Later on, we’ll conspire as we dream by the fire

and face, unafraid, the plans that we’ve made

From the song “Walking In a Winter Wonderland” via Jake Freedom, and he has a great way of looking at the lyrics and sums it up thus:

The dream life. The best possible things you can imagine.

That’s one thing.

And then to face, unafraid, the plans that you’ve made?

Well, that’s a whole ‘nother thing.

It can be hard to dream, to hope that there’s a way forward in this world because of the fear of failing or the fear of having that hope dashed.  Life = Risk.

Man. That’s where real life is. That’s where it lives.

Step out and do it. Don’t be all talk. Face, unafraid, the plans that you’ve made.

So exciting. Such a thrill. The possibility of making your future exactly how you planned it out, instead of just letting it happen to you, letting it fall out of on the table wherever it falls.

You do it. You make it happen.

I also found this last week:

A life free from risk is a life bereft of liberty, a life of bondage, and it kills the human spirit. This fact has never and will never change

Design View: Risk

This kind of risk-taking isn’t jumping off a cliff for the sake of trying to fly, its the kind that says I have a good dream, a good idea, something to fight for, and I won’t stop until I’ve tried everything I can to make it work.

Inspiration for the week:  There’s a guy in Canada whose going to attempt to climb ice for 24 hours this January to raise money and awareness for the dZi Foundation to help the poor in the remote Himalaya. But there’s not much climbable ice right now in Canmore, so apparently he decided to train all-out in his back yard. 16ft up. 16 ft down. 32 laps nets about 1000 ft of vertical. On, and on, and on…  (see previous posted video)

That’s trying everything.

Will Gadd and his never-ending motivation.

First winter outing

We got out for a hike up the Little Cottonwood trail during a fun snowstorm.

By the time we hiked back out our tracks were filled in and just noticeable.

The hike in the snow made for a great appetizer for some broccoli & cheese soup.

Winter begins.

Not the first snow of the year, but the first real amount of snow to touch down in the valley (and make me scrape off the windshield of the car).

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.”

— Winston Chruchill

Indian Creek October, 2009

Its been a while since we’ve climbed here, but it was great to be back for even just a short weekend.  Got to meet up with BJ and Lacy who drove down from Bellingham, as well as Heidi and an injured Max.  The weather was perfect, and we got to climb on Saturday and get in another desert road bike ride on Sunday before lunch in Canyonlands (and the necessary driving home).

The full set of images on Flickr: here

BJ just realizing that I took his picture

BJ on Generic Crack, lots of good hand jams on this one

Lacy making good progross through the off-width pod on Generic Crack

Polly with the Bridger Jacks, Six Shooters and the Reservoir in the background.

Return to Indian Creek.

Its been a year, and here’s the first of the photos:

Prints!

ericdacus.zenfolio.com

Starting with the Utah Cyclocross season opener from October 3rd, you can order prints  from this season’s cross races.  Follow the above link to find shots from the first several races.  Orders will be filled with MPix.com who do a fantastic job producing prints.

This race was really exciting to shoot and to watch.  The results were determined by a sprint to the finish with the difference between 1 and 2 being about half the length of a bike! (see the previous post).

Sprint to a photo finish

More to follow…

PumpTrack!

The rest on Flickr here

Bryce Canyon National Park

Got to get away with Polly for the weekend to Bryce Canyon.  What an interesting place!

The off-season traffic was low enough that it made biking around the park easy (and safe).  It was great to bike from the visitors center and make our way around the amphitheater basin to take in the views.  I was also able to get up early Sunday morning and join about 20 other photographers at Bryce point to take some photos. The dawn light was great, however not as golden as it could have otherwise been because of a small band of clouds right on the eastern horizon right at sunrise. Oh well, I think the images turned out well anyway.  All the photos: here.

UT Cyclocross photos

Fall means cyclocross starts again!  Super fun to take pictures of this crazy sport!  These guys & gals give their all for 45 to 60 minutes (depending on classification) in rain, snow and shine and mud.  These photos were from the men’s A-flight season opener at the Weber Fairgrounds.  See UtahCyclocross.com for the rest of the schedule.

The rest of the photos can be found here.

If you would like prints, please email me (see about page).

The Afghanistan Dilemma

Very interesting perspective on the current conflict in Afghanistan from one of the first photographers who were able to get images out of the country when the Sovient Union first invaded.

“

The climber as sportsman (athlete) will see in the Alps only the “escalade.” And within that rock climbing only the exalted gymnastic movement will be important. The man of action will seek and find adventure in the Alps. If a climb blends a philosophical approach to the act of climbing he may discover a will to power like that described by Nietzsche. The prideful will look down on the rest of man from the mountains. The wise will discover the soul. The vain will find glory. The “aesthete” will find incomparable beauty. The religious will look for God, or at least for the image of strength and the infinite that amazes us. The humble will discover his slightness before nature. The “captif” (captive) seeks escape, the obsessed seeks to forget and those loyal (to the mountains) seek a memory. Because man is diverse and numerous, we can find a bit of each of the above in every man.

Everything may be found in the mountains. Nothing new may be found in the mountains. The mountains are not the source of our richness, rather they reflect what we confide to them.

”

— L’ALPINISME EST UN HUMANISME Par Georges Sonnier Journal du Club Alpin Francais (La Montagne), 1947, pp 27

Hera Climb4Life 2009

I was privileged with the opportunity to volunteer for this years Hera Climb4Life charity to raise money to fight and awareness of, overian cancer.  It was a great experience to meet so many people from all over the country gathered in Salt Lake to climb and to help out with this charity.

Below is Hera’s mission statement, and if you want to help out there will be another event in Salt Lake City next September and other similar events in Boulder, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and Smith Rocks Oregon.

The mission of the HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation is to stop the loss of mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, wives, partners and girlfriends from ovarian cancer through empowering:

• Women to take control of their health,
  
  
• Research Scientists to find new directions in early detection, treatment, and prevention, and 
  
  
• Communities to provide support.

The full set of pictures in the portfolio section, here

http://www.intelligenthistories.org/

And Speaking of data visualization, this is an amazing idea:

The Intelligent Histories project works towards realizing the vision of Predictive Medicine by developing new ways of using commonly available electronic medical information to predict people’s future medical risks, helping doctors choose preventive interventions and improve medical care.

Amazing visualization of where $Billions go and have gone

Billions spent on this and that, and the relative scale across industries and time periods.

Where Did ‘We’ Go?

By Thomas Friedman.
Published: September 29, 2009

The New York Times: A version of this article appeared in print on September 30, 2009, on page A31 of the New York edition.

I would argue that together these changes add up to a difference of degree that is a difference in kind — a different kind of American political scene that makes me wonder whether we can seriously discuss serious issues any longer and make decisions on the basis of the national interest.

We can’t change this overnight, but what we can change, and must change, is people crossing the line between criticizing the president and tacitly encouraging the unthinkable and the unforgivable.

I couldn’t agree more. The national political discourse needs to change so that we can actually debate issues in an intelligent manner. Oh, and a few manners wouldn’t hurt either.

Very cool video.  Finding meaningful work seems to require being willing to put some risk on the line.