(utterly) inflexible

i’m about as flexible as a lamp post.

that was my observation today during my first yoga class. i’ve decided to try yoga in my ongoing effort to ensure i don’t bonk heavily while attempting to summit/board Mt. Shasta next year.

“focus on your triangle, the space in between your hands… focus!” the instructor says calmly and clearly as we are all in the downward dog pose.

ugh. all i can focus on is the sweat dripping off my forehead down to the ground… into the space in between my hands. oddly enough, it was a strangely effective thing to focus on.

needless to say, an hour of yoga kicked my ass. it felt pretty good though, and i’m hopeful it will at least help drive some of the kinks out of my lower back.

i’ve been reading more accident reports and trip reports of Shasta. i tell myself its in the interest of being fully prepared for all things that may happen, but in reality my mindset is more along the lines of “whatever you do… don’t do something so utterly embarrassing and stupid you end up as an event in these accident reports”… like the girl who held her ice axe upside down, dripped, and ended up giving herself a tracheotomy. ugh.

/me is still wearing his snowboard boots around the house

1 comment October 11th, 2006

new snowboard boots!

i stopped by our local Any Mountain store on Monday and found a pair of boots being cleared out: 2006 Salomon Maori’s. they had one pair left in an 8.5. on a whim i picked them up and they were amazingly light. way lighter and comfier than my old pair of Burton boots i’ve been riding around on for the past 5 years.

that, and they were on sale for $90.

score!

so i picked ‘em up. but just to make sure they’re comfy enough, i’ve been wearing them whenever i get a chance and walking around in them to make sure they feel okay…. which is why i cooked dinner, walked the dogs around the block, and am now blogging in my snowboard boots.

let me just say…. you definitely get some strange looks from the neighbours when you tromp by walking your dogs in shorts, a t-shirt, and snowboard boots.

these are definitely a pair i can hike up shasta in though, so woot!

2 comments October 10th, 2006

gear up!

so i got my crampons. (i should probably figure out how to use ‘em at some point this winter)

i got a pack, which i think is probably too small (@ 2000 cubic inches), so i’ll probably have to return it. depends how much crap i need to stuff in there.

and after reading all the trip reports and accident reports (thanks jesse), i’m convinced i’m bringing an ice axe. time to go buy more gear.

(this whole trip is really just a way for me to legitimise buying more gear really)

1 comment September 25th, 2006

hotlum-wintun ridge ascent & descent

the ascent is in blue, the descent is the red line.

…. it’s gonna rock

1 comment July 27th, 2006

exhausted…

so it looks like this weekend’s exertions gave me some mild heat exhaustion. i spent a good part of yesterday and almost all of last night alternating between shivering with chills, sweating with a fever, and having waves of nausea.

so clearly a few lessons to be learned here. i need to hydrate more. i brought two litres of water on our hike, but soon found myself drinking more than i had predicted. i probably should have worn a wider hat instead of the bandana i opted for… a hat would have provided greater shade and facial coverage.

oh well… noted for next time i suppose.

meanwhile, if you come by my office and find me passed out on the chair, i’m not slacking - i just feel sick. (as opposed to other days, when i may indeed be slacking :-P)

Add comment July 25th, 2006

sweatiest….weekend….. evah.

staying up till 3am friday drinking scotch is probably not the best way to start training for Shasta. despite that, jesse and i set out saturday for our first training hike in our long arduous goal of getting ourselves in shape to haul ourselves up to the top of Shasta.

in all our infinite wisdom, we decided to train for hiking up Shasta by hiking a day hike (11 mile loop trail) in the blistering heat at Big Basin.

cause… you know… hiking in 100 degree weather is totally indicative of what we’ll be doing at Shasta.

after the best Jamba Juice smoothie ever, we finished up our training by devouring tapas and sangria before heading home to knock back some Henry Weinhardts Irish Pale Ale (i’m normally not a fan of Pale Ales, but this one was pretty good) and watching the 19th stage of the Tour de France.

<random tangential rant about the Tour de France> first: to the American announcer, it’s Tour “de” France, as in “de” rhymes with “the”. Not Tour DAY France. second: i’m sorry - but watching time trials at 1am has got to be one of the most boring things on TV. i’ve been assured that the regular stages are better and more exciting, but watching a time trial on TV is stunningly wickedly amazingly fantastically BORING. </random tangential rant>

we followed that up by watching Superman on Sunday morning and then running around in the afternoon for another exhausting sweaty 1.5 hours of ultimate.

today i feel …. broken. my hips hurt. my knees hurt. my fingertips hurt (yeah i don’t know why those hurt). ugh. i think i may take the week off of frisbee to let my body heal.

2 comments July 24th, 2006

and so the training begins….

A couple of weeks ago Jesse and I decided we are going to climb Shasta next June and snowboard down (inspired by a colleague who did it this year). Jaime and Zac have decided to join us, so we’ll have a good group of 4.

Last night we went to an REI clinic on climbing Shasta which overviewed the different routes. We’ve narrowed it down to either Avalanche Gulch, the West Face, or the Hotlum-Wintun Ridge descents, and we’re starting some research into which one we eventually want to do.

We’re obviously going to have to do a lot of training, so time for me to start hitting the stairmaster at the gym. We’re also going to have to start doing some higher-altitude backpacking/mountaineering to get used to the elevation.

I intend to blog everything and tag it in my ‘MtShasta’ blog category and keep track of my training progress, all the decisions we make, and research we do.

Right now it looks like the equipment we’ll have to buy: a pack capable of carrying my snowboard, lighter snowboard boots that I can hike in and strap crampons to, crampons, ice axe or whippet.

2 comments July 20th, 2006