Editor’s Note: Living the dream in Santa Cruz

Surfing with the kids in Capitola. Photo: Nelly/SPL Welcome to ASJ #75. Though it wasn’t really intentional, it’s fitting that much of the focus of this issue is on Santa Cruz. After all, ASJ was born here and our office is right in the municipal harbor on the east side of town. Santa Cruz has a polarizing effect on people; they either love it or hate it. Rarely will you find someone with a neutral opinion. Recently I was laughing out loud while reading “We Don’t Believe in Santa Cruz,” an article from the conservative political journal The Weekly Standard. While the article is laughably sensationalist (Google it, you’ll see what I mean), the opinions expressed within are apparently shared by many. According to the author of the article, Santa Cruz is the most overrated, crime-ridden, socialist, dirty, unaffordable, morally bankrupt city in America. While admittedly biased, I couldn’t...

The Angry Singlespeeder

Singlespeeds are for Angry People The Angry Singlespeeder, AKA Kurt Gensheimer, is a syndicated columnist. Look for his contributions in future issues of ASJ and on our website. At least that’s what my buddy Todd told me one time. I was a little offended at first, but I thought about it for a second and understood where he was coming from. Singlespeeders go against the grain. They typically have some kind of chip on their shoulder. It’s physically demanding and requires that extra amount of energy – aka anger – to turn a big gear over. More often than not singlespeeders have tattoos, carry whiskey flasks on rides and are proficient with the use of foul language. A lot of these behavioral traits could lead one to conclude singlespeeders are angry people, but I wasn’t sure the word ‘angry’ was the perfect adjective. I turned to my buddy and...

Life is a Thru Hike

Otter at the southern terminus. A thru hiking veteran describes his 2013 PCT odyssey from Mexico to Canada By Stephen Olshansky Hi, you can call me Otter, that’s my trail name. Everyone gets one when they become a thru hiker, going for the really big distances. I have been a long distance hiker for over 40 years. This season, the 2660-mile Pacific Crest Trail is my goal. It will take me anywhere from 90 to 180 days. The perfect place to begin my epic journey was the official Pacific Crest Trail gathering the weekend of April 26th-28th. This is the start of the trail for most Northern bound hikers or “nobos” as they are called. The gathering is held at Lake Moreno County Park in Campo, California. Lake Moreno Park is located 20 Trail miles from the southern terminus of the PCT at the Mexican border. Editor’s Note: This...

Santa Cruz Bicycles

NHS pro skater Rob Roskopp brings the Santa Cruz brand to mountain biking By Matt Niswonger – Photos courtesy of Santa Cruz Bicycles Greg Minnaar winning the 2012 World Championships for Santa Cruz. From left to right: Kathy Sessler (team manager), Steve Peat (Syndicate racer), Rick Clarkson (team mechanic), Rob Roskopp, Greg Minnaar (World Champ), Jason Marsh (team mechanic), Doug Hatfield (team mechanic), Josh Bryceland (Syndicate racer). Rob Roskopp was a pro skater for NHS in the eighties who was later mentored by Novak in the world of business. The Roskopp model was one of the most popular Santa Cruz skate decks of all time, with multiple versions coming out in the late eighties. By 1990 Roskopp was ready to retire from the rigors of professional skating and he shifted gears and went to college to study business. In the meantime he was increasingly riding a bike and loving...

Yosemite’s Forgotten Passage

Old Coulterville Road offers a Journey Through History Words and photos by Matt Johanson El Capitan & Half Dome Dawn arrived on a clear and chilly day, revealing a gentle stream, wooded hills and a dirt road that extends beyond the horizon. From this spot beside Bower Cave in Mariposa County, Yosemite Valley is 25 rugged miles away. Today the picturesque scene appears much as it did in 1870, when local prospectors gave up on mining gold in favor of other enterprises, like tourism. No road connected Yosemite Valley with the outside world then, and a trip from San Francisco took days and required the use of steep and rocky mule trails. Speculators believed a toll road to the valley that accommodated horse carriages would pay better than a gold mine, and the Coulterville and Yosemite Turnpike Company won sole rights from park commissioners to build one. An engineer...

