Rock Climbing + Suspension = Best Birthday Ever!

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Reminiscent of the recently posted cliff suspension in Guatemala, Solja and the Ephemme Performance crew (Brett Perkins, Anne Ott, Mike Dimas, and Neil Kohanski — Anomaly in Echo Park, LA/CA) helped celebrate Neil’s 30th birthday with some suspension-rigged rock climbing. From Solja’s IAM page:

It is a decent hike up a fairly wide trail 3/4 of the way to the fall, then things get significantly more adventurous. Portions of the trail are about as wide as a single foot with a steep slope down toward the rocky ravine below. Mike Dimas, Annetastic, Ishmail22 (Neil), and I hurriedly hiked to the waterfall point hoping to beat the setting of the sun. The hills get pretty cold when the sun goes down and it makes it a lot harder to see the hooks and the surrounding skin. I had hoped to rig the equipment over some overhanging tree branches, but it turned out to be a little less advantageous than I remembered. The tree that was firmly rooted into the cliff side didn’t quite clear enough of the rocky wall to allow a good free suspension.

There were no viable trees across the gorge to run a line to or from, so a new plan was developed: Neil would rappel down the rocks by the hooks in his back and suspend in the open hollow at the end of the falls. It was roughly 50 feet to the shallow pooling water below, he would need to go about 30 feet below us to reach a free hanging point.

He rappelled the rock face two times, forwards and backwards, but found facing away from the rocks was the most comfortable. He hung below us for a while before the light started to fade beyond the point of being able to monitor his safety and consciousness. We brought him back up and loaded up the gear. The return trip was a little quicker, we all scrambled up the hillside following some small animal trails. It required an intense use of all four limbs, holding on to rocks and roots along the way to avoid falling backwards. Neil remarked that he had no discomfort or pain in the hike up and that the two large hooks we used was quite nice contrasted with the 4 smaller ones he had always done in the past.

More pictures continue after the break.

Tattoo Keyword Galleries on BME

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Sorry for no posts today! I’ve been fiddling with software. On the backend, my image processing software now tells me about your current memberships, so hopefully now I won’t be granting any more secondary memberships that are shorter than the one you already have! I know that’s got to be very annoying.

On the frontend, I’ve been playing a little with my long promised “auto-keywording” utility for BME… I’ve installed it in the tattoo section. The “next/prev” links at the top are broken right now for multi-word galleries but that’ll be fixed tomorrow, and everything else should work. I think it’s quite fun, and gives a new way to explore the galleries… For example, there are now galleries for:

Remember, some of the top ‘<<’ and ‘>>’ links will be broken until tomorrow.

And, to illustrate this entry, a tattoo I’ve been meaning to feature for some time, Tyler‘s “Bloody Hanya” (like the shirt), a BME logo designed by Johann, with blood by me!

A Tattoo Good Enough To Eat

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I’m posting this tattoo to show my friend Michael, who’s a chef at a top restaurant here in Toronto. He doesn’t have any tattoos himself, but I’ve met quite a few modified chefs — this one, the wearer of this veal demi-glace half sleeve (by George at Shelton Tattoo in Shelton, CT) explains,

“To me one of the differences between a regular restaurant and a great restaurant is whether they make their own stocks, and demi-glace is the ultimate stock. It has to be done right from the beginning because all of the flavors — or mistakes — are magnified when the sauce is finished.”

Elements of both the tattoo and the stock include a wine bottle, ladle, stock pot, carrots and carrot tops, leeks, onion, water, spices, celery, veal knuckle, and tomatoes. Anyway, I see tons of computer geek tattoos, so maybe it’s time for a food geek tattoo…

Hen Tattoos

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Knowing my interest in farming and self-reliance*, Sarah sent me some photos of her hen tattoos — a pair of silver and gold Sebright Bantams to be specific. She explains that not only are chickens super-cute (“unless they’re pecking your eyes out”), but they’re also a great symbol of homesteading and independence. The tattoos were done by Tim “Timmy Tats” Sellers of Tattoo Marks Studio II in State College, PA.

* And that’s not just “my” interest — Ryan and Corrie from BMEshop have a great personal blog that you may want to add to your reading, and I can’t skip mentioning Twwly, who’s documented her own chicken raising farm life as well. It’s been my experience that at least in the earlier generation of the body modification movement, there’s a strong DIY ethic that extends into all aspects of life.