New Delhi, Agra, Varanasi & the Road to Kathmandu

Well that wasn't very long at all. I was home from Saturday night till Wednesday morning, never got a chance to sleep in since I had so much crap to take care of before I leave for this month. Again a sad goodbye at Lindbergh Field, seems this might be the last one for awhile since the rest of my summer travels will be with my lovely life-sharer.

The five hour flight to Newark "flew" by, a small nap, some reading and a new game I've been playing with myself when I get a window seat: Guess what state your over - I'm good till the Midwest, after that who the hell knows. In Newark I had over a four hour layover, so I considered going into the City since it's cheap and quick, but opted to get a shoe shine, make some phone calls and enjoy a few beers. I also did some extensive shopping for headphones, they broke on the SD to Newark plane so I figured it would be important that I replace prior to the fourteen hour flight I was waiting for. The best I found was $40, and $80 for the kind I like (normally $20 at Sam Goody) - anyway, I said F it and decided to make the trip with only one channel working since India is well known for its cheap electronics. When I got to the gate I realized that my flight was full, great, I had a window and planned on purposefully dehydrating myself so I wouldn't need too many bathroom breaks. The plane was 90% Indians, quite a few large families and the two gents I was sitting with had "people" in all parts of the plane. It was good I had the window, after watching "Bedtime Stories" I passed out for nine hours, woke up with two hours left, had some breakfast and landed. After a Swine Flu check & Customs my Hotel had a driver with my name on a sign waiting to bring me to the RAK International Hotel... that was the first time I'd had that treatment, I felt special.

So nobody follows traffic rules in India, just like Thailand but with more people & it seemed more construction. Also cows are sacred so they might just wander into the street when they feel like it. When we got to my area of town, Pajar Ganj, they were, and it was hilarious. I got checked into my deluxe suite, wandered to the rooftop patio for some beers & made friends with Jim, Richard & Erin. They were very helpful since they had been around India for much longer and seemed to have it dialed in, I figured it would work out like this but it's always nice to have confirmation to what had just been suspicions for the past few months.
The next morning I woke early and wandered up the street to the train station, bought my ticket ($1.80) to Agra (home of the Taj Majal) for the next day and found those headphones for $1.50 at some corner shop - on the way back to my hotel some guy noticed my Tevas were falling apart, I knew that. I had actually planned to find another pair along the way but this guy sewed & glued them so well that I think I'll get another year out of them. ($3, sweet) I had some breakfast, an onion & cheese omelet with toast and joined Richard the German for some Delhi Sightseeing. (Sidebar: most Indians are vegetarian, after seeing the way some of the meat is handled in the markets I've opted to be vegetarian as well.) We wandered toward the shopping district which also has some nice parks, Connaught Place, and he handled some errands while I checked some travel schedules on the web. (Something to note: Security in this country is everywhere, even to enter a park you go through a metal detector & have your bag searched. They didn't seem to care much about me but it seems they are truly trying to prevent terrorist attacks in public places.) After that we grabbed lunch and wandered an underground Bazaar, I'm looking for a nice light pair of pants, this place is HOT! Than we caught an Auto-Rickshaw (same thing as a tuk-tuk in Thailand) across town to the Red Fort, a military stronghold originally meant to protect Old Delhi, now an archaeological society tourist attraction. We wandered this during the hottest part of the day and eventually made it into the heart of Old Delhi, the craziest bazaar of them all where it seems a large amount of the world's imports & exports originate, I still didn't find any pants. Next stop was the largest mosque in India, Jama Masjid, and it lived up to its reputation. We lounged on the huge stairway in the shade of this enormous place of worship until we figured out our next stop, Raj Ghat. We took a bike-rickshaw about 20 minutes towards the river to this simple square platform of black marble where Gandhi was cremated following his assassination in 1948... it had an enclosed eternal flame and a ton of observers filed in while we were there, these peeps really love their Gandhi. Eventually we caught another ride back to our neighborhood, these little old guys sure can pedal some of the worst maintained rickshaws I've ever encountered. (If I had an allen wrench and some grease I would have hooked his ass up with a tuneup.) Anyway, after some back alley navigation skills, (Richard also carries a compass everywhere he goes) we found our hotel, I grabbed my 3rd shower of the day and passed out (unexpectedly, from all the sun) for three hours. That evening I had a late dinner, found Richard again and since I was leaving for Agra in the morning we decided to find a bar. Surprisingly Delhi doesn't have a thriving nightlife like every other large city I've been in, but we found the Green Chille Lounge and had a few. We met some folks and after the six of us got quite hammered together Mike, (a Punjabi born Canadian) offended Tricia, (Gary's girlfriend) which in turn started drama, Richard being the nice guy that he is, broke it up and we spent an hour or so talking these tough guys down from what could have been a bad scene. I slept hard that night and woke up with an incredible hangover, joined Antti (Finland) & Erin (Canada) for breakfast, packed my bag and went to the train station to start my three hour ride to Agra.

The trains seem organized, my name was on a printout on my car and I found my seat which was also a sleeper. Once the train was underway I crawled into the top bunk to nurse my aching head. (I really don't drink that much anymore, I doubt the heats helping.)

