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

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

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

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.

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

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

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