I am in Alaska again!!! The mountain range and the weather is gorgerous. My purpose of being here this time is to participate in another NOLS course, which is the Denali Mountaineering course, and the main objective of this 34-day long expedition is of course to summit Mt McKinley. Please do wish me good luck, as for this time I do need some luck. I’ll be back to the civilization in early July. Until then, my friends, enjoy your summer.
This entry is totally not related to the great outdoors. Purely personal.
Tomorrow I’m going to do my doctoral dissertation defense at 1 pm EST.
Wish me luck!!
and then … I’m going to enjoy the summer being out of course, and resume blogging.
Happy New Year! Happy 2007 to all my family members and friends.
and happy new year links to outdoor blogs (the order is maybe random):
Tom @ Two-Heel Drive
Rick @ Besthike.com
John @ Fedak.net
Climb_ca @ GetOutdoors
Russ @ winehiker wikiculture
cyberhobo @ cyberhobo.net
Kevin @ bastish.net
Jon @ Weekendblogger
Tom @ Trout Underground
Wade @ Outdoorzy
Mark @ OutdoorsPro
Cutter @ Cutter’s Blog
Raven @ Adventure Spirits
WaterGrass @ Whispering Wind
and many others … (leave a comment and I’ll add your site to the list.)
好啦，我承認這篇post純粹是自 high 用的。
今天是我31歲生日，生日快樂，小Po。
真希望可以出去爬山，偏偏今天還是得整天坐在電腦前面工作，可憐的壽星啊 ~~ 不過，我還是可以許願吧：
希望來年能夠…
希望不會太貪心才好…
我老公Jeremy是花式曲道直排輪的好手，看他溜直排輪，好比欣賞藝術品。相反的，我在直排輪上的表現，顯得笨拙無比。有這麼個好老師在身邊，怎麼沒有好好把握住機會，讓雙腳八輪優雅的滑動，搞不好，真的激出我的天分，哪天做出什麼三轉跳也說不一定。唉，還是別作夢了，直排輪是眾多我有自信一定學不好的運動中的一項。這個運動，要摔可是摔在結實的柏油路上，就已經不怎麼美麗了，還是多愛護還勉強算是年輕的肌膚吧。
上個禮拜，居然跑去參加Jeremy的練習。我回心轉意了嗎？偶爾也是要和老公共度一些甜蜜時光，免得他那些朋友沒事就問他：「你老婆不溜直排輪喔？」而也許這樣的「犧牲」，他哪天也突然背起大背了，我也不用應付戶外同伴的多管閒事：「你老公不喜歡登山喔？」
剛開始練習，還沒有資格玩曲道，得學習一些基本的心法。沒辦法，我不像他，既不是Italian，也不Crazy，更不Special（怪了，這些花式是根據他的家世、性格命名的還是怎樣，這也太不公平了吧）。所以，我乖乖地花了大約兩個小時的光陰，反覆練習腳尖轉彎（toe turns），跳轉，前剪冰，以及T煞，終於最後還是嘗試了幾度區道直排。障礙物之間的距離是為80公分。
繼續閱讀...After successfully completing the NOLS Alaska mountaineering course, I finally got back home today. I’ll sort out all the notes I’ve jotted down during the trip and share my learning and living experience on this blog soon. Below is a short description written by Pat, one of the four outstanding instructors, about what we did during the 30-day period:
AKM6 7/15/06 Course Summary
This Alaska mountaineering course was composed of 11 students and 3 instructors. The expedition took place in the Chugach Mountains of south central Alaska. The group traveled up the Matanuska glacier and focused on basic camp and travel skills. They moved up to 7,100 feet and learned the basics of roped travel and crevasse rescue. Once this foundation of skills was established they took five days in an attempt to climb Mt. Marcus Baker. This is the highest peak in the Chugach. They ended up making it to the slightly lower north summit at 12,360 feet. The expedition then moved towards turtle flats in difficult whiteout conditions. At 8,500 feet they encountered a storm with wind gusts of over 50 mph. After the storm the course took the opportunity to climb on turtle flats in small groups. The course then started to move down the Matanuska with students leading the majority of the time. The expedition covered 85 miles and gained 15,000 feet of elevation over the course of 28 field days. There were three rerations done by bush plane throughout the course. There were no evacuations on this course. In closing, this was a fun and cohesive expedition that performed well in these challenging mountains.
Dear Readers,
I’ll be away for a month to attend NOLS’ Alaska Mountaineering course, beginning July 15, 2006 and ending August 13, 2006. During this time period, I’ll not be able to update this site. Please wait for my return to present you some fresh stuff about mountaineering!!
