Paradox on ice.

When the R.P.G. rocket impacted Captain D.J. Skelton while on combat operations in Fallujah the farthest thing from his mind was climbing. But for D.J., and many of us, climbing is in our blood. With his glass eye, titanium arm, and numerous scars across his body he modifies equipment and techniques to climb both ice and rock. Since our first meeting in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky nearly two years ago D.J. has become a regular climbing partner of mine. He along with Timmy O Neil created Paradox sports.

“Paradox Sports was created with a common desire to integrate the physically disabled into the outdoor community by providing inspiration, opportunities, and the adaptive equipment needed to participate in human-powered outdoor sports.”The common bond of loving the outdoors and wanting to share it with others, regardless of physical limitations, is what brought them together.” Says executive director Malcom Daily. “

Over the weekend of March 6th Paradox Sports gathered in Ouray Colorado to scrape up what ice remained. The morning started off with a quick discussing on to get Vijay, a 23 year old paraplegic from Breckenridge CO, to the crag. Vijay didn’t really care how it happened so long as it did. A few hours later he was being lowered directing into the Uncompahgre Gorge rigged and ready for his turn at the ice. “Life is also about adaptability," said O'Neil as we lowered him off of the icy cliff. I concurred.

D.J. has taught me many things. One of them being that although some injuries or congenital abnormalities ( or whatever PC term you want to use) may appear worse than others it’s all relative to the individual. Chad Jukes loss of his leg from an IED in Iraq is no less significant than Vijay’s paralysis from a rappelling accident. They all require a special energy to overcome. Paradox is an amazing community of people and I look forward to working with them again.

Micah Dash

Well, I can say that I have done a really piss poor job of keeping up with my blog. No excuse except that my Camera broke and I don't have any cool pictures to show you. Nellie and I are in Canmore ice climbing with the Canadian monkeys. They sure do love the cold.

Anyhooo, we are hoping that it's a bit warmer tomorrow and that I will be over this cold that I caught so that we can get back at it. Hoping to make it up a few more multi pitch ice climbs before we head back south.

For me, ice climbing is a means to an end and in it of itself I don't really like it. It feels much more like hammering than climbing. But, each year the lines i choose to climb in the mountains seem to have more and more ice on them. So, here I am preparing for what may lie ahead in Tibet and Pakistan this year.

Always
Micah

These pictures are courtesy of Chris Klinga. The nuts and bolts are hardware taken out of his lower legs on Tuesday. He was involved a a horrible accident climbing last April. luckily he's climbing again and psyched. The other photo is a picture of Chris took of myself and Matt Segal hauling bags on El cap.

Climbing in the Red.

The Red River Gorge was a great adventure. But its also great to be back in Boulder, at least for a few days. I'm heading down to Arizona in the morning to climb in the warm South West sun. Hopefully my head will feel a bit better. On Monday I got my wisdom teeth pulled or should I say wisdom tooth pulled. Oh what fun! Luckily Dr. Burns is the man and did me right. So now it's time to heel and get back to the rock. Really looking forward to climbing in Tibet and Pakistan this up coming summer. Just need to get some cardio fitness back so that Jonny doesn't hike me into the ground. I also promised Sargent that I would keep up on my blogging. So until I leave for Tibet I will do my best to write every two weeks.

Always,
Micah

Well, after almost three months of recovering I'm climbing again and honestly, I couldn't be more psyched.

I'm in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky trying to get fit. The pizza, the weather, and the climbing are perfect. The short approaches and steep gymnastic climbing style are a great way for me to get back on the horse so to speak. The hand holds that once seemed positive, for the time being, feel horrible.

But I'm mad for it!!! Planning on staying here until the 23rd of the month.

Then I'm off to begin a two week long speaking tour to present Kashmir Alpine Style. The story about my adventures climbing new mountains in India with Jonny Copp

• October 27th at 7:30 pm Stanford University Stanford, CA room S360 of the Clark Center.
• October 29th 7pm Middlebury College Middlebury, VT. check here for exact room.
• October 30th Colby College Waterville, ME
• November 5th 7:00pm Yale College, New Haven, CT Linsly-Chittenden Hall Room 101.
• November 6th 8:00pm Harvard Cambridge, MA Fong Auditorium.
  

Micah