2018 In Review

I haven't written a lot of posts for Running Conversations this year. In fact, I've done very little posting on any social media platforms at all. I've continued to write, but I've gone back to using actual physical journals to record mainly my travels, and, to a lesser extent, my thoughts/feelings. A large part of the withdrawal from social media is due to something I read decades ago in Western Civ at KU. WEB Dubois' words about religious experience have always stuck with me. And, while I'm not religious, I do want to take a moment to explain his thoughts. To paraphrase: your religious experience is your own. It can be very real/valid, but it only applies to you. My religious experience would only be valid for me. I like that idea. I have had many thoughts, dreams, revelations, etc... - they make sense to me completely. Yet if I were to try to explain them to others, they would be meaningless or simply unrelatable.

This past year I applied that concept, not to religious experience, but to life in general. I have stopped sharing on social media (this posting being an obvious exception) the everyday humdrum activities (and even some non-humdrum activities) that I undertake. While they are valid to me, they really have no bearing upon anyone else. We (and by that I me) waste an incredible amount of time on social media reading friends' postings about nothing. And I really mean nothing. And I too am guilty of this. I know so much more about my friends (even distant ones) than I used to. Yet I am no closer to any of them as a result of all of this information. In fact, it gets in the way of human contact, because when we get together we have very little to talk about.

Enough explanation. I'll now write a bit about 2018 and then get to the lists of books, TV, movies, etc... that I found interesting in the past year.

Kilimanjaro (photo credit: Diarmuid Morrissey)

2018 marked a big change in my outdoor athletic endeavors. Following a bike accident in 2017 (which I wrote about in an earlier post), I decided to stop putting on hold the things I wanted to do in my life. I hired a trainer and began to work out in order to strengthen my core and upper body.

In Jan/Feb I flew to Tanzania and climbed Kilimanjaro through Ian Taylor Trekking. I found the country to be one of the more remarkable places I have visited. The people are uniformly friendly and dress in wonderful colorful garments. I felt at home the moment my plane landed. My main regret from the trip is not allowing more time on either side of the climb. I did get to spend a couple of days touring the countryside and also the city center of Arusha. But if I could have stayed longer I certainly would have.

Happiness at the base of the Barranco Wall on Kilimanjaro

In May I flew to Seattle and rented a car that took me to Mt. Rainier. I had no interest at all in climbing that mountain, but felt I needed to learn how to climb on glaciers properly. My team was one of the first of the season to take the Emmons Glacier Route. The famous mountaineer, Eric Simonson, joined our IMG-led group as well. I ended up getting much more than I  had bargained for. While my group did not reach the summit, we did get to experience a storm at 12,000 ft that locked us in tiny exposed tents for a day. I hated every minute of that trip and have no plans to return to the beautiful place. But I did get the training results I needed.

Starting up the Emmons Glacier on Rainier

In August, some friends and I drove to southern Colorado to climb a mountain called Blanca Peak. Blanca is one of Colorado's 14ers. It is the highest of three 14ers that share a ridge line - Ellingwood and Little Bear sit to either side. Blanca has a little bit of exposure between the saddle ridge line and the summit. There was some decently-challenging scrambling required as well. When we reached the top we were greeted with the best weather I have ever experienced on the summit of a mountain. It was clear and warm. I felt fortunate to be there with friends, a good view, and great weather. We stayed in our camp at 11,000 ft. an extra day after the climb and enjoyed the pretty valley lakes that sit in the trough of the three mountains. For me, Blanca served as a final tune-up before what would be the big adventure of the year. Here's a link to an interesting description of the Blanca Peak trip by Gary Henry - https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=18903

