Day in the Life of an Intermediate Student

August 8, 2018 Kara Hollenbeck

So I have been a tad bit not active on the blog. Understatement? I have some excuses. Actually, I have perfectly valid excuses.

In the Mountaineer Organization we have these awesome members known as the "Intermediates." Sometimes students. Sometimes graduates. You know you are on a trip with an Intermediate when you rarely see them outside of the trail head and summit because they are blazing away at lightening speed with much fancier (aka lighter) gear and brighter coats then the rest. They seem a little more fit and obsessive than most. They referred to mountains as "spicy." They are hopefully leading the trip. It isn't unusual to meet a Mountaineers member who was hoping to one day join the quirky bunch.

First - a little background.

I like to pretend more than 10 people including my in-laws are reading this. So for those of you who aren't trying to make holiday plans with me 8 months in advance here is my brief climbing history:

Prior to 2015: I went to the climbing gym occasionally. I knew how to tie a figure 8 knot. Met Darling Human who had similar experience.

2015: Darling Human and I join The Mountaineers. We sign up for navigation in hopes it will improve my road trip passenger skills (didn't really but I still blame the phone).

We're not lost. I have my navigation badge.

2016: We decide to give scrambling a shot. Sign up for the Mountaineers course where there are not any prerequisites for the class. I proceed to spend the next 6 months in a consistent state of panic and call it "type-2 fun."

2017: After 6 months of scrambling I have become comfortable with panicking all the time. We spend the second half of the year enjoying our new hobby and skills. We decide the solution to this not-really-a-problem is to add more terror to my life. We become Basic Alpine Climbing Students. BAC is another class with no prerequisites. I spend the next 6 months consistent state of panic. During this time some kool-aid is handed to me. I realize Mountaineers is the very best organization eva-eva and I pledge my soul and Manic Dog's first born puppies to them.

2018: Taking steps to make sure I continue to permanently be in a state of panic I apply to the Mountaineers Intermediate Program. Unlike Scrambling and BAC this class does have prerequisites. And saying I met these prerequisites is a lot like installing a very large and important piece of software on a computer that has only exactly the minimum requirements. Like me, they are a crazy bunch. So I'm accepted.

The name on the helmet changed many times every field trip to help people who had issues with pronoucing my name correctly.

And then I blinked and it was July.

Hanging on rock comes with side affects. Like I just realized I had a birthday in June.

I am somewhat aware of the stuff that happened mid-blink. Obviously I was doing something. I bled an insane amount of money and my arms and back have grown gleefully lumpy. And despite the new Ice-Cream and Waffles parlor that went in right next to work all of my pants started falling off. And according to North Face I am a size zero.

Hard to have lots of ice cream and waffles when you're a 20 mile hike from the car.

So what is it like being an intermediate student? Besides becoming painfully aware with how many weekends there are in a year. Let's break it down. So far this year my weekends have consisted of:

4 overnight field trips as a student (1 avalanche, 3 LOR)
2 overnight field trips as an instructor (1 scramble, 1 BAC)
2 one-day weekend activities as an instructor (1 navigation, 1 scramble)
3 Saturday Lecture and Practice (Scramble Leadership, BAC Instructor Review, LOR)
2 alpine climbs (Clark and Olympus)
1 Intermediate Climb (Sherpa)
1 intermediate snowshoe (everyone needs a break)
2 rock scrambles as a participant (3-Way and Kaleetan)
2 Conditioning Hikes I lead

So in the first 25 weekends of the year I have managed to irritate the dog 17 of them.

BUT WAIT!

Unfair to not count:

4(I think 4? Maybe 5) weekday scramble lectures
2 Avalanche Lectures
1 BAC Snow II review
2 Intro to Self Rescue Lectures
1 Scramble Orintation

So my photos and writing managed to drop a little bit on the priority list while finding more food to eat and making time to reflect my life choices has rose to the top. Also I have a full time career. And a Darling Human.

The learning curve for this kind of stuff is as high and as vertical as the walls we climb. And I have been feeling it big time. It has been challenged harder than I ever have in my life. Mentally and physically. None of those challenges are going away in the next several years and I am prepared to keep moving forward with a positive attitude.

But more importantly - the only way an organization like The Mountaineers can survive is if class graduates take what they have learned back and help instruct the new incoming students. Volunteering is the backbone of the organization. If it wasn't for the volunteers I wouldn't have any classes to struggle through. The networking wouldn't be there to keep me safe...or others safe from me. My best bet would be to pay a guide $1,200 to climb one mountain and try to learn everything else from...meetups? Where there isn't any record to show they have been evaluated and have a reasonable amount of experience to not die or even be seriously injured miles from vehicles and cell phone towers?

