Doug stands triumphant on Cotapaxi's summit

The Frog

The true Frenchy in Doug finally came out. Look at the above picture and observe all the tell-tale signs of classic European style. The violet pants, the red gloves, the face-covering balaclava, and the matching teal jacket. If the picture had a smell you would be sure to recognize the aroma of a bi-monthly showerer. In his best Parisian accent he can be heard saying, "This mountain is sheet! They are bieger and beTTer in France."

Full moon sunrise on Cotapaxi

Cotapaxi cherries

Doug's first mountain. Applause please. Some people climb nearby hills, some climb trees, but no. Doug would have none of that hogwash. He wanted a real challenge. Say go to the equator and climb a 5,897m peak - the 2nd highest in Ecuador. Do it with only 3 days of acclimatization, and do it without any training save his drinking arm. That would be impressive enough for most people, but no, it wasn't enough for this rugged adventurer. He wanted to do the whole thing in 2 days and in the rain. He got his wish. I wasn't pleased with this last request, but some people enjoy misery, like staring at a mathematical models of radiology for a year.

Trouble awaits

Ultra secret recon mission

Doug ventures into the Ecuadorian National Defense area in broad daylight to investigate illegal use of NASA-provided radio telescopes to support renegade drug cartels. Will he survive the mission? We can only hope he knows what he's doing.

Mating male frigate bird in flight

If you've got it, flaunt it

Bigger really is better... at least for the frigate birds. Their inflatable gular sac is as big as the rest of their body and is used to attract females during mating season. If female frigates could talk you could hear them saying, "Dear God, look at the size of that thing! It's so big and red." Such is the life of the frigate bird. To be a celebrity you have to get used to being stared at.

Blue-footed booby & its baby (left)

Boobies everywhere!

I love boobies. You love boobies. Everybody loves boobies. These adorable creatures usually come in pairs - and the Galapagos is no exception. Here they come in the blue-footed, red-footed, and masked variety. Here however, is a varietable Utopia where all the colors live together in peace and happiness. There is no shortable of boobies of any kind. It really is like Valhalla (heaven in the Norse tradition).

Up close and personal with sealions

It takes two to Tango

Playing alone isn't as much fun as having a partner. So says the fur seals (actually sealions & not seals) of the Galapagos. It's a tough life to be a sealion. You have to catch fish for at least two hours a day, which only leaves about 10 hours to play in the water, and 12 hours to sleep on the beach. These adorable guys really want you to dig their lifestyle and convert you to it. They want to play with you more than an 4 year-old only child, and they know all the good games - wrestling, tag, keep away, hide & seek - only they have little patience and know you can't win no matter how close they get. Bigger, stronger, faster, more mobile, and needing fewer breathes is a hard combo to beat. They grabbed Doug's fins, came within inches of my face, and did underwater somersaults around us. Tell me again why humans think we're the smartest creatures on Earth?

Reflections of Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier is bigger than you think

Or I thought for that matter. 14,400 feet is not very high. But when you consider that it's a 10,000 foot gain from the base and that almost 90% of that is glaciated you begin to get the picture.

If you ask most triathlon coaches, they probably won't tell you that climbing the countries 2nd largest mountain isn't the best way to cool down a week after your first Ironman. But what the hell, I don't have a coach.

For a week my parents, my brother, and I cruised around the Pacific Northwest from Seattle to Victoria to Olympia seeing Orcas playing in the Puget Sound, kayaking, hiking, and drinking wine. We spent two days hiking at Mt. Rainier and had great weather - we were pumped to start our climb the next day.

So Kumar, Brian, and I started up the mountain. And weather hit us in the face. As soon as we got on the glacier it started raining on us and got worse from there. We barely made it to Camp Sherman in time to set up camp and eat dinner before it was dark. Our plans to summit that morning were foiled by the monsoon-like rain that battered us for the next 6 hours keeping us and every other climber on the mountain in our tents. Because we all had flights out on the next day we had to go back down. But Rainier isn't going anywhere, and we'll be back soon. Hopefully, I can spend 2 weeks climbing Hood, Adams, Baker, and of course, Rainier next summer.