Kendall Card 2.0

Death by Powerpoint. I’m sure you’ve “been there” but hopefully not something you can follow with a “done that”.

Back in May I gave my first public business presentation at a conference by Senator Bob Bennett for rural business owners. I was asked to speak about the use of blogs in businesses since I run the blog for Backcountry.com so I put together a powerpoint presentation, one that I hoped would not put the people to sleep but would give them something to remember.

I tried to use unique images that portrayed the points I wanted to get across. I know it resonated with a few people there (as evidenced by two business owners contacting me post presentation for advice in starting a blog) but I think that I may have committed Coma by Powerpoint which is nigh unto Death by Powerpoint. I’m scratching up as a rookie error and hope to learn from it.

While reading Seth Godin’s blog this morning I came upon an e-book that he wrote about Really Bad Powerpoint. Looking back upon my presentation I can see where I can improve the next time.  If you happen to have seen my presentation, sorry for the coma.

The title of this post may throw some of you off, but for those that know me you’ll know that I’m a part of an online ski community known as the “Maggots”. It’s a long story which I’ll save for another post but I was reading the other day an essay I wrote over there (TetonGravity.com) this past winter and wanted to post it here to give you and insight into how online communities both impact as well as transition from online to real time.

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This past Friday I headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a dawn patrol with some buddies of mine (non mags). It was a peaceful morning, and a great skin up through a storm that was delivering double the snow that was predicted. After a great run down meadow chutes and a click of the poles bidding good-bye to my buddies, I headed up to Solitude for an early meeting.

As I walked through the village the snow was falling lightly and it caused me to reflect upon the last time I was here. It was New Years Eve 2 years ago when in the PNW they were suffering a most heinous dry winter and I was to meet up with Squirrel, GirlSki and others from the PNW who had driven all night in search of snow.

I remember meeting Splat for the first time that day, right there in the village center, and coincidentally riding the lift with Yeti who just weeks before I had been in a slight flame war with and how during that ride and the couple of runs that followed the flame was extinguished somewhere amidst the powder and the trees.

I thought about sharing those few sweet runs with MD9 and phUnk as we upped the ante each time through a cliff zone and on the last run through, me scoping out a landing zone the size of an elevator after which MD launched blindly 40 feet to a perfect landing followed by P Phunk himself. They trusted me, they trusted themselves.

As I walked past the Inn I sorely wished that Woodsy was still “keeping shop” so that I could stop in and enjoy a conversation or two. But not so, here on this Friday morning in November before the lifts were even turning it was silent in the village, mine one of only a few footsteps in the freshly fallen snow. What had previously been an unorganized meeting of maggots on my last visit to Solitude was now a lonely locale.

While hanging out in the ticket office near the rental and repair shot, waiting for the other half of my meeting to arrive I noticed a guy on the other end of the shop looking out the window, intensely watching the snow and the sky, studying the weather. He’d steal a glance back at me as I was enjoying some idle chit chat with the ticket guy. A few moments later I heard “Are you powstash?” and turning noticed the guy from the shop had made his way over to greet me.

Sure enough, a maggot. Skifishbum to be precise and with the shake of hands we’d become friends. As he tuned skis we chatted about my tour that morning and he told me of his day’s plans – a tour to Twin Lakes Pass and beyond. The sticker laden and well-used Bro’s in the ski rack told the story that he was a fellow maggot.

“Hey man, do your skis need a tune? Got any core shots I can fix for ya?”

Sure enough my Havocs were in serious need of a tune. After grabbing my skis from the car and handing them off my meeting was starting. A few minutes later I was back in the repair shop as SFB was just finishing up the tune and headed out the door. “Don’t worry about it, great to meet you man” he said as I shouldered my skis and headed back to the car, another meeting to make.

Walking back through the still mostly deserted village I couldn’t help but think about all the random “change for a nickel” stories there must be out there and how in the world of skiing, which is pretty small in itself, that there is a brotherhood of maggots to which I proudly belong.

Thanks Dave for that reminder.

Chris Sharma is widely consider one of the best if not the best climber in the world. (If you had a Wiki page as extensive as his you’d have to be one of the best in the world) Focusing on sport climbing and bouldering, Sharma continues to raise the bar for the climbing world. In the trailer below for the film King Lines, he is seen working on his free climb Es Pontas a deep water solo located on an arch off the coast of Mallorca, Spain. It took him nearly 50 tries to send it and is thought to go at 9b/5.15b but that is still speculation.