Becoming an intermediate student is very cool. I'm doing stuff I never thought a systems analyst like me could do. If you or anyone you know if applying to the intermediate program my best advice is to step back and weigh priorities. Learning to climb is just cool. But volunteering is bad-@#!^-ass. No one would be applying to intermediate if they didn't learn what they did from a volunteer. So on your list of priorities make it number one. Love every minute of it. Because climbing is a team sport were we support and belay each other.

Volunteering so others can safely learn and experience what the wilderness has to offer is more rewarding then reaching the summit of any peak in the world.

Also, being an Intermediate Student is expensive.

So if you think you have what it takes to be an Intermediate Student be sure to attend the next instructor review on January 19th, 2019!

I've loved my summer spent with the LOR Students and Instructors. Below are my photos from all three field trips.

I have been working double time trying to knock out some blogs and photos in rapid succession. Stay turned for up coming blogs on my summer climbs such as Sherpa Peak: Where Day Old Burritos Have Consequences For All Involved and Mount Olympus: Apparently I Enjoy Suffering.

Climb on!

Also it's CARE-a not CAR-a. Ka`ra. Think CARING. Not...cars.

A Case for Scrambling

October 23, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

Disclaimer - while I am a member of the Mountaineers my words are my own and reflect my own thoughts and not those of the Mountaineers organization. Also, Everett Branch is the best branch.

The Road to Dakobed

October 10, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

All who know me on a personal level know that I have an obsessive goal that is pretty much: climb Glacier Peak. Why did I want to climb Glacier Peak? Did I? How did it go? Well, sit down and grab some coffee with a beer as a backup cause my stories are long.

For a while I heard rumors of this peak known as Glacier. But it turns out the only way to really see it is to be somewhere up high in the Washington State Mountains...on a clear day. So if you ever find yourself looking at Glacier Peak - congrats! You are having a nice day high in the Washington State mountains!

Up early enjoying some typical PNW views.

I'll be honest. It took me a while to actually see Glacier Peak. Mostly because it is nearly impossible to be in the Washington Mountains on a clear day. And when I was a "hiker" I didn't really spend a enough time figuring out the names of the peaks around me. It was more like, "pretty view, *click*." They all looked the same.

Pretty mountains, right? Now name them all.

It was scrambling that finally got me to start memorizing names of peaks and mountains. It helps to remember names when you stand on them. And as I got stronger my scrambles became longer. And all that walking gave the group a lot of time to speak of legends and peaks far away. Glacier was a popular topic. Did you climb it? Are you out of your mind? Stuff like that.

When your legs are burning and you're in a terrible calorie deficient the last thing you want to do is ask more questions about climbing more mountains. You don't do anything to distract the group from getting to the beer. So I wasn't sure why Glacier was a big deal. I could have googled it with the little googling device I have on me 24/7. I could have.

But then one day I saw her.

It's a freak'in strata volcano in the middle of freak'in nowhere!

Then she was everywhere!

A strata volcano! In the middle of nowhere!

One of the many reasons Glacier Peak is so cool is because it is so isolated. The most isolated strata volcano in Washington State. With an approach that was once described to me as "a grodd sufferest."

Since I was never able to get a good close-up look at her my well over-active imagination decided to help me out. I started to romanticize the mountain. It became this exclusive location only the best and willing would be able to see. Fewer would summit. There was a moment the Darling Human would have to remind me "The Wildest Dream" is about Everest - Not Glacier Peak.

I was just nearly halfway through the Basic Alpine Climbing course when Operation: Dakobed was in full swing. The first phase of the operation was to find some other people as crazy as I to climb it. Which was bit of a challenge because of the multi-day factor and no one was sure what I was talking about when I called it Dakobed. Then in July there was an opportunity.

It turns out the only thing harder than climbing Glacier Peak is not looking like a total bad-ass while standing in front of it.

Next to Glacier Peak is a lesser-known peak, Kololo. It wasn't Glacier. But I had an opportunity to get a look and introduce myself. Maybe if I good get on good terms with Kololo, Glacier would be kind when I was able to find a good team in the future. Also I needed the conditioning.

Dakobed is the native name for Glacier. Just making sure everyone got that.

Kololo was to be done in 2 days while Glacier would typically take 3 days (4 for the less insane). We would walk the same trail those climbing Glacier would take. The difference is that we would go up the more eastern part of the White Chuck Glacier instead of following the Glacier bootpath north on summit day. I would be closer to Dakobed then I had ever been. I would get a better look at her from the top of Kololo. The issue? The Kololo team was out of their minds. Also, there was a surprise ice storm.

I say that with love...now. The group tried to set some sort of insane land-speed record on the 15 mile trip out. When I was in cell range and called Darling Human before 3pm he was confused as to how it was possible. It was possible because the team was out of their minds. We got Mexican Food. I recovered.

