Another day...

Still on track. Feeling good. I've been slacking on the Spanish lessons, but I have an excuse. The computer HD is starting to click, so I decided to upgrade the system. I've added a mass storage device that manages the drives and backups (called a Drobo) and moved the printer into a network printer attached by wireless print server.

These things did not happen without some amount of fiddling. I put the Drobo on as a network mass storage device and used a WAP to connect to the system. This lets me move stuff out of the living room and place them in less obvious, but still highly useful locations.

New computer will arrive in a couple days and the old one will be rehab'ed into my work computer (currently a Win 98SE box).

Good week

Finally, nothing hurts this week. I'm not climbing this evening to prevent pulling that gluteal muscle thing again. Weights went well. Weather is turning nice. Spanish program is coming along, but I'm still not sure how much I'm actually learning. All in all, an excellent week. 10 to go.

Data point

Geeze. Pulled my butt again. I gotta mend up. I don't need a gimpy ass before heading up the mountain. I'm gonna eat cheese tonight.

More of same

Had a nice 7.5 mile run yesterday. Got a chance to run down a road that's been closed almost a year for bridge repairs. The first bridge is really amazing. Completely new approach and bridge. The second bridge is still basically a 3/4 lane (but is technically "closed"). The cyclists seem to like it this way, though. Afterwards, I dug postholes for a little over an hour. Then grilled up a steak.

Today was sprints. I hate 'em. But I did 'em. Heavy rains here today, but I caught a break in the weather to get my sprints in. Tomorrow's weights again.

Been working on Spanish. I have to say, Rosetta Stone is pretty fun. I don't know if I'm learning anything, but it's fun nonetheless.

The not fun stuff

Went to the travel clinic yesterday. Paid a whole lotta money and got 4 shots. Yellow fever, Typhoid fever, hepatitis A and Tetanus. Picked up some Cipro and a prescription for Diamox. Then went to some friends for dinner. Slept in this morning, but did weights and Spanish this evening. Tomorrow is an off day.

Hola!

Started learning Spanish last night. I'm using Rosetta Stone. It's actually pretty fun to use, for a learning module. I now can say Boy, Girl, Man, Woman, eating, cooking, drinking, reading and running.

El hombre corre

La nina bebe

Los ninos comen

Ella mujere leen

Los hombres cocinan

Woo hoo!

Old Rag

Today, I headed down to central VA and did a training hike on Old Rag. I've never been there, so I had to get directions on line. I ended up using GPS and heading for Nethers, VA., a tiny little town.

After paying my $8 parking, I headed out for the trailhead. There were dozens of folks out today, including a Boy Scout troop. Starting out, I made pretty good time. As I approached the rock scramble area, I took a short break to take some pictures. In that little bit of time, the scouts ended up in the bottleneck areas of the scramble. So we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, I decided to find a way around the bottleneck and continue on up to the summit.

The weather was fantastic, and aside from the crowds, the hike was great. Start to finish, the hike took me 3 hours, 50 minutes, with about 40 minutes of stopped time.

Weighty matters

Weight training starts today. Talk about inefficient. I had to hunt up weights and parts. A little over 2 hours for what should have been a one hour workout. I gotta get a better system. Off day tomorrow, so I'll just climb some at the gym.

Time for the 12 Week Countdown

This week starts the climbing specific training. For me, that means a little less running a little more weight training and much more attention to the heart rate monitor. I have an appointment with a travel health clinic in a week and a half. And, I ordered the last of the gear I'll need. Gotta start working on Spanish, at least enough to get to someone who can speak English.

40 minutes of relaxed running ---and a little climbing :o)

Oh, and hey, check out the Question of the Week. Answer posted next week

Another day...

Still recovering from some sort of gluteal muscle pull. Elliptical for 60 minutes today.

This year, I spent a week in the Adirondacks, ice climbing on all but 1 day where we practiced rescue skills. We spent a lot of time on hauling systems. The best part of skills days is learning about techniques that allow you to do things you didn't know you could. The worst part is not getting many opportunities to practice the skills. About a month after getting back, I had a chance to practice my hauling systems, when the tractor with the front end loader stopped running. I still had to pull the 500 pound post driver into a tree to remount it on the large tractor, but now I needed another way to get it there.

This is the 6:1 hauling system I rigged up, running it through a locking carabiner, which is slung to a branch about 25 feet up in the tree. Worked great. I felt great that I could rig it up without referring to notes.

Oh, and we drove about 15 posts a few days later.

The beginning

Ian is a friend, teacher and guide. It is from him that I've learned how to ice climb. Several years ago, he asked me about my climbing experience. I had done some easy mountaineering and easy rock climbing (scrambling really), and that's about it. At one point, he asked me if I had ever considered climbing in another country/continent.



I had just learned to ice climb and was thrilled with the whole experience. I couldn't imagine expending a lot of time and money on a mountaineering trip that didn't have some element of ice climbing in it.



Now, several years later, several ice seasons and one trip up the Coe Glacier on Mt. Hood later, Ian contacted me about a trip up Alpamayo and Quitaraju in Peru. Both summits are over 19,000 feet. Both require multiple pitches of grade IV ice climbing. Ian is pretty confident I'm up to the task, but it's gonna require training. Some of the days are gonna be long. And, I've never climbed at that sort of altitude.



This is gonna be an exciting ride.

Alpamayo

I should have done this a few months ago. Back when Ian contacted me about a possible ice climbing/mountaineering trip to Peru. At the time, back in October 07, I didn't even think about it. I spent my time thinking about the trip, discussing it with my wife (who immediately said, "You've gotta do this!") and wondering if I could do this.

But, now, at the start of April 08, I'm finally getting this blog together. I have about 90% of my gear together. I'm currently in the middle of training for the trip and am recovering from pulling some sort of butt muscle at the climbing gym last week.

All in all, things are progressing and still I wonder if I can do it.

I'll add the back information to the trip in future blogs, cuz otherwise this will run on forever.