I arrived in Agra and priority one was how was I getting out? I wanted to go to Varanasi next, a town kind of on my way to Kathmandu on the banks of the Ganges River. The trains were sold out, fuck. OK, now of course there's a local that says he can get me onto that train, OK, how much? I go with him to an Auto-rickshaw with another guy for a 20 minute ride to a travel agent. Seems these agents pay the train people for VIP status, so I end up paying three times what I should ($14) to catch a twelve hour overnight train the next night. OK, now take my ass back to the train station because I need government confirmation that this "e-tickets" real. 20 more minutes and a short line later the man behind the glass said I'm good to go. Sweet. Take me to my hotel! These guys have it all worked out, they tell me that this evening we're going to the backside of the Taj to watch the sunset, after that we'll have a drink, in the morning they'll wake me up for sunrise on the Taj, then we'll go to Agra Fort, after that more drinks and they'll make sure I'm on my train. I was hypnotized, they'd done this before and I was falling for it. They waited while I checked into the Taj Plaza and when I saw my room, the Taj Majal from the roof, and the air conditioner blowing all sorts of goodness onto the double bed I literally ran down three flights of stairs to catch my "guides" and tell them I'd see them in the morning. I was NOT going anywhere anytime soon, what's my hurry? They're whole point is that it's the off-season and if I'm pulling rupees out of my wallet they want them in their able hands. My point is if I feel like I'm getting rushed piss off, I'll figure it out on my own. I relaxed, showered and wandered around the Taj's outer walls, the "touts" as they call the vendors here are crazy obnoxious and I had fun coming up with different ways to blow them off. I found a park, Shahjahan, and spent a while chasing the most gorgeous peacock I've ever seen in the wild. I also saw a wild boar, camels, tons of parrots and a monkey. I watched the sun go down and made my way back to my room for an early night, ordered room service and flipped through the channels till I passed out.

I only slept four hours, it was hot regardless of the A/C and I was excited to watch the sun rise over the Taj. Around 4am it started getting light so I started getting myself together and left my room by five. My "tour guides" had told me the sun came up at six, they were wrong so I ditched that meeting and was one of the first people through the gate at 5:30am. After shooting some exteriors I positioned myself on the east side of this awesome mausoleum and watched it change color as the sun did it's thing. It was brilliant, everything I'd heard about and maybe more, I hadn't expected it to be so enormous and the amount of labor it must have taken to create the exquisite perforated marble screens (to allow some light in) must have been intense. I spent almost five hours wandering around taking way too may pictures and lounging in some shady archways reading my book and filling out some postcards. When I finally made it back to my hotel one of the "guides" was there, and pissed. I told him if I would have listened to him I would have missed the sunrise, which I hadn't, and if that's the type of guiding he's selling I'm not buying. He stormed out of the lobby and the concierge was cracking up, I apologized for the drama and his response was that I was completely right, and he's just lazy used to taking advantage of the more ignorant tourists. Score one for me :) After that I had some breakfast, packed my bag again and stashed it with the hotel. It was time for some errands so I hired a rickshaw "driver" - he took me around for things like an ATM stop, the post office, we went to a shop where I got a light scarf since these were the fashion for keeping the sun off, as well as that pair of pants I'd been looking for. Eventually I made it back to my hotel where I gathered my bag and went to the rooftop restaurant for my last meal before the twelve hour train ride. It was only 6pm, my train was at 11:30pm. On the roof I met Sabrina from San Fran, she had been traveling for a while and gave me some good insight into other places in India & Nepal. We chatted while staring at the Taj as the sun went down until I eventually had to go to the train station. After making friends with the Agra Boxing Club (Four huge Indians intrigued my my "french" style goatee? Who knows) I got into my sleeper class top bunk. The guy next to me was working hard at cleaning some nasty residue off of his bunk so I offered him some Clorox wipes I had with me, he was super grateful and they did the trick, so for the next 14 hours (trains never run on time in India) this cat & his bro's had my back whenever some random would get pushy or overly friendly. I love how the little things can make all the difference. That reassurance actually meant I felt OK sleeping, I probably got four hours total, not bad for someone traveling solo using a backpack as a pillow.

So for those of you keeping track, that's four hours the night before and four hours on the train, when I got into Varanasi I was exhausted but made my way to a travel agent the LP had recommended. They told me that my plan to go to Kathmandu the next day wouldn't work, I would need to wait till Wednesday. Whatever, that was my backup plan, I needed to get some down time so I caught a tuk-tuk towards my guest house.

This town is very strange, the Ghat's are where they burn the bodies. Varanasi is where people come to die, the Hindu belief is that if your ashes are thrown into the Ganges, the most holiest of rivers, that the cycle if reincarnation will end. (Pictured above: Stacks of wood & piles of ashes next to river.)There are many hospices or if you have money your family has your body brought here when you do pass... following me? So now there are many types of wood that can be used to burn the bodies, the type of wood depends on how much money you have as well. As you wander the streets you see wood getting carted along and bodies getting carried on stretchers (wrapped in cloth) - so, I got dropped at the edge of the Ghat District, the streets are so narrow that even the smaller vehicles are not allowed. Of course I got lost on my way to the Schindia Guest House but eventually found the Ganges River and was pointed in the right direction. I found my place, checked in, met my "roommates" (geckos are everywhere, but they're nice and eat the mosquitoes) unpacked and after slamming some water passed out for fourteen hours. At some point (this ones for the ladies ;) I used my toilet and when I flushed a gecko fell into the whirlpool, he must be used to this and swam his little ass off until he finally made it back up under the rim of the toilet. Also I failed to mention the many warnings I'd received from the managers that I was not to leave things on my balcony (I was a few floors up overlooking the river) or any doors open due to the fact that monkeys like to steal. Awesome, it didn't stop me from leaving my door open at night, monkeys or not I needed to sleep and Varanasi was the hottest place I'd been yet.