I forgot how brutal the approach was. I found more people out of their minds who wanted to do Glacier in 2 weeks. And it would include tagging Kololo again while we were up there along with scrambling Portal on the way out. These people were nuts and I loved them.

Tim would lead the most insane and awesome team to summit the legendary Glacier Peak.

Then Washington and Oregon State along with Canada was on fire. Smoke was making it impossible to safely do anything in the wilderness. It wasn't fun being outside in my own backyard. It would be almost a month before I would be able to get back out into the mountains. I spent the time doing stewardship and daydreaming of Dakobed. I missed her. I promised I would be back. It is a mountain to you but to me it is....still a mountain. But I love that mountain so weird on.

We could see the Oregon fires from Lundin Peak on Snoqualmie Pass.

The fires cleared just enough. We were able to get out again. I climbed Sahale and Lundin peaks while waiting to hear the fate of Operation Dakobed. Then the email came. The group was ready to go. We all agreed on a date. And we picked up a legend - Doug.

On the morning of September 2017 we all met in person for the first time and started the long brutal 15ish mile walk to camp.

When someone tells you Glacier Peak is a 17 hour day sandwitched between two 12 hour days - believe them.

Day 1: We walked. Really not much to that day. Oh, and the fall colors were gorgeous.

Day 2: Summit day. 3am alarm. Everyone was ready to go by 4am. We scrambled up the loose rock in the dark. We got up onto the saddle facing the mountain. And finally, I got to see Glacier Peak in total.

Fueling up on the glacier. On Glacier. Before heading for the Cool glacier. That is cool. And called the Cool Glacier. Describing this route on this mountain can be so confusing....

Climbing over the seracs, the highlight on the climb! If you do one thing on Glacier Peak with crampons and an ice ax and safely tied to someone else who knows what they are doing, go over the seracs.

Crevasses were very open. Everyone had a turn punching into one involuntarily.

That's me marking the trail in vomit. So we can find out way back. I'm a team player.

We made our way onto the Suiattle Glacier and onto the Cool Glacier. Where I promptly threw up.

Then I threw up again.

The day I had been training for months for didn't go the way I had envisioned it. I wasn't exactly happy about leaving my mark via vomit all over the volcano. Although it didn't slow me down much. I was lucky to have the most wonderful team ever. And when the wind got chilly and I told everyone to head for the summit and I was happy enough to make it as far as I did, they patiently stood by and made sure i made it to the top to celebrate with them. Something I will forever remember and appreciate. I even type this with a little tear in my eye.

Despite my begging and feeling much better once we were below 7,000ft the group decided to skip on Kololo. At that point I hadn't been able to keep even water down since that late morning so making me feel like the weakest link I was we headed back for camp. On the way we made plans to climb Dakobed once again in 2018 during a full moon tagging Kololo on the way up. Because climbers have very bad memories.

Day 3: Fueled by CHEERIOS I was able to make the 15ish mile journey to the trailhead. My body was feeling the difficult calorie-lacking day before and I was cramping a little from getting too dehydrated. Once back to civilization I refueled on pizza and beer and snuggled the darling human and manic dog. Then passed out and slept for 15 straight hours.

Future Plans: imagine what I can do when i keep food and water in my stomach all summit day! Who wants to climb Mount Olympus?!

The Darling Human

September 22, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

be·lay verb  be·lay \bi-ˈlā, bē-\
a: to secure (a person) at the end of a rope
belay a climbe
     belaying each other over the difficult places.
   b: to secure (a rope) to a person or object

"Oh my ghad where has she been??"

July 24, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

Quickly approaching the anniversary of this website and I'm sure a lot of people have been wondering if I am every going to update this website ever again. The answer is YYYeEEESSEeseesesEEEESSssssss. Yes, I know I am lagging a bit. Relax, it is all part of my Rogue style.

So where have I been?? Answer: CLIMBING MOUNTAINS! Why aren't there more photos being posted? Answer: LOTS OF ANGRY CLIMBERS ASKING THE SAME QUESTION.

I'M BUSY DOING STUFF!! I'LL GET TO PHOTOS LATER!

This year Rich and I decided to progress with mountaineering and took the basic alpine climbing course. It meant a lot of weekday classes, 6 field trips - 3 which where overnighters, midterms, and a whole lot of homework. Many nights were spent in books studying the climber code and bowline knots.

Doesn't this look like fun?! (it actually kind of was)

Alpine Climbing class has been very time consuming this year. But that is how it goes with this kind of thing. We want to climb mountains. We want to be safe. We want to have fun. We wanted to not give the dog abandonment issues. Those were our priorities. We knew that eventually we would get the heavy learning part out of the way and have a little more free time as we approached the plateau of the learning curve. And now after a heavy climb up that curve that is where we have found ourselves. Which means more free time for creativity and poorly written blogs!

