Ups and downs

I guess its pretty obvious but this whole challenge is about the ups and downs. Lots of ups and downs.

Today I went up and down 9 times, for 9360 ft. My motivation went up and down a few times, at first I awoke and watched the rain hitting our windows and felt down. Then when I finally drove out the parking lot I felt up, and then once I was hiking I was down again wondering if I would tour enough to hit 1.27 today. For the first 3000 ft I was down and then I suddenly realized I would tour the requisite vertical and I felt up again. And I rode that feeling right till the end, and felt excited about my day.

Two weeks ago I was up and feeling psyched, thinking that August was going to be my biggest month yet, over 200 000 feet, ten thousand feet a day and killing it. Then I got sick, while lying in bed reading and headachey I was bummed, feeling like I was loosing all that I had gained.  5 days of loss, damn that was tough to accept. Now I am feeling decent and coming back but again, so much ahead its tough to be psyched.  Being behind par is a tough game, not that I am letting it get far away but I cannot wait to be on par again. When will that happen who knows?

I understood when I undertook this that it was going to be a huge game of ups and downs, psychologically, emotionally, energetically and of course physically. And it has been all of that demanding me to focus on the small while not letting the large goal out of sight. Each up counts towards the total, each day, each week. During the course of each day I focus on each part of it, and use the small steps to stay psyched. Looking back at what I have already done to stay excited vs looking ahead at the huge amount left. Like climbing a huge mountain always looking down at what has been accomplished vs the challenges ahead.

In the overall course of this goal, the 1.2-1.5 mill should be the hardest, once I have hit 1.5 and less than 500 000 to go it will be exciting. For now I am trying to focus on how good that’s going to feel and push through these days to get to that point. My sister, Christy, once said that while running up a hill one should focus on the feeling that you will get when you crest the hill, and use that feeling a little early to get you up the hill. Similar to me now, it will feel so good to be at 1.5, I am feeling that energy now to help me climb to that point.

Ahh that was fun…..

I awoke yesterday morning unsure of what I was going to do, I was planning no at least ten thousand feet but not particularly psyched to go up off the hill. So I called Jorge, and he said he was taking some clients up to Cerro  Chall-Huaco. The idea interested me and I followed his advice and ended up ahead of them on the 4*4 road. Jorge said that it would be plowed, which it was but Argentinian style, so I was driving way up into the mountains in full four by four mode, deeps snow trenches, puddles, narrow slippery bridges. It had been plowed by by a tractor, but he left a lot behind, anyhow slightly stressful but eventually Jorge caught up and we both made it up to the Refugio. I had thoughts that I would meet up with them on the fist summit but once I stood on top of it and looked west at Blanco’s SE face I could not wait and I was off and down an Ok run and then up this.

It was a super fun up, beautiful and fun to work through the terrain and then I skied down the  west side which was fast but not really creamy, a little catchy.  Then I skinned up Cerro Huaiquitun, as I went up I knew I had to ski back down because the snow was creamy and nice. It would be well worth the effort of skinning up it.

After Huaiquitun, I climbed up and traversed over to summit Cerro Nireco Sur and ski this nice line down. The winds had  slabbed it up a bit so it wasn’t as creamy as my last but still fun to ski.  By now the day was getting on, the sun had burned me a bit and tired me out and all I wanted to do was get home. Some struggling to get up and around toe Cerro Chall-Huaco and then back down to the refugio and home. 10500ft, 4 summits taking my total for the year to 56 summits.

This area impressed me a lot, the whole 4*4 drive had cool ski touring right off the road, and then the area that I skied through was endless, 1500-1900 foot runs, and lots of them. I am truly glad that I came here before I left, it showed me how much there really is to do out of this town.

Home to quickly shave and then go out for our second anniversary date, a month early since I will be missing it in Sept. Super tasty 7 course meal, with a gorgeous date, and then home.

Blowing like mad

I had no intentions of taking 5 days off, but when sickness knocks its usually worth listening to. But after five days of no progress I had to head out, even though I was not at 100% I could no longer take it. So Dick and I headed up to a zone I had not been to, just off the ski hill. Trail breaking through 60 cm of heavy snow was fun, something out of the ordinary. As we neared the top the winds decided to pick up, and within moments it was blowing 50km and hour, hoping we could hide in the trees we did a lap down, and found that their was no where to go. The wind was ripping through the trees, some natural slides were starting to happen and it was time to exit stage left.

It was difficult to find stage left so we headed up and into the whiteout to traverse back onto the hill and ski down the closed run. It was the only handrail we could see, much less use to get down. Some fun turns though and so nice to be out. Now I am sitting here and its pouring rain and blowing like mad. Tomorrow should be interesting.