Playing video games is extremely weird.  Really.  But, I guess I don't have anything profound to say on the matter.

You're dead.

Aristotle's Empis

In 300 B.C., Aristotle referred to mosquitoes as "empis" in his "Historia Animalium" where he documented their life cycle and metamorphic abilities. 

The mosquito life cycle

"During the sloughing of the skin an inner layer comes to the surface, for the creature emerges just as the embryo from its afterbirth.  All insects that slough at all slough in the same way; as the silphe, and the empis or midge, and all the coleoptera, as for instance the cantharus-beetle..."

"...The cicada the moment after issuing from the husk goes and sits upon an olive tree or a reed; after the breaking up of the husk the creature issues out, leaving a little moisture behind, and after a short interval flies up into the air and sets a chirping."

Another nugget of Aristotle wisdom from Historia Animalium:

"All insects, without exception, die if they be smeared over with oil; and they die all the more rapidly if you smear their head with the oil and lay them out in the sun."

No matter what you say, that's pretty cool.

Joshua Tree: Top 15 Tick List

 I have been wasting disastrous amounts of time pouring over routes on mountain project.  My hands are sweating.  So, I've decided to put together a Top 15 Tick List for this 2011-12 Joshua Tree season.

Here she be:

Fen traversing the dike on Pope's Crack (Original Route)

1)   Damn Jam tick! (5.6) Hidden Valley Campground 

2)   Bird of Fire -- (5.10a) Split Rocks
3)   Solid Gold -- (5.10a) Wonderland of Rocks

4)   Popes Crack Direct -- (5.10b) Echo Rock

5)   Chemical Warfare -- (5.10b) Barker Dam Area

6)   Caught Inside on a Big Set -- (5.10b) Wonderland of Rocks

7)   Figures on a Landscape -- (5.10b R) Wonderland of Rocks

8)   Clean and Jerk -- (5.10c) Real Hidden Valley

9)   O'Kelly's Crack -- (5.10c) Echo Rock

10)   Piggle Pug -- (5.10c) Wonderland of Rocks

11)   EBGB's -- (5.10d) Echo Rock

12)   Imaginary Voyage -- (5.10d) Lost Horse

13)   Swept Away -- (5.11a) Echo Rock

14)   Coarse and Buggy -- (5.11a/b) Roadside Rocks

15)   Hot Rocks -- (5.11b) The Outback

I will update this with the dates as these routes go down... so psyched!

Mosquitoes Need More Than Hope

Women wait with their children at a hospital in western Kenya

Malaria is one of the major public health issues in western Kenya and 91% of the one to three million deaths due to malaria worldwide occur in sub-Saharan Africa.  Considerable amounts of funding and research effort has gone into malaria interventions ranging from vaccine and transgenic mosquito development to bed net delivery to reduce malaria vector (mosquito) populations.  It is becoming increasingly evident that there may be no “silver bullet” for the eradication of malaria, and, regardless of the success of other measures, sustainable means for malaria control will only be attained in conjunction with sustainable malaria vector control.

Since 1980, a series of major malaria epidemics has occurred in Kenya’s western highlands. The Kenyan highlands are the most productive area in agriculture in the country due to abundant rainfall. On the other hand, human populations in the highlands have also increased rapidly. Such a rapid increase in human population has caused dramatic changes in the environment, and environmental change, together with global climate change, have been implicated as one important mechanism for malaria resurgence in the region. Environmental changes, such as temperature, humidity and habitat availability can significantly affect mosquito abundance, which in turn affect malaria transmission intensity.  Recent studies suggest that land use changes, such as deforestation, strongly enhance the productivity of malaria vectors, and thus malaria transmission. This is because deforestation exposes aquatic habitats to sunlight, resulting in increased water temperatures. Further, exposure to sunlight may induce changes in the microbial communities that mosquito larvae use for nutrition. Currently, there is little known of how microbial communities in aquatic habitats are regulated by exposure to sunlight and organic nutrients, nor of how mosquito larvae respond to microbial community changes in larval habitats.    

 

Surveying larval habitats in the western Kenyan highlands

Understanding the environmental conditions of successful mosquito development is paramount in establishing vector control strategies to reduce malaria transmission. The microbial ecology of larval mosquitoes is poorly understood, but it may play a vital role in mosquito development. In my work, I examine how land use affects the microbial communities in larval habitats and how microbial communities of aquatic habitats regulate larval populations.  Understanding how land use affects microbial communities and mosquito growth will help to develop rational agricultural and environmental policy, and to develop compelling education programs to policymakers and community members to adopt land use strategies that continue economic and agricultural development while keeping malaria vector populations in check.

2011-12 Joshua Tree Season Begins!

Going for it on Bearded Cabbage

Flailing on Bearded Cabbage

Great season opener weekend at Joshua Tree!  Good people and good times.  I ticked a few new ones: Ball Bearing (5.10a, linked both pitches), Pope's Crack (5.9) and the iconic Bearded Cabbage (5.10c).  I had been hesitant to get on Bearded Cabbage in the past, but Ben and I laid siege to it on Sunday.  I thought I might send.  Nope!  On the first go I swung my hand over into the crack and thought "Oh, that wasn't so hard." A few seconds later I was dangling on the end of the rope.  It's the transition of getting the second (right) hand in.  On the second go I managed an insecure jam that got me in, but I pitched off again before I could get established. Finally, I fully committed to the jam and made a couple of semi-desperate jams to a great stance in the crack.  Hard (burly) move, but I think I could figure out some alternative beta.  After that the business is over, but don't forget to enjoy the moves because this hand crack alone would make for something of a classic...

