Prepping for Denali: 5 months to go

Part two of my monthly countdown for Denali. Read about what I did last month to get ready for my Denali expedition. Part two of the series: Prepping for Denali: 5 months to go.

Physical preparation

Training is hard at the moment! It’s still dark, wet and cold outside. Beside that, days are really short, making it nearly impossible to do any training while it’s still light outside.

Rainy run. Hard time of the year to prepare!End of December, both of my tibia were painful when running and my calfs were stiff almost all the time. I could barely walk and this was annoying me badly. I really need, and want, to be able to run smoothly. But if this injury keeps coming back, it will never happen.

I decided to cut down running. Instead, I started a 2 month Bootcamp program. This program mainly focuses on core stability (again!). As soon as my tibia aren’t painful anymore, I will pick up running again. Somebody recently told me using compression socks might prevent injuries. I might try that!

Another thing I will do, is try to get some more structure in my training program. Right now I’m too depended on other (non climbing experienced) trainers. Without doubt they are giving me the best advice they can, but I think I need a little more guidance on training more specific.

To get this guidance, I ordered the book Training for the New Alpinism. I have read some very good reviews on this book!

Equipment

Well, not much news in the equipment department! I’m pretty close to having everything. I just need to buy some ‘small things’, and expect to order these pretty soon. Currently, I’m searching the internet to find them.

The expedition

Some great thoughts on this! First of all, recently I got the names of my expedition members.  This does feel like another step closer to the expedition! It’s also time to pay the final deposit for the expedition. Not the most fun part ;).

I’m 99% sure I fly Iceland Air to Alaska. Iceland Air offers a free stopover in Iceland. This would be an excellent opportunity to have to time to get to myself again after (probably) a demanding time at Denali.

So now I’m considering to lengthen my trip for four days in Iceland. The Landmannalaugar trek looks like a beautiful hike to me. But, there is a huge chance it isn’t open yet. It probably opens around June 16th, which is 2 days too late. I have to give this some more thoughts!

The project

Progress on the overall project “Climbing the 7-Summits in 7 years” is pretty good! Last December I launched this blog and my Facebook page finally is deduplicated. Going steady on this!

Last couple of weeks I have been talking to some interesting people about what do to next, to make the project work. I need to work more on the concept of the thin line between pleasure and pain. What do these words really mean to me? How can I help other people to achieve their goals using these words?

Expect some blogs on this very soon!

Winter camping at Klinkenbelt

It’s been a while already, but my Christmas was not the traditional family-visiting-and-eat-all-you-can party. I went winter camping at Klinkenbelt.

Together with two friends, I made a pretty long hike to Klinkenbelt,  a small hill near Nijverdal, the Netherlands. We departed from Ommen, which made it a 20+km hike. I have attached the hike at the end of this post.

Why winter camping at Klinkenbelt? Because this is pretty much the closest you can come to climbing Denali in the Netherlands. Yes, I know, it’s not close at all, but what do you expect in a country which summit point is 323m?

On our way!

We woke up at 7:30h, on December 26st, only to find out it was raining… badly. Would this be for the rest of the day? The weather forecast wasn’t that bad: cloudy and some sun… But rain?

Departing from OmmenLuckily the rain stopped and at 9:00h we set out for Ommen by car. Our destination was Klinkenbelt; one of the few places in the Netherlands where you are allowed to do some wild camping. We needed to do a  23km hike, mostly through the woods.

Summit

In the beginning our way up led us mostly through woods. We summited Lemelerberg, and after that there was a long descent to the Klinkenbelt itself. Still, don’t overestimate, there was only 10m altitude difference.. The view was good, and the winds were cold. Almost the actual feeling of a real 7-Summit! 😉

Unfortunately, the rest of the day there was just a little too much tarmac!

Winter camping

We arrived at Klinkenbelt at 16:00h, made a cup of tea and quickly Beautiful morning lightunpacked our tents. Just before it was dark, our tents where in place and there was nothing to do but eat… and sleep! Since we got very, very cold, we gladly went to our sleeping bags at 18:30h. And again, the night was rainy, but warm and comfortable! Enjoying the sounds of the wood.

