I want to THANK EVERYONE SO MUCH for their support......believe me, your words are what got me up that mountain....I kept thinking of Greg's words.....there is more behind you than in front of you....YEAH!!
Thursday, 23 February 2012
BACK DOWN SAFE & SOUND
I DID IT!!!!! Can't begin to describe my feelings at this point - I'm just elated and need to process this amazing journey that I have been on. Everyone is healthy and feeling fine. A few frustrating days since my descent trying to blog - hard to get a service here. I will be giving a full recount of the trek as soon as I get reasonable access.......right now we are 15 minutes away from our bus ride to begin the safari.
I want to THANK EVERYONE SO MUCH for their support......believe me, your words are what got me up that mountain....I kept thinking of Greg's words.....there is more behind you than in front of you....YEAH!!
Love you all & you'll hear from me soon.
I want to THANK EVERYONE SO MUCH for their support......believe me, your words are what got me up that mountain....I kept thinking of Greg's words.....there is more behind you than in front of you....YEAH!!
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
VALENTINES DAY ON THE MOUNTAIN!
Randy here....I just checked the GPS tracking site and it looks like the first day went well and as planned. I haven't had a report from the Tusker folks, but in this situation "no news is good news" for sure.
It seems strange for me to be here at sea level as an observer as Cindy completes this amazing feat of endurance....vertically, we'll soon be 4 miles apart!
It's a bit of a lonely Valentines Day for me and I miss my girl but I am soooooo proud of the personal accomplishment that she is involved in right now...and of her dedication of this feat to her mom and the good folks at AOS in London.
To all of our friends...Happy Valentines Day 2012.
It seems strange for me to be here at sea level as an observer as Cindy completes this amazing feat of endurance....vertically, we'll soon be 4 miles apart!
It's a bit of a lonely Valentines Day for me and I miss my girl but I am soooooo proud of the personal accomplishment that she is involved in right now...and of her dedication of this feat to her mom and the good folks at AOS in London.
To all of our friends...Happy Valentines Day 2012.
Sunday, 12 February 2012
ORIENTATION IS OVER!!! TOMORROW WE LEAVE FOR KILI!!!!
Orientation today was very thorough. Our Tusker guides are great. We were explained everything about the entire trip with all expectations, precautions and "rules of the Trek". Every question we had was answered.
Tusker Trails is an amazing tour operator. I believe there is 19 staff...guides, porters, cooks etc...for the four of us! Full first aid packs, arctic clothing and even 2 oxygen bottles will come along with our tents, sleeping bags, food, portable toilets and so on. Each of us has our own day pack and our individual "Tusker Bag" that the porter carries ...NO MORE THAN 34LBS!
Tusker Trails is an amazing tour operator. I believe there is 19 staff...guides, porters, cooks etc...for the four of us! Full first aid packs, arctic clothing and even 2 oxygen bottles will come along with our tents, sleeping bags, food, portable toilets and so on. Each of us has our own day pack and our individual "Tusker Bag" that the porter carries ...NO MORE THAN 34LBS!
My confidence is high and my health is good. I am READY to go!
We all will need a good nights sleep tonight as we won't see a real bed (except for a sleeping bag) until Feb 22. It's almost unreal that I'm here and about to complete this climb. I have to pinch myself every so often to prove that it isn't a dream.
Randy will get updates from time to time via Tusker base camp and he's promised to upload them.
You can watch our climbing progress on the Tusker Tracking site....http://portal.mxlogic.com/redir/?2DtMsej76zBMQsCQXK3D4nCm3hOr01jrEl-fbUXkY-Fz0bWPGF8z6HqMq778L8TMTvAXTLuZXTKrKrzI42NfUhb0GdifNFOVJVUsYrhpju78KefCzASOOr5M5id40Ba21oQgr10Qg0Lo85zh05_x4Iq811ScHqq83s_3VU3zqpJcSDtMsUyYCCyrlMG5 ....enter group name HENRY.
Tonight Tusker took us out for a very nice dinner (our last supper??)...really, it was excellent!
As you can see in the photo, we've had a new friend "Elizabeth" from Houston, Texas join our little group.
Thx for all your good wishes and support.....here I go!
Saturday, 11 February 2012
HAPPY LANDING AT THE KILIMANJARO AIRPORT
Arrived safe and sound - no delays and all of our luggage intact!
