Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Great Quest --- for the right backpack.

THE GREAT QUEST

A 93 mile backpacking trek
around Mount Rainier
Wonderland Trail.
Begins August 2012

The right backpack.

In search of the right backpack, I went to REI last week to try them on. I’m kind of an REI junkie and spend more time there than at most other store. I think trying on equipment is really important to insure fit and comfort. When I bought my rock climbing shoes I tried every pair in the store. (The “La Sportiva, Miura” are still my all time favorites)

At REI the person who assisted me initially thought I would need a medium backpack because of my long torso, but when I was measured I actually came out as being a small to extra small frame. I’m only 5’4 so this didn’t really surprise me.

Tip #1 Make sure they measure you before you try on the packs. (It took trying on several medium packs for them to decide to measure me)

Tip # 2 Make sure they put weight in it so you know how it feels when loaded. I tested the packs with 25 to 35 lbs which is about the weight of gear needed for a 7 to 10 day trip

After probably an hour of playing Goldy Lock’s with the backpacks, I found two that were just right. The Osprey Aether 60 and the Osprey Xenon 85. Both were the same as far as comfort, but the 85L would hold more gear for longer trips. Both packs are top and front loading backpack with gear loops for my climbing gear, and have a detachable smaller pack and custom moldable Hip belt. The only problem was the price. The packs were the most expansive there. I’m not sure if I can afford the pack right now with all the other gear I need to get, like shoes, socks, sleeping bag, rain jacket, etc.

A friend of mine came by the other day and offered his old pack. It’s a medium 70 L pack, but with a really adjustable back panel. When we synched it down as far it would go, it almost fit. I’m hoping it will be good enough, but won’t know for sure till I put weight in it and trek around the nature preserve for a while.

If anyone has any suggestions for packs feel free to share.

Here is the information on the two packs I fell in love with.

The newly updated Osprey Aether 60 pack offers a lightweight, mountaineering design, custom moldable hipbelt and a streamlined profile for backcountry pursuits. See it at REI.com

Carrying on the Osprey legacy, the customizable Xenon 85 for multi-day backpacking offers impressive load transfer, saving your back and shoulders. See it at REI.com

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Great Quest

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Fallow a me as I prepares to embark on my first 95 to100 mile hike in the great wilderness of the North West. My name is Julia. I'm a professional artist as well as an avid rock climber and adventure sport enthusiast. The trip will begin August 2012 but I will have much to do in the next few months to train and gear up for the trek.

MOUNT RAINIER WONDERLAND TRAIL

Click on image to see larger view

I will postmy journal "The Great Quest" right here, so check back often for updates on my progress.

February 14th 2012

Preparation begins.

This is going to be the best summer of my life! Indeed that’s what I tell myself every summer, but this summer will finally be the one worthy of the title. Although the trip is still about 6 months away, I’m diving headlong into preparations for my first wilderness backpacking expedition. This August I will be hiking Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail.

During one of my ADD brain storms (a loud and sometimes disturbing sonic speed explosion from one idea to another) I was bouncing around all the possibilities of what I would need for the nearly 100 mile trek. Amongst all the usual items I was going to need, like food, bio degradable soap, toilet paper, backpack, shoes, socks, electrolysis, (if only I could afford it L) I suddenly realized the most important thing I was going to need was more muscle.

Even though I’m not in bad shape, physical training is going to be imperative. I have started training at the gym but will move out doors for real life training in a month or two as the weather improves. Indoors I’m trying to make my workouts as diverse as possible and lean towards exercises that mimic natural movements. I’m doing heavy weight training, running, biking, rowing, and climbing the stair stepper. Stair steppers are great for training for the trail. Although walking on a treadmill at its max height (usually 15) is a good workout, the stairs mimic steep trail hiking with a much more natural climbing movement. Sunday I climbed 2 miles on the stairs and hope to work up to 5+ miles before August.

Glossary of climbing terms

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I just did an on-sight flash of a 5.12. At the crux I had to barn door and then dyno to the next sloper and jib. On the next move I used an Apine knee on a jug and that’s where I almost gronked but I still managed to send it without falling. I’m so pumped right now.

What did he just say?

On-sight Flash: To successfully and cleanly (Cleanly = without putting any weight on the rope.) complete a climbing route on the first without receiving beta (Beta = information on how to climb the rout.)

