11.29.2007

Less than 12 hours

Well, the bags are packed, the wine is flowing, and the steaks are on the grill!

I met Kurtiss at REI today to get something from him and he decided to buy a SPOT: Spot Satellite Messenger. If you want updates email Mandi and she'll forward them to you.

Okay... My nervousness is slowly converting to excitement! I've chatted with Gerry and talked to and saw Kurtiss. When I said goodbye to Kurtiss at REI I shook his hand and said "See you in Ecuador..." hehe, sounds pretty cool.

Alright kids, I fly out at 8:15 in the morning. My next update will be from Ecuador, provided I can find internet access.

Until then...
R

11.28.2007

Reflections on training

Okay, we're down to the nitty gritty. I'll be in the gym at least one more time before Friday morning but that work out is probably more to keep me sane and help me sleep than anything else.

I started this blog all those months ago to help me track my progress through my training. Well, lets take a look at where we've come from and where we are.

In May when I started this my weight was exactly the same as it is now. I have not lost more than 5 pounds in the 6+ months of training.

I started training on the stationary bike and stair mill at the gym. 30 minutes at level 10 on the stairs was painful and difficult to finish. Last week I did 60 minutes at level 11 and 12 and while I was worked I went back the next day and did 45 minutes of intervals at level 13. This week I did 50 minutes at level 11 and read the whole time.

It's harder to quantify any gains I've made in my ability to hike with a backpack because I didn't do any hiking early on. However a day walking around NYC and Yellowstone did tucker me a bit... I have done Mt. Baldy several times now with loads from 35 to 50 pounds and I have cruised right up that mountain.

When I go up and down stairs my legs feel loose and springy. I just feel a little different when I walk around. In the mirror I notice more definition and mass in my leg muscles.

My back still hurts in the mornings but 20 to 30 minutes of walking around or a shower and it starts to loosen up. It never stays tight all day which it used to for days at a time. So while I'm not pain free I do feel better.

I have strengthened my neck and core muscles somewhat but again it's hard to quantify that.

Do I feel I am where I wanted to be? No. But the way I am I'm not sure I ever could be.

Do I feel ready? Yes, I do. Last weekend on Baldy was not challenging at all other than the weather. I knew then that I was ready.

Will I suffer and feel pain in Ecuador? I'm absolutely certain of it. That's how this game works.

What would I have liked to have done differently? The biggest thing I can think of is I wish I could have modified my diet and have stuck with it. Really my weight is the only thing I wish I could have done better with. I'm not unhappy with my weight, I'm just going to be carrying a few more pounds up these mountains than I had hoped.

Ciao,
R

Packing

Man, I feel a bit overwhelmed... Not sure why but I think it's mostly work. I'm trying to get things to where I can leave them for two weeks.

I have started packing things. I packed my food last night. I also have a big pile in the garage and a big pile in my bedroom. Those will start to go into backpack and duffel tonight. I plan on being packed tonight. I don't want to stress on packing tomorrow night. We have to get up early Friday morning so I can be at the airport by 6:15AM. My sleep has been a bit restless the last couple days.

I'm nervous too. I just got an email from the lead guide, Dave Conlan. In addition to his welcome message he sent at link to his website, David B. Conlan. I checked his website and I'm hoping I didn't get myself in over my head on this thing... That's probably just nerves talking though... ;)

Looks like there are eight climbers on this trip plus two guides. I'm hoping these are cool people. I remember Kurtiss and I talking before our Rainier trip. We had two concerns, not including summiting. One that we would be the slow pokes on our team and two that we'd be on a rope with an asshole. Neither happened so it was a good trip, but now I'm having the same worries hehe...

I am not normally a worrier so this is a new experience for me.

Dave's email also stated three goals he has for every adventure:
- Come back alive
- Come back friends
- Come back successful (like summiting).

Sound like great goals to me!

R

11.25.2007

Final training hike

I got up yesterday morning at 4AM. I hadn't slept well, perhaps 4 hours, and that restless...

But I had a mission, to train, and I wasn't to be deterred. I ate my bagel and drank my coffee alone watching whatever tv is on at 4:30am on a Saturday. Actually I watched a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean hehe... I drank a Redbull, packed the truck and hit the road.

The Santa Ana's started just past Temecula but I didn't realize it till I started having a hard time keeping my truck in the lane. I did notice that I had to turn the vent to cool after needing the heater in San Diego.

At the Baldy Schoolhouse Visitor Center it was chilly but not terribly so. Higher up at the trail head it was windy and cold, but nothing I hadn't seen before. However my hands hurt when I locked the truck and headed up. I quickly warmed up on the trail and a Japanese couple passed me chattering away trying to warm themselves as well.

