Closure for some at last?

[Anocxu]

I'm barely even on the same planet as the guys who climb mountains, but it's something I'd really like to do later in life, so I'm just talking out of my ass here, but the appeal to me is about
1 - being in that sort of extreme physical and mental condition and then pushing that to the limit. Realizing the power in your own body.
2 - the psychological impact of being able to withstand that sort of activity, the feeling that you can overcome any challenge.
3 - going into some of the most intense and intimidating landscapes and environments in nature and surviving it. To be humbled and empowered at the same time. Like I can't imagine what it must feel like to summit Everest - to feel so small compared to the world but also to achieved such a physical and mental challenge.

It's what I imagine astronauts to feel like.. To see earth and be forced to confront at the same time how huge and how tiny it is. How mind blowing incredible and how vastly insignificant human achievement is.

I've never been on an airplane or anything, but I've been to the top of the Empire State Building... The feeling I get up there, to imagine being 30X that high.... That's crazy insane. What the world must look like from there.



Anyway let me stop, I'm getting harder off this thread than I ever did from the couch one.

I guess it's like training for the winter Olympics X 100

How could you get a boner
after talking about -60 degree weather?

Phreak!

[Camfer]

Well [MENTION=21558]Emiliano[/MENTION], if you want to get into mountain climbing you can start with the White Mountains in New Hampshire and then maybe graduate to something in the Rocky Mountains or the Sierras. You can gain a lot of experience and get up above 14000 feet. It's good to know how your body reacts to that altitude.

Then, maybe the next step is some of the volcanoes that get you up to 17,000 feet. They are outside of Mexico City.

If that was good and fun for you, time to head to the Andes and that can get you to oh, say 19,000 feet or as much as 22,841 feet (Aconcagua.)

Or up to Alaska and do Denali (20,322 feet).

Once you're comfortable there then you're ready for the Himalayas.

Me, I took 7 days to ascend Cotopaxi without a guide. It's a freestanding active volcano in the Andes in Ecuador. 19,347 feet, or 5897 meters. I had plenty of technical climbing skills before I did the trip. That comes in handy for glacier travel even if Cotopaxi is really a non-technical climb. On the day of my summit, there were 36 people attempting it. 12 made it. The rest had to turn back. Amazing views from the top, truly 360 degrees. Somebody died in the month prior to my summit. I started the summit day at midnight to try to reach the top near dawn. Crossing snow bridges in the dark over crevasses 400 feet deep was scary. But the scariest part was the descent from the summit. You're looking down a steep slope with nothing but snow, a 2-mile drop. If you fall you have to self-arrest or it's an out of control skid to your death in the bottom of some crevasse. Practicing your ice ax skills ahead of time makes it feel a little better.

To train for that trip, I had a heart rate monitor. I'd get my heart rate up to 165 bpm and go for an hour, at least 3 days a week for months before the trip. When my friend and I summited we had a great time laughing, joking around, eating breakfast at the top of the crater. We'd passed a bunch of people puking, pounding headaches, and nauseated. So it really pays to go slow and acclimatize and make sure you are in top shape to do it. No fun to be beyond your limits at altitude.

So don't just sit in the city and dream about this stuff. Learn your indoor climbing skills, then your outdoor sport climbing skills, then your outdoor traditional climbing skills. Next thing you know, peak bagging becomes feasible. Seriously, your 20s are the ideal time to do this kind of stuff.

[Emiliano]

Well [MENTION=21558]Emiliano[/MENTION], if you want to get into mountain climbing you can start with the White Mountains in New Hampshire and then maybe graduate to something in the Rocky Mountains or the Sierras. You can gain a lot of experience and get up above 14000 feet. It's good to know how your body reacts to that altitude.

Then, maybe the next step is some of the volcanoes that get you up to 17,000 feet. They are outside of Mexico City.

If that was good and fun for you, time to head to the Andes and that can get you to oh, say 19,000 feet or as much as 22,841 feet (Aconcagua.)

Or up to Alaska and do Denali (20,322 feet).

Once you're comfortable there then you're ready for the Himalayas.

Me, I took 7 days to ascend Cotopaxi without a guide. It's a freestanding active volcano in the Andes in Ecuador. 19,347 feet, or 5897 meters. I had plenty of technical climbing skills before I did the trip. That comes in handy for glacier travel even if Cotopaxi is really a non-technical climb. On the day of my summit, there were 36 people attempting it. 12 made it. The rest had to turn back. Amazing views from the top, truly 360 degrees. Somebody died in the month prior to my summit. I started the summit day at midnight to try to reach the top near dawn. Crossing snow bridges in the dark over crevasses 400 feet deep was scary. But the scariest part was the descent from the summit. You're looking down a steep slope with nothing but snow, a 2-mile drop. If you fall you have to self-arrest or it's an out of control skid to your death in the bottom of some crevasse. Practicing your ice ax skills ahead of time makes it feel a little better.

To train for that trip, I had a heart rate monitor. I'd get my heart rate up to 165 bpm and go for an hour, at least 3 days a week for months before the trip. When my friend and I summited we had a great time laughing, joking around, eating breakfast at the top of the crater. We'd passed a bunch of people puking, pounding headaches, and nauseated. So it really pays to go slow and acclimatize and make sure you are in top shape to do it. No fun to be beyond your limits at altitude.

So don't just sit in the city and dream about this stuff. Learn your indoor climbing skills, then your outdoor sport climbing skills, then your outdoor traditional climbing skills. Next thing you know, peak bagging becomes feasible. Seriously, your 20s are the ideal time to do this kind of stuff.

Thanks for the outline. Right now, it's still just a dream because getting my masters and my jobs are my top priority. I also want to run the marathon which will be my next sort of physical goal. I've been running and doing track since I was a kid and I've done smaller runs so that's a more attainable goal for now. But I've had indoor rock climbing lessons and I really enjoyed that. Mountain climbing is a more long term goal and also just a really enjoyable day dream. But I appreciate your encouragement.

That's awesome what you shared about your experience though. What got you into climbing? What was the most challenging thing you've faced mountain climbing ? Have you ever had to use the ice axe? That's insane. From a lot of docs I've watched the descent almost always seems more difficult than the ascent.

[matty7]

I remember the 360 cam view of Everest you posted - that's was really great. then someone put pics up showing the lost climbers who were frozen in the ice (or did I google that bit..i forget) very strange to see climbers hiking past bodies