Kai Mayberger, owner of White Raven Gallery in Vermont, who makes drums, didgeridoos and Native American Flutes has one of those personalities to which one is drawn. He’s unassuming, passionate about life and has a good sense of humor. I’ve stopped in his Bridgewater Corners store a few times over the years, and last year, he was a vendor at Mountain Spirit’s “Sunapee SunFest“. We stopped in the other day to say hi, and this impromptu interview happened. Watch the interview below:
Mayberger continues the family tradition of creating art. After studying antique furniture repair and finish carpentry with his uncle, he attended Goddard College and studied a combination of ecology, shamanism, sculpture, and woodworking. The result of his Senior year at Goddard was the birth of White Raven Drumworks. Now he makes flutes, drums, didjeridus, and music. Kai displays his work at the White Raven Gallery on Route 4 in Bridgewater Corners, VT. If you happen to be passing by, he recommends you give him a call (802) 672-3055 to ensure he will be there when you visit.
By D.R. Richards, Learning to live with an Open Heart, Part I
Martha and Don Rosenthal
I first met Don and Martha Rosenthal about 10 years ago when I enrolled in a monthly meeting of “Awakening Together” sessions here in New Hampshire, where couples meet to witness, listen, talk and learn vital life skills in relating to one’s partner. The group was started 18 years ago and a few of the original couples are still continuing today. Other couples have naturally come and gone. Indeed, the gathering is more about becoming a more fully realized human being, about living in the present, than how to only relate better to one’s partner. It’s about learning to love unconditionally with all who come across one’s path. At least this has been my experience of the meetings and the work.
Amanda and I just completed the Rosenthal’s Awakening Together couples retreat” at their country farmhouse in central Vermont, as a proactive approach to building a good foundation for our marriage. We’re so glad we committed to going to the Rosenthal’s for the weekend. We are also enrolled in the once monthly group mentioned above, but the weekend was a “full on” laboratory for personal disarmament.
The Rosenthal's "Learning to Love"
Six couples of various ages and socio-economic backgrounds attended the weekend retreat. Amanda and I were blown away not only with the wonderful format and top quality information covered, but with how both Don and Martha walk their talk, not to mention their well versed articulation and perceptions of participant’s situations. In fact, if you haven’t heard of Don Rosenthal, I expect you will as his reputation will most likely grow . His book and his way of being in the world is direct and heart felt. In short, he walks his talk.
We suggest this as one of the best, if not the best, couples workshops a couple can attend. It is mostly advertised by word of mouth, so I thought I’d post this today. I will write more about our weekend in Part II.
From their website:
Don and Martha began their 31-year journey together in Alaska, where they lived in a remote cabin and explored the quiet life together. Emerging after some years, they moved to the coast of California where they began what has now been more than two decades of counseling couples and individuals. Don received training in psychotherapy and began a career as a counselor. Martha studied mind/body/spirit connection with various teachers and developed a private healing practice. They have a son, now grown, whom they home-schooled.
Don's Second Book
In 1989 Don and Martha moved to rural northern Vermont, and shortly thereafter began offering weekend workshops for couples. Through word-of-mouth these soon expanded to a wide circle, becoming the core of their work. In addition, Martha leads meditation retreats for women and works with couples and individuals privately; Don offers consulting to individuals and couples, fundamentally as a form of spiritual guidance. Don and Martha view their own relationship, with all its trials and wonders, as the testing ground and measure of their teaching. They are co-authors of Learning to Love: From Conflict to Lasting Harmony.
For more information on their work, or the weekend workshops see their website. Editor’s Note: Another book “The Unquiet Journey” is a book of reflections, written by Rosenthal that provides the philosophical and spiritual context for his later publications. Many readers have found it valuable. To Be Continued in Part II
A Ski Mountaineering Adventure
By Randall Richards
Mountaineering, and ski mountaineering mishaps that don’t kill you are chalked up to experience – a learning experience. I had one such experience in Lech and Zürs Austria when working for Strolz Boots G.m.B.H. I was still a greenhorn in the Alps. The Alps was a whole other ball game than the mountains of the western U.S. This was my first year in the Alps
I was just graduated from the University of Utah where I’d spent three years getting a basic, but great mountaineering education through the U of U recreation department with such climbers and teachers as Harold Goodro and Dennis Turville. It’s here where I cut my teeth, the Wasatch Range, in beginning rock climbing and mountaineering, snow shelter building and backcountry emergency medicine classes. Harold was the consummate old mountain man.
