• Monday-What'sUP June 12 - 03:47 am

Don't try this at home!! You know I had to start with that disclaimer, before I could elaborate on today's array of photos from Grant Soehnel. He sent me these three shots from Silver Mountain over in the Ontonagon area, where Grant and company recently did a little mountain climbing. I've never been afraid of heights, but even with the safety line attached, you wouldn't find me scaling any steep walls like that. So I'm in awe of folks that are able to tackle a mountain like this. Too bad Grant didn't have a camera strapped on him, so that we could get a glimpse of the view he had once he made it to the top!

Great shots!

I could not have done that in my wild days, let alone now, when it is a chore "climbing" out of bed.

jonesey

Wow.. I have always wanted to rock climb but never had the chance. It was on my list of things to do before 50! LOL but so was jumping out of a plane which I haven't done either. I guess I will have to just walk the beaches along the shores of Lake Superior and look for Rock outcroppings.

Nice to have you back Mary!

Not exactly in the "feat" book I own. Just too scary for a 60" round tubby to attempt. Great job guys.

Oh my! I can't even imagine. The view from the top must have been spectacular though.

Welcome back, Mary!

Don't have to worry about me trying that here.... we have no hills, let alone mountains, around this area!!!

That sort of thing would spell trouble for me, not because I couldn't do it, but I'd be too busy looking at the features in the rock to worry about finding my next foothold or grab point!!

some friends and I climbed the face of the Houghton Douglas Falls on the way to Calumet from Lake Linden. No lines, no safety measures. What young fools we were!!! Good thing our parents didn't know about some of the things we did.

I "hiked" down the front of Bond Falls back in the day. Not sure I would try that now.

When my Dad kept ship on the boats my Mom, sister & I would go too. I climbed the ladder to the boat many times like nothing then. But for some reason we couldn't use the ladder one day & we had to walk across a plank from the dock to the deck of the boat & OMG I froze. I couldn't & wouldn't move!! My Dad had to come & take me by the hand to help me across. I was about 12 years old. And I am still afraid of heights. No ferris wheel for me either!!! To be young & not afraid of anything hey!!!!!!

Also glad to see you're back Mary. Hope your Mom & Kevin are feeling better.

Welcome back,Mary!!!!We missed you!

Whoops -forgot to add the rest of my message. I love the photos! It looks scarey but challenging too!

That is one activity I will never do! My Brother has done it with my uncle in the keweenaw, I stayed back at the farm that day.

Hi
When we were building our place up north more than a decade ago, I was up on ladders & scaffolding (& ladders ON scaffolding)with caution but not nervousness. Cotton, I even "walked the plank" while we were working on the cathedral ceiling in our living room: we had a gap between the upstairs balcony and the scaffolding that we put a 2x10 between. But just yesterday, I went up a ladder to my parents' roof to help clean out the eavestrough...and there was nervousness all over. I guess when you get older you think too much.

How do we view Grant's photos on his gallery page? Oh, I forgot, the software is still not working. Couldn't the old software just be restored so we can view recent and not so recent 2007 photos in the archives? I might even buy a pasty if that could happen.

Kathryn/Kathy...could it be because we're older AND wizer? Life experience does make one realize what might go wrong. Bt it was fun wasn't it when we didn't have much sense hey?...another Kathryn/ms katie Good to have you back Mary

Kathryn/Kathy...could it be because we're older AND wizer? Life experience does make one realize what might go wrong. Bt it was fun wasn't it when we didn't have much sense hey?...another Kathryn/ms katie Good to have you back Mary

I hope everyone realizes that these guys are all tied off and in harnesses. If anything should happen the rope will keep them from getting hurt ( besides scratches and bruises). It's still extremely energy consuming! I've climbed a few times and it's definitly worth getting in shape for!

I forgot.. if anyone is interested in climbing something like this, Wildman's Whitewater ranch does guided rock climbs in Norway, MI. You can go rafting and climbing in the same day! Check out www.wildmanranch.com for more info.

