Out of the Gate

Starting to think about ice of course and what Ice Climber isn't right now? As I'm listening to Josh Grobin's "Canto Alla Vita" courtesy of Pandora. It seems a fitting song, it's big, dramatic, over the top and soooooo good. And perhaps that's where most of our Ice Climbing aspirations are right now. As we sit warm, inside, without the visceral experience of cold feet and screaming barfies yet.

I have a concern... that the ice isn't ready yet, the ice at lower elevations that is. This time last year I was slogging through thigh deep snow with Colin as we put up a first ascent on Mist Mountain. VERY high on Mist Mountain. The approach took us 4.5 hours and even the big-guy admited it was one of the hardest approaches he's done for an ice route. Which is saying alot. That climb almost did me in, just the approach was draining, and then to gingerly climb up thin ice, chipping each hold, not getting much of a rest. (Colin is 6ft 6" so trying to draft on his tool placements is nearly impossible for me) Probably the hardest climb I did all year for sheer physical demand.

Back to my concern that there isn't enough lower ice for the throngs of us ice climbers. In tandem is the Banff Film Festival which also increases the amount of Ice climbers per square feet of ice. Tom and I are staying in Banff and like the other eager beavers, we hope to climb ice this weekend. But I'm starting to think that perhaps we should be waiting and concentrating on drinking by a roaring fire this weekend. Mon Dieu! Say it ain't so!!

Ah well, tonight I'll still get all my gear together, re-file my ice axes and make sure sure I have enough clothes. I've been mulling over purchasing heated footbeds for this season. They're expensive but its interesting that cost becomes irrelevant when you're cold and *wishing* you had considered that purchase you didn't make. At one climb, I could have sold my hand warmers for $20. However you couldn't have pried those little carbon packets from my clutched fingers that particularly cold day. When it comes to cold weather, I'm a big baby and I'll do what ever it takes to stay warm, happy and dry.

So at the very least if we can't find ice to climb Tom and I will be hanging out at the Banff Springs which isn't a bad place to spend the weekend!

Bonnie Raitt is way cool

I saw Bonnie Raitt in concert last night. Wow she rocked, for a couple reasons. First she sounds as good live as when I've heard her on the radio. The acoustics at the Jubilee Auditorium are very good as well so it sure was a pleasure to listen to her.

Secondly, she is 55yrs old and wholly doodle she looks damn fine. Some people try hard to be cool and other people just ARE cool and it seems effortless, that's what makes them cool. Bonnie Raitt falls into this category. You can tell she's completely into the music and she moves about the stage wtih an ease and confidence of someone who has spent most of her life performing. There is something about Blues artists as well, how they play their music and interact with each other. There are no theatrics and she doesn't change her outfits or have a fancy light show. When she speaks she has a raspy-ness to her voice that makes me think of smokey night clubs and perhaps abit of hard living. However when she starts to sing everything comes out smooth like fine scotch.

I've been listening to a book on tape about Hurricane Katrina and the example of poor leadership, ineptitudeand apathy from the people who were supposed to help. Bonnie Raitt mentioned New Orleans and sang a song for the people STILL waiting for disaster relief. After listening to this book I could relate to the situation a little better. She paid homage to the fact that so much of the Blues were birthed in this area.

Also she was in concert supporting the Pembina Institute, a group that has been working for the past 20yrs on climate change, sustainable development and alternative fuel sources. Again another reason Bonnie Raitt is cool, she cares about issues beyond whether her albums are going to go platinum.

I do believe that rock stars, and actors can make damn fine activists. Maybe people shouldn't be swayed by them simply because they're famous, but regardless... if people pay attention to them then why not leverage their influence? I think the Beastie Boys have done more for the plight of Tibet than we know, and hey one just has to look at Bono - that man is making a significant difference.

When I'm 55 I hope I'm as cool as Bonnie.

Don't piss off your trainer

I've been working out with Personal Trainer Nathan for a year now. I came to him with lofty goals in a sport he knew nothing about. He did his homework and he got me in fighting shape to tackle some difficult ice climbs. Our relationship has continued and this summer I decided to start going 2 days a week to get in even better shape. Yup lifting weights can get addicting no doubt about that, and hell, I'd never kick my ass as hard as Nathan routinely does. And with a strong body there are even more ambitious climbing objectives that I feel might be in my realm.

I was able to recruit my buddy Jason to work out with me 2 days a week. This helps off-set the costs and its fun too. Nobody can make me laugh like Jason can when he's carrying on at the gym. HOWEVER Jason is going away for 6 weeks and I have to carry the full cost of workouts. In comes Mick riding on his white steed! Mick suggests we work out twice a week but the catch is that he works out with up-and-coming trainer Nicole and I work out with Nathan. We decide that we workout with Nicole on Monday and Nathan on Weds.

