Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Baltimore Blacksmithing Vacation

I'm back.

Of course, I never left, but I have a litany of excuses for not posting, such as becoming an uncle, driving my fiancee back from Indiana, and running my business. Good, consuming stuff.

I'm heading to Baltimore in a few weeks to work with Chris Gavin, a highly accomplished Artist-Blacksmith whose work I admire. I'm apprenticing under his tutelage for a solid two weeks, and hopefully I'll garner some ability, ideas, and enthusiasm for my peculiarly niche profession. I'll be climbing at Baltimore-area climbing gyms (some of which are stinking amazing), and running a shit-ton, so hopefully I'll be in spitting-distance of my new goal: THE BUENA VISTA PROJECT (see earlier post). Mark Seelos and I did some in-depth scouting the other day, and it looked definitively possible to link sections together, even the more improbable cruxes. I've been bouldering quite a bit, so my fingies are feeling tough, even though my endurance probably isn't that great. The BVP is that long, however, so I'm going to favor power over endurance.

The line is so, so inspiring. At least to me.

1 comment:

ben patterson said...

Andy! You amaze me once again. I love the blog, in and of itself -- but what you have photographed and talk about are utterly engaging. Mom and I are back from vacation (more on that later), and I'm gearing up for the beginning of the college year, starting tomorrow. Funk and Tori are getting married this weekend, yours truly presiding as the celebrant.

Talk to you later. You are in my fervent prayers, as always.

By the way, did anyone ever tell you that you are a fine writer?

Love, DAD