Monthly Archives: June 2011

Holding On – Jo Gambi

Posted on by
Reply

I had to post a quick link to a book, called Holding On. I have to say that it is without doubt on of the best books of any description that I have ever read.

As I may have mentioned previously, I have bought a few (well about twenty actually :)) books on various Everest and other Seven Summits expeditions, to try to satisfy my appetite for all things Himalayan etc. The thing which characterises many of these books is that they they are generally written by people who a.) clearly never intended to write a book in the first place, b.) have egos bigger than some of the mountains they climb, and c.) obviously aren’t the most enthralling of authors in the first place, and I am being kind. Take ‘The Climb’ by Anatoli Boukreev for example. It’s subject is the 1996 Everest disaster, and whilst the subject matter enthrals me, it is without doubt one of the most dull books I have ever read. It’s writer, whilst undoubtedly one of the most outstanding climbers on the planet, and also undoubtedly a hero in many respects, should really have stuck to the knitting in my opinion.

There are many more of that ilk, but this one, Holding On, is absolutely special in every respect. It is about husband and wife team, Jo and Rob Gambi, and their adventures in (successfully) attempting the Seven Summits and the two Poles. Their story is quite remarkable insofar as it is one inspired by, and in many ways driven out of, Rob’s two near fatal bouts of cancer.

One of the best books I ever read...

Jo and Rob obviously love each other more than life itself too, and so the book could have been a.) badly written, b.) overly labouring of Rob’s obviously horrendous experiences, and c.) a lovey dovey love-in, and less about the overall experiences they faced. Not only is it none of the above, it is quite simply brilliant in every respect. It does what a truly great book should: it gets you really involved with the characters in the book, even (and in fact especially) the bit part players; it keeps you turning the pages wanting more; it plays on your emotions such that you smile when the characters are happy and you want to share their tears when they are sad. Most of all, it actually crosses genres – many of these books about mountains are great if you are into climbing, because you have a thirst for knowledge on the subject matter. But this book is about so much more. It is about life, vitality, desire, emotions, hunger, compassion. It also entertains, and it educates on so many levels.

Jo and Rob Gambi have a website that I have just come across, and it seems that they have some very good news on there to share with the world too:

http://www.robandjogambi.com/

I’ll be taking a few more books with me into the Alps tomorrow incidentally. I have to just choose between the other nineteen or so that I have, and hope that I get close to enjoying any of them as much as this one. I won’t, I know that for sure. Priceless, and thoroughly recommended – go and buy it, I’d say!

Switzerland Awaits!

Posted on by
Reply

So my Alpine adventure to Switzerland is very nearly upon me. I will by the weekend be in a place called Arolla, Switzerland. I will be there for a week, staying alternatively in a hotel in the town or in mountain huts, depending upon what the day’s activities are at the time. I have to say that I am ridiculously excited, but also not a little nervous. The course will include ‘proper’ climbing up 4,000m or so mountains, and that makes me a little edgy as I am just so inexperienced in that area, although that is of course why I am going in the first place:)

The internet reliably informs me that Arolla is tiny. It sits at the end of a the Vall d’Herens in the south of Switzerland in the municipality of Evolene. It is at about 2,000m, and has a population of just 200. There is not even a bank. It looks quite pretty, and has a number of 4,000m peaks surrounding it, some of which I will (I trust) get to see from the very top. It sits on one of the most famous of all mountaineering trails, the so called ‘Haute Route’ which connects Mont Blanc in France to the Matterhorn in Switzerland. Here is a link to the Arolla website:

http://wanderland.myswitzerland.com/en/orte_detail.cfm?id=313286

And a piccie of some of the mountains – I think the one at the back in this picture is called Pigne d’Arolla, one of the ones we will climb next week:

The mountains around Arolla....

And this is a closer view of the summit ridge on the Pigne D’Arolla itself, and where I believe the glacier training will take place:

The snowfields/glacier on the Pigne D'Arolla.

The hotel I am staying in on the other hand, looks like it needs a bit of updating, to say the least. A few reviews of it I have read online have used descriptions like ‘comedic’, and ‘like that place in The Shining’. Comedic I can cope with, I believe, but I don’t need Jack Nicholson pouncing on me with an axe in the middle of the night!

