Wine, Trapeze & Switzerland

Today it is -29 outside. -29...yup and with the windchill the weather people says it feels like -40. Colder than it was yesterday. I was walking outside yesterday and it was stupid, stupid cold. So nice to hear that it's even colder today. However, I have better things to look forward to.

On Friday I leave for California. When I was visiting Michele in September she was enticing me back to visit with talk of a wine festival in the Livermore Valley. "Come back for a pure eating and drinking visit" she says, to which I readily agreed. Who wouldn't? It turns out she does have some malevolent intentions. She mentions in an email that she's planning to book me into a Trapeze lesson while I'm there. Michele has talked about Trapeze before as a really good way to train for mixed climbing. Gadd and I talked about Trapeze, hell I even did up a joke on Will pasting his head onto trapeze people with the RedBull logo emblazened across his crotch, since he was saying how much he'd like to try it. He tells me the folks at RedBull liked the joke and I didn't get sued for copyright infringement so its all good. But me, myself and I never had any intention of trying trapeze or evening thinking I'd like to try trapeze ever. I figured it was for wing-nuts like Michele and Will. Turns out I might be trying it myself - eek.

Yesterday I booked a flight to Basel Switzerland wowooohoooo!! Looks like this will be the best December ever. Tom and I are going to head there for Christmas to ice climb and visit friends of Tom's. I've never been there and I'm over the top excited about it. Sure my credit card has become dangerously hot to the touch and will continue to be so and yes it may be impractical to spend alot of money on a plane ticket to only go for 10 days and of course Switzerland is probably one of the most expensive places to visit and I don't care about any of that. Tom's friends sound like crazy climber-folk who are happy to have us.

So California, then trapeze, then plenty of wine and food to recover from trapeze, then back to Calgary, then some local ice climbing (thanks to the cold weather everything should be in by the time I get back, then Switzerland for Christmas. Now I just have to figure out what trouble I can get myself into for New Years....!

Hell is 2 bored Trainers

So, I show up to my workout last night, which if you recall is an alternating scenario of Nicole on Mondays and Nathan on Weds until Jason gets back. Technically Mick is my workout partner but his schedule is crazy so his attendance is uncertain.

I show up by myself having read Nathan's "I'm gonna kick Yo ASS" email, that he hopes instills fear in my heart. At this point it doesn't because he always opens a can of whoop ass all over me so I don't anticipate it getting any worse. Oh but it did...

When I get there he tells me that him and Nicole have decided to Tag-Team and train me together. Oh... alarm creeps over my face. What do you MEAN I have 2 trainers working me over in one session?.... Wait a minute.. that's nasty... that's not FAIR.....

Fuckety Fuck Fuck Man. They're both smiling and rubbing their hands like I'm some fresh piece of meat. Now, hey... given a different situation maybe this could be interesting.. but not here!!!

And it starts at 7pm sharp, the stairs first and then...

Nathan: Lunge steps, with alternating jump squats: 2 - 5lbs weights lunge steps + 10 jump squats (with the wieghts) / 2 -8lbs lunge steps + 15 jump squats (w/wieghts) / 2 - 10lbs lunge steps + 20 jump squats (w/wieghts) / 2 - 15lb + 20 jump squats (w/wieghts) / 2 - 20lb weights lunge steps + 10 jump squats (w/wieghts).

Nicole: Uphill running 1 min max incline + 30seconds of Mt Climbers + 15 pushups (2 sets)

Nathan: 2 - 30lbs lunge steps + 2 jump squats / 2 - 20lbs lunge steps 2 sets + 10 jump squats / 2 -30lbs lunge steps 3 sets + no jump squats (those 30lbs weights are hard enough to hold let alone lunge or jump with)

Nicole: 20 leg presses / 20 jump squats with medicine ball / Both in this stupid plea position where your feet are pointed outward - it hits the inner thigh.

(Other people training at the same time are watching with a look of shock at the beating I'm getting, and relief its not them. To them Nathan replies "She's an EXTREME mountain climber - this is NOTHING compared to the mountains!" Damn, I hate it when he's right, but ya, being in the mountains is harder over the long haul.