In the morning I was offered a boat ride up and down the river, it is interesting seeing how these people enjoy bathing in the same place where all of these ashes, the cities sewage & animal carcases are being deposited. I also witnessed plenty of monkey's and a herd of a Water Buffalo entering the river for their morning bath, an animal I've never really watched, and for their size seem extraordinarily graceful when submerged. When my ride was over the pre-agreed upon price of 30 rupees turned into 80 so after cursing him & his karma I walked up and out of the Ghats to catch a ride to the train station. I decided to take a train as far north (towards Nepal) as possible, a town called Gorakhpur, and from there wing it by bus. My $2.25 train was to leave at 1pm so I went back to my guest house, packed my belongings and started towards the train station. I need to sidebar again: I was hungry, but the smells of death and sights of all types of feces were repulsing me, I couldn't stomach anything so just felt the need to get out of this town ASAP and figure out my hunger problem along the way. At the train station I found out my train was running late, the Tourist Police are everywhere in the transportation hubs and are very helpful, it makes me happy that these guys are around, they point you in the right direction & keep the more obnoxious locals off your back while also keeping you in the information loop. So to kill some time I found some chips and another large bottle of water while shopping for postcards. (There were none, sorry sis) This town was not making me happy so when the train arrived an hour late I was stoked to climb into my bunk for the seven hour ride north. This train had delays, at times it just stopped I assume due to another train ahead on the track, and everyone would jump out and wander the fields until it would go again. At 8:30pm (well after dark) it arrived in Gorakphur, and I found a $1.00 bus to Sunauli, the border town three hours away. This bus was interesting, the door kept falling open due to the crazy horrible roads, people kept jumping in and out regardless of whether the bus was moving or not, and at times I wasn't sure if we were going to make it back into our lane past the horse cart before the big rig smashed into us. (That's just one example ;) The driver was blasting his Hindi music and would just pull over whenever he had the urge to relieve himself, I guess that was our cue to do the same. Eventually the bus was empty except for myself and the crew, and shortly after they dropped me at the only light I had seen for miles which also happened to be a hotel. The owner seemed to be waiting for me, and for $10 I had a double room with a private bath and a swamp cooler... awesome, I was starving but my exhaustion overpowered that so after slamming more water passed out for a good five hours.

The next morning I woke around 5:30am, gathered my stuff, thanked the staff and wandered up the street 1/2 a kilometer to the border. The sight was reminiscent of video I've seen of the Gulf War, crumbled buildings with burning piles on either side of the road. I didn't feel unsafe, just motivated to get the hell out of that part of India. I got stamped out by their immigration, walked across the border, stamped into Nepal by their immigration, and walked about 20 more meters to a bus stand. Kathmandu is eight more hours away by bus, my ticket which I'm told I paid too much for was $7 and we left pretty quick. There was another American on the bus with me and we immediately made friends, Alex from Chicago. We watched each others bags during stops and chatted about our travels. The bus kept gathering people to the point where they were stacked on the roof with the luggage, at every stop people kept offering me food but I was wary and so close to "civilization" that I opted to stay away from it since I'd rather starve than be sick for my two week trek to Everest Base Camp.

Nepal is gorgeous, as we drove north and east we started into the foothills of the Himalaya, a jungle no where near as dirty as what I'd seen in India. Now, I don't want to spread the wrong impression here, I was in the most populous & traveled places in India during the hottest time of the year, there are regions to the east, north and on the that I hear are amazing but my experience so far was not pretty, Nepal was making up for it in a big way, until we got to Narayangarh.

The bus pulled over; every bus was pulled over for as far as we could see; everyone got out; vendors started selling us food & water, I finally indulged in some spicy noodles; we "heard" that someone was causing trouble; an Englishman on a motorcycle came from the other direction and saw us, the only two white dudes for miles and pulled over to chat; he told us that he had just zig-zagged past burning tires and rubble for the past five kilometers, this was one of those Nepalese protests the state department had warned me about, great. I told the Englishman I had considered buying a bike and doing the trip like him, his words at that point seemed hilarious since his motorcycle made it through the blockades just fine, "You shoud've." I agreed and he went on his way, we spent the next six hours wandering around, learning some Nepalese from our bus-mates and staring at the distant Himalayas. It was an annoying inconvenience but we were safe and assured the road would open back up at 5pm. It did and after the buses lined up and got through the inevitable "jam" we were back on our way. We drove past the blockade which might have reassured me that this was not some fabrication to bring commerce to an otherwise remote village, but I'm still not convinced. After four more hours we pulled into Katmandu, caught a cab to the Potala Guest House where I had a reservation and checked in. At this point we realized how much we, as Americans, take power for granted. Nepal is always in rolling blackouts, the gov't allocates electricity to its towns as needed and we arrived in the dark. We then wandered the streets in the dark to finally find some grilled beef sticks (I hadn't had meat in a week, and I needed it before passing out due to malnutrition.) before heading back to our place for a shower and a long nights rest. The next morning (Today) I had the most food I've eaten before noon in years, cereal, yoghurt, banana pancakes, eggs, waters... it was awesome and has given me the energy to write this. I'm stacking up on supplies for our trek for the next two days, than tomorrow evening Scott & Andy arrive for a few hours before we catch a plane up to Lukla to begin our journey to the base of the highest mountain in the world.

Mount Rainier, Smith Rock & back again

This was it, what I had been training for.

When this is over, I told myself, I can be considered a novice mountaineer.

There were four of us: Andrew, Jimmy, Tim and me. Andrew and Jimmy were college friends, who, like me, were originally from Pennsylvania. Jim knew Tim from upstate New York, where they both lived. Tim, having previously summited Rainier, as well as Denali, Aconcagua and even Everest, was our expedition leader – in short, the Man. We were going to do whatever he said in our attempt to summit Mt. Rainier, the most dangerous volcano in the United States.