If you’d like to write me a letter to encourage me (although I might not be able to read it until the course finishes), please write to:
Szu-ting Yi (AKM-07/15/2006)
NOLS Alaska
PO Box 981
Palmer, AK 99645
老公節米和他的摯友，近日開始他們的直排輪訓練，而他們的目標與計畫，再再令我感到相當的雀躍，怎能夠不幫他打一下廣告呢？
我個人是從來沒有怎麼溜好直排輪的，往前溜大概就是往日的我唯一會做的事吧。要不是因為直排輪是雪季結束，練習滑雪的最佳利器，我恐怕早因為對於摔在結實柏油路面的恐懼，而放棄這項運動了。
認識我老公時，才知道直排輪其實是可以很有趣的，不單純只是一項訓練的活動而已。他溜著直排輪像跳舞一般，跳躍過大大小小的水窪坑洞，溜下常常的階梯。還教會我怎麼向後溜，為我的直排輪生涯增添了幾分色彩。
不過，自那開始我就沒有再進步了，畢竟摔在雪上或是河裡還是比較不痛，節米倒是仍然不停地向前，因為直排輪是他最心愛的運動。節米和他的摯友Denni已經開始挑戰花式曲道直排輪運動（freestyle slalom inline skating），會使用不同的直排輪溜法，左右穿過距離80公分的障礙物，進階到距離50公分，甚至更短的距離。
如果你對直排輪運動有興趣，想要知道多一些花式曲道的消息，或是觀賞一些花式曲道直排輪練習片段，請參觀以下網站：
TheSLALOM.com
http://www.theslalom.com/
我來美國大概也快八年了，本來以為對花粉熱現象免疫了，卻在今年開春開始有過敏症候。先是不停地流鼻水，一兩個禮拜前，居然開始鼻塞了。沒辦法用鼻子自由自在地呼吸，嘴巴對於多工也開始厭煩。
當我出外運動的時候，情形變得更加荒謬：室內攀岩場的教練三不五時地，對我「低空」喊話：「妳有沒有在呼吸啊？」泛舟友人，常常好意地提醒我，「別憋氣，記得要呼吸喔！」我是多麼地渴望可以自由自在地吸氣以及吐氣，偏偏運動的時候，遇到需要一鼓作氣的攀爬地形，或是穿過緊張的激流的時候，我還是不由自主地「暫時停止呼吸」。
呼吸不是應該是再自然也不過的事情嗎？這可不一定。要不然郭靖為什麼要等馬道長教他吐納之後，武功才有進境。練瑜珈不是也從正確地呼吸開始入手？更別說許多從事有氧運動的人—像是跑步、游泳—老是在詢問「應該要怎樣呼吸才是對呢？」自然的呼吸，引領出運動的節奏感，而節奏感幫助訓練運動的持久度。
說歸說，我還是萬萬沒有想過，有這麼一天我必須時時勤提醒自己「記得要呼吸喔！」這和告訴自己在初學一項運動的時候，要記得放輕鬆，是一樣的弔詭，一樣的困難。爬岩和泛舟（kayaking），兩者都要求平衡感，流暢性，以及美感。很多攀岩者和泛舟者，喜歡用「優雅（grace）」來形容他們心愛的運動。如果我可以自然地呼吸，恐怕也會毫不遲疑地加入優雅一族。
我深信如果做對的話，每一項運動看起來都是美不勝收的。目前，我的過敏症候激發出，潛藏於體內、渴望自由呼吸的本能呼喊，為了訓練，就得更進一步，觀察自己的呼吸規律。如果我暫時停止呼吸，同時中斷的是運動的流暢和整體性。結果呢？運動會呈現出來的美，可能就生生地窒息了。
我挺中意這次的馬拉松比賽的。光只統計參加馬拉松單項的人，就將近有二千人，真好像一場嘉年華會一般。更別說，跑者乘著風、伴著海鳥、沐浴在陽光下、欣賞沿途的海灘風光。
最重要的是，我跑完了。本來因為右腿後方，大腿和小腿接壤處附近，似乎有一條筋過份延展了，所以這幾個月來，特意減少跑步的訓練量，換成從事他種的運動。也因此，在參賽之前，一直以為大概跑到半途，我就得被迫棄權了。沒想到，我持續地跑著。也許是因為參賽的人這麼多，所以沒有一刻感到寂寞；也許是因為許多觀賽者，排成一列一列，就等著你的到來，送你一個鼓勵的high five；也許是因為許多義工，不停地搖旗吶喊著，要求你要堅持下去。所以，我就這樣一直跑著，因為，在終點線，有個人正在等著我的歸來。
繼續閱讀...