The world premier of King Lines by Big Up Productions opens on September 5 in Salt Lake City at the Tower Theater (click the link for a map to the Tower). It is also showing in San Diego and Boulder that same night as the world premier. See you at the Tower.

For each of the past two summers I’ve biked to work in Park City, Utah from Kamas where I live. It’s 20 miles each way with about 1100′ vertical feet gain each direction thanks to a couple of good hills. Doing this ride 2-3 times each week has kept me in good shape for ski season. Additionally it helps keep the Subaru parked and the gas gauge from dropping any lower.

Despite the many cyclists around this area and the popularity of the Park City to Kamas route, it’s not often that I see another cyclist and never have I been able to ride either direction with another cyclist.  If timing is indeed everything, I’m horribly off the mark.

I remember one day starting out from home and seeing up ahead a girl on a bike. It was the first person I had ever had the chance of riding with. As I frantically pedaled to catch up I’m sure she was alarmed at my enthusiasm as I blurted out, pulling up along side of her, “You headed all the way?” assuming she would know that “all the way” meant from Kamas to Park City. She gave me that confused, “Do I know you” sort of look and promptly said, “No, I’m turning here” hastily veering off down Democrat alley, the last street before committing to the climb over the Jordanelle hill.  I felt like the kid at Christmas who after opening the last present realized that yet another year had passed without getting that Beebe gun.  Sigh…

Regardless of the apparent rejection that day, one of the more fascinating things that has happened to me as a new cyclist has been the camaraderie that I feel with other riders.  Like the motorcycle riders and their simple wave or nod as they pass (I know you’ve seen it happen before) road cyclists share the same common acknowledging wave.  I’ve even gotten to the point where if the other cyclist doesn’t wave it rubs me the wrong way.

Like Baskin Robins Ice Cream there are many kinds of waves and I’ve tried them all.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• The “I’m feeling strong” wave – This wave is typically reserved for when you are descending  a mellow incline and/or happen to be cruising along at a solid pace.  From your drops you give a low and firm salute with the left hand, fingers closed, only a short distance from your bars.  It can be accompanied by a nod but is purely up to you.  Essentially you are telling the other rider that you’re the superior rider here due to how strong you feel and how fast you’re cycling
• The “I’m hurting but won’t show it” wave – This wave is generally done with the opposite hand in a simple yet distinct motion where your right hand leaves the top end of the bars (no, this wave is never done from the drops) and crossing your body you give an actual back and forth of the hand as if to say, “I’ve got all the energy in the world, check out this energy sapping move”.  A big teeth exposing smile confirms that despite the 9% grade you’re as fresh as an antelope.
• The “What’s up?” nod – Not typically considered a wave this nod is actually a wave in disguise.  It’s generally exchanged when you can’t let go of the bars due to road hazards, downhill speeds or you just don’t feel like waving.  Unlike the approving nod your college professor use to give you, this nod starts low and moves upward with a small yet brisk motion.  Eye contact is optional but generally considered additionally friendly.

Then there is the genuine “hello” wave, the kind that feels warm and despite 60 feet of cold (or hot) hard asphalt that separates you from the other cyclist this wave makes you feel like you’re family, like they are one of “yours” and you are one of theirs.  And for that brief moment you are equals, you are cyclists.

It was this type of wave which yesterday I shared with a woman who upon cresting the summit of the Jordanelle hill, next to the Tuhaye Golf Club entrance, she headed east while I heading west we passed, exchanged waves and put our heads down to enjoy the reward of our climbing.

And so it was while descending I reflected upon the brief yet impactive exchange that is a wave between two cyclists and what it has come to mean for me.

When the headlines last week were talking about how this is not Vino’s tour, with his crash and the lack of leadership from Kloden, they were just scratching the surface. Yesterday I thought that this was indeed Vino’s tour. Now, I can’t believe it.

A recap

Stage 13 was brilliant. A torn and hurt Alexander Vinokourov raced the time trial of his life and brought hope, drama and admiration to himself and cycling fans the world over.

Stage 14 was a meltdown. Exhausted and torn up Vino was dropped by the peloton on the second climb of the day and all hopes of yellow were smashed as he came in nearly 30 minutes behind the leaders.

Stage 15 was the silver lining. I cheered and was amazed yesterday as Vino launched ahead in the breakout, accelerated on the last climb and rocketed the descent to grit out another stage win in the Pyrenees. If ever there was a courageous win that showed real grit, it was this one from Vino.