The day started early as my lovely Dorothy dropped me at the airport before her daily commute. She’d graciously done the same on several previous occasions when I was heading off for some other adventure. Saying good-bye was never fun. Carrying a heavy backpack and fully stuffed duffel bag was no picnic either, but those were my loads to bear, at least until a few minutes (and $40) later, when they were checked behind the US Air counter, hopefully on their way to Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport. I myself was on my way to Phoenix for a two-hour layover before I rejoined my bags.

The weather in Seattle was perfect – drizzling, which is exactly how it ought to be. The four of us met at REI, picked up some fuel, a quick wrap (yes, the Seattle REI even sells food) and discussed our climbing route. The road on the northeast side of the mountain was closed, so Liberty Ridge was not possible. We decided on our southern backup, the Kautz Glacier Route, a Grade II to III climb with an elevation gain of 9,000 feet. A few hours’ drive later, we stopped at the Hobo Inn for our last meal before we began our ascent. Burgers were the grub of choice. We proceeded up the Nisqually-Longmire Road into Mount Rainier National Park, but a short time after we began driving the wind picked up and storm conditions were evident. Tim made the call to go back down to where it was more pleasant for our night’s slumber. We found a dead-end road, pitched our tents under some trees and, after a few final phone calls, turned in for the night.

 

Morning was cool and clear. A very good sign. We ate breakfast bars and hydrated as much as possible while packing for what might be three full nights in the snow. A short while after we set out, we arrived at Paradise, an area known for incredible views and wildflowers (although the latter were in short supply at the time) and the location of the park’s main visitor center. We registered our backcountry outing at the Guide House, paused for our final bathroom break and started up the main trail.

It wasn’t long before the snow got too deep to walk on and we had to don snowshoes to cross the Nisqually Glacier, which was basically a snowfield – it was so early in the season no crevasses had opened up. We had also roped up and I was getting a crash course in glacier travel, an exhausting but necessary way to proceed. When we reached the base of the Fan, a prominent chute on the other side, we removed our snowshoes due to the steep incline, unroped to reduce party-inflicted rockfall and turned on our avalanche beacons. Above us, we could hear the constant and unsettling sound of careening rocks, loosened from the snow and ice by the sun’s rays.

We traversed a steep, exposed slope and made it to solid ground, continued up a ridge to the top of the Wilson Glacier at 8,200 feet and dug our first camp. I was exhausted from six hours of climbing but after catching my breath I picked up a shovel and joined in, clearing and packing a flat area in the snow roomy enough for our two tents. The weather had remained pleasant and we enjoyed the clear skies while we melted snow for water to drink and cook our meals. After ingesting as much as possible, we took our final bathroom break and crawled into our sleeping bags for our first night’s sleep on the massive mountain.

Morning brought breakfast bars and oatmeal. We took our time because it was a beautiful day and our goal was the bivy spot below Camp Hazard, just up the ridge but another elevation gain of 3,000 feet. After filling our water bottles, packing our tents and installing our crampons, I actually broke trail over a rocky ice-coated cornice-type ridge until Jimmy took over. That’s my M.O. -- blow my energy early and lag the rest of the hike. I stayed true to form. As we hiked, we noticed a strange saucer-shaped cloud hovering over Mt. Adams to our south. Tim identified as a lenticular cloud (often mistaken for UFOs; I could see why) and said it was not good news.

Onward and upward we continued, purposefully switch-backing to ease the gain, zig-zagging between a ridge and the Turtle, (a deep glacier just below our route to the Kautz) in an attempt to remain on rock rather than post-hole through the deeper snow. I was lagging badly. My three companions would stop just long enough for me to catch up and then take off again, leaving me with words of wisdom like “drink” and “eat.” I took their advice but, glancing behind us, noticed that the weather seemed to be closing in. I wondered whether the increasing clouds were due to our elevation gain or whether there was a real storm blowing in from the Pacific. Either way, visibility was definitely decreasing. Ignorance might be bliss but as the fog grew thicker and landmarks became invisible, I found it more and more difficult to determine just how far forward I was moving, if at all. My exhausted brain searched for excuses to continue at my sluggish pace. I wished for an altimeter. Or a GPS.  Finally, I caught up to a conversation: We were going to ascend for another 30 minutes. I could do that.

The wind picked up steadily from the West and so did the snow. We came to a small ledge next to a rock wall just under the Kautz Ice Cliff below Camp Hazard. I was surprised that the group had broken out the shovels and started building up the single ledge into two ledges large enough for both two-man tents. Tim was grabbing large boulders and tossing them to Jimmy to stack; Andrew and I built up our platform till it looked like it could at least fit us on it – hopefully, our nylon accommodations as well. We set up the tents at 11,300 feet, anchoring them into the snow with ice axes, ski poles, snow shoes, ice screws and whatever else we could find while tying them to rocks, each other, and filling them with our gear. Tim directed us to look down the slope we had ascended and raised his voice over the increasing storm, “Imagine an avalanche, heavy winds or icefall hitting your tent... what would that do?” I thought about it while staring downward, from this perspective that slope might as well be frozen wet marble. Nobody answered Tim, the answer was obvious, it would turn our sleeping quarters into a large closed-in vinyl toboggan. Yikes!

The vision was terrifying and educational, a reminder of why it was a good idea to trek with an experienced climber. Still, we never did take his advice to fill bags with snow, tie them to the tents and bury them. It seemed like a great idea but at the time it also seemed like it would take too long and we were cold. I think we were all convinced that the storm was going to blow over. The forecast for the next day had indicated that it would be the best day to summit. Andrew and Tim, still not content, continued to excavate. I focused on inventory making sure everything that wasn’t holding down the tent was accounted for.

