Tuesday, October 29, 2013

AAI South Pumpkin Carving


This October we have had a number of guides down in the desert Southwest, staying at my house near Las Vegas, NV.  Some are here for guiding in Red Rock Canyon, Joshua Tree, and the Sierra.  Others are here for continuing education through the American Mountain Guides Association.  And still more are here to simply enjoy the best weather and some of the best climbing in the country.  Autumn is in the air here in the desert, and although we don't have deciduous trees that change colors or cider mills to enjoy the fall harvest, we still have a festive spirit!



We decided to get some pumpkins and do our best at climbing related carvings - here is the result from what we like to call "AAI South."

To start, we have Mike Pond's Black Diamond themed winking pumpkin.  Both of his eyes were supposed to be the BD logo, but an operator error was exploited to create this sly devil.
Next is Jeremy Devine's American Alpine Institute inspired pumpkin.  He did his best to copy our logo and carve it out, but without the special carving tools he did not have the ability to cut out letters.  It was a valiant effort for sure.
I went for more of a barbaric inspiration, with the execution of my pumpkin via a Petzl Sum'tec ice axe.  I think this carving really captures both the aggressiveness and versatility of this fantastic piece of equipment.
Well, this was our best attempts.  I would love to see if anyone else has made climbing related pumpkin carvings!  Shoot an email to andrew@alpineinstitute.com and I'll post them up here if I get any submissions.



--Andrew Yasso, AAI Instructor and Guide

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