Well... Nathan gets a bit miffed at this scenario. Like a jealous boyfriend he is unimpressed that I'm "running around" with someone else as he puts it. Not unlike when your hairdresser realizes someone else has been cutting your hair.....

The first evening as we're working out with Nicole, Nathan is acting unconcerned like he SO doesn't care that I'm not working out with him. But he's always keeping an eye out with what were doing. And I should have known why....

When in comes to the evening when we work out with Nathan, he unleashes an ass-whupping like I haven't had in a while. 5 minutes of continuous leg presses and then 5 minutes of continuous Squats with a weight bar and then sent to hop up 5 flights of stairs. The hell continues and to make matters worse, Nathan is punishing the same areas that Nicole did. He would look over at Nicole and innocently say "Didn't Lise have to do squats with you as well? Hmnmm what a coincidence"

One could argue that some friendly competition among trainers can be a good thing. Sort of like reminding your boyfriend that other men find you hot too, know what I'm saying?

But gosh darn it all, I'm a Leo. We're a lot of things: self-centered, bossy, independent, but one of our admirable qualities (out of many - grin) is our Loyalty. Whether to friends, lovers, husbands, hair dressers or trainers.

Nathan needn't worry about where my loyalty lies. It's been his demanding and high-achieving workouts that have gotten me up some of the most challenging ice climbs in good style. I'll suffer through his "miffed-ness" (and maybe enjoy it abit) knowing that when Jason comes back I'll be back to a one trainer woman. If my muscles can last that long!

Small things matter

That's the premise of the latest book I finished reading this weekend. Not on my current reading list go figure. But that's how it works, a friend says "you gotta read this book" and sure enough once I started it I didn't want to put it down. And this act alone, of ignoring books I had planned on reading to follow a friend's advice is what this book is talking about.

The book is "The Tipping Point" and it focusses on the small actions that can be the driver for large changes and can create epidemics of thought and action both good and bad. It makes me think of Chaos Theory, with the often quoted scenario that the movement of a butterfly's wings can create a storm half way around the world. The book talks about 3 influential types of people, The Connector, The Mavin and the Salesmen. I found that sure enough, I knew people who fit the author's description and definitely experienced their impact. And I got a kick out of being able to relate to the book in such a personal way.

I'd like to hear other peoples' opinion of the book. It's easy to read and can probably be consumed over a weekend or a week or so.

Let me know what you think!

Currently reading in tandem:
The Logic of Failure and A Short History of Progress.

My nose in a book

It's shoulder season for most of us mortal climbers. For the likes of Rapheal or Gadd perhaps they are looking for anorexic smears of ice or considering rock routes as winter ascents. I did take in a slideshow by Rapheal in Banff last weekend. It's always humbling to see what the big boys are attempting, and congrats to Will who completed probably soon to be a Yam classic for climbers able/willing/crazy enough to tackle multi-pitch 5.13 climbing on Yam. Bolted Smolted, its Yam for goodness sake eeeeyyyuk!

However back on earth where I reside climbing will wait for a couple more weeks. In the meantime I have another passion that needs constant attention. Reading. The reading list for Leadership Calgary as I mentioned is comprehensive. My trips to the book store has been unsuccessful so I eventually got on to the Indigos/Chapter website where there is more selection. Ah the joys of online shopping, click, click, click into the cart goes your virtual purchases. I think it should be a cash register sound instead... cha-ching!

But the beauty of it all in a couple short days there was a package sitting at my doorstep and my books have arrived. Oooeeeee! (and this is a good exclamation as opposed to the eeeeyyuuk)

I had forgotten which books I had purchased so it was a new adventure all over again pulling the books out of the box:

• The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy
• Thinking Body, Dancing Mind
• Thought Contagion: When Ideas Act Like Viruses
• Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity
• Solving Tough Problems: "An Open Way to Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities"
• The Logic Of Failure: Recognizing And Avoiding Error In Complex Situations
• Ideas
• Great Deluge
• What We Believe but Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty
• A Brief History or Progress

I think I'll be busy for awhile!!

Ooohhh look at the temperature

I woke up to snow on the ground this morning. Most people I work with are shaking their heads lamenting our brief fall and winter nipping at its heels. I keep my grin and opinions to myself since it seems like most people don't want to hear that you hope for MORE cold weather.

But boys and girls we know what cold weather means don't we? Soon there will be more ice around than is currently in my Gin and Tonic.