When the trail steepened I passed a large group. I makes me feel good to pass people who are carrying only day packs or less as I lug my 40 pound load. I caught the Japanese couple as they took a break to adjust their clothes.

It was cold and windy and I felt very strong. I hardly noticed my backpack. I was moving good on the steep trail but I knew if I stopped I'd get chilled quickly. I decided not to stop after one hour as has been my habit on these hikes. I felt good enough to keep going and I thought I could get to the Ski Hut with an hour and a half of hiking from the trail head. I got there in 1:25. I felt good. I appreciated the fact there is a bathroom there...

I sat down with my pack, ate and quickly got cold. Very cold. It was 38 degrees and very windy.

I packed my stuff up and left my gortex windbreaker on. I crossed baldy bowl and headed up the switchbacks to the saddle at Devils Backbone. It took 15 minutes of hard hiking on those switchbacks to warm up and have my fingers not hurt anymore.

I got to the saddle and it was 35 degrees and the wind was blowing even stronger. It had taken a half hour from the ski hut to get here. I was moving very well. As I had hiked over and behind the ridge I would alternate between freezing and cooking. On the ridge I sat down.

I thought about a few things. I felt very strong. I was passing people with much lighter loads, no one had passed me since the Japanese couple two hours earlier. I was cold and had on nearly all the clothes I brought. I knew it would be colder up higher because on this trail the exposure only increases as you go up. I thought about the fact that I was leaving in a few days for almost two weeks and my family was at home doing whatever it was they were doing without me. That was the clincher. I thought to myself that I should be home with my family before this upcoming trip and not up here on this blown out and too cold mountain. I thought my fitness was where it needed to be and another couple hours in this unfriendly place wouldn't make the difference of my summiting or not in Ecuador.

I headed down.

The hike out took about an hour and I felt great the whole way, despite going down the steep scree laden trail that I hate.

I got to my truck feeling pretty good actually. I thought coming down was the right decision and I headed home with much haste. The Santa Ana's blew me all over the road until I got to Temecula again.


This week I plan in being in the gym most every day and I've already started preparing my gear. I'll start actually packing tomorrow night or Tuesday but I've really already started. My pile in the garage grows, I have a small pile in my bedroom that needs to go down to the garage and I have a few items in the hamper that will need washing.

I went by T-Mobile on Friday and talked to them about cell service and Blackberry service in Ecuador. We looked at their map and it looks like cell service will be best in Quito, where I'll be for a total of four days. The other areas we'll be look as if they are not covered at all. My phone will work, where I have coverage, but the roaming will cost 4.99 a minute. I think my phone conversations will be brief in the extreme! It would cost $19 for a month of international Blackberry service. Since it doesn't look I'll even be able to get a signal outside of Quito I won't be getting this service. So it looks like any updates I'll do will be from Quito where there's both a business center in the hotel and an internet cafe less than a block away that is also a bar and restaurant... :D

I'm sure I'll have a few more updates before Friday, so until then...
R

11.20.2007

Single Digit Midget!

We are now down under 10 days!

Well, I didn't make it to Mt. Baldy on Sunday like I'd planned. So Mandi and I went and ran up Iron Mountain Sunday morning. We didn't exactly run up it but we were moving pretty good. It was pretty darn hot and I was carrying about 40 pounds. The pack was so light I hardly noticed it...

Everyone on the trail seemed to have a comment about the size of my pack. There were a lot of people on the trail too. I haven't done Iron Mountain on a weekend like that in some time so it was somewhat surprising how crowded it was.

I wore my new Hard Shell pants and those things are very comfy to hike in. Very stretchy and they breath pretty well.

So that was a quick 2 hour hike. Later in the day we went by REI because they are having their winter sale and we didn't want to miss out!

I picked up a new beany, a fleece bag for my ski goggles, some socks, my chem hand warmers, Convertible pants, couple shirts, some snowboard pants, a webbing belt and I wanted to get a new down jacket but they didn't have what I was looking for. So I ordered that online yesterday... :D Yeah, we spent way more than we needed too...

Now all I need are some Lithium batteries for my headlamp and camera and my food! And I need to spend some time organizing my stuff and sorting through some travel details. hmmmm...

Out,
R

11.17.2007

Packing Pictures


I finally pulled some pics off my camera today. I spent a couple hours in the garage today sorting and arranging gear. I still need to get clothes and food put together but this is pretty much all my climbing gear.





When I got this pic I also got some I took on Baldy last weekend.


This was after coming down a few feet from the summit. You could see the clouds building to the south.



And then this was on the summit. These folks got there a few minutes after my striptease... I was huddled in my wind break and they were huddled in the theirs.

