Curtain Call

Do I have a self-satisfied smile on my face? Well let me see, why yes I do. I ticked off a personal climbing milestone on Sunday by climbing Curtain Call. This isn't the "BIG" objective but something I have wanted to do for 2 years now. I've driven by this large ice climb on my way to smaller climbs, climbs within my ability. But always, I would look up at Curtain Call and wonder when I was going to climb THAT one.

Sunday Colin and I meet up and leave Calgary at 4:30am. We have to drive 4hours to get there. I feel like crap, which is par for the course when I have to get up at such an ungodly hour like 3:45am. I got to bed at 9:00 so feel like I had a decent amount of sleep. But still, a headache and unsettled stomach are with me. I ignore the feelings since I know they will most likely disappear once I get outside.

We get to the area where the climb is easily visible from the road. While the climb is within sight, it also looks waaaay up high. We will have to travel through the trees before getting to the rock/scree slope to head straight up to the base. I estimate about 30 minutes of torture to get there. Short term pain for long term gain.

We begin our walk and Colin is talking about future plans for the summer/fall. Perhaps the Bugaboos in early August when I get back from Mongolia. But for sure the Bugaboos in late September to have a crack at some mixed routes. The Bugaboos always hold a siren song for me so I am interested in what Colin has to say, although I suspect that the objectives he has in mind will be difficult.

We are both pleasantly surprised that the approach to the base of Curtain Call wasn't as bad as we feared. I had changed packs to a lighter, smaller pack and paired down what I carried to lighten the overall weight. This was a test run for my "BIG" climb. I suspected that the lighter load and the fact that I have lost about 6lbs made the approach easier.

But back to the climb. Curtain Call loomed high above us and was truly spectacular to look at. Large mushrooms, pillars of ice and these interesting formations that looked like giant albino candy corn, if that makes any sense!

Colin starts out and I begin to appreciate the difficulty of my upcoming pitch based on how long it is taking him to lead. Finally I hear the call that it is my turn to climb. I start up and encounter the big-ass mushrooms. Tapping these with my ice axe produces a hollow sound which is not encouraging. I find that I can hook my axes overtop of them and if I keep the pressure consistent with a locked off arm, I can make my way up. They don't like to be kicked by a crampon either. Cranky mushrooms they were. So that meant high stepping, drop knees and creative placement of tools. There was not much swinging going on, just looking for decent places to put my axes. I appreciate the time it took Colin to lead. Placing protection could not have been easy, demonstrated by the distances between his pro. Often, the crux of a grade 6 climb is the inability to protect yourself as the lead.

This pitch forces me to use all my climbing skills and all my strength as well. I am so grateful for the brutal workouts my trainer has been putting me through. I was getting tired no doubt, but there was no desperate struggles as there would have had I been climbing this the previous season. I take my time, rest on some of mushrooms and keep going. I ignore the fatigue and try not to be discouraged as I see how far I still have to go to reach Colin.

We get to the second belay. Colin navigates around a fragile looking curtain with ice mushrooms that look like blown glass. It is one of the most spectacular places to be. Colin moves much quicker on this pitch so I know the ice must be easier. Or at the very least it is taking protection better than the first pitch. Navigating around a curtain of ice is tricky business, especially when one is as thin as this. No one wants a shit-load of ice to drop on them while kicking or swinging at it. Ice has been know to cut rope and I have no desire to test that theory. I climb gently, placing my feet rather than kicking and softly finding holds for my ice axes. This requires core strength and strong arms. Again, Nathan I thank you for all those hellish leg lifts on the incline bench.

The sheer length of the pitch is tiring me out, it is 55m of fucking, unrelenting steep, there are no more mushrooms to stand on. I feel myself slowing down and I know this is not the right approach. The longer I stay in one place the faster my arms will pump out. I look up at the draws extending above my head. I say to myself "Time to take this home Lise" and I start to climb, I don't stop. I swing, I kick, I swing. My breath is getting ragged and I keep going knowing the faster I climb the faster I am done. A few times my feet skate out from under me and I am holding my body weight with my arms. But I don't fall, I pull my feet back, getting them attached to the ice and keep climbing. I top out and see Colin. He says "What's that heavy breathing for?" Funny guy that Colin.

We quickly begin our raps down. They are a heart-pounding affair as I am REALLY not wanting to hit the thin curtains of ice or disrupt any daggers. Yet I have to gently touch them with my feet to keep moving down the ice. At every belay I can feel the adrenaline pumping through me. Rappelling is dangerous business, more accidents and fatalities are the result of rappelling. I think that some of it must be that the climbers are tired, they want to be done and perhaps loose their vigilance. I have no intention of being one of those statistics.

Everything goes well and soon we are walking back down the approach. We are both pleased with the climb and are talking about how much we liked it, what made the climb unique, how it reminded us of different climbs etc, etc. We are on that post-climb-happy-high that keeps climbers coming back for more. We crack open a beer when we get to the car and pack up our stuff. But we linger, looking at the climb both happy with how we did.