"I want to leave the water like you want to leave the mountains!"

We have spent the better part of a year with a fantastic group of hard-working people. We faced some pretty gnarly weather, long days, and in some cases some broken bones. And the attitudes the whole way have been nothing but positive and inspiring. I am so excited to be back and blogging. I am proud to say I am a mountaineer. It is an honor to be among such inspiring and wonderful people.

I have a bit of a backlog for photos. They include basic climbing field trips, scramblimg Ruth and the Steamboat Prowl, camping at high camp on Mt. Baker, Mount Hinman - our first glacier climb, and Kololo Peaks, my second climb. I absolutely love photography and that means spending a lot of time over editing photos to drive people crazy with wacky colors and contrast. It feels good to spend weeks going over them remembering what I was able to accomplish to get that shot. When I am back at sea level it is no longer about posting to show pretty views or show what I did so much as it is about showing how I felt. I enjoy playing with the mood and the colors. It is a way for me to express an experience that meant a lot to me. And force myself to look back and remember how the experience really felt to me.

This is way too pretty and clean for hiking 12 miles with 30 pound bags and preparing to scale a wall of ice.

THAT THERE ARE SOME ROUGH AND TOUGH MOUNTAINEERS.

I post as I go on instagram and facebook. I hope everyone follows and enjoys. After I get them all completed I will do better at getting the high-resolutions photos uploaded here. A lot of cool stuff is coming up. I am very excited to share!

Busy in mountains living the life. I'll get to photos later.

Yeah maybe it is time to go home and edit photos.

Haven't hardly touched photos from this trip and I am already planning the trip back to climb the beast to the right.

An Honest Review: The Google Pixel

March 26, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

Excited to see 2 blog posts in less than a week? Welcome to the rainy off season where there isn't much to do outside. Yes there is the tulip festival. But that is already being covered by every photographer in a 100 mile radius. I'm not much for big crowds. Why I like to go up high in mountains. Less spiders and less people.

So we are here to talk about my new stuff. Most of you might have heard over and over and over again I got the Google Pixel. Not just any Pixel. I got the most expensive Pixel of them all. XL 128GB. For $899. Yes, I could have got a full frame camera for the price I paid for a phone. Let's talk about how happy I am with that purchase.

Just to be clear the phone I am comparing the Pixel to is a Samsung Galaxy S5 - a three year old phone. Let's start!

This is my personalized case for the phone with my own photo. I'm a show-off.

So why the Pixel? I loved my Galaxy. Clearly. I had it for a very very long time. It was nearing 90 in cell phone years. That phone outlasted marriages. I watched Rich upgrade from an iPhone to a newer Galaxy which was fun. I got to play with it before my upgrade. Then we noticed it could potentially burn the house down and I didn't want to add to the risk by bringing a second one into the home.

Why not an iPhone? I am a stubborn brat. That is all you need to know.

On Monday, March 20th of 2017 of phone arrived.

The phone gave a very good first impression when I turned it on and it had a 50% charge and 10 minutes later it wasn't dead. I started to realize the phone might stay charged for longer than an hour. Not only was I excited to not have to carry around 2 portable chargers, I was sure my Pokemon Go team would be very happy I could play for more than 20 minutes at a time. Since then I have gone full days without needing a charge with hours of Pokemon Go fun! I finally got the Ditto.

The second thing I noticed is that the charger is different. Why? We had something that worked just fine. Why change it? So I have to buy a new car charger, portable charger, charger for work, jerks.

The fingerprint access is pretty awesome. I have to keep my phone locked up since it has to have access to hospital email with sensitive data. The fingerprint location makes it easy to pick up and get to phoning...is that a verb?

The next thing I noticed was that my phone didn't immediately tell me how disappointed it is in me for not meeting some step goal it decided to set for me without my input. I am an outdoor goddess. I do enough walking. Most steps are just done in places phones don't work or need to go. Just because YOU, phone, didn't know I was walking doesn't mean I wasn't. Also you are a phone! I mean I use you for everything but actually making calls...shut up phone.

So, the next thing I was excited to do was get some extra apps. No more uninstalling 2 apps every time Pokemon Go required an update. I could now have all the Instagram extras, Lightroom, and now VSCO with the 100 filters to help me impress all the hipsters.

The coolest thing about the Pixel is that I can now take photos in RAW format! I haven't figured out how to yet. I just know I can do it and should be excited about it because other photographers told me to.

With the Galaxy S5 the photos were actually...pretty terrible. I used the camera only when I saw something I HAD to have a photo of (usually the dog). But I knew when I reached for the phone the photo wasn't going to be good. If it was something I HAD to share (usually the dog) I would crank the exposure and just tell people it was an Instragram filter.

