Ride In The Big Snow of 2010

Christmas in Michigan was awesome.  Had a great time with my brother Steve and my nephew Stephen.  We stayed with Stephen's family and loved our time with Krysten, Sergio, and Eliana.  Family bowling and lots of Wii play!  Micah, Annie, Ty and Micah Jr. met us for dinner on Christmas night at John and Thelma's (Steve's mother and father in-law) for some warm conversation and yet another chance to eat a holiday meal!

We had some great family time sharing meals, presents, conversation and laughter!

Four of My Michigan Duffys, (Lynn and my brother Steve on the right)

Krysten, Sergio, Eliana, and Stephen opening presents!

John and Linda (Krysten's parents)

A planned attempted to touch on the high points in either Pennsylvania (Mt. Davis 3213 ft) or Ohio (Campbell Hill 1,549 feet) on our return trip had to be aborted, as we made an ill advised run to return to NYC ahead of the big Blizzard of 2010.  We left early, 7:30 am, planning to outrun the storm and arrive in NYC just in time. But, we did not succeed in getting ahead of it.  Still it resulted in one of our more memorable family experiences.

All was going smoothly as we entered the Delaware Water Gap just after 5:30 pm but things went quickly "south" as we continued eastward.  Traveling on Route 280 turned ugly as the snow intensified and the snow plows lost control of the rapidly falling snow.  As we approached West Orange, New Jersey all traffic came to a complete standstill.  It turned out that everyone trying to exit there was stuck and/or had spun out  and blocked the roadway.  The stranded traffic in front included a semi-tractor trailer and a bus.  Some brave souls eventually emerged from the hundreds of cars trapped there and began to push away the smaller vehicles in front...I gunned my engine and shot off like a cork from a champagne bottle only to find that I and two other vehicles were now the only vehicles moving on 280 toward the NJ Turnpike.  Two and a half white knuckled hours later, we entered the Lincoln Tunnel and succeeded in traveling where no vehicle had moved for long, the streets of my neighborhood in Manhattan.  True to my usual charmed parking life there was a spot, I said my last prayer for the night and we were home!!!

This will be the closest that my family will come with me to experiencing a blinding alpine snow storm.  40-60 mph winds and blizzard conditions were all part of one of the biggest storms ever to hit the NY/NJ area.  As unplanned and scary as it was, it turned out to be an amazing conquest, taking Manhattan together under the most difficult circumstances.  Sometimes adventure comes when we least expect it.

Home safely with the snow still falling

A bus and cab, both trapped on our corner, were still there in the morning

That's a car in front of our building after the 20" of snow finally stopped falling!

Holiday Planning

It's been about one month since I reached my first high point, Guadalupe Peak in Texas.  Sorry for the long silence, but with the Holiday season upon us, I have been using the time to get in condition and plan for the task before me.  It's clear to me that reaching the remaining 49 high points will take a substantial amount of planning and organizing.  So, on Friday, in need of inspiration I went to a favorite NYC high point to clear my head, get the big picture and begin to formulate my plan.

Here are some views from a big apple holiday tradition (the christmas tree) and from one of NYC's better, if not the highest perch, the Top of The Rock, Rockefeller Center.

The NYC icon

My neighborhood in the foreground and the GWB in the background

That's the Chrysler Building behind Metlife

Can you see Saint Patrick's Cathedral down there?

For all of you NBC sitcom fans

The Rink and Tree at Rockefeller Center

The statue of Prometheus bringing fire to mankind by sculptor Paul Manship

On January 14, 15 and 16th I will be in Keene Valley, NY participating in Mountainfest, (Mountainfest Link).  I am signed up for sessions on alpine mountaineering and for intermediate snow and ice climbing.

Next steps are to organize the high points by both geographic proximity and technical difficulty.  My current thinking is to start with the easy ones on the eastern seaboard and branch out as the weather gets better and I improve my mountaineering skills.  Some of the high points are just geological markers in an otherwise fairly flat State like Lakewood Park, Florida elevation 345 feet, Ebright Azimuth, Delaware 445.25 feet, or Jerimoth Hill, Rhode Island 812 feet.  Still those trips will be fun and quirky; good for many laughs.  But others are tests of conditioning and determination like Mt. Katahdin, Maine 5,267 feet or Mt. Washington, New Hampshire 6,288 feet, either of those would be truly difficult and or dangerous in the winter.

