Ospika bound...

Well, word has finally come down the Apex totem pole and it looks like the fire rating has gone down and we'll be shipping off for Ospika camp on monday. I can't really describe how good this is right now, I was starting to wonder just how long I'd be holed up in this university residence. Ospika is our camp deep in the woods (10 hours out of PG) and word is that we have a long contract there - maybe 6 weeks of solid, non-fire hours work. If weather continues to be decent, we can move smoothly from there to other solid contracts and start to do some damage control on the financial end of this season so far.

In the time I've been here I completed the first section of Ghost Wars, my book on the American involvement in Afghanistan. It's quite wide ranging and very informative and so far has painted a very good picture of how the Americans sowed the seeds of radical (reactionary would be a better word) Islam by supporting the hard-line Islamic fighters, through the auspices of Pakistani intelligence, because the Pakistanis assured them the hard-liners were the best at fighting the soviets. It was during this time that Osama landed in town and with others, began debating the true nature of the jihad and who was their real enemies - the soviet communists or the Americans and their Israeli allies. It all has the feeling of a grand Shakespearean play gone horribly wrong.

I stopped over on the VOC website and saw pictures of the beautiful scrambles taking place that I am missing when I'm up here. Next year, when I have some time off, I'm go ing to have to dedicate a great deal of my time to learning the ins and outs of mountaineering and getting some good climbs in. Until then I will have to satisfy myself by looking wistfully at the beautiful peaks that surround Ospika camp.

Yeehaw! I'm going working....