I felt good about my strength on this climb. It was a good warm up for my big objective next weekend. However this day was less than half of my anticipated climb next weekend. That is sobering to me and fills me with a combination of excitement and dread.

You know a man is in the house when...

I have lived on my own for almost 4 years. When I found myself single after a long-term relationship/marriage, the most important thing for me was to be alone, by myself, just me, myself and I. And my cats of course, I wouldn't want to be without my furry friends.

I find myself with a roommate now.

Tom is a climbing partner who needed a place to stay for a couple months while working in Calgary. He is from California and my favorite saying of his, as he looks at me incredulously everytime he says it is: "It's snowing AGAIN". My favorite saying back to him is: "You are in CANADA now". Like when he asked me if we had any organic pizza places. Californians have a hard time conceiving that the rest of North America doesn't eat organically every day and that it's expensive. You're in CANADA now TOM.

I've been happy to share my house again and I didn't feel any need to charge Tom rent, since I knew that he was a "handy" sort of guy. And I have plenty of projects for the "handy" guy who knows what a hammer is and likes my 14.5 volt cordless drill. Who am I kidding, most men dig my cordless drill, it's impressive. It's all in the tools baby.

Last night I came home after being away for 3 days and found a surround sound speaker system installed in my basement. Complete with 5.1 channel sound, receiver, centre channel and a myriad of speakers. This is when I knew a man had officially moved into my home.

I think Tom felt I was disadvantaged listening to music through the small speakers attached to my computer. And shook his head at my Walmart stereo system upstairs. I think he was also concerned that we are having a party soon and the music quality was not up to party standards. This was his gift for me letting him stay at my home rent free for a couple months.

Mind you the pay-off for letting Tom stay with me has already been apparent, shelves have been put up, walks are shoveled, I am presented with a latte some mornings and he can cook! Who needs a husband when you have... dare I say it... a grateful man-servant? The rest of the female population should be so lucky. But back OFF, get your own man-servant.

Back to my gift, using technology comes at a price however, and this cost is yet another remote I don't know how to use. A remote for the TV, a remote for the DVD player, a remote for the receiver... Yes yes, everyone knows they should all be programmed into one remote. But memories of my marrried life surface, where we had the mother of all remotes.. which you needed to be an engineer to figure out. Click Auxilary when you wanted to to use the DVD, select Input from the secondary menu, sacrifice the chicken to get the Sattelight dish online.

However, I know I can figure out the rudimentary basics to hear my music in multi-channeled spendor throughout the basement. Tom, can you adjust my pillow and hand me those grapes? Thanks hun.

Harry Potter, Jelly Bellys and Climbing

My girlfriend Michele came up from California to have some climbing fun before she re-enters the working world after a 6 month hiatus. Michele has found the secret weapon, get her climbing partners addicted to the treats she brings from San Francisco: Drinking chocolate and tasty tid-bits from the Sharfenberger factory. California wine from lesser known regions that don't get imported up here, and now her newest brainchild, a plethora of Jelly Bellys from the factory in SF.

She produced a shopping bag full of Jelly Bellys, which I don't mind admiting I have a weakness for. But the most interesting treats in the bag were the Harry Potter Jelly Beans. Complete with intriguing flavours such as vomit, earwax, dirt, bacon, sardines, rotten egg and booger. I was one of the those kids that would touch what wasn't supposed to be touched, shake what shouldn't be shaken and eat wierd things that had no business being in my mouth. As an adult, I have munched on grasshoppers in Mexico and taken substances in Peru that were better left alone. I knew this new temptation would be too great.

In the morning I find in my hand, one jelly bean. Looking harmless but I am staring at it intently. This is the vomit jelly bean. Thoughts are racing through my mind, could it really taste like vomit? How do you manufacture that taste? What didn't enter into my thought was not to try it. Nope, the conclusion was foregone. Yes of course I was going to try the vomit jelly bean. In the mouth it goes, I chew, chew... not so bad.. really.. oh.. oh.. OH SHIT.. that tastes like BARF. Memories of my head over many toilets over the years.. bad, unpleasant memories. I spit the damn devil jelly bean out of my mouth, rushing for a glass of water. Like I should be surprised that the thing tastes like puke. I start laughing at my idiot-ness. But no sooner is that taste out of my mouth then I'm eyeing up the earwax jelly bean. But I didn't have the Chutzpah to give it a go.

Later that evening I watch one friend have that very same reaction after eating the Sardine Jelly Bean. It cracked me up, much funnier to watch someone else having an unpleasant experience.

I am deciding who I dislike enough to have these jelly beans in a bowl in my office ready to be offered to the right person. So far, none has pissed me off enough - yet. But when they do, I'll be ready.

Michele and I climbed for 2 days. A casual day at Wedge Smears which not surprisingly had the same ice quality of Snowline, another climb in K-country. Michele led up to set up the toprope and was not impressed with the fact that ice was dinnerplating in front of her and she actually had to swing. Damn lazy Californian. She is the master of efficient non-swinging while climbing. I have taken some tips from watching her. However, on lead its all about the swing and feeling solid.