The challenging mountains with some technical difficulty include many of the western peaks:

Mount Rainier, Washington 14,410 feet (tentative plans summer 2011 with  the climbing school there)
Mount Hood, Oregon 11,239 feet
Granite Peak, Montana 12,799 feet
Gannett Peak, Wyoming 13,804 feet (and a 50 mile round trip hike!!!!)
Mount Whitney, California 14,494 feet
Mount Elbert, Colorado 14,433 feet
Wheeler Peak, New Mexico 13,161 feet
Boundary Peak, Nevada 13,140 feet
Humphrey's Peak, Arizona 12, 633 feet

But the Mother of them all is Denali, Alaska 20,320 feet....This quest will take years, but I am determined to make the process as satisfying as reaching the goal!!!

A Toast To Texas

I learned a great deal about Texas, while experiencing the beauty and hospitality of the Texans I met.  Now I am toasting y'all with a special bottle of wine and a wine glass I was given by Dan and Lee, whom I met on the trail up Guadalupe Peak.  More on that in a moment.

Ron and I finished our last round of golf on Friday.  We talked about making it an annual event so I may get a chance to see more of Texas.  Thanks again to Ron.  We had a great time and saw glimmers of hope for the future of our golf game.

Early Saturday morning I drove off through west Texas.  If I had any doubts, I now know that Texas is BIG!  I drove 1017 miles during my round trip from the Dallas/Fort Worth Area to Guadalupe Mountain Nation Park and back.  In total, during the three days between leaving Ron's Ranch and flying home I drove for 17 1/2 hours.  The roads are long and flat, but I really got a feel for the land and what a major role cattle, oil, natural gas, wind energy and cotton play in the economy of west Texas.  These are some of the images I saw repeatedly along the 500 miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Just before sundown on Saturday I stopped in Carlsbad, NM and stayed in a hotel for the night with the faint smell of natural gas hanging in the air.  I was anxious to get to the trail head and was up at dawn to drive the last 60 mile to Guadalupe Peak.

My pack was ready, so after a brief visit to the Ranger Station, I was at the trailhead ready to go.

Winds were gusting during the day between 30, and in places 60 miles per hour.  I climbed the trail by myself for about forty minutes before I met Dan and Lee, from Midland, Texas.  Dan sells commercial real estate and Lee teaches school.  They were great.  We struck up a friendship and they stayed with me, regardless of my pace until they broke off to follow a ridge to attempt El Capitan and I made the last 500 feet to the summit of Guadalupe Peak.  I heard later that they faced winds on the ridge of El Capitan of over 60 miles per hour before retreating in the dark to try it another day.

Dan Rush and Lee Summers

The Guadalupe Mountains are filled with cactus and brush in an arid rocky landscape filled with a unique and rugged beauty.  The cactus really caught my eye.

The trail is especially steep at the beginning, but even after gaining a couple of thousand feet of elevation it continues upward, unabated for the entire 4.2 miles to the summit.

Because I was unfamiliar with the area, I erred on the side of safety, carrying a 30 lb pack filled with food, rain gear, a  gallon plus of water, flashlight etc.

Let's just say I am in better shape now as a result of this climb.....  While it was strenuous, it was worth the effort for the incredible views, and the weather, wind aside, was magnificent.

Dan and Lee broke off the Trail here to follow the Ridge to El Capitan

Just before they broke off my trail, Dan shared one of his traditions with me.  He gave me a portable wine glass and a small bottle of Spanish sangria to celebrate when I reached the summit.  This is the origin of my Toast To Texas.  To be honest, I was so excited when I actually reached the summit that I forgot to take the wine out of my pack and drink it.  So, I guess I coined my own tradition.  I celebrated my successful trip to the summit and back home by using his gift to toast at my kitchen table in NYC.  Thanks Dan, I plan to carry on the tradition in my way for whatever remains of my climbing career, and next time I will open the bottle at the top!

Dan Passes On His Tradition To Me of Celebrating Successful Summit Attempts

Success, 8749 feet atop Guadalupe Peak at about 2:00 pm

After reaching the summit I had a beautiful and solitary retreat to camp, not seeing anyone for nearly three hours as I enjoyed the mountains and the setting sun.   I spent a night camping under a full moon, enjoyed the deer in my camp at sunrise, and then hit the road back east to Fort Worth to make it home in time for Thanksgiving.

Mission Accomplished

For those of you who claim that an old dog can't learn new tricks, take this! I am posting this from an IPhone on a flight from DFW to Atlanta. I won't get cocky and include a picture, but that's just because they say the inflight WiFi is slow. I successfully reached the summit of Guadalupe Peak on Sunday, elevation 8749 feet. The climb/descent took about 8 hours. I started alone, but was shortly befriended by Lee and Dan from Midland, Texas. Details and pictures to follow, as we are now in our final descent for Atlanta airport.

Go West Old Man

As the sun rises over the ranch in Chico, it's time to say so long to Ron and hit the Road for West Texas.  This trip will take me nearly 500 miles to the Guadalupe Mountain National Park.  The nearest big cities will be El Paso on one side, a little over 100 miles, and Carlsbad, New Mexico to the other, about 56 miles to the West.  I'm hoping to climb Guadalupe Peak on either Sunday or Monday.