The journey looks quite eventful too. The trip does not include travel, so it is ‘make your own way there’. After a flight to Geneva I have to catch a train to Sion, and then I believe two different buses to get me up to the resort. It should take about 4 to 5 hours all in. Should be interesting, but I am sure with typical Swiss efficiency it will all be pretty smooth. I look forward to the trip – it all adds greatly to the adventure.

I am finally nearly ready with all of my kit, I think. Over the last week I have had a bit of a splurge, and bought myself a new climbing rucksack (Deuter Guide 35+), a new Primaloft climbing jacket (Rab Generator Alpine), a new Mountain Equipment holdall, and various other bits and pieces like gaiters, glacier glasses, Sigg Bottles (they don’t recommend Camelbacks), a buff (!) and several pairs of climbing gloves. I have also packed my fixed rope system that I bought for Island Peak, in the hope that I will get some help and tuition with it too, although fixed lines are not part of the teaching for the week. I will be amazed if I get below the weight limit of 23kg for the plane, so there may well not be many ‘normal’ clothes coming with me!

Some of the kit that I will hire over there includes helmet, ice axe, plastic boots, belay equipment and ropes, and also crampons. I look forward to the glacier travel and also crevasse rescue parts of the course in particular. Crevasse rescue looks terrifying!

I’ll do one more post on Friday before I go with some pictures of all my kit. It all feels like this is the start of a new part of my journey, and almost of my life. If next week is successful for me, then not only does it springboard me into being able to climb Island Peak in October (and of course if it doesn’t go well then I won’t be climbing it at all), but also towards climbing more mountains. My ultimate goal from here is as many of the Seven Summits as I can – it may take some time, and it will certainly take a hell of a lot of resolve, effort and money, but I am very determined. I don’t want anything to get in my way, and certainly not Jack Nicholson!

I have a new gadget!

Posted on by
Reply

I have been known to buy the odd gizmo and gadget in my time. From Swiss Army knives with more blades than the entire Swiss Army could use, to kitchen gadgets which do everything but turn the cooker on for you, I have had plenty. They never really get used of course, but maybe that’s part of the appeal!

Take the journey to Kilimanjaro for example. I use an iPhone in ‘normal’ life, but of course the battery life is next to useless even when you have daily access to electricity. I knew that there was no way it would last me a week or more on a mountain, even if it was to be turned off for 99% of the time. So when I went there I took with me my old Blackberry, and before I went I bought me a nice gadget called a Powermonkey, which is a solar charger for your phone. Looked great, £60, sold! I took it with me and it basically never got used, but it was nice to have as insurance, and didn’t weigh me down too much.

I also seem to have started a new trend of collecting watches. I bought me a cheapie Timex one for Kili, as I had heard that it is not advisable to walk around in Tanzania sporting a fancy watch (I wear an Omega Seamaster normally) for fear of getting it ripped off your arm by a mugger (they were probably right – Arusha was a pretty intimidating place at times I found). I then ‘retired’ my Kili watch as I wanted to keep it for posterity after I nearly lost it in a bike crash that I had (see my ‘Alain Jourdain’ post for that little story). I then bought another Timex with stopwatch stuff and the like on it for my bike ride. That one is still going strong :).

So this week I combined my trend for gizmos and watches and got me an altimeter! Yes well I needed one badly, obviously:) I did a bit of research, and looked at various options. Lots of them are ugly, all of them are pretty big, and they vary as what you get with them (e.g you can combine heart rate monitor functionality etc).

I plumped in the end for a Suunto. Suunto are a Finnish company who make compass products, diving watches, heart rate monitors etc., and seem to have a pretty good name. They are also known for their ‘Vector’ altimeter watch, which has been around for years apparently. What tipped it in the end was when I looked at Alan Arnette’s Everest blog ( http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/category/7-summit/everest-2011/ ) and saw in his kit list that he wore one too. That was good enough for me!

