Ocean Beach: Preparation, Billy Joel & Training

As concluded in my last post I'm home in San Diego, and my main concern is being ready for the next few months.
I have March 23rd through May 1st to prepare for the two most major adventures in my adult life so far:

1) Climbing Mount Rainier, a 14,411 foot volcano two hours southeast of Seattle in the Pacific Northwest’s Cascade Mountains.






2) Traveling to the Himalayas in Nepal & trekking to Mount Everest’s Base Camp, the most remote journey of my life which will take me as high as 18,448 feet potentially for a view of the largest mountain in the world.


I immediately felt like I didn't have enough time. I'm not significantly out of shape but with all of this travel I haven't been maintaining any sort of consistent aerobic exercise except for walking, which isn't enough. People actually die on Rainier, they get lost in sudden blizzards because their oxygen deprived brain is not thinking clearly and therefore stupid decisions get made. I don't want to be one of those people, I'm lucky enough to have friends willing to guide me up to this amazing vantage the least I can do is be as prepared as possible when the time comes.

My first week back stateside I spent my afternoons casually sifting through my pictures, recollecting my recent travels and chillin’ out while my evenings were spent catching up with family & friends, usually over dinner. I then switched into business mode, almost like I was clocked in during business hours getting as much done as possible while the rest of the country was awake. Initially I needed to figure out where I stood financially, so I deposited my unemployment checks, some birthday checks (thanks Mom & Dad) & my tax refunds… I was doing OK, which is good since to even attempt a climb as serious as Mount Rainier I would need to spend at least $1000 on cold weather climbing gear. Next I needed to figure out a few plane tickets. It didn’t take me long to realize that since I have the luxury of time for another trip to Asia I would not need to spend the $1500 that my employed travel partners spent on round-trip tickets from LAX to Kathmandu, the destination airport which is where you catch a smaller plane to Lukla, which is the launch point for Everest Base Camp. (This pic is Mount Everest as viewed from a summit near the Base Camp)
I have always been intrigued by India, and after a small amount of research I came up with the idea of flying to New Delhi & traveling overland into Nepal & eventually Kathmandu to meet my two friends Andy Gough & Scott Jablow. I found a ticket for $990 from San Diego to New Delhi, buying that was the easy part, figuring out the Indian Embassy’s Visa requirements did not prove as simple. $150 & many phone calls later I was Express mailing my actual passport, a signed form, money orders & passport photos to an agency in San Francisco that India has outsourced their Visa services to, Travisa, who although expensive proved to be very helpful. On many of these forms they ask your profession, and although I’m laid off I’ve always put down “TV News” without a second thought, India needs additional paperwork documenting that you are not entering their country for media purposes. So after a few more phone calls we decided to change my employment status to “unemployed,” which makes things simpler but adds an element of uncertainty to my return. Now when I arrive in India if I don’t have a return ticket they will insist on checking my bank account to make sure I have enough funds to return home. Yes, they are that thorough.
While that was going on I was working on another plane ticket, to Seattle the launching point for Mount Rainier, this one was easy since the dates are fixed by my friends/guides schedules. I found a round-trip ticket from San Diego to Seattle for $160 May 2nd through May 9th, sweet & easy, domestic flights seem so simple and predictable now after dealing with so many complications overseas.

Now I know what you’re saying, all work and no play make Jason a dull boy, true, true. It’s Friday March 27th, I’m realizing my fun is different now but I’m trying to retain the good parts of who I was and mixing it with new things. My girlfriend & her friend Kristin had some extra tickets to see Brett Dennen at the House of Blues so I spent a Friday night downtown having good beers at the Yardhouse & picking the brain of Kristin’s boyfriend Neil, who just happens to be an Indian who spent some of his youth growing up in that country. (Oh yeah, Brett Dennen was OK too, more for the ladies but whatever) The next day I had big plans, I really needed to figure out my Mountaineering boot situation so Dorothy & I planned on getting up early and going to the REI Used Gear Sale in hopes of finding some cheap stuff. I didn’t find shit but my lovely Dorota found a great winter jacket as well as some other items she’s needed. We moved on, I tried on some plastic boots & picked up some other random gear at Nomad Ventures in Escondido, and then we hit the Golden Egg, a great omelet spot for breakfast.

