Couch climbers & aspiring adventurers
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Update 3 : 6-10-02
Hello everybody,
I've calculated that there are 8 weeks before I go - there seems a lot to do in that time but not a lot of time spare each week beyond work. (That also means 8 weeks till Christmas - is anyone joining me in the ambition of buying all the presents early for once!)
1. The course - Canadian and New Zealand Semester
On their website, Yamnuska include a 'typical' itinerary of the semester course. Obviously there are variations to this in real life depending on weather and other factors. I have included the first section here for your information.
Sample Agenda
Day 1: Welcome, introductions and dinner in Canmore.
Day 2: Local Ski Tour.
A chance to learn about and try out our ski touring gear and to make sure we're ready for the next section.
Day 3 - 6: Four-day Back Country Ski Trip.
It is on this segment that you will first learn the skills of outdoor living and winter traveling. This will be done on skis, though mainly on easy terrain. You will practice winter camping and shelter building as well as learn simple ski skills (telemark or randonnee). It is also where you first get to know and to work with your fellow participants. During the following weeks the group's ability to function well together will be crucial to the success of the program.
Day 7: Day Off.
A well-earned rest and the chance to do washing and to catch up on correspondence.
Day 8 - 15: Waterfall Ice Climbing
Waterfall climbing has a whole different ambiance from other types of climbing. The ropework is much the same but the setting is extraordinary. Roadside seeps and waterfalls suddenly become spectacular climbing challenges. The mental approach to ice climbing is different too. You have to fashion good mind control to climb steep ice smoothly and quickly.
Initially you'll learn and review the knots and belays common to all climbing sections and you will learn basic ice climbing movement skills. Then you will quickly progress to days of practice and advanced skills including 'dry-tooling' and multi-pitch climbs of Canadian classics.
Day 16: Day Off
(from the Yamnuska website www.yamnuska.com )
2. My progress
During a visit to the travel agent it was confirmed - my flight out from Melbourne to Singapore is not confirmed. All the other bits of the journey are, but that flight remains fully booked. So much for the theory that people are busy eating their dinners on the 25h December. The travel agent is using her creative skills to find a seat somewhere (while I send vibes into the universe that someone cancels their seats). There seem to be no seats (in that seat category) on any flight in the general direction I want to go between the 21st December and the 2nd January.
- I continue to go to the gym, 2 or 3 times a week - and enjoy the workout. Basketball is about to start again after a break for school holidays - its good to keep up aerobic fitness and coordination. I should really be also doing some more walking, with a pack. On the occasions that I have done a number of weeks of walking training before bushwalks I have been much better prepared. One of the biggest challenges for me will be stamina over long days. The ability to keep working hard physically for a long day in the open is not one that develops naturally from my regular day of sitting in front of a computer and driving to work. I will require an extra burst of motivation to start a walking program - but its more likely as the weather warms and the days grow longer.
- And a big decision to make - will I take some vegemite with me or will I embrace fully the diet Canada offers? I have found that moutaineering diets tend to be a bit peculiar anyway. On my first trip I was introduced to salami, cheese and peanut butter sandwiches - all together. It was a sort of calorie sandwich - the challenge being to get as much energy as quickly as possible in the cold conditions. Vegemite doesn't do much on the calorie front and old taste preferences become redundant.
- I passed the medical exam (as I would have expected) and have faxed off the forms.
3. News from/about others
Another woman who has provided me with inspiration is Sorrel Wilby. Sorrel has had a number of adventures and one of those was to walk 6,500 kms along the length of the Himalayas. She did this over 18 months, breaking the trip up into some stages, mainly because of the difficulty of accessing a number of the countries along the route.
This excerpt from her book 'Across the Top' (published by Sun Australia, 1992) is about a small section of the walk that took place in Nepal. It happened that I was on the first of the two treks I've done when she was there. I remember noticing how quickly and easily she and her friends covered the ground that I thought was stupendously steep. She commented in her book that she considered that part of the walk a practice for other terrain that was to follow - for me, at that time, it was very serious stuff. She describes in much better words than I can muster what some parts of that walk look like. It was the beauty of the Gokyo lakes that made me think I would like to spend more time in the remote and icy landscapes of the world.
excerpt taken from pp 166 - 169
"We were actually heading up to Machermo, having decided to digress from the main Everest base-camp trail. … I was able to talk them all [her 3 companions] into trekking up to Gokyo, a village on the lateral moraine of the longest glacier in Nepal - the Ngozumpa - from whence the Dudh Kosi flowed. We would still see Everest from there, and a great deal besides: according to the map there were five lakes around Gokyo and enough vantage points along the way to view not only the peaks lined up along the traditional route (from a different perspective) but several more mountains of the Khumbu Himal, notable the 8,153 metre massif of Cho Oyu.
As soon as we set foot on the trail the next morning, we knew we would not be disappointed with our decision. It was a magic day and the sun turned the snow-covered fields of Kunde and Kumjung into gorgeous glittered gowns, laid out before the reigning queen of the mountains. 6,856 metre Ama Dablam, believed by many to be the most striking peak in the area, stood in attendance; a beautiful elegant maid wearing the snow charm-box for which she was named. Chomolugma [Everest] hid her naked bulk behind the folding screen of the Nuptse-Lhotse wall.
A rough hewn stairway took us up into the cerulean sky, onto a high ridge looking down on the Imja Kola River. The new monastery of Tengboche shone like a beacon on its sunlit ridge, turned now into an island, floating in the shadowing abyss of the valley. The scale, the sheer magnitude of the valleys, the warmth of the people and the tangible and mystical elements of their religion, all belonged to another world. To stand in view of it all was both an exhilarating and humbling experience.
The trail led sharply down towards the Dudh Kosi River, then undulated above it and along it through enchanted forests of rhododendron and birch. The branches and leaves were anointed with snow. The whole scene seemed to be holding its breath, as if in awe of itself. Even the waterfalls were still, frozen in motion, hanging like white veils of light over faces of stone.
...we pressed onto Gokyo. apart from the lowest and smallest tarn, the surfaces of the lakes around the village were frozen solid. Like giant ice-skating rinks they lay between the moraine of the Ngozumpa and the base of the range which flanked the western side of the long glacier....
The overnight temperature dropped to minus twenty-five and it took almost half the following day to thaw out. The wind was bitterly cold. We were among the last of the tourists of the season to trek to Gokyo, and after we left the lodge owners would lock up shop and head south for the winter."
Our group was one of the other last groups of tourist for the season.
Don't forget - if you've got a story to tell or want to make a comment for others to see as well let me know.
Thanks again for the support
Linda