PS Still looking for an Armadillo.

Ron's been awesome, we shared some laughs and camaraderie.  He helped make this a great first week of retirement.  Now to hit the Top of Texas!

Chilling In Chico

That is chilling as in relaxing not temperature.  In fact, the weather has been great here for golf, mid 60s and sunny everyday so far.  Ron and I have been to Runaway Bay Golf Club each day practicing.  Had a wind driven nine holes during twilight last evening and I discovered the meaning of a blue northern as the evening winds came and drove the temperature down 15 degrees from the first tee to the ninth.

As promised here is a picture Ron's homestead in Chico.  He owns 70 acres!

Here is photographic proof of the mystery regarding the population of Chico Texas.  If you enter from the North it's this

If you enter from the west it's this.

So Ron and I visited the Chico Health Food Store to talk to the locals and ponder the answer.  When we finish counting, I will give you an update.

Chico Health Food Store

Rons been making good progress on his golf game in spite of the pointers from me, and we have been having a good time hanging out watching episodes of NCIS, movies and some good discovery channel shows when we aren't golfing.

Ron "ChiChi" Sands

Now we are safe and sound inside on a Texas night getting ready to cook up some steaks.  Ron is "packing heat" and the security team is on duty to protect us from any dangerous outlaws.  God's speed until my next post from Chico, TX.

Ron Sand's security team Sugar and Shadow

Tuesday In Texas

After taking the red eye of all red eye flights from LaGuardia Airport I arrived in Dallas Fort Worth Airport at 10:30 am Texas time yesterday.  There was no sleep for the weary as I drove to Chico, Texas, population 947 or 1005 depending on the direction that you drive into town.  I meet my friend Ron Sands, along with his dogs, Shadow and Sugar, met me at the door (pictures to come in a later post).

We spent the afternoon talking then headed off to the golf course for some practice, followed by a quick trip to Walmart to return an unwanted bookshelf and then great mexican food at Casa Torres.

Set my tent up in the yard to air out for my trip to Guadalupe Peak and just enjoying the 68 degree temperatures and the BIG SKYs of Texas.  Gotta go golfing.  Will post more later.

I'm Officially Retired!

Kathy Raymond, Mark Duffy and Linda Hughes.

Today is the first official day of my retirement.  The last three days have been filed with celebration beginning with a wonderful retirement party shared by Linda Hughes, Kathy Raymond and myself.
Together we racked up over 90 years of service with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, THE best public agency in the country.  We were all proud to have served there and we put our heart and souls into the job.  For those of you who are not aware, our headquarters was the World Trade Center.  As a result, we had the improbable distinction of experiencing two terrorist attacks, surviving and working with our colleagues to rebuild the Agency and our lives.

I had the honor of working with a great boss for the last couple of years, Mary Lee Hannell.  She is a spectacular Human Resources Director.  She did a wonderful job speaking at our retirement party, thanks Mary Lee.  More importantly she does a great job caring about the people who work at the Port Authority and working to make it a better and more productive place to work.  Those who would criticize government have no further to look if they want to find a role model for competent intelligent public servants.  The future of the Port Authority is in good hands.

Mary Lee Hannell and Me at my last official luncheon

My friends and colleagues at the Port Authority are my second family, and I will miss them dearly.  I look forwarding to continuing my relationship with them in my retirement.  Harry, Mike and Bob below were with me from the day I began work, nearly 30 years ago.

Harry, Pete, Mike, Me and Bob

I am now speechless, literally.  The retirement party at the Manhattan Penthouse on Wednesday night (thanks Charlie, Chantay and Marianne) was followed by a lovely dinner on Thursday at my friend Jonathon Sand's apartment (thanks Lauren and Jon), a lunch at City Crab on Friday with my work buddies, and more celebration throughout Friday afternoon and evening.  I have no voice, but I am well and happy with three days to rest before a trip to Texas on Tuesday.

Charlie and Me

The Ladies having fun, Kathy, Eileen, MLH

Annette, Stella, Kevin, Brian, Frances and Charlie, Terence where are you?

Serina and Me

My only picture of Chantay there, she's in the blue

Stephanie and Debby

Thanks to everyone who supported me and helped me to celebrate.
I cannot help but think about how happy my father Jack Francis Duffy III and my mother Betty would have been to see me achieve this milestone and I feel a real sense of gratitude to them and thankfulness to God for being so blessed.  Now it is onward to "bag my first summit.  This one is for you Dad.

My Brother Steve, My father Jack Duffy and Me on his 75th Birthday