Sharpen up the tools and crampons!

Tom and I have some climbing on deck for the first weekend of November to coincide with the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Climb during the day, take in the festival in the evening. And somehow Tom wrangled a VIP suite at the Banff Spring! Oh.. I bet they'll be thrilled to see some climbers with ropes and sharp pointy things lugging our stuff onto the Valet's cart. "Take care of this will you? Oh and can we get a couple six packs in our room please?"

Oh Ya... it'll ALL be good!

Leadership Calgary

Hello all, long time no blog.

Leadership Calgary. What happens when you take one Lise and plunk her into a program that feels a lot like a crash course in university? You create that deer-in-the-headlights look that most of my classmates are sharing along with me. Why you might wonder? The breadth and scope of what we're attempting to explore is staggering.

It's called Pioneer Leadership and the Human Venture. I reckon that most of the year will be on trying to figure out exactly what Pioneer Leadership and the Human Venture exactly is. Some of our topics include The Creative Realization Process / Human-Life situation dynamics / Tools of Wisdom and Judgment / Personal Responsibility dynamics / Social -Cultural Co-responsibility dynamics.

One of the expectations of this course was written as follows:

"An experience of being thrust into "adaptive space" so that you have a base for better understanding the transformational leadership challenge, and an opportunity for` exercising self and social leadership."

Hmmm... I wasn't any clearer on what I was doing either.

So what this looks like is a group of 30 individuals who are from Government, Non Government Organizations, Corporate land as well as the self employed. Each of us had to apply and provide our resumes and provide essay answers to some tough questions, then came the interview. The one defining characteristic is that we all volunteer in our communities in some capacity and are interested in making a positive difference. And most of us are being sponsored by our employers to be there. I had to jump through some hoops to get my work to sponsor me. Ironic when EnCana turns out to be a major sponsor of this program.

We are all being taught by Ken Lowe of the Action Institute. Ken has made a lifetime of studying culture and the human experience as a researcher, counsellor and consultant. The program has been in Calgary for 7yrs now and its intent is to educate and send potential leaders back out into the world with most likely a vastly different approach to what it takes to change the world.

In addition to Ken's teachings I'm amazed at the cross pollination of ideas from each of us. Typically our friends and our social circles tend to reflect our particular world view and interests. It's been so cool to be exposed to such a diverse group of people. However we have enough commonalities to be in the room together.

The cornerstone to our education will be extensive reading. Did I say EXTENSIVE reading? The list of books is mind-boggling. Provocative, disturbing and enchanting. The premise is that we can't understand what is going on around us if aren't informed by the past, current events and being versed somewhat in a broad base of topics.

Book read so far:

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Dark Ages Ahead by James Jacob
Deep Survival who lives, who dies and why
Don't think of an elephant

I just picked up:

The greatest story ever SOLD, the decline and fall of truth from 9/11 to Katrina by Frank Rich
Getting to Maybe, by Westley, Zimmerman, Patton

Oh and on a really scary note try checking out the Political Science section of the bookstore. There you experience the crazed polarity of the US right now in their politics. The Right screaming how the Left is morally bereft. The Left wringing their hands that the Right are killing the earth and its occupants. And the right is so openly focused on their religious beliefs, so much for the goddamn seperation of church and state. Then there are all the books in between. I was overwhelmed. Mostly because it all sounded like bad news.

One thing that Ken has cautioned us in the program. That the more we read, the more we'll realize how little we know. He says "you are always more ignorant than you are knowledgable". Then realization of how big the problems are and what is going on over the world, for me personally I get overwhelmed. This is where Ken's caution comes in, he says there is no room for hopelessness or despair. That as people who want to make a difference that is not an option.

The essense of this program is similar to what I've been learning in my Shamanic program. I can translate the term "The Human Venture" to the "Gold Horse Prophecy". The Shamanic prophecy in essense outlines the great Horse Race of Humanity. Do we move forward as awake, alert, aware humans in peace & beauty ( the Gold Horse) or in tryanny, ignorance, fear, repression and war (the Dark Horse)? The jury is still out on the matter. Our future is uncertain. This is pretty much the Human Venture Ken talks about. Where is humanity headed and how can we make it better? The biggest difference is that Leadership Calgary has an outward focus on how to make it better while my shamanic path is essentially focused on the inner journey of healing yourself first, then walk that out in the world.

I'll post what books we're reading and any interesting tid-bits. Oh this is a god tid-bit. At our first Workshop some of us met up in a bar after and ended up Kareoking till late in the evening! It's always good to know who the partiers are, I get a sense that I could make some good friends out of the deal. I think my newest adventure is off to a great start.