Climbing

Daz - in response to your e-mail - it would be JJ if she was out of her bath in time... Other wise, Ed...

i think it's been missed mate, nevermind :O(

Just wait till JJ gets back...

you think she'll spot it though....gone past it a bit now

Daz.

Re. Marathon. I was shooting for 3h 20 and up to 25th km was on target. The day was very hot and humid and I started getting cramps behind thighs (both legs). Had to slow down. Last 3km were absolutely agony, stopping to stretch every km (took me 20 minutes). Finished in 3h 32. Ok but not what I wanted. Anyway finished 25th in my age category anyway (45-49) and they were giving prizes to first 25 in that category. I didn't even bother to check up on classification or prize because I didn't think I had won anything with that kind of time and rushed home to grab some lunch. They called me yesterday and I went to pick up the prize.

What I won: One pair of very cool sunglasses for running (great visibility, yellow shades). One bumbag from Mizuno.
3 packets of pasta, 2 packets of biscuits, one packet of crackers, one packet of snack bars all courtesy of Barilla who was the sponsor.
Goody bag for race enrolment was a rucksac, a little radio for running, one packet of pasta, one packet of biscuits, one packet of crackers and one packet of jam tarts.
We're talking supermarket size packets btw.

The enrolment fee was 13 Euro (about 8 quid). Seems to me I got a real bargain.

What say you. How does that compare to UK. Getting off the climbing theme a bit though.

firemonkey, would you believe i have only just got round to reading this post. i'm bloomin useless me!

was this event sponsored by some rich arab!? how on earth did you bag so many prizes? well done on result anyway!

I've just finished reading my 4th mountaineering book by the way, and third on everest stuff (lost on everest - irvine and mallory) as well as your stories (what are you planning to do with them?). I liked this one a lot, just as much as jon krakauers 'into think air'. fascinating! really hope they find irvines body one day. has there been an expedition since 99' that had this in mind? is there a website devoted to everest and all the expeditions?

one thing i was thinking about apart from your general fitness and climbing knowledge/expertise is physique. Do a lot of climbers in general try to put on a bit of weight before they head out - I would have though that an extra few kilos in fat my provide added insulation? or do they try and keep weight down so its easier to lug their bodies up the steeper parts?

In answer to your last question there Daz, I guess it depends on what sort of climbing you're doing, i.e. a few multi-pitches on grit stone at Stannage Moor or a major Hymalayan expedition, where living at a 16000 foot base camp in freezing temperatures for several weeks is going to somewhat take its toll on your system.

The very nature of rock climbing leads to rapid energy burn and is in itself a significant weight reduction exercise. Of course it's not everybody's cup of tea!

Not really into mountaineering books, but Joe Simpson spins a good yarn.

touching the void - joe simpson is a masterpiece

you are gritting your teecth whilst reading about the pain he endures

Hey Daz,

I just saw your reply. I'm travelling in the Gulf just now so I'm not able to log on as much as usual.

Re. Marathon. it's sponsored by Barilla which is the biggest pasta manufacturer in Italy (and I guess probably the world) as well as being owner of numerous worldwide companies in biscuit, bread and like manufacturing. It's based in Parma so I guess that's why they are so generous with us. Anyway it's pretty usual in Italy to get a great goodies bag whenever you enrol in a marathon (T-shirt, energy drinks, various foods, running magazine, telephone cards, bottle of wine etc.)
Concerning the fattening up thing for going on expeditions. I think with all the training you need to do before going it would be pretty hard to put any weight on and anyway a couple of kilos wouldn't make that much difference either way. One thing is for sure you usually lose weight on Himamlayan expeditions due to being many weeks in high areas and eating pretty lousy food - I,ve usually lost about 2-4 kilos in a month. On the other hand South America is more weight sustaining. The actual mountaineering bits are much shorter (anywhere from 2 days to max a week) then you head back to the towns where you can eat (and drink) to your hearts content. For example just two days after topping out on Alpamayo or Huascaran in Peru we were sitting in a restaraunt in Huaraz stuffing our faces with huge steaks and sangria. The same day that we summited on Huayna Potosi in Bolivia we were doing pretty much the same in La Paz.So basically whatever you lose there during the climb you put back on immediately. I've never come back from the Andes with any weight loss. Actually sometimes such as in Chile or Argentina I came back weighing more than when I went.

Personally I wish they hadn't found Mallory's body. For a lot of people it was a kind of sacrilege, for me it destroyed a little bit of the myth. I'd prefer that the mystery on whether they made it or not remains, though personally I don't think they did. I think that they more probably got exhausted and confused due to oxygen starvation and just fell off the mountain - that's a pretty sharp ridge up there. Still it's a fascinating story and the book isn't bad.

What am I going to do with my stories? No idea. I just wrote them for fun and to remember certain events of my life. But if you know any interested publishers I could write a hell of a lot more : )

Intersting what you said about The story "Ghulam" and other people have also told me that they find it the most interesting. I think that it's probably a little boring just to write about climbing stories and this is different because it has human interest and some development of character. Maybe some day if I have time I'll turn it into a whole book (yeah, like when I retire).

Firemonkey,
Just popping in.
Keep up the marathons mate. How many is that now? Will send a few more emails shortly. My flat mates auntie lives in Nepal and he's interested in visiting Base Camp next year. Will see if anything comes of this. Hence all the q's lately!

I see what you mean. But you never know, they can't prove they/he DIDNT do it. Would just be nice to think a pure Brit was the first to reach it. I still find it fascinating that all those that have died on the mountain are preserved/frozen, and occasionaly get spotted by climbers. must be strange.

re:publishing. my bro works in publishers and has tried to have some of his done in past. will let you know by e.