5.12: The rating of the rout

Crux: The most difficult portion of a climb.

Barn-door: If a climber has only two points of contact using either the right or left side of his body, the other half may swing uncontrollably out from the wall like a door on a hinge.

Dyno: A dynamic move to grab a hold that would otherwise be out of reach. Generally both feet will leave the rock face and return again once the target hold is caught. Non-climbers would call it a jump or a leap.

Sloper: A sloping hold with very little positive surface. A sloper is comparable to palming a basketball.

Jib: A particularly small foot hold, usually only large enough for the big toe, sometimes relying heavily on friction to support weight.

Alpine knee: To use your knee as a way to gain ground on a climb.

Jug: A shortened term for Jumar, both noun and verb. Jug hold A large, easily held hold. Also known simply as a jug

Send: To cleanly complete a route. i.e. on-sight, flash, redpoint. Sometimes even on tr. See 'scend

Gronked: A term used to describe accidentally going off-route while leading and becoming lost on a rock face in an area much more difficult than the climb being attempted. The word arises from the climb "Gronk" in Avon Gorge which is notorious for this.

Pumped: To have such an accumulation of lactic acid in the forearm, that forming even a basic grip becomes impossible. A climber who is pumped will find it difficult to hold on, and may struggle to lift or clip a rope.

Intro to Psicobloc / Deep Water Soloing

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Natalija Gros, talented slovenian climber, climbing deep water solo in Kamenjak, near Pula, in Istria
Photos by Jure Breceljnik

Read more about the amazing Natalija Gros.
http://www.natalijagros.si/en/omeni.php

PSICOBLOC, also known as Deep Water Soloing.(DWS) is a form of solo rock climbing. If you are new to the sport the terms free climbing and solo climbing can be confused, but are two distinctive forms of climbing.

Free climbing

To free climb means you are on a rope, but you must climb the rout without using the rope as an aid. This is also known as climbing a rout clean. If you can send a rout (send is to make it to the top) without falling or putting any of your weight on the rope, you have completed a free climb. Some people will say they have completed a rout even if they haven’t free climbed it. I, on the other hand, don’t feel I have truly climbed a rout until I have climbed it clean and only count a rout as completed if I have free climbed it. Until then I call it a project and continue to work on it.

Solo Climbing / Free Soloing

Soloing or free soloing means climbing without aid or protection. When you climb without a rope/protection it’s just you and the rock. Solo climbing is not something I would recommend to anyone who wants to have a long and happy climbing career. Many talented climbers have fallen to their death soloing and yet something inside me still wants to try it.

Derek Hersey was a master of unroped "free solo" climbing, often in the 5.10–5.11 range
Before he died, Derek Hershey told the New York Times: “Observers think [I've] got a death wish. But there’s nothing else that makes me feel so alive. . . When you’re free-soloing, you can’t afford to be distracted. You concentrate on the flow from move to move to move. You exist only in the present.” Derek Hersey died on May 28, 1993, in an accident while soloing the Steck-Salathé Route without protective gear, on Sentinel Rock in Yosemite National Park. He fell several hundred feet to his death

If you are like me and have the urge to be free of the cumbersome harness, ropes, and carabineers, but don’t have a death wish, then Psucobloc, Deep Water soloing (DWS) might be for you.

Psicobloc, also known as Deep Water Soloing (DWS)

Psicobloc is climbing on cliffs that hang over deep water and relying solely upon the presence of the water at the base of a climb to protect against injury from falling. psicobloc/DWS is still dangerous and you have to take a lot of factors into account such as depth of water, temperature of water, tides and more, but when it is done right it is safer than traditional free soloing.

GET INSPIRED

If you want to read more about Deep Water Soloing this is a great book.

Winner of the 2007 Mountain Exposition Award at the Banff Mountain Book FestivalIn the last fifteen years the branch of sea cliff rock climbing referred to as Deep Water Soloing has grown in popularity and spread its watery wings around the Globe. Deep Water is the first guidebook dedicated to documenting the major areas that have seen significant amounts of Deep Water Soloing interest and development over this period. The main author, Mike Robertson, was one of the first climbers to ditch the rope and security of standard protection and rely upon the safety-net of the sea. Mike has travelled far and wide, developing new routes and climbing old sea cliff lines in the Deep Water Solo style, and has published many articles and photographs in climbing magazines worldwide. Get it here