Flight was 23 hours all told - decongested, kleenexed and nasal sprayed my way through 8 time zones. I'm feeling much better and believe I've got the cold licked......although Randy now has the sniffles. I started the malaria and diamox pills - no side effects thus far. Our guide "Liberty" met us at the airport - I cleverly hid the fact that I had a cold and spoke as un-nasally as possible, although the wads of Kleenex probably gave me away.
Now 2 days later we have settled in - we've slept quite a bit - I'm actually stiff from too much laying around. Nives, Fridjoff and I did some stretching exercises today to loosen up.
We walked through the town and visited the open market as well. Drinking tons of water and trying to stay sanitized - lots of purell. We are staying at the Bristol Cottages - rustic and quaint. Mosquito nets over the beds. Food is good and rooms are clean.
The first day here I walked around the corner from the hotel and there it was - Mount Kilimanjaro in all it's glory. IT'S HUGE.......grand and solitary as it stands alone.
We begin the climb on Monday.........................
Flight was 23 hours all told - decongested, kleenexed and nasal sprayed my way through 8 time zones. I'm feeling much better and believe I've got the cold licked......although Randy now has the sniffles. I started the malaria and diamox pills - no side effects thus far. Our guide "Liberty" met us at the airport - I cleverly hid the fact that I had a cold and spoke as un-nasally as possible, although the wads of Kleenex probably gave me away.
Now 2 days later we have settled in - we've slept quite a bit - I'm actually stiff from too much laying around. Nives, Fridjoff and I did some stretching exercises today to loosen up.
We walked through the town and visited the open market as well. Drinking tons of water and trying to stay sanitized - lots of purell. We are staying at the Bristol Cottages - rustic and quaint. Mosquito nets over the beds. Food is good and rooms are clean.
The first day here I walked around the corner from the hotel and there it was - Mount Kilimanjaro in all it's glory. IT'S HUGE.......grand and solitary as it stands alone.
We begin the climb on Monday.........................
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
VISIT TO THE CLUB & LEAVING TODAY!
We leave for the airport in a couple of hours - spent last night packing, downsizing, resorting and repacking again. I managed to get everything in one large suitcase and my backpack, which will be my carry on. I'm wearing my hiking boots and jacket on the plane to save room.........
I have a cold. I've been pumping Vitamin C, Cold FX and a decongestant into my body......sent Randy off to the the drugstore late last night on a quest for nasal spray to add to my arsenal. This is war and I'm on a mission to beat this thing by the time I start climbing next Monday. IT band is feeling pretty good after another treatment with my awesome physiotherapist yesterday.
Yesterday was fantastic. I went to the McCormick Home to receive a beautiful silk painting / banner that was made by the clients who attend "The Club". I'm inspired......the painting is amazing and the presentation touched me deeply. What good work they do - we are so very lucky to have such a facility in our community. As my mom would say "top notch"...............
I will proudly take the banner up the mountain in honour of all those who attend the program!
I have a cold. I've been pumping Vitamin C, Cold FX and a decongestant into my body......sent Randy off to the the drugstore late last night on a quest for nasal spray to add to my arsenal. This is war and I'm on a mission to beat this thing by the time I start climbing next Monday. IT band is feeling pretty good after another treatment with my awesome physiotherapist yesterday.
Yesterday was fantastic. I went to the McCormick Home to receive a beautiful silk painting / banner that was made by the clients who attend "The Club". I'm inspired......the painting is amazing and the presentation touched me deeply. What good work they do - we are so very lucky to have such a facility in our community. As my mom would say "top notch"...............
I will proudly take the banner up the mountain in honour of all those who attend the program!
Thursday, 2 February 2012
7 MORE SLEEPS
My time is winding down - we leave in one week...... it feels surreal - the seven months of training was such an intense focus of my time that it took on a life of it's own - I almost forgot that the end goal is to climb a mountain....indeed!!
When I got back from Florida in early January I really cranked up the training - bad move! My physiotherapist did warn me that for the last few weeks I should be slowing down and giving my body a rest and maintaining only. But in my mind, I worried that if I "let up", I would lose strength and momentum. How wrong I was.....I managed to aggravate my IT band problem and have been limping around the past few days in a complete panic. After seeing the therapist again, I was relieved to learn that I'm not injured - just sore - and that I really need to start taking it easy..............so, I've cut back alot. It feels weird.