 

After fixing some ropes over the upper ledge, Jim & Tim retreated to their shelter while Andrew & I headed into ours for soup and tea. The wind was ridiculous, gusting at random intervals, maintaining a strength and consistency that Tim later admitted he’d never experienced. None of us got any peace, at least once an hour somebody would climb outside & dig the snow buildup off the top and sides of the tents. The wind howled at 70 to 80 mph, gusting at times to over 100 mph, while the temperature dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. When we attempted to eat our dinner around 9 p.m. so much snow blew into the tent we realized we had lost control of the outer perimeter and it was time to move anything we cared about inside including the stove to heat our water. The resulting heat melted the snow that had accumulated inside and soon most everything in the tent was briefly wet, and quickly frozen. The tent walls had become covered with frost and every time the wind shook our shelter it literally snowed all over everything. By 1 a.m. the blizzard was constant & unzipping the tent to clear the buildup was no longer an option, we could only lean into the walls hoping to maintain the tents’ integrity.

We could hear our neighbors yelling to each other over the wind, it had become so intense that they were being slapped in their faces by flattened tent poles.  It was miserable but exhilarating. I kept thinking of all the books I’d read in which hikers found themselves in similar circumstances, thankful for our proximity to rescue and civilization. Beyond that, Tim had proven his experience and gained our trust so subtly that it was hard to conceive something could go fatally wrong. Regardless, we remained constantly vigilant and, around 8 a.m., Tim shouted over the still-crazy wind that we were breaking camp and leaving in one hour to go back down the mountain to Paradise.

For a brief moment I felt confused, since I wasn’t the guide on this trip trusting Tim was my only option, and until he let us know we were retreating I’d never felt in any danger. Now I realized that control is only perceived, our focus was now switching from achieving to surviving. The realization that we were turning back triggered an instinct I’d never experienced. It was the defining moment that quickly molded my confusion into determination... I would not be beaten by this mountain today.

Since we never really slept, that night seemed like a dream. But it wasn’t lack of sleep that slowed us down in breaking camp, it was the white-out conditions. Finally packed, I ran through our essentials. Water, check. Helmut, harness, beacon, crampons and axes, check. Secured backpack, check. Goggles, check. Visibility… none. 

Down we went. Every 30 seconds a gust would pick up and knock me down. Tim instructed us to anchor ourselves when it got severe -- crouching near the ground and shoving our axes into the snow as deep as possible. It was nuts. Every step was against the wind. I took my time because I was still fairly new to crampons but I kept losing sight of my team and their tracks were filling up with snow. Soon we were wading through a waist-deep powder field, facing gale-force winds with 40-pound packs on our backs. I never imagined going down could be so draining. 

My partners were there for me at every turn, however, making sure I was okay before moving on. Nobody lost their temper and everyone was as helpful as possible when we could see and communicate with each other. I was the weakest link but I knew that a successful descent depended on continuing, for both getting down and for maintaining my core body temperature. One of my crampons came apart and I had to stop for repairs. The Velcro on my gaiters was no longer sticking so they kept falling apart. At one point a trekking pole split in two, although after a short break I was thankfully able to fix it. Nobody could see through their goggles due to frozen condensation and the storm, my own had turned into a face warmer. My hood was drawn so tight I could only see the ground in front of me. 

Seeing the goals didn’t require vision, once every system I’d hoped would prevent cold and wet had failed I just knew what to do.

We made it to our first night’s camp where I discovered that one of my water bottles was frozen solid and I started eating anything my freezing hands could open. The surroundings were familiar, however, and overall things were looking up. We just needed to get off the ridge and out of the insane weather. Tim lead us to a rocky outcrop and we started climbing down by walking backwards, kicking steps into the snow wall and relying on our axes to keep us upright. Once we got to the exposed area I remembered from two days prior, Tim started down again. I watched, awestruck, as his second kick started a snow slide that quickly turned into an actual avalanche. I froze – literally, this time -- as a stupendous and escalating wave of snow and ice hurtled down the Wilson Glacier below us. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and it wasn’t until I turned to Tim and saw a smile on his face that I realized the avalanche was the best thing that could have happened. Twenty inches of newly fallen soft snow had just slid down the mountain, exposing the snow beneath it that had frozen before the storm. We were on solid ground.

We continued down the slope to a sheltered spot beneath a cliff and sent Andrew to scout our final descent. It was still quite foggy and after some discussion, we decided to bring him back up and hope for the weather to clear a bit. When it did, we found our path, tied our two 200-foot ropes together and evenly spaced ourselves. I learned a lot in a very small amount of time about snow climbing in avalanche conditions. Pickets, bollards, boot-ax belays, prussics, screws and all possible forms of snow protection – all the tools I’d read about – were being utilized.

We lowered each other down the steep parts and moved in a line down the Fan until we reached the Nisqually Glacier and then kept on going. Tim was on a mission. The weather had lifted and the end was in sight so he broke trail till I cried for a water stop. Across the glacier, the route climbed 500 feet, pretty much straight up. We were still roped together and Tim was not letting up on the pace. When we finally crested a ridge and arrived in Paradise Valley, I thought I was going to throw up. But there it was – our initial path through the gap. Once Tim gave the go ahead, I broke trail for a good 15 minutes. Everyone passed me, however, and I eventually caught up with them on a hill overlooking the parking area. Noticing that ours were the only two cars in the lot, we realized that we had literally broken trail the entire way, because nobody else had descended the regular or any other route that day. Elated, we headed for our cars.

I was now a novice mountaineer and it was time to get off this mountain.

