I ran across this a while ago, but never did anything with it. This morning, I plugged in the RSS feed for my blog into Wordle, which spits out an image with major words (i.e. no “and,” “a,” “the,” etc.) with size dependent on the frequency of each word’s respective use. It’s interesting what came out of it.

…and buying. With the Rainier trip a mere four and a half weeks away, I’m starting to go into overdrive on figuring out what I need, what I don’t need, how to carry it, how cold I’m going to be, what my 30,000 calories of food should consist of, if we’re going to be able to bed down in the shelter at Camp Muir or not, and I’m buying a lot of crap that I’ve been getting by without for a while. Some things I would’ve bought soon anyway, like the 0 degree down sleeping bag or the AT soles for my ski boots. Some I probably would’ve held off for another season, like the down jacket I’ve got coming. And of course, there are things I wouldn’t have purchased at all, like snow pickets, pulleys, a bunch of ‘biners, a second battery for my Canon 30D, and an expedition sled to drag all this crap half way up the mountain. It should all be worth it though, as in a month I’ll have a winter ascent of Rainier under my belt – assuming the weather cooperates.

I can’t wait.

I’m in training for the week, and although it’s only 15 minutes from home, the hours are long and they put us up in a hotel right alongside I-225. As I’m sure you all know, I-225 is a disaster and can have traffic jams at 4 in the morning in the summer. Last night came with snow and subzero temperatures, so 225 was sure to be in terrible shape. Not at all to my surprise, this is what I saw when I rolled out of bed at 6:45 this morning.

Traffic was at a crawl. It was cold, dark, and early. And all I had to do was throw on some clothes and head downstairs to breakfast.

I’ve set some ambitious goals for the year, and it’s about time that I put them down in text so I can see how well I do, and maybe help me keep on track.

One lofty goal that is a big question mark at this point is skiing from the summit of Gannett Peak, the highest point in Wyoming. This is a long trek at over 20 miles each way, but would be a blast. It’s likely that at least three days would be required, plus the 450+ mile drive just to get there.

Rainier is of course on the list still, with exact route and date still undetermined. The plan has varied between Fuhrer Finger to Liberty Ridge to one of the standard routes, so who knows.

I’d like to ski several of the more interesting 14ers this spring, and I’ve met some guys who are pretty ambitious as well so this should go well. Maroon is on the top of the list, and I’m looking forward to a descent of Longs and Torreys as well.

I’ll be riding the century at Elephant Rock again which should be easy enough, and I’m thinking about doing another 100+ miler in the mountains as well.

I intend to do at least four full-weekend backpacks over the summer, locations undetermined.

Finally, I want to start looking seriously at a Himalayan trip. I won’t be going this year, but if I can get to Ama Dablam (6,856m) in 2010 rather than Denali, I’ll be beyond thrilled. Time is similar, cost isn’t that much more, and the payoff is far greater.

Year to date, I have biked to work 85% of the time. I anticipate this will increase to upwards of 90% as the year goes on. With a round-trip commute of 9.5 miles and assuming 50 5-day work weeks and sustained 90% biking (as it’s easy to drive less than twice a month), I’ll have 2,137.5 miles of commuting by bike. That’s approximately 85.5 gallons of gas saved (at 25mpg), which at a $2/gallon average is $171. Not a ton of cash, but given that it gives me 35 minutes of exercise every day on top of whatever else I do, it will help keep me in great shape.

In other news, I’ve been thinking about my Rainier plans lately. It’s a beautiful mountain and I know I’ll climb it eventually, I’m considering saving the money and time off that it would require, and planning a guided trip to the Himalayas instead. There appear to be many 2-3 week options that would cost a few thousand dollars. Triple the time off and triple the cost, for a trip that should be far, far more rewarding. I may even push Rainier to the summer and do it over a long weekend for much less money than a spring climb of Liberty Ridge would take. We’ll see.

Tomorrow night I’ll finally earn my Irish Snug Running Club shirt. I’m looking forward to it, even though that place has become a charlie foxtrot, packed with people who don’t actually run, just get primped for a night out and put on activewear instead of typical bar clothing. I’m enjoying Slattery’s run far more than the Snug lately.

Sunday should be a good day up on Berthoud Pass. I can’t wait.

Denver’s forecast was 20% chance of precipitation, with 1/2″ – 1″ of total snow accumulation. I woke up to see a few inches on the ground, and by the time the storm moved out, there was as much as 6″ accumulated. The road that heads by my workplace towards the highway (from a mile or two away) was a parking lot until at least 10:30am.