June 1st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Happy mountaineering to you!
June 13th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Hello Everyone!
For those that don’t know, I’m Szu-ting’s husband, and I just received an update from her NOLS expedition. (Don’t worry, Szu-ting is not one of the people mentioned as evacuated) Here it is:
—
Hello,
I have been in touch with the NOLS Denali Expedition. It has been a busy few days on the mountain! Unfortunately, this has included two expedition members leaving due to minor medical issues (sore hips and a 1″ long cut). Those two climbers have been in touch with their families, so if you are receiving this you can rest assured that your climber (child, spouse, or friend) is healthy!
My name is Rick Rochelle and I’m the Assistant Director of NOLS Alaska. We collected an email address or two from each participant of the expedition anticipating that we would hear from the expedition leaders occasionally. They carry a satellite phone (and walkie-talkies and a ground-to-air radio), primarily for emergency use, but also to call us for a few minutes every 7-10 days to let us know how things are going. From experience, we know that you care deeply about their progress!
They started at the Eielson Visitor Center which is here:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=63.43054&lon=-150.30816&s=250&size=l&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG50
This is a great website you can use to follow their progress. You can change the scale and move around the map just by clicking on the map in the direction you want to go. If you want to download software, Google Earth is another good site.
They crossed the tundra to the south camping next to the Muldrow Glacier the first night in the field (6/3). (Their low point on the Thorofare River was 3000′ above sea level, heading towards the summit at 20,320′.) After 3.5 more days of hiking up the glacier to the south-southwest, they reached the cache of food and fuel about a mile up-valley from McGonagall Pass (6/7):
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=63.22689&lon=-150.75795&s=250&size=l&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG50
The cache is a story in itself. We took it by vehicle to Wonder Lake last September and then by dogsled from Wonder Lake to the Muldrow Glacier just southwest of McGonagall Pass in March. There was a feature article in Backpacker Magazine a year ago about the Yanuchi family that does this part of the expedition. The cache was nearly intact. Apparently ravens got through the kevlar and between the seams of aluminum sheeting on one bag and got about twenty pounds of food (out of nearly a thousand). The course has plenty of food and fuel for the next 22 days or so.
On 6/8, a young woman (Erin) who was quite sore from the trip up to the cache decided it was best to leave the mountain. So instructor Patrick Mettenbrink and students Jon, Geno, and Erin left to hike to Wonder Lake–a four-day round trip. (The expedition did not start at Wonder Lake because the road was not open yet.) Here is the Wonder Lake trailhead on the map:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=63.4543&lon=-150.83393&s=250&size=l&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG50
On 6/9, the course ferried a load of food and fuel up the mountain. On their way back to camp, a mile and a half above the cache, a young man (Seth) tripped and cut his knee as he hit a rock. He sustained a 1″ wide laceration which necessitated evacuation. On the morning of 6/10, instructor Ben Krasnow and students Dan, Naomi and Seth departed for Wonder Lake. Also on 6/10, we at NOLS Alaska dispatched three instructors to the park (a 10-hour drive to Wonder Lake) to support the evacuation. On the evening of 6/10, Patrick’s team reach Wonder Lake and Erin arrived here in Palmer via NOLS vehicle on the evening of 6/11.
Patrick’s team (heading back to the mountain) and Ben’s team (heading to Wonder Lake) camped together at the confluence of Cache and Clearwater Creeks on the night of 6/11. At 11 am on 6/12, Ben’s team met with the NOLS Alaska evacuation support team near Turtle Hill (two miles south of the McKinley River) and passed Seth off to them. They made it to a medical facility at 11 pm last night (6/12). Seth received four stitches. He told me it was remarkably not painful and he is in good spirits.
By this evening, I suspect the remaining 13 expedition members will be nearly re-united. Remarkably, expedition leader Erica Lorenzen and seven students have been able to make progress up the mountain–to the point that they are on schedule. They camped at 10,500′ last night and will be traveling back down get more supplies today. Once the course is re-united, the standard pattern will be to ferry a load up the mountain and camp back down low one night, then move camp up the next day. Essentially, from 5,700′ to 17,000′ they will climb everything twice. The summit is about two maps away, but they will be measuring things more in elevation gained than in miles now.
I usually send an update when folks first get to the cache near McGonagall Pass, but with so much in flux we focused on supporting the evacuations rather than sending confusing emails mid-evacuation! We average about one evacuation per two expeditions, so to have two on one course is unusual. Since Denali is in a wilderness area, the park only allows helicopter evacuation for the most serious injuries.