Published 2010, Outside Online, 127definingmoments.com

"Sight Doesn’t Always Require Visibility"

A defining moment during extreme conditions on the Kautz Glacier Route

Once partially disrobed the kicker was that both cars had been plowed in, but easily dislodged, it was time to get down off this mountain. We stopped at that same burrito place which now had quesadillas & beer, perfect.

We fed and decided to find a room to dry our gear and regroup, Andy knew this was his last night since getting back to work would make his trip to Nepal a ton easier and he would be leaving for Seattle before we got up. After a shower, hours of unloading, organizing and drying we got a great night sleep. (Mount Rainier Picasa Album)

The next morning our Continental Breakfast was Belgium waffles & OJ – unlimited fruit & bagels, awesome. Once the car was packed and we had moved out we met in the lobby and utilized the computer and locals to come up with a plan, actually Tim figured it out & I think Jimmy was just as surprised as me when he said that, since the weather was not going to get better around here, we were going to where it’s always dry, Smith Rock, Central Oregon & a place I’ve only read about in magazines & seen in climbing films. OK then, with me in the backseat as navigator we headed out of the Rainier Nat’l Park into South Central Washington. We stopped in Yakima so Tim could buy some climbing shoes and we could gather some beta, thanks Jablow for your web skillz in directing us efficiently to the rock shop. Beyond that we crossed the Columbia River Gorge, a beautiful valley famous to me for the Oregon Trail & its windsurfing. A few more hours, a Burger King stop and we made it to Terrebonne, Oregon, just 20 minutes north of Bend and the closest town to Smith Rock. Once we picked up a few beers we found our campground and started unloading the car. Basically in the desert, no chance of icy or wet conditions, and snow shoes, plastic boots & ice axes are falling out of the trunk… hilarious. We made a nice camp past the outdoor bouldering wall, enjoyed the local brews & watched the moon come up. Even in darkness we could tell this was a great state park, we walked to a river overlook and practiced bouldering stoked to climb the enormous monoliths surrounding us. I slept well that night.

The next morning was easy, we had some breakfast and filled up for a full day of rock climbing. This place is amazing, an easy walk from the car and although it is the start of their climbing season it wasn’t too crowded, we got onto whatever climbs our recently purchased guidebook would direct us to usually with no wait. At the end of the afternoon after all of us had got some leading in while exploring this andicite jungle we made our way into town and decided, since Bend is close, that we were going to check out a brewery that Tim had visited on a prior trip. After trolling through what I’m considering a very nice town we found ourselves at the Deschutes Brewery, the maker of many fine micro-brews I’m familiar with after over a decade of sampling what the west coast has to offer. I indulged and eventually Tim got us back to camp for another very solid nights sleep.

Since the recent storm had dumped so much snow on the Cascades our tentative plan of climbing Mount Hood had gone away, avalanche conditions were as strong as ever and with the spring sun beating onto the southern routes we decided to have another day of climbing at Smith Rock. I was warmed up from the day before and found myself stronger since now I was used to the unique features of these rocks. After a few hours of hard climbing we called it a day. (Click Here for a Fun Slideshow) I needed to be at the airport in Seattle, six hours away, the following afternoon. We decided that getting some of that drive out of the way would be comfortable, Tim had some friends in Portland that were welcoming us into their home for the night so we made the two hour drive past the base of Mount Hood into the heart of Oregon suburbia. We acquainted ourselves while Tim caught up with his old friends and eventually went out to the Bridgeport Alehouse for a great dinner & some cask-conditioned ale. I made friends with Deb & Jeff’s five month old son Will while enjoying our meals, I recognized how pleasant children are when they’re this young since they don’t really cause any havoc. (Avery is 19 months, and getting more difficult to take out in public, c’est la vie) After the walk home I found a nice futon in the basement and passed out exhausted and excited to come home the next day. As much as I was enjoying this vacation I couldn’t help but feel I was running out of time to prepare for my month in India & Nepal.

Saturday morning we woke up, I repacked my bags, had a bagel, said our goodbyes and got on the road north towards Seattle. Big thanks to Tim & Deb for having us and enduring my crap all over the driveway while I arranged myself for flight. Along the way we took a break to check out the Mount Saint Helens visitor center which featured spectacular views of the 1980 explosion remains & a short documentary, it was very informative and I hope to explore that Nat’l Park someday as well. Back on the road I navigated us into the downtown district where we eventually had a nice seafood lunch and a short tour of the market area. I must admit after so long in seclusion all of these people were freaking me out so once our hour parking meter was up we took off towards the airport, they dropped me off and I caught my flight through Vegas to San Diego. Donia picked me up and we had an early Saturday Night.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, so we met the family for breakfast and made a plan to make dinner at Avery’s residence for her Mom & mine. It’s been a blur, currently it’s Tuesday morning; I’ve handled my pics, this blog, packing for India, returning gear, meeting with my Everest Base Camp partners, emailing to finalize, registering with the State Department, paying bills and most amazingly of all, fixing the broken LCD screen on our camera. (I’d broken it at the beginning of Day two at Smith Rock) – Dorothy had researched and found online instructions to fix, so after finding the replacement screen in Kearny Mesa she installed it and now I’m good to go, hopefully for the next month! I have some finalizing to do today and dinner with my Dad, but overall I’m ready to go.

My next post will be from Asia after I successfully navigate my way through the Indian-Nepalese border to Kathmandu.

How do you say "see you later" in Hindi? Cheers ;)

Joshua Tree Reunion, San Jacinto Snow & More Plans

I've been in San Diego almost three weeks...
This is the longest I've spent in one place in five months...
I'm starting to freak out, it's time to get away...