Sending Bearded Cabbage (kind of)!

I also repeated ascents of: Stichter Quits (5.7, Nathan lead), Touch and Go (5.9), Fote Hog (5.6, Nathan lead), Hobbit Roof (5.10d, Ben lead), and Toe Jam (5.6, Ben in approach shoes lead).  Great weekend out!

Nathan firing Stichter Quits (5.7). 120', 4 bolts.

Tahquitz Season 2011

Tecates for all at the Tahquitz summit

It seems like the temps are really starting to come down in the mountains.  With no upcoming prospects of getting back to Idyllwild's Tahquitz Rock, it may be the end of the 2011 Tahquitz season.  But don't despair-  J-tree is also cooling down and we should be seeing climbing temps in the next couple of weeks!  Psyched!

Let's look at the season rundown for Tahquitz.  I got back to California in mid-September after six months in East Africa (~1 month ago).

Left Ski Track (5.6, 3 pitches), Dahlia Midge and Elijah Whippsalm. DM lead all three pitches. Bravo.

The Long Climb (5.8, 6 pitches), Elijah Whippsalm* Great day out! Full value climb with E-dub!

El Camino Real (5.10, 3 pitches), Fen Beintzeig* Pitch 3 is a long, sustained layback. Excellent.

Right Ski Track (5.9, 2 pitches), Fen Beintzeig* Cool sequence when the crack runs out on P1...

Super Pooper (5.10a/b, 3 pitches), Fen Beintzeig*  Froze my ass off.

The Vampire (5.11a, 4 pitches), Fen Beintzeig*  Amazing. See previous post.

Coffin Nail (5.8, 2 pitches (linked to Traitor Horn)), Fen Beintzeig. One star in the guidebook? Really?

Traitor Horn (5.8, 2 pitches), Fen Beintzeig. I was scared on the traitor horn traverse, but my lead head is back now, I think.

* first time up the route

Dahlia scopes out the ski tracks

The Vampire

Tahquitz Rock, California

Amazing position on Tahquitz Rock up the one of the most improbable lines.  Ben Feintzeig and I got on it this past Sunday (Oct. 16th, 2011).  Although we flailed our way up the bat crack it is, without a doubt, five star rock climb.

 ----

Approach (2 pitches): From the base of the Trough head up and left to the large ledge with trees.  Belay here.  Then head up and left into a corner with several cracks (5.6) to "Vampire Ledge."  You could easily simul-climb this whole approach.

The route.  Straight up the guts of Tahquitz Rock.  Look at it!  
The first two pitches are approaches to P1.

Pitch 1: The Bat Crack.  We did the classic, non-direct start.  The direct start does not increase the grade, but is more sustained (and we heard there is a lot of bat crap). Getting into the Bat Crack from Vampire ledge is certainly funky, and it requires a 10' down climb (a bit spooky if it's your first time, but it's all there).

If you want to place something when you get into the crack, you will need to walk up your gear (#1BD) until you get a little above your belayer in order to avoid rope drag.  It's slammer hands for some way and then gets to fingers-- this is where the pump really begins to  set in.

A fixed piton is found through strenuous moves before the 1st rest above.  A short interesting section when the crack widens, and you're forced to clip a bolt off of two flat holds on the right side of the crack.  The next sequence requires a semi-desperate move with a high step and a precarious left-hand finger lock (or jam).  It seems that Fen always finds finger locks while I usually find jams.

Save some juice for the 5.10d mantle to the chains.  Place something high on right to protect the move (#2 or 3BD works great).  Pumpy, awesome pitch.

Ben starting up the Bat Crack

Protecting the mantle move (over the white streak)

Pitch 2: A three or four move traverse sequence off of sharp crimps and friction footholds leads to a thin crack out left.  I adjusted my feet here and slam dunked my right hand above my left hand onto the flake (jug).  The sequence here is rated 5.11a and fall at this point would land you back at the belay (PG).

Now prepare yourself for some of the best, most exposed 5.10 flake moves you'll ever do.  Gear and fun abundant.  This pitch is so very good.  Follow the flakes up until you can traverse out left on a hand rail to a bolted hanging belay.  

Me nearing the end of P2. Exposure!

Pitch 3: Head back to the flake and up a few moves to a bolt up on the right face.  A short steep sequence on marginal crimps/scrimps (5.11a) brings you through some delicate moves up a lower angle thin crack.  Continue up to easier terrain with good gear and a hanging belay in an obvious alcove.

This was the technical crux (I fell following this pitch), but my personal crux remains the endurance first pitch, The Bat Crack.

Pitch 4: Take the crack on the left up through two roof sections.  Looks somewhat improbable from the belay, but turns out to be no harder than 5.8 to the top.  I kept waiting for a heinous friction slab...

Just out: Profile of malaria mosquito gut microbiome

Full article available here