Extra Brewing Supplies

When you have extra supplies from your brewing process, you must do something with it. In this case, it was a handful of hops and a mug of half brewed beer, so the logical way to dispose of the concoction us to drink! Cheers!

Top 10 Albums of 2011

2011 was another awesome year in music, Seattle's musical sound is just fantastic. The Pacific NW really knows their music (besides grunge). It must be in the water, we get a lot of it, usually applied in rain form. OK here's my list for 2011:


1. Black Keys - El Camino
    - Damn, they did it once again, I asked the question once "What can't these guys do?" my friend Dave responded with "I'll tell you one thing they can't do, and that's be more awesome." Well Davy Boy for both our sakes, I'm glad you were proven wrong! Can't stop listening to Gold on the Ceiling, Little Black Submarines, and Nova Baby.
2. Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart
    -  Such a great album to listen to. This band has exploded in a short time. Can't wait to hear more.
3. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
    - Fleet Foxes put a great album together, had no sophomore slump and added a few new sounds too.
4. The Decemberists - The King is Dead
    - I had listened to this band before, but after this album I'm now a for real fan.
5. M83 - Hurry Up, Were Dreaming
- Wow, different, out there, a song with 5 year old talking about magical frogs, it works though, just go and listen. It starts on the first song with Zola Jesus and gets better from there.
6. The Cave Singers - No Witch
- Another Seattle band makes the list! (see a trend here?)
7. The Lonely Island - Turtleneck and Chain
- "This is a tale of Captain Jack Sparrow...." haha! "than I THREW IT ON THE GROUND!!"
8. DJ Quik - The Book of David
- I've listened to this album many times this year and it never disappoints.
9. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
- I was late to listen to this one, once I did I was hooked. It's experimental but good hip-hop, I really like the use of different instruments and sounds on the record.
10. Foster the People - Torches
- Grammy nominated band, catchy tunes, a really solid album. Didn't see that coming after their radio hit "Pumped Up Kids".


If anyone was counting that's 4 Seattle bands (Head and the Heart, Fleet Foxes, The Cave Singers, and Shabazz Palaces) and none of them sound alike!

The sasquatch still climbs

Although there's been an obvious lack of fresh content since August. I have been out and about wandering the far reaches of The Cascades and beyond. Now that the weather has turned and I'll have a bit more time so share some of my adventures. Well, in-between chasing that elusive Cascade powder. Stay tuned for more to come...

Mt. Baker Ski Area Video Premiere

Mt. Baker Ski Area from Luke Shy on Vimeo.
A fun weekend of skiing and boarding at Mt. Baker Ski Area. Dave and I filmed with my GoPro HD. All set to Del the Funky Homosapien and Gorillaz playing Rock the House.

Hans and Frans Go Climbing

The adventures of Hans and Frans in the Alps continues with their report from the Platthorn summit.

One of many videos taken while in Switzerland, more to come!

Switzerland Update

Climbing was great this past week in zermatt, we didn't get the matterhorn, but three other summits!

Breithorn was our first and the tallest at 4164m tall. The nice part is you get off at 3800m at the top of Klein Matterhorn cable car. A very airy ride as you go over heavily crevassed glaciers thousands of feet below you. Even if you're not a climber this is something you should go on.

Our final two summits were the Platterhorn and Mettelhorn just north of the city. Both were around 3400m and were rewarding summits after some very steep trail, scree and a small glacier traverse.

On our descent we stopped for a half liter of beer, Switzerland's finest  -Cardinal, and enjoyed the view of the city from the hut. A fine way to end a day of climbing in the Alps.

Zermatt Climbing

The matterhorn is nicely plastered with fresh snow. So we now plan for the other big peaks in the area that are less rock and more glacier travel.
We hiked towards the hornli hut today, its amazing how accessable the alpine is, the cable cars are everywhere! This makes the Cascades feel only that more rugged.

I can't wait to get up the peaks around here this week. Matterhorn or no, they all look fun!