… And back again

At 8:00h the next morning we woke up. A good feeling to get out of your tent in the middle of the peaceful woods! Time for breakfast and another good cup of tea. With some stiff legs, but a good mood we started our way back. The route this day was better, most paths where through the woods, which made them nice and silent. And, because Christmas had ended, the local restaurants where open for lunch again. That made a nice break to warm, and fill up! Again we finished at 16:00h.

Lessons learned?

We prepared well and do have good equipment. But, we were very surprised how cold we got after building up our tents. We still got very cold, while it was about 6 degrees outside, and we were dressed well. Humidity makes one cold very fast. And humid Dutch winters are. So even when the night temperature will be above zero, be sure to bring some really warm clothes. Once nice and warm in your sleeping bag, enjoy the sounds of the woods and the long dark night! Winter camping surely is good, even in the Netherlands!

This zip contains the GPX-files: Route

Look back and forward

Around new year is always a great time to look back and forward. What was 2016 for me and how do I hope 2017 will be?

Look back: 2016

Usually, I’m not the kind of guy that makes big plans for the year to come. For some reason, I made an exception for 2016. There were two things I wanted to accomplish this year:

  1. Climb Denali
  2. Become a freelance privacy/security consultant.

By now I can tell, none of the above happened!

Climb Denali

I did not (yet!) climb Denali, but I am sure I’m going to try! Does this make me feel dissatisfied on my climbing in 2016? No, certainly not! I knew I had to gain a little more experience to be welcomed in a Denali expedition. For this I made a great plan covering 2 weeks in the Alps. The main goals where to climb Grand Combin (Swiss) and Mont Blanc (France) from Italy. As you might know, this route to the summit is longer and more demanding than the normal (Gouter) route.

The plan was good, but I did not expect to be home again after 3 days. Indeed, things didn’t work out. Time for plan B. In spring 2016 I had some thoughts to climbing Mount Elbrus as preparation for Denali. Alpine Ascents also recommended this. However, after reading about Elbrus South face, I decided this was not for me. Too crowded, too easy, no fun. So at that time, I cancelled the idea.

Climbing in SwissBut, after my failure in the Alps, I needed an alternative and I needed it fast! So I decided to climb Elbrus north face, and summited! This was, without doubt, one of the best trips I ever made! The Caucasus are so magnificent! My fellow climbers were great, and this all made the trip a very emotionally intense experience .

Become freelance

The second one, become a freelance privacy/security consultant is not in scope of this blog! Sorry about that.

Look forward: 2017

Looking forward is always better than looking back! Since summiting Elbrus, I decided to start this current project: 7-Summits in 7 years. The goal is ambitious, but I fully believe I can do it. Time isn’t my biggest problem, money is. 5 of the 7-Summits are payable for most people. But this leaves Mount Everest and Mount Vinsion. Those 2 mountains are really expensive, and are hard to fund without support. I haven’t sorted this out, but am making some good progress. I met some great people who might be able to help me find a way. The challenge of climbing the 7-Summits is not just climbing those 7 mountains, it involves a lot more. I see this as another part of The Thin Line, and finding my own limits. Running this project  is just a total new experience for me.

The coming months will be dominated by extensive training. I have posted my current training schedule, and this will intensify coming months. End February/begin March I’ll head to the Eifel for a week and do a part of the Eifelsteig. This will hopefully include some wild camping, snow and low temperatures!

Tappenkarsee 201617th May is the big moment. I will catch a plane and will only get out when I’m in Anchorage. Yes, my Denali expedition will begin on 20th May! I’m really looking forward to this and am doing the best I can to be fully prepared. A lot of things can go wrong, but my shape and my gear will not be one of the things that might go wrong.

Currently, I’m looking for a little extension of my Denali trip. As said before, Elbrus was an intense experience to me, and kept me (emotionally) busy for a while. It changed the way I look at the world, myself and my life. Since the Denali-trip is longer, tougher and more extreme, I expect I need some time to think things over again. But, more on this later!

After Denali, preparing for Aconcagua starts. I did some research on this mountain before. The normal route, or the traverse are not that hard (but still not to be underestimated!), so I might go for a non-standard route. But, I haven’t decided yet!

So what do you think?

Look back and forward. Something I don’t do every year or day. But, to summarize this blog; it’s not bad.. at all!

I think I got all the ingredients to make 2017 another great year! There will be tough challenges, like climbing Denali or running the 7in7-project. Hopefully there will be a great success; summiting Denali!

I will, again, come closer.. to my thin line between pleasure and pain.