Don VanVliet (Flashgordansape): 01:26 pm:
"How do we view Grant's photos on his gallery page?"

Just click on the link (his name) in the first post of the day (Mary's)!

I should have said "how do we view THESE photos in his gallery". Most of you are into the jive, I am into downloading these fine pictures for my screensaver and backgrounds, and nothing posted in the last few months is viewable in the archives.

Those are nice pictures. Two of my sons & my husband have enjoyed "rock climbing" on the climbing wall at the community center, in the gym, which I suspect is a whole lot different from rock climbing "in the wild".

People who climb rocks like this are probably harnesed and tied off, that's true. BUT, there have been a number of climbing accidents all over recently, both in the US (mainly western states) & abroad. These accidents are usually caused by the climbers' equipment not be knotted correctly or otherwise failing. In addition, I was reading just last week that Yosemite National Park (eastern Calif) has an average of about 15 deaths every year, in just that one national park; many of those deaths were people trying to rock climb up the sheer cliffs or climb near cold, swift waterfalls and lost their footing, etc. The park rangers & specialized rescue people have to risk their own lives every time they go out, trying to save those people.

I agree with those of you who mentioned that we are older and wiser now, or that we know too much!!! Rock climbing is not my cup of tea.

I forgot to mention that I used to climb all over platform gratings on top of rail cars full of plastic granules, as well as up many, many ladders all over the plastics production plants. The height didn't bother me then, but it did bother me to look down thru the 1-inch gratings at the ground that was sometimes 4 or more stories down. I could look straight out, and it was fine, just not down. Oh, and I wore slacks and steel-toed flat safety shoes in an almost decent dress style for ladies.

Also, I'm really glad to have you back, Mary! I mentioned that on the What's Up page, but I neglected to ask how Kevin's doing, over there. Welcome back!

I graduated 50 yrs ago in June. About 2mo. later one of our classmates named Charles was rock climbing somewhere up around Cleveland Cliffs if I remember right. He was killed and our class all gather to say farewell to one of the nicest boy in our class. He was due to enter Tech that fall. It is sobering to see your classmate lying there in his graduation suit. We were one somber group.I think we all grewup a lot that day.

Oh my, Fran. I'm not surprised you haven't forgotten that memory.

I was about six back then Fran.It was my first thought when I saw the picture's for today.I remember how sad the town was that day. I guess it's okay to say his last name was Sved.

Charlie Swed was our class president. A really nice guy! I think he was climbing on the Cliffs ridge between Ahmeek and Phoenix.

The cliffs here along the Mississippi Palisades State Park have claimed lives thru the years. But most of the annual accidents are not fatal but caused by carelessness by hikers along the trails,

Where exactly are these cliffs?

I thought Silver Mountain was more South of Keewanaw Bay. I've been there before-- there is a stairway right to the top for those not interested in the method used on the pictures. If I remember correctly the stairs are numbered in the 1500 range-- An internet search reveals ties to Pelkie and Keweenaw Bay as the location.

I think Michelle nailed it - this looks like the place to me: Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA: Silver Mountain

Mary says: My mistake...I actually was preparing these notes before I was hooked up with a Pasty.NET wireless Internet connection here at my Mother's home, so I took a guess at the location. My geography teacher back in high school wouldn't have been impressed! :->
P.S. Z-Man actually emailed me Monday with the correct location, but I didn't get a chance to post it. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

Yes FRNash, that looks exactly like the summit I've sat upon! And, I took the stairs. ;-)

Oh, and pytavey (translation from Finnglish: 'by the way') while we're in the area of the Sturgeon Gorge and Silver Mountain, y'all should be aware that due to the fact that a large portion of the roadbed has fallen away on a steep slope, the Sturgeon Gorge Road (Forest Road 2200) is now closed to through traffic. See the article in the Thursday, June 7, 2007 edition of the Ironwood Daily Globe: Sturgeon Gorge Road closed.

Mary, don't think we were disrespecting you!!! I just thought you were fed some wrong information.-- Kudos many times over on the job you do!!!!! It makes my week!!!!