11.16.2007

The 1000 Calorie Lunch Workout

Gerry sent me a couple text messages earlier today.

The First: 14 DAYS!!!
The Second: I just left REI, am going on a 10mi 3500ft hike!

I was motivated... Sort of...

I went to the gym at lunch and saw that somebody was on MY stair climbing machine! I admit it! I was mildly relieved that I would just have to do the bike for a while. Then when I came out of the locker room MY machine was free... Okay... I'll do it...

So I got on MY machine and pecked the numbers it needs. For duration I entered 60 minutes.

I started slow to warm up and as usual if I don't feel I'm getting a good workout I start upping the level. I guess I do hate wasting time in the gym... Eventually I was up at level 10, level 11 and level 12. I checked my heart rate a couple times for 6 seconds. Each time I got to 15 or 16.

After 45 minutes or so I couldn't read anymore and put my magazine away. At this point I was just holding on till the end, changing hand positions every 10 to 20 seconds or so.

60 minutes! Done! 2 Minutes cool down! Done!

As I slowly rode the stairs to the bottom I noticed the calories burned readout. 1021!

Great way to cap a great week of training! And I still have Baldy again on Sunday!

I got an email from Kurtiss yesterday saying he was coming back to the USofA tomorrow. He plans on hiking Baldy every day of the Turkey-day break. Seem a bit aggressive? That's how Kurtiss do... Maybe I can hook with him one of those days. I'd love to get in one more good hike after Sunday!

Ciao
R

11.15.2007

Cool mountain pictures

Mandi just sent me these links and I thought I'd share. Great pictures of Cotopaxi and Cayambe.

http://www.ecuador-images.net/mountain.cotopaxi.htm

http://www.ecuador-images.net/mountain.cayambe.htm

And training is still going good this week. I'm not sure if I'll get up to Baldy this weekend or not but I hope I can get up there during the thanksgiving holiday.

I also got some helpful information back from one the Guide Supervisors at RMI. I wanted to know if everything we took to the huts would be going to the summit with us in our packs. Also if we needed to hike in plastic boots from the trucks to the huts or if we could use lighter hiking boots.

So first they have private lockers in the huts that we can store extra stuff we won't need on the summit like cooking and eating gear and sleeping bags.

On Cotopaxi the hike to the hut from the trucks is less than an hour so we can just wear plastics for that short walk.

On Cayambe the trucks will pretty much drive us right to the hut!

This is very good news to me all around since on Rainier I suffered the most after we got back to Camp Muir after summiting. We then had to finish the hike out with 6 more miles under full packs. This is were I started to see the frayed end of my rope...

Excited and Nervous...
R

11.12.2007

Fraidy Cat!

Man, I am such a wuss sometimes!

I remember this happening before Rainier last year and before my first marathon. I'm totally paranoid about getting sick or injured! I went to the gym today, good workout by the way - actually loosened up my legs, and after words I was feeling kinda sickly.

I got back to my office and I just wanted to lay down. I had a headache and I think even my throat was sore. Psychosomatic?

Then I ate some lunch and wow, I feel so much better. Blood sugar issue? Wussyness? I dunno but I think I'm going to add some daily echinacea to my daily health regimen! I've just spent way too much time, energy, and money getting ready for this climb and I'd hate to have get screwed because somebody sneezed on me!

And on that note, Chowder!
R

Back into the clouds...

Whew boy! Summit was cold yesterday! But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I went up to Mt. Baldy yesterday. I got up and 4AM and left at 5AM. It was a bit surreal getting up and making breakfast alone while Sam and Mandi slept; and not just a little bit sad and lonely. I was on the road on time and got to the Baldy Visitor Center at 6:45. The Ranger there was already opening up shop so I went in to get my Adventure Pass. I found out that since it was Veterans Day I didn't need a pass. Cool!

On the drive up I decided to listen to the Comedy station on Sirius instead of the Music stations I usually listen to. I couldn't seem to shake my melancholy-ness...

I was at the trail head by 7:15 and on the trail by 7:30. I knew that I wanted to push the pace somewhat but I also knew I was going to be on the trail for 6-7 hours so I wanted to be smart about it. I started with a good steady pace that kept my heart rate up in the 130's to 140's. I can do this pretty much all day. I was carrying a good 50 pounds in my big Gregory pack, perhaps a little more.

I hit the turnoff to the Ski Hut trail and it gets steep here, of course I had to slow down. But I was pushing pretty good and I was feeling strong. I decided my schedule would be to hike for an hour to an hour and a half then rest for 10 to 15 minutes. This is similar to the schedules we'll try to keep on the mountains. I stopped at 1 hour when I found a nice tree to sit on. I recently picked up some Hammer E-Caps so I took one of those and ate a little. I kept my jacket on until it was time to go then I took that off and packed it. Now I really was acting like I was climbing hehe... Since I was alone I listened to my iPod all the way to the top.

