Monday, May 4, 2009

I-80 - energy past and present

Last weekend I drove from Salt Lake City back to my home in Golden and I happened to pass several new wind turbines. I really enjoy the drive across Wyoming because every time I do it I can see some new turbines. There is a lot of wind energy to be harvested from the landscape up there and I cant wait to see the turbines dot the landscape even more in the future. I thought it was also very interesting that as you drive on I-80 you pass a massive open-pit mine just near Red Hill in the middle of nowhere, and inside is a massive creaking beast of a machine. I'm not sure what they're mining there but it really appears as though an angry machine is tearing at the earth, while in the distance the wind turbines are spinning like silent white sentinels.

The last few weeks have been quiet. I'm focusing on training which means lots of time at the gym and lots of plastic climbing and campusing and circuit workouts. I dont know if I'll be as strong this year as I was last year in Rocklands but I'm going to try. My campusing is inconsistent and I'm doing weighted pull-ups with much less weight than I was at this time last year.

Anyways, spirits are high and I know I'll have a great season of climbing and filming down there regardless of the difficulty of the boulders I'm climbing on. Here's a couple photos from the weekend. Happy monday!



An open-pit mine near Red Hill




Wind Turbines on a plateau




Dad, making a rare appearance on US soil




Mom aka Hurricane Haddie




Francis, Utah. Our starting point for the I-80 drive.

1 comment:

sock hands said...

was nice chatting w/ your mom at rmhb!

also, it's always been curious to me that turbines catch so much flak from other conservation/environmental groups. many claim that the turbines kill tons of rare bird species, but the claim seems rather strange to me. it's frustrating that even cleaner technologies can be frought with resistence from seemingly common-minded fools.