A hero to many of us, Herb Conn has climbed his last rock climbing route and explored his last caving lead. On Feb. 1, 2012 he died from natural causes (probably prostate cancer) in his home near Custer, SD.

His smile and spark were strong to the end. His giggle was something to inspire us all. There are few men that combine the humble toughness his achievements attest to with the gentle good nature, and kindness worthy of a true hero.

 

As his friends will attest, Herb was ready to go and knew it was his time. He told me while I was over  at his place chopping firewood last fall that he was not sure anyone needs to live beyond 90 years. He managed to do it in style though. Few people in America live without electricity or running water by choice into their elder years. If you ever feel the need to try this…be sure to secure the devotion of a tough, and loving life partner. I can’t imagine either of the Conns would have been able to do what they did without the other. They were a team to the end. Jan told me that she was reading aloud to Herb while he rested during their last days together. It brings a warm tear to my cheek to recall the vision of Jan standing there in front of the Conn Cave (the name they have for their snug little home), telling me that the end was near, but that…. he still giggled when she read a funny passage.

Jan and Herb always seemed independent to their core. Herb floated through life living simply, leaving only survey marks and summit registers during his time here. If you have followed a Conn route up a Needles Spire and tried to imagine what it must have been like to do it 60 years ago, with only a hand full of pitons, dime-store tennis shoes, and a rope too short to rappel back down (so you’d have to down climb the route as well), it is hard not to be inspired, and empowered by what they did. If you trek into the dark depths of Jewel or Wind Cave following the carbide survey marks of this dynamic duo of yesteryear, you have adventured well!

Since 1948 they have called the southern Black Hills of SD home. They recorded over 220 first ascent summits and explored over 60 miles of Jewel Cave putting it on the map as a world class cave. Jan explained with a grin during an awards presentation that ‘tourism was the last thing on their minds as they explored and adventured back in the day,’ but if you travel where they once went…it is easy to understand the draw. The hidden treasures and beautiful sights they discovered will be sought out by generations of explorers to come.

The Black Hills was a perfect place for Herb’s love of math, maps and adventure. He spent countless hours seeking out places that no human had ever been. He and Jan filled in blank spots on the maps and drew maps of places no one ever dreamed existed.

Herb was no socialite and his isolated existence added to the mystery and romance of this Custer couple. We might well learn more about him post mortem than we knew while he was with us, as people who knew him over the decades share their experiences. One thing everyone seems to agree on, is that he had a beautiful smile, simple presence and sweet giggle…… that cast a spell upon us all.

Jan appears to be doing well and plans to continue living in the Conn cave and in her words "doing a few things Herb might not approve of."  She, like Herb still glows when you see her, and has a zest for life that everyone can love.  We look forward to enjoying new adventures with her.  She said she plans to write a bit about Herb and we hope to post that here too when she gets done with it.

 

Other links

Mountain Project

Rapid City Journal

Caving News

 KDLT news

Super Topo - where I stole the nice photo from

Sylvan Rocks Blog - 1

Sylvan Rocks Blog - 2

John Gill Website

Yeah, it's winter...and while it has been pretty nice here all winter, rock climbing time is still pretty limited.  If you have a climbing gym nearby to stay strong, I hope you are using it.  For the rest of us, here is a little video by John Sherman that will help make up for some rusty rock climbing muscles come spring, and get us on the right track for a great season. 

If you hang out around the Black Hills granite climbing areas, you might even see a few places that you have been as he filmed it right here in "Cheyenneville" or is that "John's Town."  Hard to tell....

Enjoy!  Climb Safe!

 

 

As many of  you know, the Access Fund is a great asses to climbers all across the country.  The Black Hills Climbers Coalition was formed many moons ago as a local chapter of the Access fund and they too hope to keep climbing alive and thriving here in the Black Hills.  We hope you are supporting members with your time and cash of both organizations.

Here is a nice little video of a few projects that the access fund did last year.

Top 10 Victories for the Access Fund in 2011.

1. Mobilized climbing conservation with the launch of the Access Fund-Jeep Conservation Team
2. Continued to strengthen the grassroots climbing advocacy network by hosting the National Access and Stewardship Summit
3. Prevented astronomical fee increases for climbing Mount Denali and Rainier
4. Fought for adequate funding for American parks and public lands
5. Awarded over $40,000 in grant money to support local climbing access and stewardship
6. Continued to push federal agencies for a clear policy to allow the use of Fixed Anchors in Wilderness
7. Expanded the Access Fund Land Conservation Campaign to support emergency stewardship action
8. Raised $75,000 to protect and steward Jailhouse Rock in California
9. Offered local climbing organizations the opportunity to leverage the infrastructure and administrative capabilities of the Access Fund with joint membership
10. Brought together individual climbers, leaders in the outdoor industry, and Access Fund board members past and present to celebrate our 20th anniversary

GO CLIMBERS!!!