The author getting "mountain experience", Austria
In the late seventies, he was involved in teaching all the classes, and would observe other instructors manage the top rope sites. But he was always hands-on. On another day in my education there, I remember ascending Stairs Gulch with other Utah students under the tutilage of Dennis Turville. Our little group of neophytes were wide-eyed at one point on the ascent, when a few auto-sized blocks of snow and ice came tumbling down the slabs, bowling for students. Two in the group, by running this way and that, managed to avoid being mowed over. Dennis seemed somewhat nonplussed by the event, but that might have just been my perception at the time. Later on the narrow ridge which divides Big and Little Cottonwood, we carefully picked our way up to the summit of Dromedary Peak. Our eyes were still bugging out of our heads for the rest of the day due to exposed terrain and our lack of experience. We were quickly getting our mountain legs.
Fast forward to the Lectaler Alps in Western Austria. I usually had most of the day to explore the wild mountains above and around Zürs, St. Christophe and Lech on skis and out of bounds, having to report at the Strolz ski boot shop in Lech around 3pm. It was my first experience where the ski area trails and the high backcountry merged into one big ski experience. I went nuts, cutting it up, (more…)
Whether you’re just beginning to learn about avalanches, or you want to clean out the summer cobwebs, the American Avalanche Association online tutorial is the place to start,” says Doug Abromeit, director of the National Avalanche Center.
The interactive avalanche awareness tutorial, developed by the Sawtooth Avalanche Center forecaster Chris Lundy, is now online at avalanche.org The click-through, online tutorial covers the basics of indentifying unstable snow and avy terrain, how to travel safely, and how to perform a rescue. There are guidelines for avalanche class organization and progression, and a list of course providers and locations.
Care to dig deeper? The U.S. Forest Service website fsavalanche.org, provides information on analyzing stability, performing stability tests, and decision-making to stay safe in avalanche country.
Editor’s Note: Backcountry Magazine is a long-standing publication which we recommend because of its focus on human-powered skiing rather than lift-served, the latter which is…way passé. I’ve been reading the magazine for years.
Mountain Spirit Institute Founder R. Richards is certified Avalanche Level II training and a certified Level II backcountry ski guide with PSIA-I. Some of his training was under the legendary Alan Bard, in Bishop California, and Richards has taken the AMGA Ski Guides Course among other trainings. He’s a 20+ year “individual member” of the American Mountain Guides Association. Image: From How Stuff Works, courtesy NOAA
Punyma Taha from Bhutan was a vendor recently at the 17th Vermont International Festival in Burlington, Vermont, USA. She shares a bit about her life in the USA and how she came to live in Vermont. Her booth was next to our Mountain Spirit Institute booth, and we had chatted a bit, so when we asked her if she would be willing to be interviewed for this blog, she gladly accepted the offer.
Cody Michaels Seen in Vermont,
I’m not too sure how long I’ll get away with this post. As soon as Cody finds out, he’ll probably make me pull it.
Nevertheless, solo pianist Cody Michaels is a hoot. I’ve known him for over twenty years. We first met ice climbing in North Cornflakes, New Hampshire.
He’s a funny guy, and I’ve always thought he’d be great on either radio or snippets such as this, and wanted to get him on tape doing interviews on various social observations. Give it go, and maybe we can convince him to do a bit more.
Randy and Amanda Richards have purchased a small parcel of land near Hauraz Peru, which if their plans come to fruition, could mean a basecamp for Mountain Spirit Institute. The couple would eventually like to build a small retreat center/basecamp on the spot which overlooks the Cordillera Blanca range in northern Peru, including the highest peak in Peru, Mt. Huascaran.
Possible MSI Basecamp, Peru
Richards first saw the site 12 years ago when we was taken up there by his godchild’s family. Richards was guiding Huasacaran at the time. He always had it in the back of his mind that the site would be ideal for either a small cabin or retreat where participants could come and take Mountain Spirit programs.
Huascaran from MSI's Basecamp(?)
The site had only been accessible by foot – a 1.5 hour hike from the valley floor below, but two years ago a dirt road was put in to access the area, and Richards thought it was better to act now than wait any longer.