The rest of the team coming up the saddle to the summit on Blanca

In September/October I was in Nepal. I was there to climb a mountain interchangeably called Island Peak/Imja Tse. In order to climb the 20,305ft peak, I spent 3 weeks acclimatizing with a team of people trekking around the Everest region of the Himalaya. On our journey we went to Everest Base Camp (EBC) and later got beautiful pictures of the world's highest mountain from the summit of the 18,000+ ft Kala Patthar nearby. A few days later after leaving the last vestige of civilization at Chukung, our team of seven found ourselves at high camp on Imja Tse preparing to head up the mountain at 2AM.  Following a rocky steep trail under a perfectly clear, starry sky, we reach the crampon point for the glacier in the dark. In the coldest portion of the night, we roped up, and trekked along with crampons and ice axes. We abseiled down a crevasse or two, ascended ladders and made our way to the base of the headwall just as the sun came up. The team ditched ice axes and began to ascend the wall using jumars and crampons to follow a fixed line.  The summit was the highest and smallest summit I've encountered. All 7 of us and a couple of our sherpa guides were tethered to an anchor as we spent about 15 minutes enjoying the view of Lhotse, Imja Lake and the surrounding mountains. It was then time to abseil down the face of the headwall and make our way back across the glacier. We spent a short time packing up high camp and then descended to basecamp, stopping there for only a short time before continuing on to Chukung for the night. The summit day was something like 17 hours of work at high altitude. I don't ever recall a time in my life where I was as tired as during the long trek from basecamp to Chukung.

Climbing the headwall (Allen above and Andy Stark from Manchester in the foreground)

Abseiled into the crevasse - now need to climb out

Full team on the headwall at Island Peak

Buddhist Temple in Tengbouche

Island Peak/Imja Tse

My climbs on Kili and Island Peak, as well as the trek to EBC, introduced me to some of the nicest, determined, and interesting people I have had the pleasure to encounter - the other team members as well as the in-country guides, porters, and Sherpas. I've stayed in touch with most of the other team members and a good number of Sherpas and guides from Tanzania, and am in the process of making plans to do more climbs where we can once again go for a summit together.



Some notable books I read this year

Sparsholt Affair - Allan Hollinghurst

The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson

Selected works (an assortment) - Felice Picano

Lions and Shadows - Christopher Isherwood

Solo Faces - James Salter

The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen


My favorite movies I saw this year

Call Me By Your Name

Zabardast - (My second fave climbing documentary of the year - 50+ min on YouTube.)

Free Solo - (Doc about the greatest climbing achievement of all time.)

Gabriel and the Mountain

Sherpa (I had the pleasure of watching this in Namche Bazaar with one of the Sherpas featured in the movie)

Lunag Ri: David Lama and Conrad Anker Walk the Line (My fave climbing documentary of 2018 - 35+ min on You Tube)

First Ascent of Lunag Ri Solo (3+ min - David Lama)

Meru (My fave climbing doc ever. While I had seen this before, I watched it another couple of times in 2018)

TV

Great British Baking Show

Big Mouth (Season 2)

Atypical (Season 2)

Million Pound Menu

London Spy (Season 1)

Somebody Feed Phil - The Second Course

American Ninja Warrior (my favorite thing on TV)

Queer Eye Season 2 (great, heartfelt show in the midst of the world turning ugly)

Deals in the Desert (Like Million Dollar listing except in the Middle East)

American Crime (Season 2)

Money Heist / Casa De Papel - (Just started binge-watching this on Christmas Eve - pretty great).

Best Cities/Towns I've Visited in 2018 

Geneva, Switzerland (one of my favorite cities in the world - I love being there every year or so)

Namche Bazaar, Nepal (first night in my room I cried - I was so happy to be in this fabled town)

Kathmandu, Nepal

Arusha, Tanzania (I felt instantly at home in this city and surrounding area in Africa)

Alamosa, Colorado

Best Places I Spent Time In

Musee d'art et d'histoire - Geneva http://institutions.ville-geneve.ch/fr/mah/ - fantastic museum

MAMCO - Geneva - https://www.mamco.ch/en/100/Homepage-partners - great space for modern art/installations

Nelson-Atkins - Kansas City - A gem in the center of the US.