Went out on the big town of Rapid City last night with my KLR motorcycle gang friends.  Had a great time watching guys rip it up on the Extreme indoor enduro races at the Rapid City Civic Center.

The obstacles were really pretty impressive.  The video below shows most of the track, but after riding through the culvert...they had them go out of the arena, up a couple flights of stairs, through the hallway and back down to the track.  It was wild to watch and I am sure a few of the racers are feeling some pain after last nights efforts. 

Hats off to Jessie Hanson from Rushmore Mountain Sports for racing in a few of the heats.  Glad to see that 2 kids are not slowing him down!

There were tons of wrecks, but I don't think anyone was seriously hurt.  Those big tires were crazy and the rocks and fire wood pile seemed like a sprained ankle or messed up knee waiting to happen.  What were they thinking?

Shot this little video on the new Iphone...pretty wild.

 

December, 2011 was a big month for us.  We did 2 things we'd never done before...and were pretty unsure about.  #1  We decided to try a Sams Club Membership.  I know, I can't believe it myself...the evil empire...the Devils House, but darn they have good cheap cheese.   And I can't goto Trader Joe's anywhere in a 5 state area around here, so we'll see how it works out.

 #2  We joined Netflix. Yes, we are a little Luddite like in that way, and plus we have never had a TV so it made it rather hard to enjoy.  We tied these two things together when we watched and highly recommend -   Dive - Living Off Americas Waste the other night, and boy did that bring back some good memories.  The dumpsters all looked the same.  I'm pretty sure we visited a few of the ones shown in years past.  Yes, its true, when we were spending 6 months a year on the road as Dirt Bags, we were Dumpster Divers too.  Cheryl loves a good dive more then most anything else.  Oh Boy...it sends shivers up her spine.  She revels in the randomness of not knowing what you are going to get and making due with what you find.  It was never as though we needed it all, but it was there, and good and just as the folks in the movie say, we felt just in taking and using trash that was otherwise destine to end up in the landfill.

 

Our friend Marcus said it best in his thick Boston accent.  "We are living like KINGS....outa da dumpster.  Truffles, here we are eating truffles outa the dumpster....."  and we were.  Glad to see it is still going on.....well, except for the fact that America waste so much food.  We were, and continue to be, amazed at all the waste.  Around here, the pickings are a little slim, but in the big cities there are bigger supermarkets, less locked dumpsters, and TONS AND TONS of food is tossed every night.  The movie said we waste 50% of the food in this country, and after living like kings outa the dumpster for months on end, I believe it, and can tell you that the footage in the movie is totally accurate. Just take a minute to think about that. You and I waste half of the food that is produced.  All the hungry people here in South Dakota......across America and around the world, and we are wasting 50% of the food we produce.  Amazing.  I recall one night we garbage picked something like 58 logs of perfectly good goat cheese.  The stuff was top shelf.  Really good.  The type of thing we really liked, but would have never spent money on for even one log.   And we ate and gave it away and ate and ate it as fast as we could.  It kept well, but in the end, we had that dilemma, we could not use or give away all it before some went bad.  It pained us to throw some of it away....even though we tried to remember that it had been trash once already.  Crazy world we live in.  So if you get a chance....take a Dive.  Enjoy the food and the flix. 

The trailer below is good, the whole documentary is better.  Watch it....think about it.

 

Dive! Trailer from Compeller Pictures on Vimeo.

 

 

Ran across this video from a FaceBook Friend.  It pretty well sums things up.  Live Simply and you can get by climbing for a lot of years.  Dirtbagging is something you have to give yourself to in order for it to work though.  If you aspire to do something else, that aspiration will eat at you and make it hard to fritter your time away in the middle of nowhere doing nothing but climbing and living the good life....., but if all you want to live for is the next sunset after a solid day of cranking..... being a dirtbag can pay huge dividends.  I've been there, I hung out with Alf a time or 2.  I met some awesome people, and climbed like a crazy man, but I was just a visitor to that lifestyle.  I was unable to cut loose and be that happy go lucky bum.  I look back at some of the chacters we met along the way and smile.  I know that a lot of them have, like Cheryl and I, moved on to more "adult" like lifestyles.  A few are still drifting down the highways to the next crag.  I knew a punk who kept all his earthly belongings in "that pile".....now he is gunna be fireman of the year or something crazy like that...house, wife, kids...the whole deal.   Crazy how things work out.  So as I get ready for another adventure, it warms my heart to think about all the friends and good times.   Cheers to all of you, all the places we went, the adventures we had, and friendship we shared.  Thanks for the good times.

 

 I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did.  LINK TO ALF SHOWING OFF "A DESERT LIFE" ON VIEMO.  DONE RIGHT AND WELL PUT TOGETHER BY Austin Siadak

 

You know... people always say that climbing is dangerous... then they gladly go out an do things like tubing.

 

 

I mean...yes, it's great fun for the whole family, but way outa control. 

Go check it out.  Have fun and tell me how it was.  I'll be here by my cube heater thinking about rock climbing in a warm place....or maybe ice climbing in a cold place....or maybe just heading to the beach.  Everyone needs some winter vacation time.