Nathan: 15 burpees

Nicole: 20 leg presses / 20 jump squats with medicine ball

Nathan: 15 burpees

Nicole: 20 leg presses / 20 jump squats with medicine ball

Nathan: 5 burpees holding 5lb wieghts + 5 flights of stairs

Nicole: 30 kicks at the weight bag and then pushing the wieght bag across the gym (2 sets)

Then there was more, some stuff on an incline bench - lifting myself up with my legs while holding a weight, then jumping on & off this stupid box. My session ended at 8pm, a full hour of a non-stop leg workout. At one point I thought I could cry when I saw Nathan grab the 30lb wieghts again and I shook my head and said "no way" and Nathan persisted "You can't quit on the mountain Lise!!" Again I hate it when he's right. As he's yelling after me "You're gonna thank me later!!" The fucker is probably right about that too. Nicole for her part was my cheerleader. Bad Cop / Sort of Good Cop - great.

The one thing missing was some serious cardio which I know I need to work on since its important for my climbing approaches. Ugggh. I'm too scared to tell either Nicole or Nathan that.

Fuckety Fuck Fuck Me.

My one saving grace.... directly after the workout, do not pass go, I stumbled over to my massage guy who works in the building next door. For the next hour and a half he massaged out much of the damage my muscles endured with Nathan and Nicole. Lots of that nasty lactic acid got flushed out of my system before it had time to settle in and get me real sore. He also worked on a few troubles points, a sore arm and a calf. An hour and a half is a luxury I give myself sometimes when I've really pushed myself.

I am sore today but not near as sore as if I hadn't had a massage. It remains to be seen how I'll feel tomorrow since day 2 can be the worst. But I'll have to figure it out as I'm gym climbing with a friend on Friday evening and working out Saturday morning with another friend.

No rest for the wicked or the suckers for punishment.....

Elie Wiesel

A man knew that he could help humanity, he had the answers. So he went to the most corrupt city he could find and stood on the street corner and began to shout to the passers by the answers that he had. He shouted, he yelled, he pleaded, every day to no avail. Yet every day he showed up on the street corner. Many years later a child walked up to the man who was now old and said "I've heard that you've been here for 30 years yelling to people and still no one hears you, why do you do this?" The old man looked at the child and said "I know that my words are not changing the people, it's not changing them one bit, yet, I still yell and scream my answers, so that they won't change me."

This story was related by Elie Wiesel to a full house at the Jack Singer Concert Hall and also video-casted to a group at the University of Calgary. Tickets to hear Mr Wiesel speak were sold out with a waiting list and for good reason. Mr Wiesel has been yelling, screaming, shouting and writing about social injustice and inhumanity for the past 50yrs. He continues even when he acknowledges that the world is no better now that when he was liberated from a Nazi concentration camp where his mother, father and sister died.

It took Mr Wiesel 10yrs before he could write about his experiences in his first book "Night". He said backt then, they couldn't find a publisher, no one wanted to hear about the Holocaust. Since that time he has written 40 books. Today it is different. Today, genocide is alive and well in the world and people are still asking the questions of why? Why does this happen, why do we as a society let it happen and why haven't we learned from the past? Mr Wiesel was very clear that this was the legacy being giving to the youth of today. He stood there and apologized for his generation who hoped to make a difference but didn't.

He's spent most of his lifetime as an educator, teaching youth about genocide and the oppression of all peoples, his concerns have been for humanity of the world, not just for Jews. Even with the dire news that none of us can ignore, he had a message of hope. To me his life is a message of hope as he continues to keep reminding us that we cannot turn a blind eye. To ignore the sufferring of others is to deny our own humanity. He implored everyone to do what they can, sign petitions, support agencies who are helping, put pressure on our government, and most importantly to continue to cultivate compassion in our own lives and hearts. And I have hope too, I have hope that the kids of today won't accept this reality. They have to deal with dwindling resources on the planet, the garbage we've left behind, the anger, fear, ignorance and tyranny. Everyday I see the web being used as an agent of change as youth connect with each other globally and give a damn for each other in ways that previous generations never had an opportunity. It's hard to not care about your msn buddy who lives in Ecuador or to not be impacted by words and images that are posted on peoples' blogs and websites.

How do we help? This Christmas I've decided to take all the money that I would have spent on Christmas gifts and I'm going to fund a girl through Foster Parents Plan for her high school education. An educated woman in Africa has the ability to impact her village and more importantly her children and therefore the future. My employer will match my donation dollar for dollar so the effect will be doubled. This is only one way to make a difference, there are so many other opportunities, it's just a matter of finding what resonates with you.

