A dystopian family snapshot of fragments of the Wachtel clan circa Memorial Day 2006 - note the radical/comical foreshortening as well as an overall sense of haunting instability....
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
It's not often Cyclonauts that one actually, consciously risks one's life. Well sure there's the Tickler, and the Rusty Nail, Partyapalooza and every hut trip, night ride and 'quick spin up Sunshine' we've ever done but I mean risking your life for work, to make a buck and pay the rent. Well yesterday I journeyed to this haunted 100' h grain elevator near Chicago to evaluate for a potential climbing gym. Built in 1910 the building is basically a big pit where farmers would dump their corn thru huge iron louvers into a basement where it would get scooped up in buckets that travel thru large hollow columns 100' up to the attic. From there it's dropped into a hopper and distributed to each of the 21 grain shafts, each from 45'-100' deep. Even in 1910 OSHA must have shit its pants, today stepping foot into this building is akin to drag racing down Flagstaff on one of those ancient wheeled farm implements you see mouldering in abandoned fields. Freddy Krueger wouldn't venture here...Fun! Well up we go!
Two hours later, mentally exhausted from avoiding multiple missing manholes, grates and pipe openings leading to instant death (well instant in the 32'/sec/sec sense) and surrounded by ghosts (pity the poor guy who worked up here every day among the highly combustible grain dust) I contemplate my options...take wet ladder down 7 stories (note top of 95 year old metal ladder no longer attached to building) or...
Kinda hard to make out, since it's unrecognizable as what we would call an "elevator". Made in 1910 this creaky dark rust colored, oh, actually that's not paint, it's just REAL rust cage hangs from two cables roughly the size you would use to lock up your bike, if you were cheap. Below the 'floor' you can see a gap below which is about 75 feet of groaning horror as you descend the grain shaft, the rotten wooden guide track creaking as you push (and hold) the Down button and pray to whatever gods you hold dear.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
| Good to hear your not too badly hurt, and thanks for the great words in regards to Tickler 3. "Not being there I can't really comment on the level of suffering and decision-making at the Tickler 3 but I will say that no one should beat themselves up about participating. Stubborness, optimism, drive, ingenuity, gumption, willpower, strength and a thirst for adventure were all on display and it is these exact qualities that are in rare supply folks. I'm very proud of everyone of you who pushed on in the face of clearly diminishing returns, who suffered to reach an arbitrary goal dreamed up by a friend of little importance to outsiders. Most play it safe, leave a margin for error, wears an extra layer and watch what they say and in the process grow pale and bloated like a veal in a box, snug and secure, unthreatend and unchallenged right up until the butcher's block. It NOT stupid to go roaming off into the unknown, lost in the mountains in unrideable snow, hike-a-biking endlessly with friends in the silent, clean, crisp woods. What would have been stupid would have been to spend Sunday going to the mall, watching tv, driving to Home Depot, getting fatter instead of fitter and softer instead of more capable. Fuck that! I say congratulations and my admiration to every one of you who pushed on, who cracked a joke or helped someone else, who looked ahead at all the snow and thought "hmmm, maybe it will clear up around the corner"! That's the fucking spirit team, don't ever give it up! With that said I got completely creamed by a Jeep on my ride into work yesterday (Chocolate Thunder Pussy, sadly, is no more!) so the Indian Peaks Traverse may have to wait a few weeks. I got off lightly and will hopefully be fine in a few days time to join YOU out there, getting it on and throwing it down, in the very near future! Thanks for the inspiration friends, Matthew"  |
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
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Tickler 3 started promisingly enough...
(click on the photo to see all the pictures on Flickr)
(click on the photo to see all the pictures on Flickr)
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...and ended well. Chainsaw hammers for the safety of home - and to give MOA a tongue-lashing.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
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