2021 In Review

2022-01-02 by Quinlan Pfifferyear-end-review

Notables

General

• Lived in my car as a dirtbag kayaker sort of in bend for a couple of months. Turns out I don’t really like it enough to do it every day, forever.
• Learned about Vulnerability.

Bikes

The Tian Shan Traverse in Kyrgyzstan was obviously the highlight of the year.

• Got really dehydrated on the Tahoe Rim Trail
• Black Canyon Trail
• Some really good fatbiking on breakable crust.
• MTB stuff all over and too much to count.

Running

Lots of big days early in the year to get ready for R2R2R, and a few multisport days before the Teton Ogre. I felt pretty strong in November for Run the Rock, too.

• R2R2R
• Ran Buckskin Gulch (did the bike shuttle, too)
• Fifth at Run the Rock 20-miler
• Running around in the Petrified Wood National Park was super cool.

Adventure

• First at the 24-hour Teton Ogre Adventure Race.
• The traveling continues:
  • Flagstaff, AZ
  • Boise, ID
  • Winthrop, WA
  • Placerville, CA
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Grant’s Pass, OR
  • Bend, OR
  • Bozeman, MT
• Did my first 24-hour push when we did this crazy packrafting loop on the Stehekin River. One, Two and Three. The most absurd part of the day was driving back home. We should not have done that.

Skiing

• Skii’d Humphrey’s Peak. Sorta.
• Not much skiing other than the hut2hut trip we did at the end of the previous year. Did a couple of laps up Snowbowl in Flagstaff.
• In December I really hit it hard though, a few days at big sky, some days skinning up at the resort, four backcountry days- I’m learning a lot and focusing on it.

Climbing

• Made it out to City of Rocks with M and Whitney.
• Climbed in Joshua Tree but was too sketched to lead anything.
• Some good miserable try-hard days in Red Rock.
• A handful of climbing days around Tahoe, mostly at Lover’s Leap and the Cosumnes River Gorge. I lead a few things, super fun granite.
• M and I both lead a pretty cool route in Flagstaff on the day I got my vaccine- super fun roof that challenged us both.
• A few good bouldering days in Priest Draw near where we were staying in Flagstaff
• Other stuff here and there- Some basalt cragging after R2R2R in Arizona, a weird day on a fucked up bolted crag with Nathalie right off the road near La Grande, a day with Jake and M on Phnatom Spires near Tahoe.

Packrafting/Kayaking

It was a whitewater year. I finally got a real plastic kayak, learned to roll, and spent way too many days in it. It was amazing. I can’t even begin to find all the days I was out on the water, I really should have written them down, but it was many.

• My firstcombat roll.
• The Pit River #1, four laps. Probably one of my highlights.
• Three laps on the Skykomish - A personal goal!
• Two laps on Beartrap Canyon
• The Sandy Gorge, which was beautiful.
• Lots of practice laps on the town-run of the Rogue River.
• Bailed on Deep Creek in PDX. Too much trash.
• Some carnage on the S. Fork of the American- there were good days but this was my idiotic solo lap.
• Getting scared and swimming on the Sauk
• Working up to the Class III section on the Methow River
• Finally got on a section of the Grand Canyon
• An awesome multisport day on Fossil Creek- definitely one of the highlights of the year.
• Finally made it into part of the Chetco River
• Trying to “run” waterfalls

Strength/Fitness

• Not really a lot of goals here but I was consistent with the pull-ups. That has helped with a lot of stuff randomly.
• I really like the Moonboard for climbing training- it stresses the tendons in all the right ways.
• More endurance forever. My body seems to finally be adapting, not a lot of overuse injuries this year except for the IT band thing in December.

Books

Not as much as I wanted, but I’ve started dedicating more time to books in the evenings. I’m THIS CLOSE to finishing Black Spring, finally. I can’t stand it but I won’t let it beat me.

• Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
• Breathe: A Life in Flow - Rickson Gracie
• The Feral Detective - Johnathan Lethem
• The Art of Resilience - Ross Edgeley
• Piranesi - Maybe my favorite book of 2021
• There is no Antimemetics Division - qntm
• The Invention of Sound - Chuck Palahniuk
• Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks

Code

Who writes code anymore?

Regrets

Goals from Last Year

• SuccessImprove my Skiing
  • This last month in Bozeman has been really good for this. Lots of little things adding up. It’s getting there.
• UnsureLead legit 5.10 Trad
  • Led this bad boy but did my final burn with some pre-placed gear. Not sure if thats truly clean. Whipped on a nut though! Twice!
• FailedOne-armed Pull-up
• UnsureDo a 50-miler
  • I ran R2R2R which clocked in at 48 miles, so sorta?
• SuccessDo an adventure race
  • First at the Teton Ogre. 24-hour category.
• FailedComplete Strava Running/Climbing challenges every month
• UnsureMax out Roth, 401k, HSA
  • Got the Roth and the 401k, but no the HSA. Does that count?
• FailedFigure out how to manage time apart from my Other
  • Didn’t really do this in a good way. Working on it.
• SuccessAvoid being distracted so much
  • I’ve been meditating in the evenings and avoiding electronics- go back to books, take IG and Telegram off of the phone. It’s been amazing.
• SuccessContinue Therapy
• SuccessLearn to roll a kayak and/or Packraft
  • Worked for sure- I did a ton of combat rolls on a few different rivers.
• UnsureCultivate excitement, wonder
  • Sorta worked, sorta didn’t. I need to figure out how to work with my Other to thrive.
• SuccessVisit my brother and mom
  • Lots of good family time.
• UnsureBe more vocal about appreciation
  • I did this a bit I feel, but could have done more. Daily gratitude practice!
• SuccessDetox on Coffee
  • I’ve quit drinking it as a daily thing and now it’s more of a once-a-week treat. I feel very good about this.

Goals for 2022

Spend all my time training. The pursuit of mastery.

• Huck steelhead falls
• Huck the falls on The Pit
• Packraft and kayak staircase

Injuries

• I think I deeply injured or broke my hand or something in the San Juan Mountains- I crashed into a tree skiing and it took liek four months to feel normal again.
• The night before running R2R2R my knee sweeled up for some reason- this seems to re-occur a lot. It’s for now harmless, but feels weird. I wonder if something is messed up in there.
• Re-sprained my back a couple of times. I really need to do some PT for it or something. Core helps a lot but I don’t want to keep injuring it.
• Really deep bruising after solo kayak swim- Bad idea.
• Right big toe has some frostnip, I think. Normal.
• Some left IT band syndrome from not recovering enough after Run the Rock. It only really hurts on descents though so I’m hopeing to survive Fat Pursuit.