Book Review: Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight

I just finished reading Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight late last night. For those that don't know Twight was the most "extreme" alpine climber in the 1990s, at least from America. The book is a collection of articles he wrote from 1985 to 2000 and then he rewrote for the book as well as add an authors note to each one describing his feelings years later when he put the book together.

Many things in the book I could totally agree with. He talks about hard mountain climbing like it is a war instead of a romantic Hemingway book. However, he also talks about a lot of stuff that made me think he's crazy. He did a lot of hard free soloing when he was younger, and that's a sure way to get yourself killed. He talks about some of his friends and climbing partners that died in the mountains, around 40 total. He also seemed to harbor a lot of anger toward people that did less committing sports like sport climbing and people that were content to climb established routes instead of make their own. Personally I'm happy just to see people out there enjoying the outdoors and doing something physical.

His attitudes of going hard and working for some abstract goal most people don't understand probably resonate with most climbers. However, his attitudes of hate and disgust with people who don't do his kind of climbing was elitist and harsh. Throughout the book his negative feelings did fade somewhat, which was nice.

It's a book by a climber for climbers. If my parents read Kiss or Kill they would probably be even more terrified for my life. On the other hand I think it is a very honest portrayal of hard alpine climbing and should be read by aspiring alpinists before they decide to go do hard free soloing or any hard committing routes. Up there you have to be 100%. 99% leads to very bad things happening.

Pakistan Video Sample: 3 of 10

Here is the third video in the series. This is in the tent the morning after I spent the night at camp one (5650 meters or 18,500 feet). Some of the other members of our expedition were headed from base camp to camp two and were taking a break at camp one with us. (A note on resolution: I'm going to use 240x320 and 15 fps for all of the clips on my blog but the actual video I have is 480x640 and 30 fps so it's at least four times as good.)

Pakistan Changed me

Simply put, people died. People with more experience. People with husbands and wives and children.

How did that change me? Well, I am not going to sit around and wait for life to happen to me I'm chasing after it. Life is short. This weekend I did two unusual things for me. I asked a girl out and I yelled at one of my friends. I only ever ask a hand full of girls out but that's actually the second one in a week. Then it is very rare that I yell at someone. I think it's honestly been several years. It wasn't a screamfest but he's been complaining about the same issue for over two years and it's ridiculous.

78 people have died on K2. The next time you walk into a room that has 78 people imagine them all dying. Yes it has taken 55 years but there are some bad double digit accidents in that mountain's history. I have climbed on a number of mountains and routes where people have died.

I haven't figured out what "it" (pakistan, mountaineering, life, death, fear) all means yet. I'll let you know if I do.

Abaqus: How to Know if your Simulation is Running

As soon as you start a simulation you spend time waiting for it to finish. However, it is not obvious from Terminal (the program I use on my Mac) if the simulation is running or has stopped or ended. All you need to do is check the files in the folder or directory where you started your simulation. I use a simple program called Cyberduck. It is a file management system that allows me to navigate the servers I use (which are two buildings away) as well as download and delete files.

Now when a simulation is running in Abaqus 6.7 the files that will appear have the extensions: .stt, .msg, .odb, .sta, .res, .dat, .mdl, .log, .lck, .023, .prt, .cid, .com, .inp, and sometimes .fil depending on the simulation. The file name will be the same for all the extensions. When the simulation is over the .lck, .cid, and .023 files will disappear. That's all there is to it. Either you have those three files or you don't.

Where to live and start my company?

My Abaqus simulations have been running for 17 hours and should finish soon. That gives me free time to discuss places I want to live and start my company. Yes, I have decided to start a company even though I have no investors now. I'm just going to do it. What am I going to sell? Well, I'll start with ice axes and carabiners, then add climbing harnesses, gloves, pants, and running shorts. After that I'll make whatever I need. Those are all products where I've looked at what's available and thought I could make a product that would appeal to people more. Anyway the towns:

I like to run, a lot. I want to take a serious shot at making the olympic marathon trials for 2012 and 2016 and realistically there are two towns that have the coaches, athletes and support to make that a possibility for me sooner rather than later: Eugene, OR and Boulder, CO.

I like to rock climb, ice climb, ski, and just get out in the mountains. There are several towns around the country where you can get your fill of mountains and socialize (learn from) some of the best climbers in the world: North Conway, NH, Jackson Hole, WY, Boulder, CO, Seattle, WA, Salt Lake City, UT, and maybe Berkley, CA (I don't know enough about California to know which town would be best for mountaineers).

As you can see Boulder shows up on both lists. I've been there a dozen or so times and I love it. They have committed runners (I said hi to Jenny Barringer on a long run once) and they have hardcore climbers (just go into Neptune Mountaineering). Additionally, Boulder is close to Denver and all of the amenities that go with big cities yet it is not very big. Some mountain towns are a little isolated. I also do some road biking and a number of professional cyclists live there.

No town is perfect. Boulder is not a cheap place to live. Apparently it can get competitive there because everyone is a competitive athlete and wants to stand out. Constant competition is not always a good thing. However, I found in the short time that I have spent there that most people are pretty positive toward others in their chosen sport.

Changing subjects, this is my 100th blog post. Where will I be at 200? What about 1000?

Pakistan Video Sample: 2 of 10

Here is an 18 second video from the last piece of dirt before the Baltoro Glacier. (By the way, the glacier has been there for thousands of years and nothing could live in that stream.) The video quality is better this time too.

Asking the Right People the Wrong Questions

I've been struggling with an Abaqus problem recently and I asked one of the true experts of the field a question directed to what I thought the problem might be. He then answered my question with the answer to the question that I should be asking. I was totally looking in the wrong place.

I've said many times that I surround myself with great people and just draw off of them. This is another example where someone was able to answer my question, even though I wasn't really asking it. For someone that really knows their stuff it doesn't take much for him or her to understand your problem.

Find the right people in your life.