PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

[jimmie 48]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

so you are going for the CHALLENGERS CHOICE! good, me too! maybe we'll meet on a climb i italy!

[sallyseachange]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Yep! Wanted to get to Stromboli as I hope to climb that one for real one day! Actually, I just remembered, I've done Vesuvius for real!!! Wow! It was way back when I was a kid. Was disgruntled at having to trudge up to the top, but was cool to see the smoke coming from fissures in the rock!

Hope to see ya there!

[biogeek]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

I did 250 steps yesterday. I still have a very long way to go before I finish Everest!

Huge congrats to you, Sal, for finishing all those mountains! I can't imagine climbing Mt. Vesuvius in person! Never know when it'll blow again!

[sallyseachange]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Tks Bio!!

Hey... 250 steps is 250 less to reach the summit! Good-o!!

As for Vesuvius... you're right... you never know when it's going to blow. And apparently, it's not a question of "if", but "when" (and soon). The huge problem is that there's been so much illegal building on the lower slopes of the volcano that when she does blow... depending on which way she goes... it'll be a disaster beyond imagining. There aren't enough roads to take the thousands and thousands of people out... all sorts of dreadful things. It's one of the most closely watched volcanos there is.

Stromboli on the other hand is all spectacle. It erupts on average every 15 minutes. To see it from the sea, at night, from the Lipari/Naples ferry, is to be treated to a massive firework display...huge flames shooting into the night sky. Really quite amazing. But it's a very safe volcano despite this...being predictable and rather like an uncorked bottle... no pressure building up, because of the almost continuous eruptions. Fascinating.

[sallyseachange]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Ok... got it all figured out.

Stromboli = 924 metres (3031 feet), so 405 flights (I rounded up. Hope I calculated right!)

Etna = 3350 metres (10,991 feet), so 1466 flights.

Vesuvius = 1281 metres (4200 feet), so 560 flights.

Think I'm gonna take these a little slower than the previous mountains and buildings, and shake up my morning exercise routine a little, to ring the changes.

[jimmie 48]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

very good, sal! calculations look fine to me. now, for anybody that wants to do the challengers choice, you have calculations already done for them on those three. i, of course, have them logged on the spreadsheet for future use.

i guess i should have done the same so here goes:

BEN LAWERS, SCOTLAND 3982 FEEET, 531 FLIGHTS
MOUNT VESUVIUS, ITALY, 4200 FEET, 560 FLIGHTS
BIG MOUNTAIN, MONTANA 6754 FEET, 901 FLIGHTS

i'm doing Ben Lawers right at the moment.

[TBW]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Finished the Space Needle last night! On to Canary Wharf Tower.

[jimmie 48]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Finished the Space Needle last night! On to Canary Wharf Tower.

you're just moving right along, tracey! you're going to earn the award in no time!

[sallyseachange]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Wow Tracey... you're moving upwards fast!!!!

[TBW]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Thanks, everyone. You might think it's going fast, but it seems like it's taking forever to me! I'm knocking them out in spurts where some days I only do 4 or 5 trips up the real stairs and somedays where I get out the step and get moving. I did 38 flights last night and wish I could be that motivated more often! My driving force right now is the fact my husband started Atkins last Saturday and his weight it melting off. It's brought out my competitive side At least he's not exercising, too, for now (he's got a serious case of the induction flu). He only wants to lose 10 more pounds and I only have 9 left to my goal, and I know he's going to get there way before me. But I know slow and steady is best for me. Still ticks me off, though!

[OBob]

I Failed

I tried. I really did. And I almost did it.

I almost successfully posted in this thread from the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. It may seem odd that, having ascended 4,737 feet in the previous 5 hours, my 2nd thought was to attempt to post in this thread via my cell phone, but, after calling my wife, this thread was my next challenge. I got as far as accessing the site, logging in, finding this thread over my tiny little interface, and even getting to the posting reply page. Alas, my quest ended there. For, while I could enter a subject line, the message field was a blank that wouldn't accept text. Sitting there, 8,836 feet above sea level, frustrated with the internet and javascript unpredictabilities, I pocketed the phone, took a deep breath, and lay back on the rock, enjoying the sunshine high above Yosemite Valley. Oh well, one mission failed; one MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

I haven't posted in here much (if at all) since finishing the buildings. I've still climbed. Not in large quantities, but I've steadily knocked off some flights. I just got lazy about keeping track, and was waiting to sit down and backtrack on the math. Then, the summer came, and my tour business got busy... leading me here to Yosemite N.P. with an active family from Germany.

I've been, to varying degrees, setting my sights on California's highest peak (Mt. Whitney) as an affirmation of this lifestyle I've chosen. In recent months, I've been unsure whether I can do it by the end of the year (my original goal). So, I'd kind of put it out of my mind for the time being, content to slowly lose the weight, and gradually continue to improve my physical conditioning.

Then, 2 nights after arriving in Yosemite, my client/friend says to me that he'd like to pursue a suggestion I'd made a couple days earlier, to climb Half Dome; would I be willing to join him.

