There were lots of amazing stories about people in the county who spend may hours volunteering for many excellent causes. Among the many nominees for the individual award, Kitty was honored this year with the volunteer of the year!

Although she dreaded the event and all the attention, this is a really wonderful recognition of her passion for food justice and sustainability and the many hours she puts into all her community service activities. I was bursting with pride...

The two girls getting ready to go and Kitty getting the award which include a US Congressional certificate of recognition