The course leader said everyone else is healthy with only the normal soreness as folks get used to heavy loads and double-layered plastic boots. I’ll update you regularly from now on (about once a week).
Here are two final links:
Denali National Park mountaineering site: http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/mountaineering.htm
Weather forecast for the mountain: http://pafg.arh.noaa.gov/wmofcst.php?wmo=SXAK49PAFG&type=public
Let me know if you have questions!
Rick
June 13th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Hello Everyone!
For those that don’t know, I’m Szu-ting’s husband, and I just received an update from her NOLS expedition. (Don’t worry, Szu-ting is not one of the people mentioned as evacuated) Here it is:
—
Hello,
I have been in touch with the NOLS Denali Expedition. It has been a busy few days on the mountain! Unfortunately, this has included two expedition members leaving due to minor medical issues (sore hips and a 1″ long cut). Those two climbers have been in touch with their families, so if you are receiving this you can rest assured that your climber (child, spouse, or friend) is healthy!
My name is Rick Rochelle and I’m the Assistant Director of NOLS Alaska. We collected an email address or two from each participant of the expedition anticipating that we would hear from the expedition leaders occasionally. They carry a satellite phone (and walkie-talkies and a ground-to-air radio), primarily for emergency use, but also to call us for a few minutes every 7-10 days to let us know how things are going. From experience, we know that you care deeply about their progress!
They started at the Eielson Visitor Center.
This is a great website you can use to follow their progress. You can change the scale and move around the map just by clicking on the map in the direction you want to go. If you want to download software, Google Earth is another good site.
They crossed the tundra to the south camping next to the Muldrow Glacier the first night in the field (6/3). (Their low point on the Thorofare River was 3000′ above sea level, heading towards the summit at 20,320′.) After 3.5 more days of hiking up the glacier to the south-southwest, they reached the cache of food and fuel about a mile up-valley from McGonagall Pass (6/7):
The cache is a story in itself. We took it by vehicle to Wonder Lake last September and then by dogsled from Wonder Lake to the Muldrow Glacier just southwest of McGonagall Pass in March. There was a feature article in Backpacker Magazine a year ago about the Yanuchi family that does this part of the expedition. The cache was nearly intact. Apparently ravens got through the kevlar and between the seams of aluminum sheeting on one bag and got about twenty pounds of food (out of nearly a thousand). The course has plenty of food and fuel for the next 22 days or so.
On 6/8, a young woman (Erin) who was quite sore from the trip up to the cache decided it was best to leave the mountain. So instructor Patrick Mettenbrink and students Jon, Geno, and Erin left to hike to Wonder Lake–a four-day round trip. (The expedition did not start at Wonder Lake because the road was not open yet.)
On 6/9, the course ferried a load of food and fuel up the mountain. On their way back to camp, a mile and a half above the cache, a young man (Seth) tripped and cut his knee as he hit a rock. He sustained a 1″ wide laceration which necessitated evacuation. On the morning of 6/10, instructor Ben Krasnow and students Dan, Naomi and Seth departed for Wonder Lake. Also on 6/10, we at NOLS Alaska dispatched three instructors to the park (a 10-hour drive to Wonder Lake) to support the evacuation. On the evening of 6/10, Patrick’s team reach Wonder Lake and Erin arrived here in Palmer via NOLS vehicle on the evening of 6/11.
Patrick’s team (heading back to the mountain) and Ben’s team (heading to Wonder Lake) camped together at the confluence of Cache and Clearwater Creeks on the night of 6/11. At 11 am on 6/12, Ben’s team met with the NOLS Alaska evacuation support team near Turtle Hill (two miles south of the McKinley River) and passed Seth off to them. They made it to a medical facility at 11 pm last night (6/12). Seth received four stitches. He told me it was remarkably not painful and he is in good spirits.
By this evening, I suspect the remaining 13 expedition members will be nearly re-united. Remarkably, expedition leader Erica Lorenzen and seven students have been able to make progress up the mountain–to the point that they are on schedule. They camped at 10,500′ last night and will be traveling back down get more supplies today. Once the course is re-united, the standard pattern will be to ferry a load up the mountain and camp back down low one night, then move camp up the next day. Essentially, from 5,700′ to 17,000′ they will climb everything twice. The summit is about two maps away, but they will be measuring things more in elevation gained than in miles now.
I usually send an update when folks first get to the cache near McGonagall Pass, but with so much in flux we focused on supporting the evacuations rather than sending confusing emails mid-evacuation! We average about one evacuation per two expeditions, so to have two on one course is unusual. Since Denali is in a wilderness area, the park only allows helicopter evacuation for the most serious injuries.
