Wha Gwan S-Benz?

2/4/2011

High 38, Low 18.
.5" of Snow

Still very icy, now just a light dusting of snow on top of it so you can't see where it's icy. Stayed up late finishing 'A Farewell to Arms' last night. Bottling some more kombucha today. The IPA that was brewed came out really well, one of my most successful homebrews.
I've got about 1800 miles of trail planned starting march 24th through France and Spain, with plenty of extra time to romp around. The weathers going to be a lot different than it was for me 2010, I was stuck in rain, snow and clouds a lot last year. I've been told to start an email list or something to keep people updated, we'll see. As for now, I've got to plan my europe car wash / bake sale fundraiser.
All the trails are broken except for trillium, there's still some freezing rain coming throughout today and tonight. I might try to go down trillium tomorrow, we'll see.

Meet Sodium Benzoate, my raucous, mice eating neighbor. Or,
S-Benz for short.

tyler

2/4/2011 12:23:22 am

hey is it rough coming up the alum cave trail? also boulevard to icewater springs? i wanna make a loop tomorrow and camp up at icewater shelter. any books yo want to be dropped off?

Travis Quick

2/4/2011 12:38:03 am

How'd you come up with the S-Benz name? As a chemist, I'm curious. :) Thanks for taking the time to do this blog. Great to see the conditions on the mountain daily.

Ronnie

2/4/2011 02:18:55 am

May hikeing partner came up rainbow saturday and went down trillium said he was in snow three feet deep one place took two and half hours to go three and half miles ,tske care up there I always check this sight every day have'nt been up there since 05 hope to come up this year.

sandee link

2/4/2011 04:31:39 am

ohhh what kind of bird is S-Benz, and like Travis, I would like to know how you came up with that name?

PAULA

2/4/2011 05:40:07 am

A REALITY SHOW FROM UP THERE WOULD BE LOTS AND LOTS BETTER THAN MOST OF WHAT WE SEE HERE I WOULD BET YOU WOULD GET LOTS OF REQUEST TO BE SPECIAL GUEST ON "YOUR" SHOW PICS ARE GREAT, KEEP THEM COMING ISAIAH 41:13

Dana O

2/4/2011 05:48:08 am

I always enjoyu a good mystery. Let’s see sodium benzoate is used as a preservative; it’s used to kill bacteria, yeast and fungi. It’s used in fireworks as a fuel part of the whistle mix. It’s used to stop fermentation in wine. There is concern about whether or not is may harm DNA and could be a cause of cancer. I say the name is either random or based on the killing quality of the chemical.

Dana O

2/4/2011 06:50:51 am

Just looking at size and shape I wonder if this mouse eater is a crow?

Wanda

2/4/2011 08:20:45 am

Would love to see you continue a blog during your upcoming trip! Love all your photos. S.Benz looks bigger then a crow?

Rod link

2/4/2011 08:47:13 am

Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.

Meg

2/4/2011 09:03:57 am

A blog while you travel Europe would be great! I'd love to see the world through your lens. We valley inhabitants romanticize your life and wish we could cut loose our strings and travel too. Since we can't, you do it for us.

VIcky

2/4/2011 10:00:32 am

Great pictures today, as usual. Would love to follow your blog thru Europe. I have to say I've never gotten into a blog before now. But every day I can't wait to see what's going on up there. Getting to LeConte for a few minutes is like a little meditation. Wonderful memories and a completely different world. A parallel universe for sure. Please write more if you can.

Ernie

2/4/2011 03:56:18 pm

If you like Hemingway and you’re going to travel Spain and France, you must read The Sun Also Rises. Keep in mind that, among its other themes, Hem is thumbing his nose at Prohibition in the US. For Whom the Bell Tolls is another entertaining read about the Spanish Civil War, although not exactly historically correct. Ironically, A Farewell To Arms is considered extremely accurate. Hemingway did not experience the battle of Caporetto first hand; he dug up his material for the book through research after the war. He tried to enlist in the US Army for WWI, but was turned down due to poor vision, so he joined the Italian ambulance corps. He only served a month before his knee was blown to smithereens in a trench. It was while recovering in a hospital in Milan that he met Agnes von Kurowski, fell in love and then she broke his heart by marrying an Italian officer. She became the model for Catherine Barkley in AFTA. The irony is that Hemingway did serve as a journalist for an extended period of time during the Spanish Civil War and came under fire and shelling numerous times. And even though it is not exactly accurate, FWTBT is a whale of a novel. You’ll like the mountain hiking scenes – with heavy packs full of dynamite. I think of them every time I’m clambering up some mountain like Le Conte. In Our Time, a book of short stories and snippets, also contains powerful reminiscences from WWI. It contains the famous stories “Big Hearted River, Parts 1 & 2”. These stories chronicle Nick Adams’ (a recurrent Hemingway character) backpacking trip in Michigan as therapy for relief from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from WWI, although that term had yet to be invented, it was called shell shock. It demonstrates that although equipment changes, not much has really changed in mankind’s seeking refuge from the ills of civilization in the woods. Powerful stuff. Be careful and take your raven as a good omen.

Cindy Wisnieski

2/5/2011 02:15:00 pm

Love your Mt. LeConte Blog...I hope you blog thru Europe...your photos are incredible; you add so much enjoyment and knowledge of winter at LeConte! Love S-Benz!!

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Wha Gwan S-Benz?

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