She was sleeping under a bright window in the middle of the day. Why so grainy, phone?! Although doesn't look much different if I took this with a good camera and ran it through instagram. — She was sleeping under a bright window in the middle of the day. Why so grainy, phone?! Although doesn't look much different if I took this with a good camera and ran it through instagram.

Now I can easily take low light photos! Dark hallway and the dog is being cute? Boom!

Might look the same but this was taken in a totally dark hallway! Kalani might be getting tired of the phone. Which is why she was hiding in the dark hallway where I previously couldn't follow her.

But then the phone started to become self aware. It occasionally went through my photos and edited them for me. Turning them into nightmares. And I felt myself missing the phone that would yell at me for not walking enough after a 15 miles scramble.

And then it decided to make cool videos of my dog...and add in my impression of Charlize Theron. AI for a phone has room for improvement.

The very best part? The unlimited photo storage. Which I am pretty sure as of Monday, March 20th, 2017 Google is regretting this idea very much. No - not because of the dog. Well, the dog is about 90% of the photos. But there is something else going on. If you look at my Bio Page you will notice I don't have exactly great equipment. Know how I deal with that? I take A LOT of photos of the same thing. By a lot I mean I have 60 photos of Echo on the Seattle Waterfront. It is the best "good photographer crappy equipment" trick of all time - It's in the list of future blog ideas so I can make Google hate us all. So I have decided to take that habit to my phone that is no longer giving me daily alerts that my storage has run out. So when that feature goes away you can come at me for ruining it for everyone.

Then the phone started making fun of my "take a billion photos at once" habit. Probably an effort to get me to stop.

Overall - the phone takes great photos. Especially since the definition of phone doesn't include anything about pictures.

So am I happy with the Google Pixel? When you compare it to the hospice patient that was my Samsung Galaxy S5 - Yes. At this moment it is the best camera I have. Which is sad and probably a good reason to finally upgrade my equipment. But I just made my big yearly purchase so I might need to be a little patient. Or use a credit card.

Oh, and texting works great!

More Important Than the Exposure Triangle

March 23, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

In one of my most cringy moments in dating I looked at my date straight in the eye and told him, "I like to do a lot of stuff. And you are going to have to be okay with that."

3 years later we have a house and a dog. And I still like to do a lot of stuff. Most of the stuff we both like to do - like outdoor stuff. But then there is the photography stuff. The incredibly time consuming photography stuff - that I wasn't quite clear about first date. And as I am becoming more involved and working on my mission it is becoming even more time consuming.

People with hobbies know that to be good at hobbies you need to invest a lot of time. No one woke up good at anything that changes people (except for Justin Timberlake). You know those ass-hats that say "oh I can take amazing photos all I need is a nice camera" - Please call them a mean name (I didn't want to promote physical violence but if you had to punch them I saw nothing).

And with a major hobby comes something more important to photographers than the exposure triangle - the Hobby Triangle.

Totally did this in paint and gave up trying to match the background of my webpage. I'm still calling myself an artist.

The hobby triangle. The thing you must face when you are trying to balance the things you love to do with being a functioning adult.

I have spent A LOT of time on photography. I have stood in one spot for 4 hours starting before sunrise and went home with 200 really bad photos - WITH A FULL FRAME THAT COST A LOT TO RENT. I have stood knee deep in muddy ponds to learn the view was just as bad as where it was dry. I have camped in the rain after hiking 10 miles to get photos of fog instead of mountain vistas. I have bused downtown for an event only to realize I forgot to make sure my camera was taking photos in RAW...and not in sepia. And I have done all of those things over and over again to get the handful of good photos I am proud of. Images I wouldn't have captured if I hadn't repeatably done all those things over and over. Mistakes I would had never learned from if I didn't make them. That is the life of a photographer. Wake up early, stand in miserable conditions, fail, hope your family doesn't kill you for being late to dinner again. Every time I see an opportunity for a personal project the first thing I consider is the hobby triangle.

But it doesn't seem that bad, right? Surely no one would miss me if I took an afternoon or two to myself. I wish that was the case. I'm not done yet, not even close. I wish taking the photo was all the work. That is like celebrating at the top of the mountain, hardly half way through and the bad stuff is most likely to happen on the way down.

First thing I need to do after getting a photo (and going through 1,000 files because I have bit of a crappy camera so I need to take a lot of photos to get it right) is start the post processing. Everyone does post processing. Even Ansel Adams would spend weeks in a dark room after he got the shot. You go ahead and say that shouldn't take a lot of time. There are people out there who think it's cheating and shouldn't be done at all (you can hit them). You can believe what you want to believe. I am the preset queen. I brag about loving flawed photography. But I am still going to take some pride in what I do. Can't just turn up the vibrance all the way and throw it up on flicker. I mean I have and it is my most popular photo...moving on.