I was going good and passed two young couples who were hiking up in jeans. They commented that I was carrying a big pack! I told them it was heavy too... Seems like everyone that I went by remarked on the size of my pack. I was something of the oddball up there.

I got to the top about 10 minutes to 11 in 3 hours and 20 minutes. It was 42 degrees, my shirt was soaked. Interestingly I was on top by myself for about 10 minutes. I changed quickly in the biting wind and huddled down behind a rock wind-break. I tried to eat a little bit but with my gloves off it was just wasn't any fun up there. I had told Mandi I'd call her from the top if I could. The call failed a couple times so I pecked out a quick email with painful hands on my Blackberry then I packed up and got out of there! The summit was completely in the clouds by then.

I headed down at a pretty good pace but I kept slipping on the steep scree and loose rocks. So then I added a profane commentary to my hike down. I got to use all them really good bad words that aren't always appropriate at a dinner party...

I got to my truck right around 1:30PM making the up and down in 6 hours. Pretty good considering last time up, before the fires, I carried 35 pounds or so and whole trip took a little more than 7 hours. Last time with less weight I made it up in 3:45 so I feel pretty good about the effort. I will say I'm a little tighter a day later than last time though. However, if I had to I could go back up today.

Assessments:
I would like to get up Baldy at least once more before my trip, maybe even twice if my schedule will allow.
I think the e-Caps helped somewhat but for about 20 minutes above 9000' I felt like i wanted to puke a bit. I felt better as I got closer to the summit and felt fine, other than cold, on the summit.
No blisters.
I think the food needs more thought. I was hungry when I got down but didn't really want to eat any more of the food I had. I had some pretty good trail mix, some Gouda Cheese, Fig Newtons, and some granola type bars. I really had a craving for Cheezits. I couldn't find my apple either, that would have been good too.

Back in the gym today. I'd really like to get in two solid weeks of training before 11/30 but Turkey Day may get in the way of that just a bit.

R

11.09.2007

The Forest is Open!

Okay... Pretty good week back at training. I had a 45 minutes session on the stairs at level 11, another at level 12 and a 45 minute session on the bike.

I was supposed to go do Iron Mountain last night but the mountain was socked in with fog. The last time I did Iron Mountain in the fog it took 2 hours to come down. That coupled with the fact that due to the recent fires there have been a few Mountain Lion sightings in the area I decided to skip hiking in the dark and fog alone for four hours...

So now it looks like the Angeles National Forest is back open as of yesterday. My plan now is to assault Mt. Baldy for 5 to 6 hours on Sunday. I hope to get an early start and carry about 40 to 50 pounds to the summit. This will be a solo hike since Kurtiss is out of the country and Mandi has to kick it at home with Sam.

I went to REI yesterday and used a gift card I got for my birthday to pick up some adventure clothes that I'll wear on the plane down to Ecuador. :D I picked up some North Face mid-weight convertible pants and a nice long sleeve North Face shirt.

Also earlier this week Al from the Today Show was down in Ecuador. It was cool checking his reports out but I don't think I'll be going anywhere near the places he went.

Looking forward to some good hard hiking this weekend and I'll report back in afterwards.

11.05.2007

Fires and Jobs

Wow, it's been a while. Well, training has suffered a bit in the last two weeks. The biggest hit to my schedule has been the fires in Southern California.

Just before my birthday fires came roaring through Rancho Bernardo, where I live, and made not only working out dangerous but even going outside was a health risk! First we spent three days cooped up in our house waiting for the flames to come over the hills. Thankfully for us the fires passed us by to the north, but those neighborhoods were hit hard as the news has shown.

Also due to the self destructive methods of her boss Mandi has lost her job. That has also put a cramp in my training schedule.

Anyway, what that has meant for my training is that I simply haven't been training! I have made it into the gym a couple if times since 10/25, but have done no hiking at all. I called Mt. Baldy visitor center this morning and they, along with the entire Angeles National Forest, are still closed. Though the bored girl there was hoping it might open this week. I hope that's the case because I would REALLY love to get up there on Sunday!

Thursday this week I plan on getting back on Iron Mountain. I checked that trail and someone was on it yesterday so it appears to be open, and I don't believe it actually burned in the fires so the trail should actually be in pretty good shape.

So regardless of jobs and trails and fires etc. Ecuador awaits! She will not care about excuses. Mother Nature is relentless and knows no mercy so it is on me to be prepared regardless of conditions. I am prepared for this, see you in the Gym today. :D

R