2018 Summer Gear Review + Spearfish Scramble
Climb Limestone in Spearfish, South Dakota.
When famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright visited Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1937 he declared it
“as grand as the Grand Canyon” of Arizona.
The 20-mile long canyon has been discovered by climbers seeking a different type of rock – limestone. In 2018 Black Hills State University’s CRUX Climbing Club held its first annual Spearfish Canyon Scramble, with rock climbing competing from all corners of the USA.
The Spearfish Scramble say two person teams compete in three areas across hundreds of climbing routes. Climbers are judged by the difficulty of the routes in the 12 hour festival. A score of 5.10 is the start of a difficult scramble. The route categories were Over Easy (5-0 to.11a) and the Hard Boiled (5.10a-5.11a). The winners were crowned King Scrambler and all participants later met at Crow Peak Brewery for a complimentary party with food, beer, and music and a silent auction to raieTYMOTICse funds for future Scrambles.
A new 25-foot climbing wall is expected in Spearfish for the first annual Climber Festival later in June, 2018, that features food, music, climbing clinics, lessons, mountaineering gear, and fun. A consideration for climbers who master the limestone in Spearfish Canyon is laccolith climbing on the USA’s first National Monument, Devil’s Tower, 50 miles from Spearfish in Wyoming. This is mountaineering at its best on a volcanic columned core.
Etymotic
Everyone hates the one-size-fits-all ear buds issued by the airlines that actually fit no one. Their cheesy buds don’t fit the inner ear properly and there is no suction to keep out the cabin and engine noises. And who wants to add the weight of expensive muffler-style earphones to their luggage?
I was elated with the new Etymotic’s mk5 Isolator Earphones. I followed the manufacturers directions and pulled my ear lobes down and back and inserted the astounding noise reduction buds that naturally fit my ear canal. They came with a small shirt clip and a small bag to keep them together in my pocket. Never again will I be tortured by the airlines, at least to sound quality with these high-fidelity, low profile earphones that are ideal for sports and travel. The mk5s have the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, so they will work on most, if not all, planes.
Etymotic’s mk5 Isolator Earphones are the newest addition to the company’s high-fidelity Isolator earphone series, an extension of its original 6i earphones. Etymotic tunes out ambient noise, so every detail of audio can be heard. It’s a noisy world and background noise isolation is needed now more than ever. With mk5 Isolator earphones, there’s no need to turn up the volume to overcome outside sounds. Here are some of its key features:
The Isolator matches the ear’s response for natural sound reproduction
Low-level passages and the soft dynamics of music are heard clearly
Ideal for personal listening and in-ear monitoring
Powerful drivers in compact capsules
All Etymotic earphones seal the ear canal and provide noise isolation, but the mk5 does it in a low-profile case at a great low price.
Best Sound Accuracy
True high fidelity requires sound to be reproduced as close as possible to live performance. Etymotic’s earphones and headsets have the highest response accuracy of all in-ear earphones and headsets. Etymotic is the only company that publishes accuracy scores.
Best Noise Isolation
Etymotic’s earphones have the highest noise isolation of all earphones, as measured by an independent laboratory accredited by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Reduction of outside noise lowers the risk of listening at unsafe levels.
Etymotic designs products to measure, improve and protect hearing and enhance the listening experience of music and audio. Founder Dr. Mead Killion, an audiologist, engineer, inventor and jazz musician, leads Etymotic’s engineering team. Together, audio engineers, musicians and audiologists at Etymotic have generated over 100 patents issued and pending. Etymotic has the distinction of being the first company to develop and patent noise-isolating, high fidelity in-ear earphones.
Etymotic is a research, development and manufacturing company that designs high-fidelity audio products and hearing wellness solutions to assess, enhance and protect hearing. For over 30 years, innovation and education have been central to Etymotic’s mission. Etymotic is one of the most respected leaders in high-fidelity audio and hearing conservation. For more information about Etymotic, its hearing wellness mission and its products, please visit www.etymotic.com
Hemingway’s Havana
As a kid, I thought I had read all of Ernest Hemingway’s short stories and novels. After the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author shot himself in 1961 there were rumors that he had one last great novel locked up in a safe; the vault door was carefully blown open and “Islands In The Stream” was soon published. When I walked into my hometown bookstore there was only one copy on the shelf; it was mine.
Islands In The Stream was about World War II in the Bahamas, but Hemingway wrote many of his best descriptions while living in Cuba and they were imprinted on pages for boys like me desiring a life of adventure. I never lost my sense of adventure so when the hardbound copy of Hemingway’s Havana arrived I turned the pages carefully, reading the text on one page, immersing in the photo parallel color beauty. Robert Wheeler, the author, picked up where Hemingway had left off in pre-revolutionary Cuba. The vivid accounts of Hemingway walking along the Malecon, stopping to write about the sea and weather to be weaved into a future novel. Or,
I am now sitting down in the Rum Rum Club in Havana with a good drink of Club Havana and good conversation about dancing and the rain and fishing, which is what Hemingway was all about when not writing.
Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for more than two decades, longer than anywhere else. He bought a home—naming it the Finca Vigia—with his third wife, Martha Gellhorn and wrote his masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea there. In Cuba, Papa Hemingway found a sense of serenity and enrichment that he couldn’t find anywhere else. In this reminiscence of his life and through more than a hundred color photographs and accompanying text, Robert Wheeler takes us through the streets and near the water’s edge of Havana, and closer to the relationship Hemingway shared with the Cuban people, their landscape, their politics, and their culture.
Hemingway’s Havana reveals the beauty and the allure of Cuba, an island nation whose deep connection with the sea came to fascinate and inspire the writer.
The book includes a foreword by América Fuentes who is the granddaughter of the late Gregorio Fuentes, the captain of Hemingway’s boat Pilar and his loyal and close friend. América Fuentes is a native of the village of Cojimar, Cuba, where Ernest Hemingway docked his boat,
Robert Wheeler has been a Hemingway enthusiast since reading his first Hemingway novel in 1986. For the past ten years, he has been a professor at Southern New Hampshire University where he teaches courses in writing and on Hemingway. He was the recipient of the coveted Excellence in Teaching Award for 2006. He lives in New Castle, New Hampshire, with his wife, Meme, and daughters, Emma and Helen.
Hemingway’s Havana
A Reflection of the Writer’s Life in Cuba
Skyhorse Publishing hardcover, also available as an ebook
ISBN: 9781510732650 | Price: $24.99
You may also be interested in Hemingway’s Paris
Outset, Inc. Cast Iron Cookery
(left: Shrimp pan.)
There are many ways to cook seafood: boiled, which loses the flavor; baked in aluminum foil, which I detest; or the best way, grilled on a gas grill or over the coals when camping. But wait, there is another way, beaked or grilled in on unique pans by Outset, Inc. (8OO.372.O7OO 2, www. outsetinc.com)
Don’t you hate it when your fish pieces flip through the grate? No more of that.
When I lived in Northern California my neighbor was a salmon fisherman, and we never had a pan big enough to cook an entire coho we wrapped them in aluminum and baked them. I know officials say aluminum does the body no harm, but why take the chance. I wish at the time we had a set of cast iron fish, mussel, and shrimp pans, the large serving pan, great for vegetable, potatoes, or bread.
When I add a cast iron pan to my kitchen collection I always first temper it in the oven after rubbed down with olive oil; I never use soap and water on my cast iron, just hot water. After each use the pans get better and even out the heat.
Cast iron reaches and maintains high temperatures very well. This is great for searing meat and creating distinct, savory flavors The nonstick properties of Outset cast iron pans are great for cooking fish with the skin still on – fish like salmon, tilapia, and snapper that would otherwise stick to the grill grates. You can bake or uses the pans right on top of our gas grill.
I was surprised that all pans were pre-seasoned – this prevents moisture from permeating the surface and causing the pan to rust prior to use.
The Oyster Grill Pan
The Oyster Grill Pans are one of the company’s best sellers and can be used also for mussels or clams. Seafood is healthier, rich in protein and healthy fats, and cooks quicker than most meats. I added all the company’s pans to my backyard BBQ repertoire, and the food sizzling on the pan makes a great presentation and I grills new foods and there easy cleanup afterwards. The Oyster pan is a modest $39.99 retail.
Oysters are found throughout the country – coastal areas source them locally but check with your state fish and game department about digging them legally. Also observe consumption warnings for state waters; better yet, purchase your seafood from reputable vendors. Oysters are easily transported; if stored properly they can live for up to four weeks in transit. The pan is designed to roast oysters on the grill, whole or shucked. Shucked oysters can cook in a well of flavor Grilling time is normally about 5 -10 minutes to cook; serve right from the pan, but it is hot.
I am stoked as my grill with the Shrimp Cast Iron Grill Pan, which can hold 22 shrimp (There are about 21-25 jumbo shrimp to a pound.).
The taste is maximized because shrimp are cooked in a well of their own flavor; create your own shrimp cocktails. The shrimp pan is priced at $34.99 retail.
The Fish Grill Pan
Frying fish usually requires lot of hot, splattering oil. My trick when grilling is to slice thing orange slices and slip them into the belly of the fish. This keeps the fish moist when grilling. The Fish Pan is ideal for searing pieces of fish with skin-on tenderness. The Fish pan cooks whole fish up to 10 inches in length and 5 inches in width Great for grill to table presentation. The Fish Grill Pan is only $34.99 retail.
The Scallop Grill Pan
I have never grilled many scallops, they are hard to find in grocery stores and harder to find in lakes. The Scallop Grill Pan also sears the shellfish in their own well of flavor. How about hot clams on the half shell, one of the most popular of all seafoods. The Scallop Pan retails for $44.99/
The Scallop Serving Tray
The Outset Scallop Serving Tray can also be used to grill just about anything, and I am thinking lobster. This multi-purpose can be used for searing small pieces of fish, scallops, lobster tails, veggies & more. None of the grilling pans have long handles, so they fit perfectly on a gas or charcoal grill and the lip can be closed for all over cooking. This pan has a 12” diameter and retails for $34.99. Pans can be purchased online from the Outset website.
Excuse while I create some new lip smacking seafood menus.
Feature by Kriss Hammond, Editor, Jetsetters Magazine; climbing photos by the author.