I never in a million years would have thought that I would enjoy exercising........I'm not sure when I turned the corner from "ugh, do I really have to do this" to "I'm off to the gym - and IT FEELS GOOD". For me, it's meditative. I'm constantly counting in a rhythmic way...........counting repetitions - 3 reps of 15......counting stairs - 15 steps is one flight - 12 flights, 10 times........counting minutes on the treadmill.....counting kilometers on the pedometer......counting steps on the stairmaster......and there's visuals with the counting: the people that I know on each of the floors when doing stair climbing......12 reps equals 12 months......40 minutes on the treadmill is 40 minutes on the mountain...........funny how the brain works to get you through things.
I have fears......many many "what ifs". What if the IT band problem doesn't settle down? What if my body won't adjust to the altitude? What if I can't sleep while on the mountain and I have enormous fatigue? What if I get bitten by a tsetse fly? What if the lack of oxygen makes me crazy? And my more recent obsession - What if I get a cold and the tour company won't let me climb?
The tour company sends out "tips and advisories" every so often. One of the advisories warned that if you have a cold you wouldn't be able to climb.....A COLD! So, here we are in Canada in the middle of winter, where having a cold is like getting a tan or sunburn in Florida...........but I do take the advise seriously and have been very diligent in keeping healthy and sanitized.....call me bubble girl...... I'm washing my hands regularily and keep a bottle of Purell at the ready. Anyone with so much as a sniffle is not allowed near me! Sorry everyone, but the thought of cancelling the trip because I have a cold is a horrid prospect and one that I want to avoid at all costs.
Oh well, there comes a time when if you've done everthing that you should do to prepare and there's not much else that you can do, you really should relax and do nothing (or very little) - and that's where I am today.....I'm leaving it to the universe and putting my trust the "climbing" Gods" that nothing will interfere with a successful trek - and even a summit.................I'm off to bed!
When I got back from Florida in early January I really cranked up the training - bad move! My physiotherapist did warn me that for the last few weeks I should be slowing down and giving my body a rest and maintaining only. But in my mind, I worried that if I "let up", I would lose strength and momentum. How wrong I was.....I managed to aggravate my IT band problem and have been limping around the past few days in a complete panic. After seeing the therapist again, I was relieved to learn that I'm not injured - just sore - and that I really need to start taking it easy..............so, I've cut back alot. It feels weird.
I never in a million years would have thought that I would enjoy exercising........I'm not sure when I turned the corner from "ugh, do I really have to do this" to "I'm off to the gym - and IT FEELS GOOD". For me, it's meditative. I'm constantly counting in a rhythmic way...........counting repetitions - 3 reps of 15......counting stairs - 15 steps is one flight - 12 flights, 10 times........counting minutes on the treadmill.....counting kilometers on the pedometer......counting steps on the stairmaster......and there's visuals with the counting: the people that I know on each of the floors when doing stair climbing......12 reps equals 12 months......40 minutes on the treadmill is 40 minutes on the mountain...........funny how the brain works to get you through things.
I have fears......many many "what ifs". What if the IT band problem doesn't settle down? What if my body won't adjust to the altitude? What if I can't sleep while on the mountain and I have enormous fatigue? What if I get bitten by a tsetse fly? What if the lack of oxygen makes me crazy? And my more recent obsession - What if I get a cold and the tour company won't let me climb?
The tour company sends out "tips and advisories" every so often. One of the advisories warned that if you have a cold you wouldn't be able to climb.....A COLD! So, here we are in Canada in the middle of winter, where having a cold is like getting a tan or sunburn in Florida...........but I do take the advise seriously and have been very diligent in keeping healthy and sanitized.....call me bubble girl...... I'm washing my hands regularily and keep a bottle of Purell at the ready. Anyone with so much as a sniffle is not allowed near me! Sorry everyone, but the thought of cancelling the trip because I have a cold is a horrid prospect and one that I want to avoid at all costs.
Oh well, there comes a time when if you've done everthing that you should do to prepare and there's not much else that you can do, you really should relax and do nothing (or very little) - and that's where I am today.....I'm leaving it to the universe and putting my trust the "climbing" Gods" that nothing will interfere with a successful trek - and even a summit.................I'm off to bed!
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