Update

The summer has been an interesting one. The family went away for three weeks to visit the inlaws in Ojai CA and I joined for the last week. You know what? I worked more! Not anything else that exciting. I saw Harry Potter (good) and Transformers (awesome). By the second week though, I missed the fam. I found myself working, and when not working, looking around the silent empty house and thinking, "what now?"

So, I went hiking. I bought a new 4300 cubic inch pack, a Gregory Baltoro from EMS (I had a gift certificate). I packed it with all of my climbing stuff, added a 10 pound weight and the occassional full CamelBack, and started hiking all of the hills I could find. Routinely, I am now hiking 1-2 hours with at least a 30 pound pack. I wish I could find more elevation, but I live in CT. Not horrible, but no 4,000 mountains either.

My new promise to myself is that any indoor exercize, including stairmaster and treadmill, I now do wearing 30 pounds on my back.

Other thoughts? Very excited about the football season, go CHARGERS!!!! Very excited about what the Yankees are doing, GO YANKEES!!!!!! and having a lot of fun with the family.

Ta Ta

Training

I am about 2.5 months away from my big Mt. Baker climb and my training is going well. I live in a hilly area and try to do trail runs/hikes 2-3 times during the work week and at least both weekend days. I live in Ridgefield CT and there is a 360 acre reserve that connects to other reserves a mile from my house. There are lots of ups and downs, and plenty of rocks and tree routes to climb over.

Two other things. I bought a camelback hydration reservoir and I love it! I can keep going and keep hydrated on the go.

My training is also including weighted packs, as now on my weekend hikes I am carrying a back pack with a 10 pound weight and a full camel back coming in at around 20 pounds. So far so good, my back is fine. My knees are aching a little so I am trying not to run with the pack.

The family is out of town now so I can train when I want to for as long as I want too.

Getting There

So, I think I have mentioned before that I work in Interactive and Call Center Marketing for Starwood Hotels. This week, I was at the Phoenician (Beautiful, and not saying that as a company man) and the shower was incredible! Thats not really on topic, but you have to like huge drenching showers in the middle of a 120 degree desert.

So, it was the usual bevy of blah blah, but the night time activities and the social pieces were great. But, you ask, being that this is a blog about my middle age crisis and dream of becoming the next Edmund Hilary, what does Phoenix have to do with anything????

Luckily, the Phoenician (with the great showers) abuts (now there's a word that should be used more often) CamelBack Mountain, a 2500 foot mountain in scottsdale az. So, being that I am in training for the September Baker adventure, I thought to myself "self, there is a mountain in walking distance just daring me to climb it". So I did. The first time was the warm up, the "get a feel for it" hike. But day 2, with a climbing interactive marketing partner, we summitted. Its an awesome hike. Trail for a while, but a lot of scrambling to get to the top. Very good feeling when you hit the top, until you hear the story about the 70 year old who does it 3 times every day!!!!

The best part, we didn't see one rattlesnake!

So, now what do I do?

Since I finally have a climb set, I now have to start getting ready for it. What do I do? First things first, I need to obsess about looking at gear and ways that I can spend even more money. I found a gear exchange which is great, www.geartrade.com.

I bought a book on Amazon to tell me how to get into shape, and I have started hiking, running and trail running. I figure I have 3.5 solid months to get into shape, so I'd better make the best of it.

A Big Mis-Blogging!

First of all, for the 3 people that have ever read this blog, I apologize. We wanted to climb Rainier, but alas, International Mountain Guides would only let me climb with them if my wife signed the waiver. Here's how that conversation went:

" Honey, I really want to climb Rainier with them. Will you sign the waiver form too so I can go?"

"let me get this straight, if you go and die, and I sign, I can't sue? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA"

That was almost verbatim! So, I was SOL. I found a new company, American Alpine Institute, through which I signed up for a private 3 day climb of Mt Baker at the end of September with my partner Mark. FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to find a climb in September has been as exhausting as the climb will be!

The Tallies are In

The die is cast. After months of waffling, the decision has been made to scale Mt. Rainier at the beginning of the low season on September 27th. We are going with International Mountain Guides which is owned by famous climbers Eric Simonson (who emailed back and forth with me - how cool is that?) the Erschlers and others.

