Minding the ice shelf as we snuck out into the water yesterday morning.

Pretty small lineup.
End of January on Lake Superior. What would you expect.

Winston going left on his McCoy Nugget. If you took the right, you were committed to dodging a few bowling ball size chucks of ice. Better to go left and ride through the rip of Skiddle size ice pellets.

Win grabs a glassy one, as the swell starts to die off.

John with some walrus sized icicles.


All an all a pretty sweet day for the end of january.

be well
peace
e


photo's by eric berglund

More from yesterday



This shot posted by 'Sage' over at
Superior Surf Club sums up a lot and gets props for sure.



peace
e


first photo by eric berglund

North wind around 40 knots, air temp at -11C windchill around -25C. Empty line up and peeling head high glass perfection groomed by offshores for my bro-inlaw and i today.



Pretty unbelievable out there this morning. There is no doubt that the offshore forecast of waves in the 20' range existed and that the crew down on the south end of the lake rode some monsters. More later.

stoked
e


photo by eric berglund

Headed back down the shore on Saturday morning expecting the surf to still be pumping. Though it wasn't the hollow overhead glassy pit of perfection that some doodze scored down in Duluth, it was fun and well worth the several hours in the water. Just a couple shots for the time being.


Pulled this shot from Bob Tema's Flickr page, although it may have been taken by Brian Stabinger...either way, glassy and overhead fresh water perfection.


peace
e

photo's by e

DRIFT North America born July 16th, 2009. Well, in reality the idea and the percolation of this latest creative, collaborative, cultural surf spectacle has been in the works for a while, with many thanks to Joe Conway (Editor) and his crew based out in Maine. Expect regular blog style posting from around the world along with feature pieces in web reader format. These folks are no slouches when it comes to producing a slick online publication. For added variety make sure to also check out the European Edition of DRIFT, which is equally rad.
Jamie Watson at PineappleLuv got Joe to give a run down of the mag, so you may as well cruise over to her site and read his words for your self and check out her fine blog while yer at it.
Anyways, good stuff.

peace
e

One from Sunday's lineup.



peace
e

photo by eric berglund

Opening day glide

Goodgawd...107 days is way too long to go without surf!! Damn it felt refreshing to finally get in the lake yesterday. I'm pretty confident that that was the sentiment had by all. An early start revealed typical spring like, borderline surfable conditions, but like many sessions, the conditions improved with every set of waves...and correspondingly, so did the intensity of the driving sleet and snow, but hey, you can't have sunshine and lollipops all the time. Four or so hours later and none too worse for wear, stand by the fire...the wrenching pain of a surfless winter eased by the only medication that could remedy the feeling. peace. e




photographs by: eric berglund

Haven't had a stormy one out on the lake in quite some time now and judging by the ice situation, it could be a while before we see some open waters. Off to ski the backwoods this weekend and sit by the wood stove at night.
peace

photo By: eric berglund

Sitting here at the Fresh Aspect headquarters content with what has been put together over the last year. And not without several good reasons.

Reasons









More to come friends.

peace
e

photogs By: Eric Berglund (other than the second one of Scotty and i, in which case good compadre Brent Metcalfe must be responsible).

I'm gonna start off this 100'th post with this super catchy track 'Around the Bend' by Danish pop/electronic/funk crew 'The Asteroids Galaxy Tour'. Supposedly this was used in some Apple iTouch commercial..unbeknownst to me of course...i'd say good use of blurppy horns, lasers, thumpy bass, grainy technicolor and organ...and a nice fur hat too.

Bump on the horizon. A couple of weeks ago before the mercury started to drop.

Celebrating Birch: the lore, art and craft of an ancient tree- put out by the North House Folk School down the road in Grand Marais, Minnesota, given to me by my wise and old uncle Erv. This book covers everything from birch biology and ecology to its practical and spiritual aspects in many northern cultures. Along with its step-by-step instructions for several projects it's definitely stoking the creative fires that are pouring through my axe and knives these days...oh, and the bathtub full of birch bark that i had to steam in order make it supple again. Check it, if this sort of craftiness is up your alley.

Lutsen pretty much beat me to getting first tracks yesterday. Shouldn't be long now till we're up to our eyeballs in the white stuff and sliding cross country and down hills.

