Summer kayaking edit!

This summer has been one of the best ones in my memory. I got into kayaking and now feel completely comfortable on class 3 whitewater and can roll up almost every time I flip which makes life a lot easier out on the river. I've met new friends that have helped me get out on the river at least 2 times during the week and almost every weekend. I had my go-pro on my helmet for a lot of the outing I went on so here's little glimpse of what I've been up to. Enjoy!
-Owen

Kochel climbing

I got and and got some climbing at Kochel with Jeremy and Carina. The first route that was a 6+ was horrible for me and I ended up not even being able to lead it all the way getting stuck in a funky corner. I waited for a top rope and climbing it all the way through on top rope. After getting roughed up on a 6+ I felt like I had to redeem myself so I got on a 7+ and sent it with only 2 hangs which is good for me because I haven't been strength training or climbing any in the past week or two. Here are some pictures from throughout the day.

-Owen 

Rissbach kayak

Had a great day on Sunday kayaking the Rissbach just outside of Garmisch. This is a class 3 river with two class 4 sections. The first class 4 I rolled but when we went back for round two I got it without rolling. The second class 4 I got through both times without any trouble. Great day of kayaking! Here is a little edit of the day from my gopro.

-Owen

Dogs first hike and tram ride

My dad and I got out of the house yesterday to give the dogs there first gondola and tram ride experiences and they did great. We first went up the Kreuzeck and did a moderate hike over to the Osterfelder bahn.

We got to the base of the Osterfelder bahn right as the rain moved in so we quickly hopped on the tram and headed to the top where we ate some food before going down all the way to the valley on the Alpspitze bahn. The dogs got more and more comfortable at getting on and off of the trams and by the end of the day Brenner and DJ were both laying down in the tram as it was going over the towers. Good day and fun hike!

July Update

It's been a while since my last blog posting so here is a little update on how life is around here...

The dogs have settled in very nicely to life around here and are seen daily going out for walks in the field and checking out the backyard. We got Brenner potty trained without too much damage to the white rug in the entryway.


My friend Jimmy and I did the Alpspitze Kletterstieg which was pretty fun. The highlight was sliding down the snowfields with hordes of tourist watching in amazement. Here's some washed out gopro from that...



A day after the Alpspitze I headed to the Upper Ammer to kayak a new river with Jake and Reinier. It turned out to be super scenic but a little flat for my liking. There was once part of the river that you pass a huge cliff covered in moss with a waterfall going over it. Very cool and very green!

Nice shot Jake took of me

Last week I went down to Munich with Jimmy and his girlfriend who is visiting from the states, to hit up a Mac Miller concert which turned out to be pretty good but a little short. We didn't really get into the opening band that  turned out to be an asian guy rapping in German but I guess that makes sense... We met up with three more friends from Garmisch when we got there which turned out really nice.

Mack Miller

I have gotten a lot more into kayaking and it seems like it will continue to be more and more my summer sport of choice. I have gone out at least three times a week with Quirin to the Loisach and got out to check out the Obere Isar last week which turned out to be a little bit boring and the taxi to get to the put in cost €35 because you can't drive your personal car on the road. In the pictures I saw on the Internet of the it looked like the canyon part of the river was a very long narrow winding canyon but it turned out be 200 or 300 meters of canyon which was a little bit of a let down.

I got out climbing with my friend Robert Mraz from Vilseck on the Alpspitze for what we thought would be a relaxing multi pitch route that turned into hellish loose and wet rock route.  I thought we could rappel down but it turned out we had to walk down the frontside using the kletterstieg. We hauled ass down the kletterstieg and the snow patches in climbing shoes to get back to our packs to be able to catch the last tram making it by less than five minutes.
I think that climb was the worst climb I have done it quite a few years. Climbing on shale is not very fun!

A day after the Alpspitze epic Robert, Olivia, and I headed to the Eibsee to relax by the lake and take in a nice sunny day which might have been the only day of true summer in Garmisch! Jake Doherty brought out two kayaks and I brought mine to work on my roll so we had a great time drinking beer and chilling by the lake. Such a nice day!




I've been making the point to take more photos with my DSLR because a lot of times I'll bring my camera but fail to take many pictures with it. Most days I try to make a point to go and shoot some photos even if all I do it take some pictures of the dogs.

Thats life around here for the most part
-Owen

New dogs in the family!

DJ and I first meeting

Yesterday the family and I headed out to finally pick up our two new golden retrievers in a town just south of Augsburg called Oberach. The breeders name is fittingly "The Golden Angels of Oberach" and can me found at goldenangels.de.

Mom, Brenner, and Doris the breeder 

Before we left the breeder gave us the dogs passports and a little binder about the mother and father of our dogs and where they originated from. It looks like our dogs mother is named Music and their Father is named Condor.
We didn't get to meet Condor but judging that he had just gotten back from a dog show in Salzburg (no big deal) where he got 4th place out of 27 dogs I can already judge for myself that he is a we behaved dog that all the lady dogs are chasing. We did get the chance to meet Music and she seems like a very nice mother who has already taught her pups a lot about being nice to one another.

The ride home was uneventful for DJ who was sound asleep in the back of the car for most  of the ride while Brenner had a little bit of car sickness but soon enough we had made it to the house and their new stomping grounds.

The car ride home

Upon arrival Brenner was the first one to do laps in the backyard but soon enough DJ joined him and they both began getting comfortable with their new surroundings. After a day of running around the yard and an uneventful night of sleep they are both settling in nicely to our family and I think are both going to enjoy life around here a lot! I have more pictures to come but as of now they are both fast asleep in their beds.
-Owen

DJ checking everything out

Brenner catching his breath

Upper Loisach Kayak

Got out on the river Sunday afternoon and had a fun run of the upper Loisach. I got one roll after a pretty steep drop and had to wet exit once because it was hard for me to keep my cool under the water after a drop but I'm getting stronger every time I go out. Here are the helmet cam shots... The roll is at 3:08 and the wet exit is at 4:38. Enjoy!