Winnipeg, Canada
We saw our first migratory Canada Goose here this week… the sun is growing in strength, puddles of water are emerging… spring appears to have once again sprung… today is the Spring Equinox. In Turkey (and all other Persian cultures), today is the Iranian new year, or Nowruz (also spelled Norooz, Norouz, Newroz, Newrooz…). Nowruz is said to have been celebrated for some 15,000 years—even before the end of the last ice age.
Image by Bertil Videt: Kurds in Istanbul celebrate Nowruz by jumping over fire (looks like fun—perhaps we’ll try that on the weekend).
Winnipeg, Canada
Well, the clocks got set forward an hour last night, the sun’s out in full force, snow is finally melting, and I’m getting antsy to head out to the crags again… it seems like an eternity since I’ve touched rock (the sporadic trips to the indoor climbing gym this winter just aren’t the same). Came across these photos of a Gooseneck trip last summer on Flickr today… now I’m pining for the crags and some trad.
Images by Adrian of MUHSASHUM: ‘Karate Kids’ Adrian Shum and James Gillespie; A is for abseiling; the old man topping out.
Winnipeg, Canada
Mike Grandmaison (Grandmaison Photography) has just launched the new website we designed for him last year. Hosted at and powered by an intuitive content management system from Smallbox Software, Mike’s new site features thousands of his outstanding Canadian images—available for “rights-managed” stock use, publishing, fine art decor, etc. If you enjoy Canadian landscapes (Mike has traveled from corner to corner of this great land) and/or are looking for extraordinary imagery, please visit Mike’s new website here.
Wellington, New Zealand
On my recent visit to Wellington, local designers pointed out delightful detailing on cast-iron manhole covers (inspiring and designed—no reason for urban environments to be thoughtless and ugly)! I also took a shining to the intriguing Wellington Writer’s Walk along the harbor, a series of 15 concrete text sculptures designed by Catharine Griffiths (as are some of the manhole covers).
Manhole pics: thanks to Elaina of EXPERIMENTA design & typography
Seattle, Washington
I read a great interview today with author, storyteller, conservationist, and avid fly-fisherman David James Duncan. The piece entitled ‘By Hook and By Book’ is featured in the environmental journal Grist/InterActivist. Here’s Duncan’s inspiring answer to the Grist editor’s question at the end of the interview: “If you could have every InterActivist reader do one thing, what would it be?”
“Keep trying. Keep serving. Worrying is praying for what you don’t want. Keep trying to feel grateful for what is beautiful, even as you’re trying to change what is deadly. If you can’t change what is deadly, bitch—as eloquently and lovingly and effectively as you can. But then: listen! Then take the time to renew your peace, enjoy having five senses, watch the clouds move, until you feel your inner being return to gratitude—the basic daily stance of all those who realize we did not create ourselves. You’ll win some, you’ll lose some, but above or beyond or within all of those efforts, you might now and then enter a mysterious clearing (if it hasn’t happened already) and suddenly feel loved.”
Read the Grist interview here.
Duncan and a variety of compatriots were photographed in 13 colorful dories, rowing and casting lines—into a golden field of wheat. The image appears on a poster distributed by Save Our Wild Salmon, a collaboration of conservationists, fisherfolk, and others interested in the removal of four dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington state.
Jackson, Wyoming
The venerable Alpinist magazine suffered a significant setback last month when a warehouse in Oregon, Illinois that housed all of its inventory (back issues, hats, shirts, water bottles, stickers, coffee mugs) burned to the ground. Nothing was salvaged. Read more details here. Alpinist is an archival-quality, quarterly publication dedicated to the world of alpinism and adventure climbing. They believe in “sinker jams high off the deck, a bomber nut, the crescent moon, your partner’s whoop, sand-washing the fry pan, road trips, one-swing sticks, remembering to breathe, alpine starts (more for the alpenglow than the early hour), espresso in the desert, the plungestep, lenticular cloudcaps, rest days, the focus of a runout, and a cold beer at the end of it all.”
Visit the Alpinist magazine website here. Check out the incredible videos available via Alpinist TV here.
Alpinist wallpaper: Climbers on the Breithorn (4146m) in Switzerland shot by Menno Boermans
Auckland, New Zealand
Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who (together with Sherpa Tensing Norgay) was the first to successfully climb Mount Everest, passed on yesterday. Though he considered himself a simple man (“Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself,” he stated in a 1975 interview) he was known for his unbounded enthusiasm for life and adventure, his decades-long campaign to develop schools and health clinics in Nepal, and his role as an ardent conservationist. Revered by Kiwis, Prime Minister Helen Clark had this to say: “Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus… an heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off’ Everest, but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity… this legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived.”
Climb on, Sir Edmund…
Hillary and Tensing Norgay summited Mount Everest, the highest point on earth, on 29 May 1953. He remains the only non-political person outside of Britain to have ever been honoured as a member of Britain’s Order of the Garter (bestowed by the Queen on just 24 knights and ladies living worldwide at any time) and was the first foreign national to ever be conferred with honourary citizenship by Nepal. Hillary has also appeared on the New Zealand $5 banknote since 1992—the only living Kiwi to ever do so.
Winnipeg, Canada
My good friend Mike Grandmaison is one of this beautiful country’s top outdoor photographers. He’s been busy in the past while with two successful books on the market: Canada (a bestseller), and The Canadian Rockies, (both by Key Porter Books Ltd.) as well as a whole lot of land-based travel (Mike doesn’t fly, which contributes to his comprehensive understanding of Canada’s vast vistas). A third coffee-table book is expected out within the next two months: Georgian Bay: A Photographer’s Wonderland.
Banff, Alberta
Don’t miss the upcoming Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour’s visit to Winnipeg… brought to you by the the Alpine Club of Canada… at 19:00 on 19 January 2008 at the Burton Cummings Theatre (formerly the Walker). Watch the trailer on YouTube here.
Steinbach, Manitoba
Our Peters family got together at my brother Jim’s place in Steinbach (about an hour SE of Winnipeg) for a love-filled family Christmas celebration yesterday. This photo of my older and younger brothers book-ending my ex-missionary octogenarian dad (at Falcon Lake in 2005) surfaced in the process… admittedly I suffered from being the middle child, but what might their excuse be?… :-)