Amani Cultural Tourism Coffee Plantation - Near Arusha, Tanzania

Buddhist Monasteries in Tengboche and Khumjung, Nepal

Garden of Dreams - Kathmandu

Thamel district, Kathmandu

Hong Kong Airport - Weird, I know. But the airport is a great place to spend a long layover. It features nice lounges that can be joined for not too much money, good art exhibits to look at, and lovely, clean, open architecture.

Runyon Canyon - Nice place to take a hike in the middle of LA. Great views from the top of the park.

Best Things I Listened To

I wouldn't classify any of these as my all time faves, but I did listen repeatedly to the following songs:

I Am That I Am - Peter Tosh

Soul and Cigarette - Daniele Luppi & Parquet Courts

New Soul - Yael Naim

I Don't Want You Back - Borns

Yafaké - Victor Démé

It's All In My Mind - Teenage Fanclub (pretty much any other song by them as well)

Final thoughts:

I do hope to do a few more posts in 2019 than in 2018 here and on my other blogs/websites.  I have written a couple of reviews of the Tanzania and Nepal trips in this blog and on google and Facebook. You can find the google review by typing in 'Ian Taylor Trekking Company' on a search, and then clicking on the word 'reviews' in the company information that comes up on the right side of your screen.

For 2019 I'm looking at one or two epic runs. I also plan to climb a difficult little 14er in Colorado and then a larger summit somewhere else on the globe.

I plan to spend more time reading and writing as well.  I hope everyone who reads this will be inspired to find things that are meaningful to themselves, and will then have the courage/motivation to just go do them.

Catharsis of Ultra-Running and Being Outside

Blanca Peak

I read an article in the March issue of Outside about a skier, Adam Roberts, and his struggles with mental illness until his death in an avalanche in 2016. From the article, skiing seemed to be one of the few refuges that allowed a restless mind to come into full focus on a task at hand. Being outdoors in the mountains, seeing their beauty, experiencing their challenges and rewards, all served to bring a purpose and instill meaning in a life that was otherwise full of doubts. The piece, entitled, The Boy Who Lived On Edges, got me thinking about how much being outdoors, experiencing nature, and using one's body, have helped me and a large number of my friends overcome obstacles in life - from depression to divorce.

A common theme among ultra runners is that many started running the longer distances after a traumatic event. On
several runs with friends, we have talked about how the end of a relationship led to big miles for more runners we know than can be counted using just fingers. And this seems true for other outdoor friends as well. Many have taken up cycling, mountain climbing, or other outside endeavors after breakups.

Being outdoors and challenging oneself, perhaps offers both some sort of animal-brain instinctual solace coupled with building self-esteem. Interacting with nature creates an awareness of limitations. But often, through repeated exposure, the limitations transform into challenges to be faced and then overcome. For a time, for instance, early on in my trail-running life, going for over 3 hours seemed impossible. Now, running a 24 hour race seems all too possible (though I have little to no desire to actually undertake that challenge ;-).

Near Barranco Wall - Kili

When I was on a mountain trip recently, I met a woman whose divorce had led her to try climbing. Heading off to be challenged by assorted peaks around the globe had revealed both a talent and a passion for high-altitide climbing that she had not known she had.

I have struggled with depression for most of my life. I'm also a bit OCD with a sprinkling of ADD and anxiety for good measure. I took Zoloft for a few years to get depression under control. For the rest I've mainly tried intermittent therapy, writing, reading, and meditation. And, while all of those activities have worked to some degree, nothing has ever performed as well as simply getting outside. For me, I relish physicality in nature - running, biking, kayaking, climbing, hiking (you name it). If it is something particularly challenging, so much the better.

But even during times when I'm doing an easy hike or just camping, the act of being in nature nurtures my spirit. Viewing a pretty vista during the day, or seeing a couple of shooting stars in the high desert at night can better my outlook on life for a month.