I had tweaked my IT Band and it was causing me grief while on this climb. Climbing uphill and putting any wieght on the leg was hurting. I took it easy that day since we wanted to go out on Sunday as well.

Because of my situation we picked our next objective accordingly. Meaning a short approach that wouldn't stress out my leg too much. We climbed Riverview, just outside of Golden. A 100m approach sounded great to me. The ice is south facing so it was baking in the sun. Which means soft slushy ice. Great to be swinging in, but more problematic for taking Ice Screws since the sun will melt them out. It means speedy climbing since you can only realistically expect your last piece of protection to hold your fall. We swapped leads and had a great time. The climbing was well within both our ability range and it was nice to do a feel-good climb, in the warm sun. The day culminated in me landing on my ass at my car as my foot slipped on a thin ice smear, nothing was hurt except my ego.

A great weekend enjoying friends company and fun climbing. Michele heads back to San Francisco and will be starting her new job soon. We've already made plans for me to head down there on the September long weekend to get some climbing in Tualame Meadows, an alpine-esque enviroment in Yosemeti Park. I'll be looking forward to it.

Ya gotta eat to lose baby

Well I am officially fired up! We set a date for my big ASS climbing objective. This is the goal that got me going to see a trainer in September and enduring sore muscles, buckets of sweat and a love/hate relationship with trainer extrordinaire Nathan. I sat down with Nathan initially and explained the sport of Ice Climbing, explained my goals. As the conversation progressed and he asked questions I could see this wary look creep into his eyes. Sort of like when someone encounters an animal they *assumed* was friendly but now aren't so sure. At the end of the conversation he concluded "Well, you are crazy, but we can work together". I think he was most excited to see my Ice Tools and incorporate them into my workouts. Nathan did some research and we began training to turn me into a stronger Ice Climber. And man has he done that.

Climbers can be a superstitious lot and I was taught very early on that one doesn't divulge potential objectives for a varity of reasons. The first one being that no one wants to *attempt* and not be successful and have to explain after the fact what happened. The second is you don't want other climbers, friends or otherwise to either scoop you, adopt your goal as theirs or generally be a pain in the ass. And god knows climbers love to be a pain in the ass with a competitive fire and joi de vive.

For that reason there will be no mention of the exact objective until I am successful. Suffice to say I am willing to work hard for it and that brings us to the title of this post. If you were carrying a pack and you realized you had a 5lb weight in there, with no usefulness except for being heavy, wouldn't you want to chuck it before you started hiking? Of course you would. Me too, and I am fairly confident that I have that amount of extra weight on my frame right now that is not doing me any favours. I'm well aware that other people really hate it when a slim/fit person laments "I need to loose 5lbs" In fact, they want to stab you with a dull butter knife. For me this all about achieving my goal and it will be easier to do with the proper strength to weight ratio.

When I approached Nathan about it, his statement was: "Ya gotta eat to lose" He has put me on a menu plan and he is NOT kidding about his statement. I was one of those people who didn't eat breakfast. Hell I have my snooze button and my morning routine down to the minute to make it out of the house and to work on time. That never included eating the "most important meal of the day".

Now I will be eating every 2 hrs whether I want to or not. A combination of Protein/carbs/fruits/veggies and whatever else my body should be having. The goal is to keep the metobolism high and active. It's not fancy and it's not rocket science. I didn't have the courage to ask him where drinking alchohol fit into this mix after I just bought a case of the most incredible wine!!

However, right now my eye is on the prize: Loose at least 5lbs, keep the workouts going, keep the cardio going, climb on the weekends and attempt my goal in a months time.

I gotta go eat.

Blue sky days

Got out skiing at Lake Louise on Saturday. Deanne and I were supposed to go Ice Climbing that day. However I could tell that her interest in ice climbing was luke warm at best and she mentioned skiing a few times. At the same time my buddy Mick was trying to entice me to ski on Saturday as well. I took it as a sign from the Gods that skiing was what I was supposed to be doing. Turns out the gods weren't crazy after all. We picked up another friend Shaheen and we were off on our adventure.

Ever been in that situation when you are with friends you really enjoy being around, the day is perfect and there isn't any place you rather be? Well ok, I might always want to be on a beach with a bevy of loincloth-clad men waving pond fronds and feeding me a pomegranate, but you know what I mean.

The weather was warm and we were all in to skiing intermediate runs where the stress factor is low. It was interesting to me to find that I get enough of my adrenaline needs met Ice Climbing that I want skiing to be fun rather than a test of my intestinal fortitude and fear management.

We had fun, we laughed, we had fun mocking Deanne wearing her goggles in the car. Mick seemed perfectly happy to wait for us all day while he could have been shredding up the blacks and doubleblacks. It was good to visit with Shaheen who I'm certain is the nicest guy on the planet even though he admited that he swears way more when he's around me. I can't imagine that I could be a bad influence... (snicker)

We ended up the day stopping in Banff to check out ropes, crampons, helmets and heated footbeds. None of us bought anything except for the caramel apple that I inhaled at a lightening speed. Really, you can't stop in Banff without buying something at the candy store.

A great day out.