Big dog- November 15th, 2008.

Little dog- May 15th, 2008.

And to keep things a little on the surfy side...i came across this gem while cruising the ever killer content at Shakas and Singlefins. Good surfing, nice boards and a fun musical selection.

Bing Surfboards and Chris Del MoroIII Present:
The Lovebird Colab Project
A film by J. Smart

Nunchuck attack-spring 2008.
(photo By: Thomas Jordan)



So yeah, keep on keepin on.

peace
e



photos By: eric berglund

Grateful for where we live, who we know, where we come from and that which is unknown.

Stoke





photogs By: Nancy Berglund on a sunny July 13th, 2008.

Know what's pretty rare? Summer surf on Lake Superior, all done under sunny skies. It's been well over 2 months since i've been out surfing and not a lot of days in there, where there was much surf to begin with. But yeah, some how, some way, managed to surf friday night, saturday and sunday. West South West winds, whipped up some fun ones after a big low moved through friday night. Nance and i booked it northeastward to the little northern hamlet of Terrace Bay, Sat. AM...on time for some wicked sessions with great people. Surfed well into the evening. Posted up at Jer's place for the night and then headed out for a mellow surf today. At this point, thoroughly surfed. Enjoy all.

Birds eye on Superior



Chris Joseph, formally of T-Bay and now living in Squamish, BC gets a fresh one.

hoot yeah!!


All photogs by the lovely and talented Nancy Berglund.

Feeling pretty bloggy here. Wednesday's lunar eclipse was something else. A perfect cold clear winter night for checking out celestial happenings. We made are way down to Hillcrest Park along with the telescopers and fire dancers. Fun times. The photo of the moon below sure doesn't do it a wink of justice. Hope you got out to check it for your self. Had a look through some high power scopes to get a real idea of what was going on..very cool.




And then yesterday, we finally scored some half decent surf and on my birthday no less. yeah! The high pressure cell that had been holding this cold arctic air over us finally moved to the southeast a bit and brought some 30knot winds from the southwest. Winston and i cruised out for an late afternoon session. Air temp: -8C (16F); water temp (36F); wind chill: -15C to -20C. Pretty rough conditions with head highish set waves and a few open faces; with a super short period. Due to the ridiculous current, we'd catch a wave, ride to shore, clamber over the ice and make our way back up the shoreline to the put in. Did that for 2.5 hours and called er quits at 7pm, thoroughly iced in to our wetters. Couldn't get our suits off without a hammer and chisel, so we just drove home, hoods up and all. fun times.

Ice starting to build

Gave the new Patagonia R4 booties a whirl yesterday and was pleasantly stoked to have warm feet from beginning to end. They definitely have a flexy stretchy feeling to them, but that may have been in part, due to the fact that i probably need the size 9 and not the size 10's. All an all a good first trial.

Blurry wave- 2008/21/02


photo's by Eric Berglund

Frigid. Strong NW winds, i mean strong, upwards of 50 knots. -45C. Winston thought it would be a good idea to check the surf late in the day. I opted to stay warm, says he got wet, caught a couple and then got out...suit frozen by the time he reached the truck. Stayed in his wetter until he got home. He was hard up as he is unable to surf next week. Do what ya gotta do. Here are a few.
Spruce grouse Dec. 2006

Steamers- 2007

These were sent across the the wire from local man Jer. Bowery, who is currently in Korea.

"Then we hear tweet,tweet,tweet etc...over an over...Rickey tells me that it is the coast guard and they want us to come in...but don't worry they will just sit on the beach and blow their whistles. I ride one way in.......Shit...ok, I'll go in. The coast guard meets me on the shore...with the look of shear fear on his face....typhoon, dangerous.. are the only words I can understand through his rambelings. I look at him with a smile...pat him on the shoulder...assure him it's ok... and say don't worry...Hawaii and motion with my hand way over my head...I look him dead in the eyes and say, with my finger pointing up, one more...one more. He lets me back out for one more...mabey to tell the others to come in...but I don't know them and I am not one to spoil fun. I pretend like I am telling them...wait for my wave...it brings me in....and call it a day".