A Tribute to Toby

My best friend Toby has been present at nearly every cool event in my life. In fact, nearly every cool event was either orchestrated by Toby or his dad. I learned to hike, camp, fish, climb, and ski with Toby. Perhaps someday I'll write down all our adventures, like the time his foot froze for a whole afternoon, or the time I barfed in the back of his parent's Z-28. All my years with him has taught me one thing: he's crazy, yet trustworthy. Toby is my hero, and I can roast him all day long here, because despite my requests he never checks this blog.

A few months ago, I took a trip to Utah and spent some time with Toby and his family. It hadn't snowed much, but that didn't stop us from hiking behind Timpanogos looking for a good place to ice climb. This was my first time ice climbing, so I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily we found a frozen spot next to Stewart Falls.


Here's Toby looking very frustrated, because there just wasn't enough ice to climb anything. We nearly turned back, but turning back is for wimps. We pushed forward knowing that we'd probably end up risking our lives by climbing ice that was a 1/4 inch thick.


We found this nice little spot. Although the ice was thin, we were proud to be some of the first ones to attempt a climb this season.


This is Toby being busy. He would have taken the camera from my hands, but like I said, he was busy. Did I mention that Toby never reads this blog?


Toby was the first one up. It's much more dangerous to lead than to follow. It didn't take long for him to make it to the top and hang a rope. While he was tying off, I took this snapshot.


I went up next. It was much different than rock climbing. Instead of smearing on rocks, ice climbing requires a lot of toe work. Also, instead of using expert finger work, two very cool tools are used to pick into the ice.


Here we are at the end of the climb. Notice my super white, cubicle induced complexion compared to Toby's rugged, tanned, mountain-man aura. Yes, I'm jealous that while I'm running SAS code remotely on a Unix server, Toby is playing Air Wolf in the company's helicopter. His job rocks, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. If you want to find out more about his employer, here is a link (http://www.cirquelodge.com/), but I hope that you never need their services.


But wait, there's more! (I recently learned that phrase was invented by Samuel and Ray Popeil of Veg-O-Matic fame: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/june/ronco/.) The fun didn't end on the mountain. After the climb we went to visit the company's rope course which is in the old Osmond Studios. The first time I shot an arrow was in Toby's backyard. This time, however, we were shooting compound bows with sites. Yep, just like Bo and Luke Duke without the explosives and the General Lee. Oh yeah, we brought along a three year old as well.


Kai was very interested in helping his dad shoot an arrow. You might not be able to tell, but if you zoom in close to this photo you'll notice that the arrow and the string have already left the trigger on this shot. I just happen to be catching this one in flight.


After shooting arrows I climbed part of the ropes course. Typically, you have to be in rehab to be up there, but Toby made an exception for me. He figured it would be good for me anyway. I'm balancing on a cable here.


This was one of the easier activities at the ropes course. I had to climb up this giant pole while Toby made mocking comments from below. Everyone should have friends like Toby...someone always there to point out what you're doing wrong and showing you how to have fun in the process. Thanks, Man (even though you'll never read this).