Luckily my old friends Melissa & Mike, who now live in Tucson, have planned a get-together in one of my favorite places, Joshua Tree National Park. Even more fortunate, Dorothy has the entire week off for Spring Break. We packed the truck & departed the morning of April 8th, our first stop was Big Bear, I was hunting for the perfect jacket for Rainier in these mountain towns since the San Diego area had packed all of their cold weather gear up for the springtime. No luck up here either, this area only sells ski gear which is totally different from what I’m looking for, I found the one mountaineer supply store and he said my best bet would be in the town of Joshua Tree, another Nomad Ventures I had already planned on checking out. Once Dorothy & I stopped by a few more shops & the resorts we started our eastward drive toward the Mojave Desert.

When we were about to start down the grade, while searching for random wood we found a nice couple who were building a log cabin, they directed us to their current residence where we loaded the truck with as much fuel for a fire it could hold. At 8000 feet the mountains were freezing, we had already abandoned our original plan to camp that night in Holcomb Valley (near Big Bear City) & it wasn’t hard to predict that even in the desert, wherever we set camp would be a cold one. Down out of the north side of the San Bernardino Nat’l Forest we went, a very easy way since we were only dropping a few thousand feet, just over an hour later we were at Vons in Yucca Valley stocking up with food, water & booze for the next five days. After this I made a final stop at the two different Joshua Tree outfitters and although Nomad had a jacket that would suffice, I decided then and there to drop the loot on exactly what I was looking for with Patagonia directly.

We were the first to arrive at Jumbo Rocks Campground, our intended home for the next few days, and since we were arriving so late in the afternoon it seemed pretty bleak that we would be able to score even two of the hoped for five campsites in the same general vicinity. We made camp that night in a loop that seemed like it might clear out.

After unloading the truck and making camp we had some dinner, some wine, and started walking around the sites checking the tags for departure dates… it wasn’t looking good for this loop. Anyway we drank a bunch of wine, spoke with a neighbor for a bit and eventually passed out on what turned into being the coldest night of our stay. (We slept right through it, yeah Vino!) The next morning we both got up and started roaming through some of the other loops, the next one over was clearing out and after speaking with some of its inhabitants this turned out to be the place, campsites 20 – 24. We moved our site into the middle of it all and started blocking parking spots and dropping random gear on all the picnic tables. No worries, it was time to do some of that chillin’ we had been looking forward to. I rode my dirt bike around a little to search for a cell signal (no luck) and eventually took my truck out to the park boundary for a call to Melissa & AA sometime in the afternoon. I got through and let them know where we were, asked that an email be sent to the group with my weather update/location and came back to Jumbo. I decided no more driving since that roundtrip took almost two hours. (I had also called Patagonia to order that jacket ;) It was time for a beer. It was also time for Andie & Taj from Sherman Oaks to arrive, good timing too since I was tired of getting the evil eye from everyone driving by that were searching out sites for the Easter weekend. While she unloaded her car we entertained her soon to be six-year-old son (the next day was his birthday) on the rocks, I had wanted to check out this one spot all evening and since someone else was now occupying 20-24 we were good to go. We had a blast roaming next to the giant monoliths as the sun went down, J-Tree is just one big playground and if you have a headlight the darkness can be just as exciting. That evening we roasted some Hebrew Nationals over our fire while waiting for Mike, Melissa, Maggie (11) & the newest addition at six months old, Melody. Andie had enlightened us that a few more people had dropped out due to weather concerns and I had judged that the 4M’s would be arriving around midnight, I think they beat that guestimate by an hour or two. They arrived with a packed car and we all assisted however we could while reacquainting ourselves and watching out for the children. After getting everything set up & a few more logs on the fire we called it a night.

The next day after another good nights sleep Mike & I took off to the Split Rock Area to climb a few decent pitches and do some recon for the kids climbing planned for the following morning. A few hours later we were back and others had arrived, my old friends Missy & Nick had flown to LA from Northern Cali and arrived by rental car. After that Pat & Mike showed up from OB and then from San Luis Obispo Lisa, Dominique, their two year old daughter Lucy & five year old Luna (Missy & Nicks daughter). Eventually Adam & Danielle arrived from San Diego & after getting everyone’s tents set up, cars unloaded & witnessing a beautiful sunset... we got down to some serious drinkin’ – Vodka seemed to be the most popular since the wind had seriously picked up when the sun was going down. It was a good night with lot’s a reminiscing and laughter, the crew one by one drifted back to their tents as I eventually did, although I don’t remember.

The next day (Saturday) we woke up late (or just in time) for breakfast, Josh (Andie’s Man, also from Sherman Oaks) & his bro Chris (San Diego) had arrived late night, this morning it was time to set up a rope for the kids to play around on. Mike and I did that across the street and finally AA, Jenny & their two year old daughter Lilyana arrived to make our party/reunion complete. After a few hours of climbing Mike & I did another more difficult route that his daughter free-soloed around to meet him at the top of, she’s gonna be good. After that we made it back for some happy hour brews and sandwiches with AA & his ladies. They were only there for the day and unfortunately they left as the sun was going down. A little later we got together for dinner, most peeps had brought taco fixin’s, then the night becomes blurry again. I know there wasn’t much hard stuff involved since we’d drank most of it the night before but there was plenty of beer & picture taking. The last thing I remember from that evening is the mom’s handing us all egg’s and telling us to hide them around the campsite for Easter morning.

Sunday arrived and with it another beautiful day, we got pretty lucky with the weather since all it ever did was threaten & get a little chilly, no gale force winds or torrential downpours to endure this time around making Mike & Melissa’s 1st wedding anniversary/reunion a smashing success. We had one more stint of climbing for the grown-ups at intersection rock before heading back to San Diego for a quick shower and turnaround to my sister’s house for Easter Dinner. After getting there late and realizing we were exhausted we thanked them for the food and made our way home for some couch time and an early night.

