Misc.

I haven't posted as much as I want to lately. Been so busy with work project. Finally one was done last Friday but a new one started today, lots of new material to digest. Its good to be busy in recession, as everyone says.

I still stick with my training program, at least trying to. Still climb the boring stairmaster, lift some weight and hikings on the weekend. Yesterday I carried almost 45 lbs (20.5 kg) of weight to Mission Peak. It was pretty hot but I started out early at 7:30 so it wasn't too bad. There was a little bit of breeze so it helped tremendously. This time around I learned my lesson, carry cold water. I put lots of ice in the two bottles. It definitely felt good to drink cold fluid on a hot trail. With all that, I managed to cut down the time to the peak by 30 mins. Still have a lot of room for improvement but I wasn't panting to go up. I did make a few quick stops for snacks and drinks. Some people jokingly asked me if I planned to stay up there for a week. The pack is half of my height and not too far from half of my weight! Some people got heat stroke or got prolem hiking up without a backpack. Ambulance sighting on the trail is not unusual. A few weeks ago, I even spotted a helicopter come for a rescue (see videos)





But yesterday there was this little kid, around 8 years old made it to the top with his dad and uncle. Amazing kid. He made it to the top shortly after me and got back down at the trail head at the same time as me. Amazing thing is he didn't appear too tired, and full of energy. I don't know what his dad feeds him with but I could see a potential great athlete. A lot of adults can't even make it half way, let alone the summit and back down with energy and in such a hot day (at the time we were at the trailhead, it was over 90F - 32+ Celcius)

Today I checked Eric Larson's blog. Eric is the polar explorer who is doing the 3 poles this year. He just did Denali early July as a training for Everest. Apprently he was in the Bay area to promote his Save The Pole program and some advertising for Sierra Designs gears at REI. I couldn't believe I missed his presentations. I could have connected with him in person. Oh well. But anyway, we still plan for the polar training. He was thinking of Yellowknife or Colorado or even Churchill. That would be in late Oct or early Nov when it's cold enough. He'll let me know the time and location. Hopefully there are other people as well, to cut down the cost. The training will be about 6 days.

In less tha a month I'll be climbing Mt Rainier. This is going to harder than Mt Shasta. I have bought quite a few more gears for this, all top of the line. Hopefully this will be the one time investment deal. I do not want to spend more for the same item later. The only thing that I am looking for is a light 4-season tent. I know the models I want to get but they are really expensive. Guess I can wait on this. Another item is an expedition parka. I do have one, in fact two, one from the North pole trip and one I just bought recently. The one from North Pole is was too heavy for mountaineering cuz it is filled with synthetic material and not so good. The one I bought recently is down filled parka, a decent one but I think that one might not cut it for extreme cold. Will see when I test it in the training.