I importune readers once again to send in their photos, as the tank inexorably drops.
Today we have some diverse landscape photos by reader James Blilie, including some great mountain-climbing shot. His notes are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
These ones are landscape photos, sometimes including human figures.
First, a church doorway (St Bartholomew’s parish church) in Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, England. Also home to a fine pub: The Lord Nelson (2015):
The next one is a climber resting on the easiest route up Mount Stuart in the Washington Cascade Range, 9,415 ft (2,870 m), a huge exposed block of granite. I climbed this peak when I’d been living in Seattle only a few weeks (1984):
Then a view of Hell’s Canyon on the border of Idaho and Oregon. 1.5 times as deep as the Grand Canyon, though without the spectacular geology of the Grand Canyon (1987):
Next a view of the Isle of Hoy from Stromness, Orkney Islands (1992). I was fascinated by the dry stone walls around around the UK.
Next is a view of Mount Foraker (17,400 ft (5304 m)) taken from the 14,000-foot camp on the West Buttress Route on Mount McKinley (now officially Denali). We were attempting the peak and had the “worst weather since 1967” or something like that. It never went above 0°F (-18°C) for the three weeks we were on the mountain (May, 1987). The photo was taken at 2am – it never really gets dark in May at the latitude.
Next is a view of the Emperor Face of Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies (1981). We hiked in to Berg Lake to camp. Spectacular hike and location; but a long day of hiking uphill (and then down).
Then a view of climbers moving onto the edge of the Sulphide Glacier on Mt. Shuksan in the North Cascades of Washington, 1985.
Next, a view of one of the large Fjords in western Norway (2012). I’ve traveled pretty widely and I think the Norwegian Fjordlands are one of the most scenic places on Earth.
The next one shows my son Jamie on the “hiking” route up to a small chapel on a mountaintop in Seguret in the Vaucluse in France: Notre Dame de Aubusson. My wife said, “If you have to use your hands, it’s climbing, not hiking.”
The next one is a view of Sentinel Peak on the Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades, 1986. The shot is from Yang Yang Lakes.
Next is a view of St. Helen’s Passage, Oxford, England. 2015. I was standing next to an outdoor table of the Turf Tavern when I took this photo. I was having Real Ale and fish and chips. Yum.
JAC: The Turf is my favorite local in Oxford; they have at least 20 real ales on tap and yes, the fish and chips is (are?) great.
Lastly, a view of the eponymous cave at the Cave Stream Reserve between Porter’s Pass and Arthur’s Pass on the South Island of New Zealand. I’m sure you were very near this (if you didn’t get to visit it) during your recent trip to NZ. You can hike up through the cave and come out the other end after about a ½-mile underground. You are wading in the stream to dress appropriately and carry multiple light sources and watch the weather!
Wonderful photos, Jim, beautifully composed!
Excellent! Thank you for sharing.
Wow. I am officially Jonesing to travel. Great pics.
Excellent set of photos, just my sort of thing.
I also really like the Turf in Oxford, except that the ceiling is very low at one end and I *always* hit my head on it, even when I’m still sober and looking out for it.
I’d slightly disagree with your wife on definitions though, I’d say if you have to use your hands then it’s scrambling, if you have to use ropes then it’s climbing.
Cheers. For my wife, anything not flat is climbing! 😀
I climbed a few peaks along the Ptarmigan Traverse, including Dome Peak.
The final ridge to the summit of Dome Peak is pretty airy 500+ foot drop on each side):
http://www.berettaconsulting.com/barbarossa/Landscape/2010-05-16/1986-08%20Ptarmigan%20Trav%20Dome%20Pk%20Summit%20Rdg.jpg
A much younger and fitter me:
http://www.berettaconsulting.com/barbarossa/PtarmiganTrav/22SEP09/Ptarmigan%20Trav%20059c%20Aug-1986%20Me%20Dome%20Pk%20Summit.jpg
Young. And daring!!!
Great photos, James. You’ve had some interesting adventures.
These are great. Thanks for sharing!
Great shots, James. That spot near Mount Robson looks like a place where Nick Adams might make camp, and catch trout to eat for breakfast.
Is great. Can you substitute the subject with it or with they? Yes for it, ergo it is great. Fish & chips, THEY are great, sounds rather strange – they ARE great together, but otherwise that sounds as if they are both great separately.
Similarly government is a collective singular – an ‘it’ -NOT a plural ‘they’. The government says, the government decided … etc.
Making the same point as dom in a slightly different way.
Where two commonly linked items are treated as a single entity, it is grammatical to use a singular verb. Ham and eggs/fish and chips is a great meal. However, in everyday speech the plural noun immediately before the verb tends to trigger the plural verb form; listeners often don’t notice.
Congress – meaning the House and Senate – is collective, but you wouldn’t say that the House and Senate is meeting today in a joint session.
Just sent off my passport renewal so assuming I am allowed maybe I will go ho Hell’s canyon & visit friends in Oregon before I die!
Excellent and very entertaining photos. Thanks for submitting these and taking the effort of deciding which photos to submit. It seems you have an endless supply- which is a happy thought!
Cheers!
Evidence of many great adventures to beautiful places. Thanks for sharing.
“…Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies (1981)”
In 1981 up until September, I was living northwest of Cochrane, Alberta, and messing around in Banff, etc., quite a bit, including some in Jasper and adjacent B.C.
So it’s a small but non-zero probability we might have run into each other 40 years ago! We did camp at Berg, but can’t remember the timing. The big peak was clouded in though, as so often. IIRC it’s the highest in the provinces of Canada, but way lower than Logan on the Yukon-Alaska border.
We probably saw each other but had no clue!
“…large Fjords in western Norway (2012). I’ve traveled pretty widely and I think the Norwegian Fjordlands are one of the most scenic places on Earth.”
Agree 100%, though you’ve been more places than me. I think of that, maybe Lofoten is best of all. I’d still like to get up there again and this time rent a bike (too old for much else) or even electric bike if I wait too long! That’s somewhat north of the Arctic circle, but at sea level there are still good little farms, whereas you go up to the top away from the sea and it’s pretty near tundra.
Just this week in the World Nordic Ski Championships, I noticed that the 3 Norwegians who shut out the rest of the world for medals in the men’s sprint were all from near the west coast of Norway, bronze way up above the Arctic Circle, silver just a bit below Trondheim, and the famous 24-year old Klaebo from that city. Actually so far only two men in the rest of the world have got any medals, and those in the team sprint where of course Norway got the gold but can only enter one team. Actually the men’s relay was today, so that’s out of date, I’ll need to look.
Half of my Norwegian ancestors came from Lofoten. Haven’t been there yet. 😀. Yet.
Those stone drywalls were very likely built of necessity just as they were in the south of Sweden – to clear enough acreage for agriculture.
Yes. It’s just like that here in the US Midwest too! Rocks on the borders.
Love these photos!!! Thanks for sharing.