I've done things to photos that I'm not proud of.

Ok. So we have taken the photo. We have edited the photo. Now we can finally play with the dog who is about to destroy your favorite pleather chair out of boredom. Right after we throw the photo up on flicker, pinterest, twitter, facebook, instagram, 500px, and imgur so we can post it on reddit without people complaining we didn't use imgur. And on each we just need to give it a description, add a bunch of tags, add location, put it in some albums, and add it to some groups. If there are people tag them. Use hastags, @people. This is where I normally tell Rich I just need 5 minutes and he has learned that means like 5 days to convert from photo time.

So, yeah. I'm not done yet. Did you think you could just post this absolutely amazing photo and that would be that? You know there are like A BILLION photographers with amazing photos, right? Why should they give any of us any attention if we aren't interacting with their community? So before we heat up the cold dinner in the microwave we need to spend some time taking a look at the work of others. Like it, comment on it, share it, ask how they got the shot. The community is the best and most important part. And when everyone is talking and sharing tips and ideas everyone gets better. And instagram is a whole lot more interesting. No one wants to just support others for the sake of supporting others. We have to be there for each other equally. The community is the best investment in time you can make. If you aren't going to do that everything else will be much much harder.

So. Finally. After we are finally done taking the photo, processing the photo, sharing the photo, and interacting with the community - aaaaaaand w have been inspired by something because this is our passion and this is who we are. So now we are going to have to spend the next 8 hours trying to figure out how someone got that shot. And during that research we learn that person will be speaking at a photography expo this weekend. And afterwards there will be a photography meetup where we will learn about even more events and tips and places to take photos and styles we need to try and more people to talk to. And THEN we will need to update our blog with what we are working on because blogging is important because blog. And we have exactly enough time to shower for the first time in 3 days. Or try to see if the dog can remember who we are. Or meet the significant other at the brewery down the road who is celebrating our anniversary. Or perhaps check work email.

What I am trying to say is that photography isn't simple. I spend a lot of time on it. And my incredibly supportive human and dog have made sacrifices so I can do what I love to do and they never complained when I smelled bad. When you see a photo you love just know that whoever took that photo probably put a lot of blood, sweat, and money into getting that shot. And the most wonderful way you can repay them for giving you the opportunity to see such a moving sight is to thank them for their hard work.

To all of the photographers out there - professionals, hobbyist, and all - thank you for all the work you do to show us the world.

Pro Tip: Disguise photo shoots as "family trip!"

Tune in next week for the finance triangle (which can be a cirlce if you want to include credit cards). Very popular among mountaineers who live uncomfortably close to an REI.

Mission Squirrel

February 27, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

Well here I am! I'm blogging! Because why the fuck not.

Actually I like blogging. It is a good place to sit down and get my thoughts out. I find value in it even when I know not many are reading. And with all I have been up to I think it is a good time to do just that. Cause I'm a mess. No, nothing else is new. SQUIRREL!

I've gotta stop creeping on people's kids.

When I launched RogueMusings I had this vision of sharing my photos and somehow changing the world. Being a leader in population health and watching Rich solve the problems among homeless youth is fantastic, I also want art to play a part. I have no idea how I thought a picture of a glacier would change the world. I figured I would sort that part out along the way. Since then my photography interest have expanded some. Mostly because I put myself out there - it opened up a new world. By world apparently I mean kids and my dog.

Okay so it isn't just kids and my dog. Although those have quickly become my favorite new subjects. I have always been involved in politics. Even in my early Republican days (*shhhhh*). But now I am bringing my camera when I can. So I have been expanding my photography. Or just being obnoxiously liberal on twitter. Which has nothing to do with photography. Let me pound this beer and I will continue.

I am also working on getting my butt higher into the mountains. And that's nice. Scrambling opened up a whole new photography world I found put me in places your everyday Pacific Northwest photographer didn't go. So it seemed the next logical thing to do was to take Basic Alpine Climbing. And discover my absolute love of knots. Cue knotty joke!

That's me. Wearing the same damn outfit.

There are worst subjects to be stuck with.

Basic Alpine Climbing is great. But it won't exactly put me in the mountains this weekend. If anything it will keep me at sea level for a while longer while I take the time down here to practice the skills I will need to survive up there. Which means my only real handy subject is...the dog.
Good news is when I do finally get out there they are lowering my into a crevasse. AND I AM BRINGING THE GOPRO. #AWESOME

So it does feel I have been all over the place. And maybe I have? Maybe RogueMusings was more appropriate than I thought? Gotta love that 3 months later every government agency has a Rogue account. For the record - I was Rogue before it was cool. (But they are pretty cool).

And one of the questions I ask myself almost daily these days, "Is everything I am doing on social media -or anywhere- helping my mission." Am I making the difference I wanted to make? Am I raising money for charities? Getting people to visit their congressmen? Well, not really. Turns out to do a lot of that people need to know who you are. And I am quickly learning I have never been the "marketing" type.