The next few days I did some more studying, organized my pictures from the weekend and prepared for Jablow & I’s annual “End of Tax Season” Retreat, this year we were going to need crampons since our goal was the summit of Mount San Jacinto and it had four feet of snow on top of it. On April 15th our friend Dave showed up and started us on the sauce a little early, eventually we joined up with Jablow, Pat & some others for some food at the Arizona Café & drinks at Tony’s – I called it an early night since I was stoked to get out of town and start testing my new gear the next day.

April 16th arrived; I woke Jablow up in our spare room and got on the road north and east towards Idyllwild. After picking up supplies and obtaining our permit we parked the car, packed our bags and started the four mile uphill to Strawberry Junction, our intended campsite for the night. It was brutal with a hangover and an exceptionally heavy pack since I was carrying my new ice boots, so once we found our site it was time to chill. The next morning I donned a somewhat heavy pack & put on my new plastic ice boots for the 5.5 mile hike to the summit. This was also brutal, the boot itself was burly but I came to the conclusion that if I’m walking on flats & rocks, rather than straight uphill in the snow, I need a more flexible ankle. We attached our crampons and after what seemed like forever finally made it to the top for some hot noodles and a view of Palm Springs & her golf courses, the Coachella Valley with its hundreds of windmills& the desert that is Joshua Tree. Because it was so clear I could actually pick out different familiar rock formations within the park, I had been on San Jacinto twice before and had never seen so clearly! The summertime smog has kept me blind to this spectacle & now I’m feeling even more inspired to make winter ascents of these southern peaks. Since the sun was waning we started our descent, we had taken too long to summit so we had to boogie down the mountain. Crampons are fun and make one feel much stronger when pushing through heavy snow. Glissading is the mountaineering term for sliding down the mountain on your ass using an ice ax or trekking pole to stop yourself if you get going too fast, we experimented. After an hour or so we knew we would be good since we had found the trail and the GPS had not let us down. We filled up our water at a spring and made it back to our camp just after dark, slammed a flask of tequila Jablow had brought along and made some veggies with couscous for dinner.

The next morning my feet were sore. Most everything I had brought along to “test” had worked out; the pants, jackets, socks, climbing, cooking & sleeping systems were doing well but one thing was troubling me, I had formed “hot spots” on my shins from rubbing in my boots. I decided to wear the new boots the rest of the four miles down to the car for additional breaking in, now I formed blisters on my shins, great. This was why I was out here, to figure out what works and what doesn’t… I decided that overall I was doing OK but I needed to address other footwear options so my first priority upon returning would be researching that. Now it was time to check out the Stone World Bistro & Gardens, a newer establishment in Escondido and an expansion from one of my favorite local breweries. A few hours, a damn fine burger and many dark beers later we were basking in the sunshine of a wonderful Saturday afternoon. That evening, after a nice nap, I organized my pictures from the last few days and had a great nights sleep in what I’m truly appreciating as my own bed these days.

Life is funny, and this lifestyle is extremely liberating, big plans are getting made and decisions about what comes next are cropping up more and more often. April 20th is a day Dorota & I have designated to celebrate our anniversary, it’s been longer but in the beginning we had some “complications,” for lack of a better word, so exactly when has never been truly distinguished. That day we spoke about it, the conclusion that we came up with is that this summer may be our last summer (for a while) to “play” – I’m hoping to be employed and with that I may lose these freedoms, we spoke about engagement, marriage, a new place to live, children, the Future in general, our future together, we decided to take full advantage of her summer break. In my entire career summer’s have never been an easy time to take more than a week off, it’s my profession, nights and weekends become the norm and summer breaks are for the tenured. I don’t have a lot of money left but I do have the time and (I know your tired of hearing this) “you only live once” – we’re going to southern Mexico and Central America for three weeks. From Cancun we’ll be flying to Norfolk, Virginia for a week on the Outer Banks, and eventually spending a few weeks in Pennsylvania & New Jersey (where we’re from) with friends and family. After that I should be ready for work, since Alaska fell off the drawing board I’ve been looking to fill that gap and now I’ve done it with the one person I consistently feel bad about leaving.

I’m worried about my feet, my shins now have scabs from the weekend’s abuse and I’m not any closer to a solution. Long story short, after stressin’ for two days I’ve decided to buy an additional pair of synthetic “leather” boots with a little more flexibility than the plastics. Of course I can’t afford it but the beauty of REI is their return policy, and trust me at least one of these pairs of boots are going back.

Today we received a call from the Ranger assigned to our parties reservation, seems our determination to do a the classic route “Liberty Ridge” is not as easy as we thought, an additional 13 miles hiking each way may be required since the road may be closed at the park boundary. Mount Rainer National Park had plenty of snow this winter, awesome, I guess the good part is this isn’t my problem and it just adds that much more excitement. I’ll keep doing research, studying my rescue techniques and training whenever possible. I’m doing a bike & camp trip on Mount Laguna finishing up on the Noble Canyon trail this weekend, good cardio, my lungs need all the help they can get. After that I have less than a week before my departure, I’ll keep up the cardio & studying, eat lots of carbs, make sure all of my bills are handled and verify I have every possible piece of equipment necessary to help me get up this enormous climb.

It's surreal; Rainier will be the most physically demanding climb of my life and within a week of returning I’ll be traveling through India & Nepal on my way to Everest Base Camp, a walk-up requiring no special equipment, to hopefully witness the “Roof of the World.”

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.