The course leader said everyone else is healthy with only the normal soreness as folks get used to heavy loads and double-layered plastic boots. I’ll update you regularly from now on (about once a week).
Let me know if you have questions!
Rick
June 14th, 2007 at 6:13 am
I just read about this guy who mountain-climbed seven peaks on seven continents in under seven months to win the world record. Knowing what an avid outdoors-person Szu-ting is, I thought you might enjoy seeing the info: http://rugged.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=671208%3ABlogPost%3A262%29
June 14th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Greetings,
News from the evacuees: Erin’s crew saw a fox den with kits on the hike out. Seth’s group saw a couple of grizzly bears 100-200 yards away while in the vehicle on the drive out. Erin flew home last night and Seth flew home this morning. They got to spend time sharing stories. It was sad to see them go.
I heard from the expedition again this morning (6/14) and I have a correction: Last time I heard from Erica and crew, she was at 7,300 feet, not 10,500′. They were about to back-ferry down through the Lower Icefall to the cache at 5,700′ yesterday, then go back up to camp at 7,300′. I misunderstood their elevation over a garbled satellite connection, which is why I was astonished at their progress.
The whole group of 13 reunited at 7,300 feet on the Muldrow Glacier at 7 pm last night approximately here:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=63.17878&lon=-150.85929&s=100&size=l&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG50.
This was quite a push for the evacuation teams, so they are taking a rest day today. Erica and all the folks who originally stayed on the mountain are working on putting in a route through the Great Icefall to 10,000′ at the base of Karsten’s Ridge today. Everyone plans to camp together at 7,300′ tonight and hopefully move to 10,000′ tomorrow.
One of you asked about the weather. Erin and Seth tell me it was quite nice (aside from the clouds of mosquitos). I put a link to the weather in the previous email. Here is a webcam the park just announced this morning!
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/parks/denacam/denacam.cfm
If you click on landmarks, you will see where the mountain is in perfect weather.
This shows where the webcam is and in what direction it is photograhing:
http://www2.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/parks/denacam/denamap.cfm
Finally, below is a photo of the group! This is from June 2nd just before leaving NOLS Alaska.
Back Row: Seth, Jon, Dan, Ben (Instructor), Mark
Middle Row: Lanie, Naomi, Erin, Robbie, Geno
Front Row: Geoff, Szu-Ting, Patrick (Instructor), Erica (Lead Instructor), John
All three instructors have been on Denali before–two of them while working and the other reaching the summit on a personal trip.
Best wishes,
Rick
June 20th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Greetings,
News from the evacuees: Erin’s crew saw a fox den with kits on the hike out. Seth’s group saw a couple of grizzly bears 100-200 yards away while in the vehicle on the drive out. Erin flew home last night and Seth flew home this morning. They got to spend time sharing stories. It was sad to see them go.
I heard from the expedition again this morning (6/14) and I have a correction: Last time I heard from Erica and crew, she was at 7,300 feet, not 10,500′. They were about to back-ferry down through the Lower Icefall to the cache at 5,700′ yesterday, then go back up to camp at 7,300′. I misunderstood their elevation over a garbled satellite connection, which is why I was astonished at their progress.
The whole group of 13 reunited at 7,300 feet on the Muldrow Glacier at 7 pm last night approximately here:
This was quite a push for the evacuation teams, so they are taking a rest day today. Erica and all the folks who originally stayed on the mountain are working on putting in a route through the Great Icefall to 10,000′ at the base of Karsten’s Ridge today. Everyone plans to camp together at 7,300′ tonight and hopefully move to 10,000′ tomorrow.
One of you asked about the weather. Erin and Seth tell me it was quite nice (aside from the clouds of mosquitos). I put a link to the weather in the previous email. Here is a webcam the park just announced this morning!
If you click on landmarks, you will see where the mountain is in perfect weather.
This shows where the webcam is and in what direction it is photograhing:
Finally, below is a photo of the group! This is from June 2nd just before leaving NOLS Alaska.
Back Row: Seth, Jon, Dan, Ben (Instructor), Mark
Middle Row: Lanie, Naomi, Erin, Robbie, Geno
Front Row: Geoff, Szu-Ting, Patrick (Instructor), Erica (Lead Instructor), John
All three instructors have been on Denali before–two of them while working and the other reaching the summit on a personal trip.
Best wishes,
Rick
June 25th, 2007 at 6:41 am
wow..Xiao Po,
Wish you luck and have a great time there.
I haven’t read your blog for a while but whenever I read it, you are always doing something adventurous.