My chosen social media lately has been twitter. Which is where people with ADD go to die. It moves fast and I see a lot of great artist there. People are easier to find then Instagram or Flicker and it is easier to have a conversation even with the 120 character limit. But I do struggle with getting any material I am passionate about out for people to see. My snarky comments on a Michael Moore post do better than photos from the Women's March. And while I am sure in time my snarkiness will manage to change the world - I want to collaborate and create and share beautiful photos and create books to sell to raise money for NARAL. So I have to ask - what should I do next? Don't say be snarky.

I'm kicking around the idea of a 365 photo project. Why not? It would be a personal project I have control over. But I'm really weird about posting photos that are just meh. Sometimes I will go just above meh cause friends are encouraging. But even Ansel Adams said, "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop." Yes, it would help me grow as a photographer. But I don't know if I need to share everything I take, and I already take a lot of photos everyday. I just don't know if the mission needs to see those photos every day instead of the already good ones I am proud of. And even if I did - what do I do with those photos? Share them on social media?

I love all 58 of my current followers (If that number goes up between writing this and posting I'm sorry I see you and love you too!). And I love my 18 flicker followers, 46 Facebook followers, and 52 Instagram followers. I appreciate how they all bear with me as I feel my way around in the dark figuring out what to do next. Even though NO ONE voted on my poll on what mobile phone to get next. Come on, guys! I know like 70 people saw it and the only response I got was some account trying to convince me I could "win" a phone. My Galaxy s5 isn't going to last forever!...or it will burn my house down.

I write and post because it is important to ME and I hope anyone who listens enjoys. But how do I move The Mission forward. Is it a matter of more followers? More photos on my end no matter the quality? So far it has been 90% enjoyable to me / 10% work. Perhaps it is time I do more on the work end (who says it needs to be less enjoyable). Where do I do next? Where do you guys want to see me take this?

Love,
Kara

Marching Forward

January 26, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

I have returned home! And late as always I am getting my photos up. I am ever so thankful to everyone who got me to DC. Thank you Faye for getting me on a flight. Thank you Julia for giving me a place to sleep so close to the action. Thank you patient colleagues who helped out in my absence. And thank you to the millions of women who made this event what it was.

I have a confession: I was not always the crazy liberal activist you are following today. Most of my early 20's I didn't care about political issues. Nothing affected me enough for me to care. I do remember my first terrified visit to the Planned Parenthood. I remember a being feeling like I was doing something wrong and being afraid I would be caught. But I went and walked out with birth control. It was there for me, I assumed it was there for everyone. And when I learned it might not be there for everyone I thought the solution was simple: don't get pregnant then, don't have sex. Simple! I was wrong. I am doing my best to make up for it.

In college my roommates were the rainbow love children of the world. I mean they were liberal as all hell. They ticked every stereotypical liberal box. Vegan hippies to the max. And they were (and still are) amazing people. I fought with them about politics. I was stubborn - and dear lord so were they. I still remember playing darts at a bar called The Up-and-Up and watching my roommate walk by in a Take Back the Night protest, advocating for women afraid to be outside alone after dark. I admired her. And soon I would be joining in protests for the first black president nominated by a major party. I even started jumping into protests I ran into by chance - most memorable being in Thailand and Coasta Rica. The addiction became so bad I once accidentally found myself in an anti-abortion protest. I realized my mistake when I saw the counter protesters and ran over to join them. I became fascinated with the idea that so many strangers could come together for a common cause and send a message to the government. A right the Founding Fathers of my country felt was so important they made it the very first amendment.

What is so amazing about the protest is that it made it impossible for everyone not to know it happened. If it forced one person to question if their government was taking away rights - if one person is now voting differently to stop it - that is one new voter. If my stubborn ass can flip to the different party because of one protest of MAYBE 100 women in a small college town imagine what impact this had on the world.

The election is over. Trump is our president. Republicans control every branch. But that doesn't mean we have to accept it and do nothing. Call and meet with your Representative. Bring your friends and get photos. Post them on social media. One of the reasons we are in this mess is because a lot of people who should have voted (like me when I was younger) didn't. Because I didn't realize how much our government could affect us. Show your friends and family these are real people in real positions and they work for us.

My selfie with my Representative, Rick Larsen! It was a long day and I was appreciative of our meeting. But I look like crap.

There is still a lot of work to be done. But I must return to the mountains. I goal was to take photos of places that are difficult to get to. It is my true passion and why I take pictures. So I am going to be returning to that. And photos of my dog. Cause I have a very cute dog.

