I got sick on Friday, felt better Saturday, felt perfect on Sunday. Then this morning i got hit with it again, but i think it finally is passing this time. It wasn't the most exciting weekend, so i'll tell what i did during the week on a little outing.
I think it was Wednesday, i went on another rafting trip, this time down the Filo Bobos River in the state of Veracruz. This is probably the river i've done the most in terms of rafting. In the rainy season it's a good class III-IV, but right now we are in the middle of the dry season, but it still had some good class III and one rapid i would probably rate a IV (Frijolares rapid). We went down the river twice, and i got to guide the raft both times, maybe in preparation for guiding for a little job in a month or so. I was pleased with how i did and really enjoyed the trip. =-)

Spent the day on upper <A HREF="http://summitpost.com/mountains/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/1534">Mt. Scott, OK</A> with the wife, Jackie (<A HREF="http://summitpost.com/mountains/user_link.pl/user_id/3671">cruzit</A>), and a friend. Left:: Jackie crimpin' on Foolish Behavior 5.9. (Photo by Alan Ellis)   Right: Alan wired on Foolish. (Photo by Chris Willis) <BR><BR><img src="http://www.jackieandalan.com/images/jackiefoolishweb.jpg"align=left><img src="http://www.jackieandalan.com/images/alanweb.jpg"align=right>

Saturday, March 8, 2003. After 3 weeks of sunshine the slopes were in miserable shape, hardly any spot with virgin snow. On Friday it snowed again, finally. So we went to a near place near Lucerne (ca. 45 minutes) before we could put on the skis and walk uphill to Glattgrat. Ca. 40 cm of fresh powder snow. It took us ca. 3 hours to the top. Sky was cloudy. After a short rest on top with a wonderful view we rushed into the new snow and skied down for almost an hour. It was hilarious. Best snow condition of this winter! Huge slopes with no tracks.

Another great weekend. I poked around Tuttle Canyon in the Whitney area a little. I want to go back.

For those of you in Southern California, there was decent ice on Taquitz. I did the 500 foot "Trough" route there on Saturday morning, and we found a good 2 inches of ice plastered in sheets on the entire middle section. The last pitch started with an inch of ice coating the rock. Fun.
For those of you not from California, well, ice on Taquitz is as rare as a blue moon and only found half a dozen times per decade, so we were really happy.

Hey Speck! How's my homefront doing while I'm away guarding the free world? I climbed the Trough on Thanksgiving weekend and encountered nice patches of snow and ice. Trouble was getting down the friction descent with snow. Please tell me how you got down off the rock!

Went to Smith (Oregon) on Saturday to try a brand new 5-pitch, 5.8 bolted line (called "First Kiss"). Started the day off by busting my index finger with the truck door in the parking lot - better than coffee in the morning! Great route but got offroute (yes - it can happen on a bolted climb - there was a diverging bolt line - I'm a moron). Saw two guys finish it and it looked GREAT! Will come back next weekend to finish it.
Sunday got busy scaring the crap out of ourselves by doing a 5.9+ bolted (don't have the skill or the balls-level to climb at this level on trad yet) 5-pitcher called Wherever I May Roam. First time climbing 5.9 of any kind and there's no place to get into it like 200+ feet off the deck. Took a 10 footer on the 4th pitch when a hand hold came flying off. Beautiful route with outstanding scenery!

It rained in Spokane all day Saturday, so I hit the slopes at Schweitzer, Idaho. Pretty crappy conditions, but it was fun anyway. Today, I hit the Post Falls crag and led some really fun climbs on bolts.

I slept all day.....and then woke up at the crack of 4 p.m., did a short 35 minute P.T., took a shower and got ready for work. Yay.

I enjoyed 25 hours of work this weekend on what is one the first warmer (50 degrees) days of the year while daydreaming of summitting Mt. Marcy in the very near future. If only it was today!!

I'm getting into adventure racing. After winning a limbo contest at a party on Friday night (wooooo hoooo!) I met up with three training buddies to go night bushwhacking on the lower realms of Cypress (a local mountain). Armed with topo maps & compasses we took turns leading to get to & from a series of UTM coordinates from midnight to 6:00 a.m.

I spent the cold rainy weekend in Pusan, S. Korea. Stayed away from the fish heads, snails and soju, but had the pure pleasure of Shore Patrol for 3 nights on Texas Street which entails corraling approx 2000 drunk sailors and Marines.
Inbetween time, I did some sport climbing at Amnam Park, a seaside established climbing area. With the wind blowing cold rain in our faces while the tide rolled in, my partner and I enjoyed a slippery hike down a steep trail to the cliff face and took turns on a lovely 10b. The start of the most of the routes were already under water.
Although I hope to never visit Pusan again, I did appreciate the interesting moments spent in this dynamic city.

Last weekend I was in Sierra de Gredos (Avila) with my cousins and two friends. See my first trip report ever posted: <a href=//www.summitpost.com/cgi-bin/trip_report.pl?trip_report_id=428><b><i>Risky descent from Morezón to Laguna Grande</i></b></a>

Unfortunately I worked again. The snow season is ending and the mud season is about to begin. Can't wait til May.

Spend Friday and Saturday putting in a new rock patio. The crux was hauling 6000 pounds of rock and sand by hand. <br><img src="http://www.jackieandalan.com/images/Patio 005.jpg">