Here's a link to Ellie Wiesel's website, it's time for each of us to start shouting....

http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/

Hello Season

Ah, the alarm rings at an ungodly hour, no worries as I've been semi waking up for an hour prior anyhow. I roll out of bed and start shuffling around in the dark and turn on the cappucino maker. Bomber gives me a sleepy look wondering why I'm breaking routine, Ginger doesn't even bother to get up. I put on a few of my multiple layers and the rest go into my dufflebag for the car. Ice climbing season is back.

Lunch and my snacks are packed, I'm wolfing down a sandwich & sipping on my latte waiting for Colin. Almost exactly on time he appears. We don't say too much as he grabs some of my stuff, I grab the rest and we're off. Just before I lock the door, I'm ticking off the list in my head, crampons -check, harness - check, tools- check, check, check.

We get to Tom's, now Tom is a good friend (and missed as my ex-manbitch) and a great climber but he's too chipper and happy in the morning. Colin and I are fine to drive in virtual silence, at least until we have our Tim Horton's coffee. Tom don't need no stinking coffee to be happy, and I have to admit that this morning his enthusiasm almost rubs off on me. At least I didn't feel like stuffing a sock in his mouth to shut him up.

We're picking up Lyle in Cochrane and meeting Corrina and Nick in the Ghost. A big gang of us. We're going to the Hidden Dragon Crag which is below the Joker & the Candlestick Maker. The plan is to do some mixed climbing and play on some ice.

The approach up there is 1.5hrs which is shocking to my system I have to admit. Back to lots of uphill, a heavy pack, getting used to icy snow covered rocks, slippery tree roots and exposed terrain where falling is a really bad idea.

We set up our ropes, I watch Colin lead up the Gr 3 ice and notice it shatter and dinnerplate, ice season is back. I start up a Gr 4 pillar that Nick has just led. It feels awkward and my calves start to complain. I realize that I'm not trusting my crampons and I'm not dropping my heels which reduces the calf burn. The hands start to give the indication of the screaming barfies, I'm tired and I'm sweating. The truth is it really doesn't feel that good. When I get lowered it gets worse. I'm starting to feel very nauseous and the screaming barfies in the hands are in full swing. Its all I can do to lay down on the ground and wait to feel better. I can't recall feeling quite this bad before (although I probably have). Lyle offers to untie my ropes from my harness. As per the code of Ice climbers my suffering is not commented on. No sense asking me if I'm "OK", since I obviously don't look ok and nothing can be done anyhow, the nastiness passes. We've all been there, to add insult to injury a plate of ice whacked me on the forehead while I was climbing so I'm wondering if I'm bleeding. Thank goodness for the short memory most of us ice climbers have otherwise at that moment I could have cheerfully taken up lawn bowling and never swung an ice axe again.

And to you non ice climbers out there, yes I was wondering why the hell this was my sport of choice! No it was not fun, not the climb and not the aftermath. However on the positive note, I knew that all that could happen was my day would improve since it couldn't get much worse. And improve it did. I hopped on the mixed route and got soundly spanked but it was fun. And it was great hanging out with a group of climbers. Hanging with my peeps shall we say. The weather was cool but not too bad and I had more than enough layers to keep warm. Colin suggested I try the other ice pitch, and I figure I may as well. If felt worlds better than the first climb. No screaming barfies and no burning calves so I could enjoy the ice and the motion of climbing.

For the most part we were a bunch of grownups out there playing like kids in the winter. Colin had bought some new tools and we were all eager to try them out. It was getting dusk and none of us were in a great hurry to leave yet. Eventually though we had to pull our ropes and descend back down to our vehicles which we reached in the dark.

Today I'm tired and most of my muscles ache from the mixed climbing. I gotta get stronger for that style of climbing, wooeee! But its that satisfying tired when you've been doing something you love. And when I think of the start of last year's season it was way worse than this time out so its all good, Its all about that short memory.

Banff Film Festival et al

So Tom and I had this dream of ice climbing the weekend of Nov 4/5 at the same time of the Banff Film Festival. The temperatures warmed up and it was raining in Banff, which rendered the thought of ice climbing a wet and unsafe business. We did check out Cascade just before driving into the townsite and through the binocs we were spying dirty ice and open water - no thanks.