Breaking camp on Ranier

And in having these interactions with nature, it is almost impossible not to meet new people who share the same passions, needs, goals, and experiences. Since embracing a life dedicated to undertaking as many outdoor activities as possible, I have (counterintuitively) made more friends than I did in the first two-thirds of my life. Even though many of the experiences are solitary, hiking, biking, running, and climbing have brought wonderful new people into my life through clubs, training, and travel. These people have become welcome additions to my close-knit circle of friends.

And with that, my ramblings for today are complete. Keep running (and do as much of it on trails as possible).

Here are a couple of links to friends' blogs about a recent climb of Blanca Peak in Colorado: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=18903 https://ruberuns.blogspot.com/2018/08/blanca-hawks.html

A Shared Sentiment

I almost never do this with this space, but in light of what is happening. I think this piece is worth a read. It is a reminder of what we stand to lose if we do not protect public lands.

From Adventure Journal

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Over the past couple of weeks I have been in Tanzania. I had booked the trip in order to visit Africa for the first time and also to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Rising to 19,341 ft, Kilimanjaro is about a mile higher than any mountain in the US lower 48. While not overly technical, it is a serious endeavor, and needed to be treated with planning and a healthy dose of respect. Preparation for the trip was a large undertaking. First were the shots. I got vaccinated for Typhoid (actually a couple of pills), Hep A & B, Japanese B Encephalitis, Varicella (yes, I've never had chicken pox), TD, Meningitis, Yellow Fever, and Rabies. And I also would take an anti-malarial while there. In addition to medical preparations, there was physical fitness involved. I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer to get my shoulders and core ready for carrying a pack long distances over rough terrain. I worked with the trainer once a week and incorporated weights and other core work into my schedule 3-4 times each week. Finally there was gear - a lot of gear. I won't go into the full list, but I will have a partial list of items needed/used for the trip at the end of this post.

I knew months in advance what I would be doing, so I purchased some gear and took a trip to Mt. Langley and also a trip to Anza Borrego to give it all a test run.  I ended up purchasing better gloves and a much better summit coat - both of which served me well on the roof of Africa.

I don't know that I'll post a lot about the 10 days I spent in Tanzania, or the 8 days on the mountain. I feel too close to the immensity of the undertaking at the moment. Suffice it to say, the trip was beautiful in every sense of the word - the people, the scenery, the weather - everything we encountered made me grateful to have made the decision to go on the journey.

Waterfall we encountered while hiking through the coffee plantation/cooperative

The day before heading to the mountain, a couple of people joined me for a tour of a coffee plantation that was comprised of 2,200 small farmers who had banded together to create a cooperative. We spent the better part of a day walking along single track trails on the side of a mountain looking at the farms where banana and avocado trees shaded the coffee plants. We also saw calabash, maize and quinine trees. Adults we encountered were friendly and as curious about us as we were about them. Children waved and smiled and periodically followed us as we meandered along the pathways through the fields and ended up at a beautiful waterfall.

Clemency, our coffee guide, showing us calabash plants along the way - they are in the background hanging from a trellace set up in front of the little farmhouse.

The tour concluded with us preparing coffee from scratch. First we separated shells from the dried coffee beans by means of a very large 2 person mortar and pestle. Next we roasted the beans to a medium roast. To do this, we stirred the beans over open coals in a blackened ceramic pot using a wooden spoon. That took about 20 minutes. We then put the roasted beans back into the mortar and pestle and smashed them by hand into an espresso grind. The resulting coffee was shockingly sweet and delicious.