Rest Day – I opened up VeloNews.com to see if any of my favorite Chris Horner diaries videos had been updated to find out that Alexandre Vinokourov has tested positive for doping and team Astana has pulled out of the race. Just when the team category was heating up as Discovery was just 2:53 behind Astana in the overall contention.

It makes me so sad for a sport that although I’m new to I have fallen in love with. As I rode Wolf Creek Pass this morning before work with some friends we were talking about how courageous Vino had been in yesterday’s stage. Now, I’m just feeling empty about the entire Tour de France.  Phil Liggett, comentator for Versus TV summed it up:

Paul, Bob and I are, for once, speechless. We are all very upset with such a stupid action at a time the sport looked to be putting its own house in order. It is incomprehensible that Vinokourov could do such a thing when he must have known he was under suspicion because of his dealing with disgraced doctor Michele Ferrari in Italy. He must have known he would be tested at every opportunity and the time trial was the perfect occasion.

I remember first seeing this guy in a bike film called “The Collective” which was produced by, yep, The Collective. Since then he’s been on most bike radars whenever the talk of trials riders (nope, we’re not talking time trials here) comes up. Enjoy the clip.

My ski season is finally over. I blogged about it on the Backcountry.com Blog that I run. The camera is still broken so I had to “borrow” some images from SummitPost.org. With skiing on July 6 it meant that my 2006-2007 ski season was 9 months and 2 weeks long, or 307 days long. Not bad at all for what some would say was one of the worst ski seasons in recent history. Complainers!

In other skiing news Chris Davenport was up on Denali with a crew of skiers that included Nick Devore and photographer Adam Clark and they managed to ski a PILE of first descents and proud lines. What a coup. One of these days I want to climb and ski Denali – or just hang out at the 14,000′ camp and ski lines while bumming fuel and food off of climbers who are descending.  Check out the image of the lines that they skied by clicking above.

And lastly, I read a very sad story that reminded me how a good day of summer skiing can go tragically wrong in a hurry. My sincere condolences to Tom’s family and my sincere appreciation to Andy for posting this write up of a skier that was killed on Rollins Pass in Colorado. This sort of thing makes you think twice about the reprocutions of your actions in the hills. RIP Tom.

I couldn’t come up with a better title than just Fred Becky. The man is a legend among legends. It never ceases to amaze me what the guy has accomplished in his years on this earth when it comes to climbing rocks and mountains.

I was over at Patagonia.com looking at, stuff, and saw this photo on the front page:

Fred Beckey having the time of his life. Touchstone Wall, Zion National Park, Utah. Photo Credit : Eric Draper

One of Fred’s most popular climbs around these parts is the Little Cottonwood Classic, Becky’s Corner which at 5.7 is a great climb. Another of the countless Becky routes is the West Ridge of Prussik Peak (5.6) in Washington, a climb I’ve wanted to tick for years.

John Middendorf, author and big wall climber once said of Fred:

“Fred Beckey has been climbing since the mid 1930’s, and ever since his participation in the first ascent of Forbidden Peak in 1940, Fred has climbed countless first ascents all over the world. In America, Fred must be one of most prolific climbers in history, with probably over 1000 first ascents in North America alone. He was born in 1921 and climbs well to this day.”

Keep on Fred.

In lieu of a couple of blog posts that I’m working on that can’t seem to get out of draft format and a blog presentation that I’m putting the icing on (presenting “Blogging With Purpose” tomorrow at Senator Bennett’s Rural Utah Business Conference), I wanted to post a cool little map tool I found from ConnectBlogs.com via David Miller’s blog.

My mother-in-law would absolutely love this tool (are you reading Mom?) since for the past 8 or 9 years she and the rest of the family have had little maps on the fridge indicating all the states they have visited. She set out on her quest and would color in each state as she went, eventually getting all the states. She’s now working on Europe. Looking at my map below I’ve not been so fortunate in my travels.

Get your own personalized map of the United States at world66.com

Image Hint: You’ll have to resize the image for most blogs since it will be quite large.  The one above was easy to edit with the follow text in the img src code tag – width=”385″ – You can also take out the text links that world66.com included in the code that you cut an pasted.

In anticipation for next week when I’ll be hearing Seth Godin speak, who happens to be one of my favorite authors on business and marketing, I’m posting a video of him speaking about his previous book “All Marketers Are Liars”.

Enjoy this video of his presentation to some Google Employees, hosted of course on Google Video.