"Momma...don't let your babies grow up to be"..... loggers.  Don't let them cut trees down and swing those big saws....."make them be doctors and lawyers and such."  Cheryl and I have been out cutting trees on some friends land in an effort to slow the march of the mountain pine beetle there.  I have learned how hard it is to swing a chainsaw all day tipping over big beautiful..... soon to be dead ....pine trees.  With any luck though, some of the logs might find their way to the saw mill rather than getting chunked up into little pieces and left to rot.  If you need fire wood...boy do I have a deal for you.  I'll let you know where there is more wood then you can haul.

 I am not sure that this any of this work will do much to slow the infestation even on this little plot, but we feel like we are doing what we can.   With 455+ marked trees...the process seems endless, but believe it or not, the end is in sight.  There have been 3-4 of us working on it for a few weeks, and just like anything else....it happens one step, or tree at a time.  Most importantly, nobody has gotten hurt yet, and we hope to keep it that way. 

 

I tip them, Cheryl chunks them.

 

The little saw that could.

 

Tipping trees makes the Lorax sad.

 

Pretty crazy the speed of change one person and a chainsaw can cause in a few minutes.  My 20 inch bar was barely long enough to slay some of these monsters.  They have seen lots of change in their lives just as I will no doubt continue to see more change in my short lifetime.

Check out the new Mount Rushmore 3D computer models on the CyArk website.  I've had the opportunity to stand on George Washingtons head, and that was perhaps better then all the info I found on the new 3D mapping website, but I must admit, having all the world heritage sites laser scanned is pretty rad.

 

 Here is the official press release from the NPS.   Release Date: January 10, 2012

Launch of 3D Digital Portal Allows Virtual Access to Mount Rushmore
National Memorial

 

KEYSTONE, SD: Mount Rushmore announces the launch of a new digital portal,
http://archive.cyark.org/mount-rushmore-national-memorial-intro.  Beginning January 10, online visitors will have access to 3D models created through an innovative laser scanning process.

The digital portal features an array of rich multimedia material including an interactive virtual tour of the Memorial, navigable and measurable 3D “point cloud” models comprised of the billions of points collected by the laser scanners, and a large collection of historic photographs.

“With this innovative web portal, internet users around the world will be able to remotely access the Memorial, whether it is to plan a visit or to virtually explore unusual areas such as the Hall of Records,” said Superintendent Cheryl Schreier .

In May 2010, the National Park Service (NPS) collaborated with the Kacyra Family Foundation and CyArk, a non-profit organization dedicated to digitally preserving cultural heritage sites around the world, and the Center for Digital Documentation and Visualisation, a partnership between Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art. The laser scanning project also owes its success to important contributions from Respec Engineering, and Wyss and Associates, who worked to develop a geo-referenced control network that was used to tie all the laser scan data together.

CyArk founder, Ben Kacyra, said, “It is an honor for our organization to digitally preserve such an important monument to the American spirit for generations to come. The CyArk website gives free access to users across the globe, allowing them to experience Mount Rushmore alongside other culturally significant world heritage sites.” A variety of sites at Mount Rushmore National Memorial were laser scanned and photographed to capture the Memorial and create a highly accurate digital model. The resulting information was used in the development of media for physical preservation work, education and virtual visits.

Watch the portal for scanned data utilized in forthcoming projects including a collection of K-12 lesson plans available for download to use in the classroom. Lesson plans were developed during an education workshop bringing together the expertise of local high school math and art educators, NPS, and CyArk. Also in development is a new on-site exhibit at the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center where visitors will learn about the digital preservation process, see the equipment used as part of the laser scanning project, and explore the digital archive.

For further information regarding activities and events at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, please visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/moru. To learn more about the CyArk organization contact Elizabeth Lee, Elizabeth.lee@cyark.org at 510-832-5440.

Change on a landscape scale is difficult for us short lived humans to see and understand sometimes.  It is happing in the Black Hills with the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation.  If you have seen the brown pine trees spreading across the hills you have seen the result of the Mountain Pine Beetle passing through.  Something else is happening in South Dakota. 

The prairies of eastern South Dakota have long been known for awesome pheasant hunting.  As some of you know, I have been learning to hunt over the past few seasons.  I have had such a great time laughing and traveling with friends chasing birds.  It of course saddens me greatly to think that I may have already seen my greatest hunting seasons.  An article in the Kansas City Star does a great job of sharing some of the causes of why the prairies that make such good hunting and great wildlife habitat are being plowed up to grow food and fuel for a world that is exploding in population.

One comment I disliked in this article was how it singled out farmers of being greedy.  I think it is unfair to put that blame on only farmers as they are just doing what our society expects of them.  They are succeeding in business.  Unless you are the type to live off the grid growing your own food and not having any children....every one of us shares the blame for vast prairies being plowed under to create food.  Anyhow, I will let you read and judge for yourself.  Article Link.