Using an age-old technique for getting the beans to a medium roast

For the rest of the trip, my highlights were the rainforest days at the beginning and end - where we encountered monkeys and a civet. My favorite climbing day was the famed Barranco Wall - I could've gone back down and done it again. My favorite plants were found in the same climate zone as the wall - the giant senecio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrosenecio and the lobelia deckenii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobelia_deckenii The Lobelia, in particular, is a fascinating plant. It holds a large amount of water in its open leaves during the day. So much so that, in fact, you can scoop out water with your hand. The plant shuts back up completely at night in order to protect itself from freezing. As it ages, it grows a large flowering top with hundreds of buds in little cave-like enclosures that attract bugs. The bugs in turn attract birds, and the birds both help pollenate and repopulate the plant - making for a true symbiotic relationship. 

The highlight of the trip was really the trip itself. The totality was certainly greater than the sum of the parts. However, since our group was interested in summiting, that remained the ultimate goal. It took us 6 hours of trudging from our high camp at 15,000 ft (already higher than any mountain in the US lower 48) to reach the summit at Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet. We left camp at midnight in a snowstorm and simply went up at a snail's pace (due to the altitude). Step by step in the dark and cold for hours was psychically and physically difficult. There were many false summits. There were people we passed in serious distress due to altitude sickness - some heading down the mountain with help, while others paused to question the ramifications of following their dreams any further.  Honestly, I had never seen people with altitude sickness beyond a minor headache. It was shocking and difficult to witness. All, at least, were being helped.

Making our way up the mountain

Me looking a little less than graceful with a pack and solar panel hanging from it

The summit itself was magnificent. Huge castle-like glaciers clung to the mountain's outer walls while the interior gave way to the depths of a long extinct volcano crater. We spent about 30-40 minutes going from Stella Point at the low point summit to Uhuru at the top. Once there, the clock was ticking. Spending too much time over 19,000 feet is not a great idea. Photos were taken, tears were shed (at the absolute beauty of our surreal surroundings), and congratulatory embraces were given freely. 

The summit!

                                                Getting ready for a team pic.

Sunrise at the summit

Cold at the top - see the glacier over my left shoulder

White wonderland at 19,341 ft. Glaciers in the distance.

Throughout the trip, we we helped by guides and porters. The porters did every step of the trip we did except much faster and carrying much greater weight. Our guides made sure our pacing was perfect in order to limit recovery time needed and to aid in acclimatization. The guides were also fonts of knowledge for local flora and fauna. 

While being a porter is considered a good job in Tanzania, it is certainly a job no westerner would take. I have never seen people work harder in my life. I have also never witnessed people with such amazing dispositions and life outlooks. And that is something that can be found throughout Tanzania. The people there, in large part, are very poor - much poorer than I think most of us would even consider possible. But in the midst of poverty, they seem to be proud of who they are, have a lust for life, and a real desire to learn, to meet new people, and to share what they know. They take pride in appearance. Wherever we went people always looked good - children in spotless clothing, women in colorful dresses and head coverings, men in crisp shirts and pants. It was an odd culture shock from a western perspective - where we often look a bit, ummm... unkempt. On several occasions we joined our porters and guides in singing and dancing. The performances, in which we all participated, were beautiful and done with joyful abandon that quickly spread from Tanzanians to the visitors. 

Sharing songs and dances - Amani (in the orange) is leading this song

I had gone to Tanzania with quite a bit of money to buy gifts and mementos. Instead, I pretty much gave everything I brought away to help the people who had given me such a wonderful experience. Others in our group did much more - really stepping up to provide ongoing assistance to these sweet people who can do more with a little than others could do with a lot. 

I hope to be back in Tanzania in the future and see and share more of the wonderful place that I would describe as a complex paradise.

Partial list of gear:

Patagonia Fitz Roy Parka

Patagonia Torrentshell Jacket

Patagonia Torrentshell Pants

Patagonia Capilene Middleweight Bottoms

Patagonia Nano Puff Vest

Buff - 2 buffs

Julbo Spectron 4 sunglasses - 2 pair

Salomon 4D Quest Hiking Boots

Outdoor Research Sol Hat

Outdoor Research Men's Arete Gloves

Outdoor Research Rocky Mountain High Gaiters - note: did not use - in fact no one used the gaiters    they brought on this trip.