Instead we opted to watch movies of other adventurers in the mountains. But BEFORE that we rolled into the posh Banff Springs. And were treated like we were, uhhhh... Almost important, or at the very least wealthy. I kept getting called Mrs Schnugg which seemed too much of a bother to correct that assumption. Our room was very nice and we were overlooking the main hotel and the mountain vista behind that. It was grand and a real treat to be hanging out there. Of course we took the shampoos, soaps and anything else we could get our grubby climber hands on.

The one purchase that will stand out in my mind is when Tom ordered a specialty Tequila. Which Tom assured me (with the confidence that only a Californian can suavely assert) was THE most premium Tequila. Now... for a gal from little Ol' Prince George, I took a swig of our exclusive Tequila swirling in our marguerita and shrugged my shoulders, my blue collar palette couldn't tell the difference. But I sure as hell could tell the difference in the PRICE. We had billed the meal to our room and the next day when we were going through everything, we found out that our Margueritas cost us $25 EACH. Ya, not combined, but $25 for Lise's and $25 for Tom's which combined totals $50. Woooeeee! We both choked and laughed at that one. That's almost up there with Jason and I inadvertently drinking a $130 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignion that I had brought back from the Beaulieu Vineyard in California. It had gone MIA during my move to my house and then turned up in a box in the garage a year later. (hey it took me a while to empty boxes) I had bought the wine in a 4 bottle deal and didn't realize its value (I checked its cost at a wine store, when I got back from our climbing trip). We drank it in a hottub in Nordegg after attempting Polar Circus. It was the best damn wine I have ever drank, ever, ever. Now back to this Tequila.... I can't think of who better to drink an expensive beverage with than a climbing partner, it adds to the ambiance of the whole adventure.

We spent Friday evening, all day & evening Saturday watching movies from around the world. Nando Parrado is not a climber, he is a survivor. He spent 72days trapped on a glacier in the Andes Mountains. He was part of the infamous group of young soccer players trapped after a plane crash. The world prefers to remember the sensationalism created when it dawned on everyone that they had no food up there so how did they survive....? Most of us know that answer. Nando's talk was honest, had virtually no hype to it. He talked about how the mind quickly shifts to a primal nature that cares about staying alive. He lost most of his friends, his mother and his sister in that crash. After 72 days and spring came, him and another guy decided they must cross the mountains, they knew via their radio that the search for them had been called off. They thought they were in Chile and had one mountain to cross to reach civilization. They actually had an entire mountain range to cross. Two 19yr guys who had never experienced snow before the crash and new nothing of the mountains. It took them 11 days, this is without a tent, without gortex, without any of the equipment we would deem essential in the mountains. They got help for the 14 other survivors still at the crash site. Out of 45 people, 16 survived. His story of his will to survive and some insight into the mind of a survivor will leave a lasting impression on me.

We also watched a movie about crazy French Climbers. A buzzword I think some of us in the extreme sports field could be hearing more of is "para-alpinism" No longer can one simply climb and descend. Providing you have the expertise and kahunas big enough you should be climbing and basejumping rather than rappelling. Ya.... sure, I'll get right on it.

Another movie I enjoyed was a film on the Kazak Eagle Hunters of western Mongolia, right where I traveled through this summer. It was so cool to see the sweeping vistas of Mongolia again. I have to admit, when I was there, seeing the eagle guy with his eagle was one of my least favorite parts of my trip. The eagle was in training and looked like an animal in the process of being broken into submission. I hated it. However in this movie the eagles were treated with much more respect and reverence by their captors. The end of the movie culminated in a wolf hunt, again, not my cup o tea to be watching but overall the movie brought me back to that wonderful place.

One thing I noticed with the movies I watched was the absence of the female adventurer telling her story. Definitely there are less women than men who are scaling big peaks, traversing endless miles of tundra or climbing ice, but we ARE here in smaller numbers.

Michele and I have been hatching some hair-brained schemes, if they pan out we might want to think about getting it documented. Something for her and I to discuss while I'm there in Dec for the Livermore wine festival and maybe I can pick up another horrendously expensive bottle of wine... (but I'll pass on the tequila) muhahahahahaaaaaaaaaa.