At this point I called my Mom and asked her on a “date” for that evening since she was the person who introduced me to Billy Joel, he was playing with Elton John that evening in Anaheim, the show was sold out but I wanted to try to get in. Followers of this blog might remember when I was leaving Jono in Seoul we had a final night of partying, these two musicians played a major role in that evenings excitement and to sum up I had noted in my calendar that this show was happening two months later, tonight, and I wanted to take my Mother. She agreed to me picking her up later that afternoon and after a few hours in the truck we rolled into the Honda Center parking lot, home of the Mighty Ducks. It was a tough ticket to obtain, the scalpers were out in full force and my normal spot to score reasonably priced extras near Will Call was reminiscent of a ghost town. After about 30 minutes we had the idea to try the ticket window, I know, crazy, but it ended up working out. The cashier woke up and searched the system for two seats; she seemed surprised that there was an opening in a decent section and told me I would not do better than these for $100 each… OK then, I told my Mom happy 60th eight months early ;) and into the show we went. Our seats were good, upper level but directly over Billy’s left shoulder with a perfect view of his fingers on the keys. He & Sir Elton opened the show with a few songs together, Elton John played a full set, Billy played a full set & then they did six encores together to close up the show. It was phenomenal, no set break required for these two old guys to catch their breath. Billy had apparently had a few while waiting his turn which made the Piano Man (the final of the six song encore) even more appropriate. (I’m guessing the microphone smells more like liquor than beer these days though) It went on for over four hours making this high priced ticket well worth the money, and I’m still trying to figure out how after hundreds of concerts I’ve never seen either of these gentlemen live.



Right on! The show ended and after a short wait in the lot we exited into Anaheim and eventually were headed south on Interstate Five back to San Diego. My Mom seemed pleased & I was impressed that two seventies musicians can still rock that hard, if you ever get the chance I highly recommend.

The next day after a good night sleep Dot & I joined Scott for a three hour hike in Mission Trails; I donned a 40 pound pack to make it more strenuous, this was the beginning, I needed to start doing serious cardio as much as possible. I had just over a month & the only thing standing in the way of working out was my desire to get off the computer.

Getting off the computer required many things…
- I needed to finish my pictures, of course they could wait but getting those albums saved on my hard drive and uploaded while it’s still fairly fresh in your head makes it a ton easier.
- Then of course there’s this blog, everyday I felt things from New Zealand slipping away as I reminisced with old friends & researched future journeys.
- I had a TON of research to do for mountaineering purchases, I needed to buy: Boots; Pants; Synthetic Down Jacket; Ax; Crampons; assorted climbing gear; cold weather protection; waterproof bags
- Along with all of this gear one needs to obtain the knowledge to use it, so now after thirteen years out of college I’m studying again, reading mountaineering protocol’s & specifics about Rainier, it’s weather and traveling on glaciers.

I know what your thinking, tough life; most people have to do all of this stuff while maintaining 40 hour work weeks… or do they? I’m starting to think not. Who really is “most people” that do these things? How dare I have anxiety over spending most of 2009 unemployed when most serious travelers & climbers aren’t working when they’re doing it correctly, right? To truly take it seriously means full concentration and minimal distractions.

I spent the next week getting all of the record keeping out of my head in order to make room for new travel information. In the evenings I was doing whatever exercise I could and spending quality time with my girl, getting to bed early so I could live every day to its fullest. Around April 1st my Passport with an Indian Visa showed up and I immediately turned it back around to the Nepalese Embassy in New York City, same requirements but for $40 instead of $150, so my awesome scorecard of where I’ve been in the world is gone again via secure mail – it was back within two days. These countries Visa’s take up full pages in your passport making it extra special… I now had everything for my May 13th through June 10th vacation under control; Round-trip airfare to New Delhi, Indian & Nepalese Visas; Jablow buying our Kathmandu to Lukla plane tickets; and an India Lonely Planet to solve any questions I might have over the next month and a half. Yeah I need accommodations and train/bus reservations but the hard parts I need to handle from afar are over, I need to move on to Rainier.

I finished uploading my picture albums to Picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/jguinter & Facebook, paid all of my bills, posted my final blog from “down under” and got down to outlining all of the information I would need to ingest over the next month and a half. Our living room table is a constant jumble of maps, guidebooks & paperwork – I love it, Dottie probably hates it but knows I need to be able to jot things down or answer questions for myself when the thought strikes since I might forget it. I research what I still need, read about crevasse rescue and train whenever I can, still spending my evenings with my family and Donia or heading out somewhere in Ocean Beach for pitchers and/or music.

Overall things seem under control, I’m spending some good time lately watching Avery grow up; it’s nice being around during this age and helping my sister whenever possible.
We leave for a long Easter Weekend over Dorothy’s spring break to get away & see old friends, I’ll pick up there with the next post.