Although Richards purchased the land, depending upon funding from Mountain Spirit, the organization could become involved if the board thinks it would like to expand operations in Peru by offering a basecamp. Regardless, The Richards will enact conservation and stewardship practices, maintaining the protecting the area from further development by possibly purchasing additional acreage or seeking others willing to put the land into protection. The location is particularly special and deserves protection from hotel interests that have been interested in the area. The area us currently used for farming, and the couple will encourage their “Peruvian family”, the Sanchez family to add the parcel to their nearby fields.
Tai Chi on Land near Hauraz, Peru
Says Richards, originally of Sunapee, NH, “I never thought I’d be purchasing land in Peru, but the time and situation seemed right.” He added, “It has a special spirit of the place,” which would be a appropriate for an organization called “Mountain Spirit”.
Climbing Gear Manufacturer Grows Business in Huaraz, Peru
I’ve known Yuri Yamirez for about 12 years. We met through his brother Jorge Martel, with whom I guided on Huascaran and other peaks in the Cordillera Blanca near Huaraz. Back then, Yuri had one sewing machine and was making tents and anything climbing related. He had a chaulk bag inlaid with traditional Peruvian material. Now, he’s got a staff of 8 or so people and is selling items in Europe and the USA. We’ve had his items on our website’s fair trade page for some time, but haven’t done his stuff justice.
Yuri in Yuraq Janka workshop
Peru’s tourism trade is booming, and it’s good to see Yuri has benefited from the rise in Peru’s profile worldwide. His company is called Yuraq Janka, which means (we think) the Cordillera Blanca in Quechua. Yuri does great work. We purchase one of his 40 liter climbing packs (model: Chacraraju 40) which is one of the lightest you’ll find anywhere. If you want more info check out MSI’s fair-trade webpage, or his website, which is still under development but does have an index page and contact info.
Facilitators Guillermo Seminario and Randy Richards are back in Cusco after leading a truly unique 14-day program. “We set out to offer something that connects our participants with the culture, the people and land of Peru, and we did it” says Richards. MSI’s programs and mission are inspired from both: a) Outward Bound experiential education programs, where participants practice community building, self-reliance, compassion and “stretching out of their comfort zones”, and b) a holistic learning center such as the Omega Institute in Reinbeck, NY. However our version of a “holistic learning center” is mobile.
R & G all decked out on the Peruvian coast
The program went off without a hitch, and the participants left feeling like they not only learned immensely about Peru, its people and history, but also something about themselves. The image at right is the group with Guillermo Seminario and fellow band members at the Rettama Restaurant in Cuzco. Guillermo took time off from the band in order to co-facilitate the trip.
Stay tuned – Since Randall didn’t have time to do journal entries while on the program, expect to see details on the program’s stop-overs in upcoming entries. These will be posted on (roughly) a daily basis starting tomorrow. We will cover elements of the program the exemplify the tenets of MSI.
It was late in the day on a trail in the North Cascades of Washington State. I had been a course supervisor for a 22-day Outward Bound mountaineering course in the Paysayten Wilderness on the Canadian border, and was hiking out to the trailhead to meet our logistics person. I had to head out to prepare for the course-end cleanup and ceremonies. One of three groups of students was an hour behind me on the trail, following me to the same destination. I’d last seen them at morning camp in the wilderness about 10 miles ago, and told them I’d see them at the parking lot. I didn’t expect they’d catch me, as I was in a hurry.
As I cruised along the wooded trail which wound around small contours in the Douglas fir forest, I walked fast, using my ski poles for extra propulsion, and kept my head down. As I strode at a good clip I heard a scratching high up in a tree to my right. Some of us get cocky after having been in the mountains for years.
Since I was in a hurry, I didn’t bother looking up, and deduced I’d just heard a porcupine scratching and climbing about. I kept on. But, after a few more steps, I heard the same type of scratching far up in a tree above me, but this time to my left. So I thought, “Oh, must be another porcupine” but this time I decided to look up, and the thought occurred to me, “it’s odd, to have two porcupines in trees like this.”
"B.b..Bear!"
And to my surprise, when I looked up I discovered it was a baby bear cub. It didn’t take me long to conclude: “If that sound is from a baby cub…then the sound back there could also be a…….baby bear cub.” I looked back and high up, to the first tree, and yep, I was in between two cubs. “Breathe! Look around! Where’s Mama Bear?” My thoughts raced nervously. There was no sign of her. “Not good! Now what?” (more…)
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