The Dirtbag Diaries

Two years ago, Christian Beamish crafted an 18-foot-long sailboat in his San Clemente garage.  His obsession with sailboat-assisted surfing began with small week-long voyages and evolved into preposterous idea – sail the entire length of Baja looking for waves. 

Up in the Northwest, we say that summer doesn’t actually start until July 4th. Right now, we’re experiencing our annual June gloom. So I thought it was time to invoke blue skies and warmer temps. It’s time for me to do my part in the changing of the seasons. 

Today writer and climber Sarah Garlick presents: The Dreamers — reflections from four generations of the world’s best climbers: Steve House, Henry Barber, Steve Schneider, and Colin Haley. In the process Sarah found out a little bit about herself. 

A few Christmases back, Brendan Leonard received a rather strange gift from his brother - an old rope. Brendan wasn’t a climber. He had no intention of becoming of climber. Sometimes though gifts can change our lives. It turns out that 60-meters of climbing rope has taken him farther than he could have ever dreamed. 

In 2001, Scott Kennedy and his wife Sophie were living in the States. On weekends, they would meet up to climb in Yosemite’s high country, Tuolumne. On the Great White Book, Scott was offered a chance to look inside. What he saw was too difficult to share even with those closest to him.

In September 2008, Chad Kellogg and climbing partner Dylan Johnson stood atop 6250-meter Siguniang in Western China after completing the 10,000-foot-long SW Ridge. The two friends endured days without water and several sleepless nights. Summits fade, routes disappear into alpinists’ memory, but occasionally mountains extend back into life on level ground. Sometimes we don’t just want to climb a mountain. We need to. 

In the outdoor world, as we age, we can become picky. We are able to discern choss from splitter granite or hard packed moguls from Utah’s finest snow.  Opportunities to return to that beginner’s wonder can be rare. Sometimes it is as simple as trading two planks for one. 

Photographers and activists Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson present stories and photos from wild ski terrain and their struggle to become a piece of the conservation puzzle rather than a cog in the problem. 

Two years ago, I was staring fruitlessly at a computer screen. I was sick of daydreaming.  I dropped the commissioned piece I was working on that day and started writing. I pulled out a mic, hit the big red record button and decided it was time to find my voice. Today, we present The Monoboard Revisited. Here’s to another two years of dreaming, tinkering and coming up with ways to get into trouble.  

Throughout his life, Portland rock climber Bob Grunau has struggled with the lingering clouds of depression. Until he discovered climbing, the only way to weather the darker cycles was to retreat inward into his mind. That approach worked until he became a part of a family. High, lonesome places can provide respite and joy. We can love them deeply, but ice and rock will not love us back.