meanwhile back at the ranch ....... (@ home in TN)

Well I have been home for over 2 months now and figure its time for a post. Just because I quit traveling doesn't mean that I have quit climbing on the contrary since I have been home I have gotten even more exposure.

It starts with "Country Christmas" at the Opryland Hotel. Every year they decorate the place and Convention Production Rigging hangs all of the Christmas lights, globes, bear, pandas ... you name it and thanks to the help of my buddies Mark McKinney and Richard Amend (owner), I got to help. These are some shots of us hanging lights in the high steel. We are currently taking all of this back and out. I can't thank Richard enough for working me on these gigs. The work has provided a much needed income on a temporary basis.

Unfortunately, you can’t work all the time so I have gotten in little rock climbing as well. These are shots from Tennessee Wall. T Wall is a trad crag in Chattanooga with tiered roof sandstone; its like sport climbing on gear.

I have also been fortunate to get on some big stuff. Since Mark and I have been working together, our work schedules are pretty much the same and we have taken advantage of that to do couple of winter ascent wall routes at Looking Glass Rock in North Carolina. Loaded with warm clothes, hot tea, a porta-ledge and ½ dozen screamers; we went to work on Rowin’s Route (A2+) with the Blonde Ambition finish (A3). Rain kept up from finishing the slab top out but we didn’t feel cheated. Carolina aid climbing grades are stiff and 2 days of rusty heads was plenty. This is a sunrise shot from the porta-ledge. (Aid climbing is when you use gear – pitons, cams, nuts, copper heads, ect.- to advance up the wall. Typically aid climbs are steeper to over hung, blank walls)

Next we roped up for the Scott Fisher Memorial (5.10, A3) put up in 1997 after the many deaths (Scott Fisher included) on Mt. Everest in 1996. Again we were kept from topping out but this time it was from melting ice which had collected on the upper slabs and rained over us for the 2 days we were on the wall. We completed 3 pitches of A2+ climbing to get just below the last bulge which protected us from the ice fall above. (Aid climbing also takes a lot of stuff and it was cold and it’s a short approach, ect….)

All of this of course has been worked in and around the holidays which was the main reason I came home. I have really enjoyed being home to reconnect with friends and spend time with my family. One of the ways the family gets together is duck hunting on my step father's farm and cabin. It has been nice to have the flexibility to spend a lot of time at the farm cabin. Time spent not only hunting but preparing, repairing and lots of eating. This is shot of the bottom and our blind. Good times.

So what’s next? Montana, the University of Montana in Missoula to be exact. I begin classes to pursue a Masters in Economics this spring. My end goal is to work in some type of sustainable development practice working to drive value in development rather than development for developments sake. My background with TVA has turned me on to the possibilities in Economic Development and I'd like to take it further. I hope to incorporate resource, environmental and ecological concerns into our ever evolving economic system … and do some backcountry skiing, climbing and mountaineering along the way.

I hope this finds everyone healthy, wealthy and wise for the New Year and I looking forward to hearing from you all.

Parting shot, duck hunting can really be tough. You must always stay alert.
(Harden Battels, nephew)