Marmot - Never Summer Sleeping Bag - note: the zipper malfunctioned, but I was able to use the bag for the trip. I spent a little time and fixed it upon my return home.

Black Diamond Headlamp 

Go Pro Hero 4 Camera

Osprey Kestrel 38 Pack - small, good pack - most of my provisions were carried by a porter.

1 x 1 ltr and 1 x 1.5 ltr Nalgene bottles

1 x 2 ltr - Nathan bladder

Leki Trek Poles

Change in an Instant

The following is a piece I had written in 2017, late summer, after a bike accident. I didn't publish at the time because I needed a bit of distance mentally to recalibrate and to change my focus from simply running, and fitness for fitness' sake, to a more well-rounded fitness with a purpose mind-set. Don't get me wrong. Running is still the pinnacle sport for me. It brings a self-awareness that is lacking in other sports (at least for me). There is a no BS factor to running. You either do it or you don't. But running won't help you climb mountains or hike long distances with a pack. I always thought it would, but it doesn't. 

Over the past 5 months I've worked with a trainer in a gym in order to improve fitness. I've also spent time with experienced friends as I have learned about mountaineering, trekking, multi-day hiking and camping, high-altitude assimilation and gear and the fitness needed to make weeks long trips successful. It is my hope that the accident in 2017 will lead to travels and treks in places both in the US and around the world that will be challenging and affirming, but also will allow me to be immersed in other cultures - to learn from and perhaps adopt good practices from the people I hope to meet along the way.

So here is the original post a few months later:

I had a bike accident on the trails recently that put the kibosh on either the Grand Canyon R2R2R or the Zion Traverse for 2017. My buddy, Chris, and I had planned to do one of the runs in October (which had already been rescheduled from March - following the Joshua Tree Traverse). But missing a month of real training in the two months leading up to the run shut down any notion of being able to knock it out in 2017. And, since 2018 and 2019 are just around the corner, I've little doubt that we will be able to push through one of the runs in the next 12-24 months.

The accident, which injured a hip and lung, put me off all training for about 5 days. Then I could only run short painful distances - 3-5 mi - before I wanted to stop. After a few weeks, the daily runs were 4 - 10 miles. But they were still irritatingly slow. Breathing was always painful. And in bed at night I had to lie in very specific positions in order to ease the pain enough to fall asleep. It has only been in the past couple of weeks that sleep hurts a bit less and speed and distance are starting to return to my runs. 

Here's a lovely pic of my leg below my hip taken a few days after the wreck. Ouch, Elliot!!

The break from mega miles allowed me to step back from my normal routine and examine what I am doing, and what I wish to accomplish over the next few years (in addition to the above-mentioned R2R2R or Zion Traverse). Having an accident of the sort I did made me aware of just how lucky I have been to be healthy and injury-free (mainly) for most of my life. But it also reminded me that circumstances can change in an instant. There are many things I want to do and have put off for various reasons. I want to climb several mountains, see two or three ancient ruins that I have not been to before, and finally hike in remote portions of the Southern Hemisphere.

So, while recuperating, I decided to stop waiting to do the things I want to do. I booked a couple of trips to climb mountains. I hired a trainer to work with me to build core strength. I dropped 15 lbs so far. I'm hoping to drop another 10-15 in the coming 2-3 months. I figure the less weight one carries up the side of a mountain, the better. If I go in a bit underweight, I'm sure I'll be able to put it back on upon my return home. 

Anyway, what sort of amazed me about everything is how easy it is. We live in a world where one simply can decide to undertake what in previous times would have been an epic journey. While still challenging, today we can simply set our minds to do wonderful things, train, learn, and then go and do. You do not have to be rich or a top-tier athlete.  You just need to decide what you want to do and then commit. And think about doing it soon. Because life can change in an instant.