I looked at a multitude of different Suunto products and in the end plumped for the ‘Core All Black’, just because to me it looked the best and seemed to have the best balance of functionality (i.e. I hope to use the altimeter function in the Himalayas and take a photograph of it showing +6,000m when at Island Peak etc:)) and style. Well you don’t want something too silly on your wrist do you? 🙂 Here is a link to the watch (oh yes it even tells the time too):

http://www.suunto.com/en/products/Outdoor_Sports_Instruments/suunto-core/Suunto-Core-All-Black/

I bought it from an internet retailer I hadn’t come across before, called Facewest. They do all sorts of outdoorsy stuff, including climbing and hiking gear, so I will use them again, as their customer service (having spoken to them on the phone too for a couple of things) was exemplary. I also was a bit worried that it would look a bit big, and quite frankly silly, on my wrist.

So having had a bit of a play with it, I think I have sort of figured out how to use it. It has all sorts of logs and the like for the altimeter, meaning that you can record journies and it will tell you what your descent and ascent was for the last ten trips, assuming you remember to set it etc., which it seems you have to remember to do manually.

So here is a picture of it on my wrist:

Stylin'' huh?

Is it massive? Yep. Does it look a bit silly? Probably. Will I use it? Who knows! I do like it though, so it is coming with me next week to Switzerland for starters, and we will see what it tells me in the Alps. I wonder if it has a button to show you how scared you are? Now there’s a great gizmo to have……

Switzerland gets closer….

Posted on by
Reply

One of the slightly frustrating things about doing the jaunts that I am doing is just how much kit you need for each one. The even more frustrating thing is that the gear almost never overlaps, and so you end up having to buy new stuff almost each and every time. Take boots for example – I have a very good pair of Meindl Burma Pro which I took to Kilimanjaro, and they are totally outstanding. When I go to Switzerland in two weeks time however they will be redundant, as I need to have “B2” (i.e ones which take a particular type of crampon) boots. When I go to Island Peak later in the year I then need “B3” boots, and so will have to go shopping once more. This all adds up when B2 and B3 boots are upwards of £300 a pair.

I realised today that as I have effectively only one weekend to go before my Swiss trip that I had better get my shopping list taken care of. I have just had a busy week where I was in Dallas on business, and then tried to get prepared yesterday for next weekend’s cycling ‘sportive’ – a 129 mile timed ride through Hampshire and Wiltshire called the ‘Magnificat’, with about 2,000 people taking part I believe. I therefore cycled about 60 miles or so to get the legs back in trim.

So today armed with the Jagged Globe “things you must take with you” list (I ignored the “nice to have’s”) I went off to various outdoor places and emptied my wallet in most of them. I had to get ‘mountaineering trousers, Schoeller or equivalent”, a ‘prussik rope’, some glacier glasses, some short gaiters, a crampon bag, climbing gloves, and all manner of other things that I have just never had need nor use of before. With some of the more technical stuff (ice axe, helmet, crampons, long rope, belay equipment) I get to hire those whilst out there, otherwise it would have been an even more horribly expensive day.

Each of these things took time to buy. When you are as naiive as I am, and you walk into a shop asking for prussik, you had better hope that the person you are asking knows what they are doing, as I couldn’t have explained or clarified for them if they had asked me one single question further! As it turns out I still got mightily confused however – my equipment list for example went on to (thankfully) elaborate “3m of 6mm soft cord” next to the word “prussik”, and so I thought I would be ok. The guy who helped me however said “are you sure? That’s way too long for prussik – don’t you want two lengths of 1.5m?” How the heck was I supposed to know?!! I came away with one length of 3m, and he helpfully showed me how to tie a prussik knot. I suppose I can chop this length in two if I need to shorten it right?

When I finally got home I laid all of my stuff out, and am just wondering how on earth I am going to be able to even lug all of this stuff over to Switzerland with me. What with two rucksacks, approach shoes, warm jackets, fleeces, harnesses and all of this lot, I have no idea whether there will be room for my dancing shoes on this trip at all! Maybe the world will be a better place if I leave them at home anyway, and I am sure that the mountain huts in which we will stay will just be places for sleeping anyway, and maybe even the odd beer or two at the end of a long hard days climbing. Oh heck, now I will have to find some room for that somehow:)