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

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

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.

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