Fall Colors in the Sierra

Desolation Wilderness Words and photos by Tim Hauserman Outdoor exercise addicts are always looking for an excuse to get aerobic in nature. We sign up for centuries so we have to “train” by going on a series of great rides leading up to the event. We buy season passes to ski as often as possible to justify the expense. And right now catching the fall colors is an awesome excuse to grab your bike or hiking shoes and head for the hills. And the good news is that fall is a slow time in the Sierra, and there are awesome places to find your yellows and reds without the crowds. Here are a few choices near Lake Tahoe: Road Riding For an amazing tour of Hope Valley, start at the Big Meadow Trailhead of the Tahoe Rim Trail and head south on Highway 89. In just a few miles,...

Ticket to Ride

Scot Schmidt pioneered freeskiing in places like Squaw Valley and became the first professional skier who didn’t race for a living. Freeskiing legend and Santa Cruz local Scot Schmidt comes full circle in Warren Miller’s latest installment By Matt Niswonger • Photos courtesy of Warren Miller It’s hard to believe that this winter’s Ticket to Ride will be Warren Miller’s 64th ski movie. In the past few decades the films have become one of the most recognized brands in the ski industry, as well as an annual pilgrimage for generations of skiers. In a segment from the movie about the joys of Montana powder, ski buffs will recognize Scot Schmidt, one of the biggest names in freeskiing, and a veteran of many Warren Miller films during the 1980s and 1990s. Graduating from high school in Helena, Montana in 1979, Scot traveled west to Squaw Valley to pursue a professional...

Tenaya

The peak, the canyon, the lake By Leonie Sherman The author cruising slab, still in approach shoes. Photo: Steve Moyles Sometimes you need more than vague plans to galvanize your Tuolumne weekend, lest you find yourself huddled in a parking lot talking more than you climb. For a three-day weekend, my partner and I chose a simple focal point: Tenaya. It’s a peak, it’s a canyon, it’s a lake. We set out to do it up, down and sideways. UP: The Peak An apron of steepening slab rises almost directly out of the southern shore of Lake Tenaya. The summit is not quite visible to the thousands of tourists who drive the Tioga Road each year. This is Tenaya Peak, a moderate technical climb and a fine place to put your slab skills and sticky rubber to the test. The peak figures at around 14 pitches of climbing. A...

The Breweries of Santa Cruz County

By Derrick Peterman Say the word “Santa Cruz” and most people think of surfing, mountain biking, or good times at the beach. Now Santa Cruz is getting a reputation for great beer as well, thanks to a small but lively brewing community. Santa Cruz County had a couple of California’s earliest craft breweries when Seabright Brewery opened in 1988, and Boulder Creek Brewery opened up a year later. Then after a relatively quiet period of fifteen years, new breweries started popping up every couple of years. In many cases the seeds of each new brewery were planted by the breweries that came before it. Seabright Brewery brewmaster Jason Chavez. Share a pint with Seabright brewmaster Jason Chavez and he’ll gladly tell plenty of stories on how the Santa Cruz brewing scene came to be. Jason started brewing at the tender age of 17 when he first tried his hand...

Rad, inc.

Forty years of NHS By Neil Pearlberg • Photos courtesy of NHS A design collaboration in 1978 between Jay Shuirman and artist Jim Phillips (father of Jimbo), the red dot Santa Cruz logo has become nearly ubiquitous. Right before his tenth birthday, young Quintin fractured his wrist while trying a new trick on his skateboard. When his birthday arrived he was sporting a bright blue cast and proudly explaining to his friends that he was “attacked by a curb.” On that day, there was only one gift he wanted: a Santa Cruz Skateboard, adorned with the proper Jimbo Phillips graphics. “He could barely get his smile through the front door as we left the Boardroom after picking out his present,” explained his mom Hilary, referring to the Santa Cruz Boardroom, a well-known skate shop on 41st avenue in Capitola. Hilary, who also happens to be the mayor of Santa...