All of you deserve to be happy. Go do things that make you happy. Go for a run. Run a marathon. Knit a sweater. Take selfies with your cat. Ride your bicycle. Hike to the waterfall. Post everything on social media that brings joy to your life. Don't give anyone the satisfaction of knowing you aren't still living your life to its fullest because of all the terrible things that are happening. Show people you are fun and you are loving.

Create art. Any art. I received a text message from a friend this morning that said the world is a mess. It is a mess! Use that mess to inspire you. Expose it. When everything is getting uglier make the world a more beautiful place. Remember art is a powerful political weapon. And you are all warirros.

And never stop posting your political thoughts and articles on social media. People who voted in the Republican party have never had to fight for anything important. You are the ones who know your fight is important and that makes you stronger. Call people out when they are hateful. Don't let them justify it. Don't let them walk away without making it clear what they did was hateful and none of their excuses for it will fly. Don't let anyone tell you they don't like seeing what you post. Don't let anyone dictate what you share. If you like to share a lot of politics because you are concerned about what is going on - SHARE IT. Let's drown the hate with our love. Back hate into a corner until it has no where to run and must be exposed. Expose them and show the world the rights of everyone are important. And don't let anyone try to confuse someone gaining more rights with them losing there's. There are people who are afraid to lose power and they will twist your words. Stick to your message of love and expose their hate.

There are more people like me out there. They are counting on you. Share with them.

The biggest accomplishments in our history were a result of protesting. Civil Rights. Ending of Suffrage. Ending of the Vietnam War. Ending of prohibition (if that doesn't get you out there). What happened Saturday was extraordinary. It will go down in history as an amazing turning point. There will be more protests, and I will see you there. Until then - does anyone want to carpool to our Representative's offices?!

This is just a warm up. See you out there!

NeeNeer! NeeNeer! I didn't proof read! I'll get to the typos tomorrow.

March

January 18, 2017 Kara Hollenbeck

I have not been giving this website the attention I promised. I wasn't expecting to be faced with so many opportunities I wanted to be a part of in the world. So I have been pulled away to do a bit of battle and report back when I can. I wish my photos could all be about fun landscapes and a cute dog. Picasso once put it best: "Painting is not made to decorate apartments. It's an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy."

So I am going to Washington DC. I almost didn't go - I was going to throw my soul into protesting in Seattle instead. But a wonderful friend reached out to tell me she had everything arranged and I was going. And now as I get ready to head out the door with my emergency protesting kit (camera, eye liner, copy of I Am Malala, and a couple cliff bars) I stop to think about how different DC is going to feel on this trip.

I ran 12 miles that night. Lightning was so constant I managed to get a selfie with it.

I LOVED Washington DC. I have been a few times now. My first night there I went for a run through the mall in a massive lightning storm. My first full day I walked over 20 miles to see the museums. I saw a photo from a photographer I knew personally in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The Archive Museum had an exhibit the Prohibition - which was ended after massive protests. There was also an exhibit on the Suffragettes, who changed the world with their protests. The District of Columbia was a special place to me. I almost didn't want to leave and tried to pitch a plan to permanently move there (Puget Sound Mountains set me straight).

One I was in DC during the anniversary of the Million Man March. It was an amazing experience to see the people there. I was one of the very few white people but I was proud to walk with them. I remember wishing they didn't need to march for equality. I wish they could had put all of that energy they had put into the event into art, science, and medicine. But we don't live in a world where they had that opportunity. It is improving, but they reminded me that we can't let go of the progress made while we continue to move forward.

So I am going to go march. I am going to march for the doctors I talk to every day and their patients. I am going to march for the women who want to be scientist, engineers, and executive officers, because being a woman isn't a good enough reason to not be successful. I am going to march for women who need contraceptives so they can be in charge of their future. I am going to march for women who need access to safe abortions so they can have a stable family when they are ready. I am going to march for the women who have been a victim of assault and couldn't find help or a voice. I am going to march for women who have been affected by gun violence - 94% who are shot by someone they knew. I am going to march for Hillary Clinton, because even though she didn't win the election she is still an inspiration and she earned it. I am going to march for the LGBT community and their right to love. I am going to march for the Muslims, Hispanics, and every other religion and race that isn't white or Christian because they are just as much a part of this country as I am. And I am going to march for those who voted for everyone in every branch of the government - because we are all in this together and we all need education, access to medicine, and stable living wages.

Thank you for all your support. I am appreciative of how people react when I tell them I am leaving for DC tomorrow. I started this web page because I wanted to be a positive change in the world. And I am going to go do that.

My photography has changed (got better) since I last went to DC. But I wanted to share my photos. Because the next photos I share of DC will be very different. They will be of people. Some sad people, probably some happy people. But they won't be of buildings or monuments alone. I still love DC, I still believe in our government. Hell - I still believe in the electoral college! And this is why women need to march on Washington.