HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED

Hello and thanks for visiting my climbing blog!

My name is Scott and I live in Atlanta, GA. I always had an interest in climbing mountains, but never really knew how to get started. In January of 2005, the company I was working for decided to open an office in Memphis and I volunteered to move and help get things kicked off. When I arrived in Memphis I only knew one person, whom I met a few years prior at a wedding, so I gave him a call. He agreed to meet me that evening, but couldn't stay out late because "...he was heading to Africa the next day." Upon meeting him that night, I learned he was leaving the next morning to try his hand at climbing Kilimanjaro.

The next morning, I was talking to my mother and telling her about the conversation from the previous night. During this conversation she asked me if I realized my Uncle Steve had been a climber for years. "No," I responded. She gave me his phone number and the following weekend I made a call to a relative I hadn't spoken to in years. Little did I know how much that call would change my life!

In the 6 years since, I've been to Africa (Tanzania & Kenya), Russia (Moscow & Mineral'Nye Vody), Mexico, Georgia (The country, not the state), and South America (Chile & Argentina), summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, and Mt. Rainier, made two attempts at Cerro Aconcagua, an attempt at Ixta, made quick stops in London and Quito, Ecuador, met an endless number of extraordinary people, and developed a new relationship with my uncle.

The blog entries, pictures, and details below are my attempt to share my adventures with the rest of my friends and family. I hope you enjoy!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Perils and Timing of Training

Training for a climb is always tricky because you want to peak at the proper time, avoid injuries, and different mountains call for different training. From my experiences, I'd group Elbrus and Kilimanjaro together in one category (carrying light packs so more emphasis on cardio) and Rainier in another (lower mountain, but heavy packs, so an emphasis on leg, shoulder, and lower back strength). Well, with Aconcagua you need ALL of the above.

I began training September 7th thinking it would take me a month just to get the engine revved up again, however, in the 6+ weeks since, I've lost 14-15 pounds, I'm having my best 4-5 mile runs in years, my heart rate is peaking around 180, and I'm carrying a 45-48 pound pack for 3 hours up and down hill with no problems. Now that I'm back into training full swing, I think I'm ahead of where I need to be. So, for the next 3-4 weeks, Ill continue to train, but focus on holding steady as opposed to making huge strides. I've already lost a decent amount of lifting strength from all the cardio, but some of that is OK because I don't need to be a meat head on the mountain (too much muscle causes blood to rush to those areas and tires you out faster). This will take me to Thanksgiving and leave me with 7 weeks of hard core training left. Ill still continue hiking at the same pace, because that's the one thing I don't want to lose.

So, all-in-all, good news and I'd rather be ahead than behind.

On a side note, I started monitoring the temperatures on the mountain and they are still hovering in the -30 to -40 range on the summit (with wind chill). We should start to see some "warming up" in the next 3 weeks and the first teams will depart for Argentina right before Thanksgiving.

Onward and upward...
SZ
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