At first, I was pretty scared. It's been 6 years since I took on any kind of a major hike, and the last time, I was 280 pounds, and still smoking. That last time had been so completely horrifying that I've been scared to even approach anything that physically demanding since. As the flab accumulated, the distance between me and such lofty accomplishments grew wider.

But, I said I'd try it (with the caveat that I wasn't sure I could do it). I raced to the Valley to pick up some emergency supplies (water purification tablets, emergency blankets), and came back to the vacation rental.

Despite what prevailing wisdom demands, I wasn't about to do this high-carb. If I was going to accomplish this, I was going to do it on my terms. Before going to an early bed, I prepared a 6-egg egg-salad, and a 3-can tuna-salad. Both were heavy on mayo (needed the extra calories) and heavy on bell peppers and red onions (lo-carb; not no-carb). I added a block of cheddar that would turn up never getting used, and 2 South Beach bars, only one of which would get consumed.

Got up at 4:00 the next morning, full of trepidation, and ate most of the egg salad (packed the rest). Managed to get to the trailhead by 5:45. I took the first part (and the rest of) the trail at the same pace I’ve taken this health plan: slow and steady. I wasn’t traveling as fast as my companions, but I wasn’t taking breaks either. I was just taking it one step at a time, ascending the mountain at a pace that, while not exactly comfortable, seemed to be doable.



I reached the top of Vernal Falls, and I was still unsure of the final outcome. I’ve been to the top of Half Dome before, and I knew that the 12+” stairs up the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls were only an appetizer. Would my thighs be up to the task of carrying me all the way to the top? I soldiered on.



Reaching the top of Nevada Falls, using my arms to support my legwork up each grueling stair, I paused to take a break with my comrades, who had been waiting for me.



I caught another wind.



I took my leave of them, before they were ready to continue, and I continued on, with a strength that surprised me. Having conquered two serious staircases, I still had plenty of energy. It wasn’t easy getting up them, but I was by no means as exhausted as I imagined I would be. I pushed on with a suddenly discovered confidence. At this point, I knew that I COULD do this, and I was absolutely determined that I WOULD.



I don’t think I paused for the next 5 miles, until reaching the final stair. There was no turning back. I’d pushed steadily for 7 miles and nearly 4K feet to reach this point. I was going to do it, and nothing was going to get in my way.



The hardest part was, of course, the last bit. About 500 stairs hewn into the granite, ranging in height from 6 inches to 15. All taken at an altitude of over 8000 feet. This, followed by a hundred yards of granite that you have to scramble up on all fours, before reaching “the cables”. The cables are 200 yards long, and assist climbers up a 45 degree slope. You have to use your arms as much as your legs for this portion, and if you let go, it could be fatal. With prior climbers coming down the same set of cables, it gets doubly hairy.



Having only 15 hours earlier learned that I was going to even try this, and having suffered from a lack of confidence unlike any I can ever recall, arriving on the summit was a shock of the most wonderful kind. Truthfully, I think I hit the epiphany a couple hours earlier after leaving Nevada Falls. It was at that point that I knew (despite the fact that I hadn’t even reached the half-way point), that I was capable, and that I was GOING TO DO IT). Everything after that was execution.



I climbed nearly 5000 feet in 5 hours. And, while it was most certainly hard, it was far easier than I imagined it would be. I owe this, without mitigation, to the lifestyle I discovered, and have been discovering bit-by-bit for the past 7+ months. 50ish pounds down (haven’t weighed since May), a plan for eating that presents very few problems in continuing far into the future… I knew I’d lost weight… I knew I looked better… I knew I’d been working out hard… I knew I could keep going with it for a long long time… I had no idea that I’d come this far already. I’m so freakin proud of myself I could yodel.



Thanks for the role y’all have played (rarely acknowledged) in helping to make this happen.



-OBob

[sallyseachange]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

Thanks, everyone. You might think it's going fast, but it seems like it's taking forever to me! I'm knocking them out in spurts where some days I only do 4 or 5 trips up the real stairs and somedays where I get out the step and get moving. I did 38 flights last night and wish I could be that motivated more often! My driving force right now is the fact my husband started Atkins last Saturday and his weight it melting off. It's brought out my competitive side At least he's not exercising, too, for now (he's got a serious case of the induction flu). He only wants to lose 10 more pounds and I only have 9 left to my goal, and I know he's going to get there way before me. But I know slow and steady is best for me. Still ticks me off, though!

Sounds to me like you're doing great! And it's so cool that your competitive side has been awakened by your husband's "melt". That'll keep you going! Sorry to hear hub has the induction flu right now.

Slow and steady sometimes seems that way, until we look back and see what we've done, dontcha think? And slow and steady gets there in the end!

[sallyseachange]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

OBob... what can I say?

That is so totally awesome!!

[jimmie 48]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

bob! how good to see you again! your story was something else to read! thanks for coming back in the thread and sharing it with us. that would have been very cool to have you post while sitting on top of half dome!

you took this virtual challenge right out into the real world! CONGRATULATIONS!

[TBW]

Re: PLEDGING FLIGHTS *** A Stair Climb Challenge

OBob - I'm in awe! That much climbing in that short a time period...wow. I think you should go ahead and yodel. Loudly.