I am so excited about it. My shoulder is recovering, and I am starting to eat better and beginning to think seriously about exercising (thats the first step). I am thinking that exercising is a good thing to do before climbing a 14,410 foot mountain.

Of course, I have ordered a DVD of climbs on Rainier and a book by Eric Simonson.

One obstacle remains: MY WIFE!!!! She is supportive of my doing the climb, but she is required by IMG to cosign my waiver. Her reaction? "why do I want to sign something that says if YOU die I can't sue?" Tough to argue, but I will nonetheless.

Stay Tuned!

And the winner is

So, thanks to the 4 people (you too mom!) who voted on the next mountain for me to climb. The winner, is Mt. Rainier. Alpine Ascents, who one of the commenters on this blog recommended, has a trip in September which is perfect. I am having my shoulder surgery this thursday, which will give me 3 and 1/2 months to recover and get into shape. I am in decent shape, but not Mt. Rainier shape.

Spring Break

So, last week was spring break, hence my no blogging. But, I AM BACK!!!! Good news on the injury front. The Right knee is sore, but getting better.

My Shoulder, however, not so good. My right shoulder has some tears in the laborum, some minor arthritis, and some other injury. My Dr is putting me on a limited course of PT, and then we might have to head towards Arthroscopic and 2-4 months before back to full strength.

So what does that mean for my climbing career? It means I will have to climb later in the season. Still working on Mt. Baker, but I now found out that Alpine Ascents has a September climb of Rainier. I really wanted to go with RMI since they are legendary, but, the September date might be calling me home.

I feel so sad

I feel so sad about what has happened to Imus. Talk about injustice. Fire a guy who raises $ for kids with cancer, army vets, autism and SIDS because he said something stupid, that he owns up to and apologized for.

What is this world coming too?

The Sissy-fication of America

While I usually post on non controversial topics, I just HAVE to weigh in on the Imus thing. When did the US of A become soo sensitive that any comment is cause for a major press story?

Imus is a great person. He brought Autism to the forefront of public and congressional consciousness, helps kids with Cancer and does a lot for SIDS. This is a guy that should get fired for a mistake? He apologized personally to the people he offended. Does Dave Chappelle or others do that?

I DONT THINK SO!!!! As the phrase goes, COWBOY THE FUCK UP PEOPLE!!!!!

I just can't deal.

Last Post for the Night

ok, so, my big Greek blogging dilemma. I am an aspiring mountain climber as is obvious from my blog. I also play ice hockey, have a pilots license, have an incredible family, and a job on the leading edge of brand interactivity.

How do I discuss all of these things without losing my loyal audience? I know, I don't have a loyal audience. but, I have had 127 people come here since I started the blog. I am working on it. Not sure yet how to integrate all of my life's passions!

Getting into shape

So far, my getting into shape regimen includes 40 minutes, 4-5 times a week, of working out on a stairmaster or walking the maximum incline on a treadmill. The other day or two, I am playing D level ice hockey for the Brewster Ice Arena Yellow Jackets. GO JACKETS!!!!

My wife is scared that I am overdoing the exersize, but I am enjoying it and realizing that I have to be in MUCH better shape than I was for Mt. Washington, or I will be risking a lot more than my pride!

So away I go on a work out effort. The road is long, but, he ain't heavy, he's my brother. I am DRIVEN!!!

Where to, Where to?

So, the longer I research next potential climbs, the more potential locations I find. Today, I was looking at REI's site, (www.REI.com), for expedition packs, and came across their adventure travel section. They offer climbing trips in the US to Mt. Washington (done it) and Mt. Shasta.

Now Mt. Shasta is interesting. Its over 14,000 feet, but the closest airport is REDDING, CA, 60 miles away. I am sure there are many direct flights from the NY area to REDDING, CA. NOT!!!!!! (yes, I still enjoy the NOT jokes).

So, judging from the poll results on the blog (I think the only voters are me and my mom, because I told her too) and proximity to a major airport, Mt. Baker is still in the lead. My big question now, is "am I flying solo, or going with my Mt. Washington partner? Only time will tell.

Looks Like it Might Be Mt. Baker

So, media conferences aside, where do I/we go next. After much research, and the unfortunate news of the RMI Rainier sellout, I found Alpine Ascents. They have a cool site and guide all over the world. They have slide shows, cybercasts, and a whole lot of information.

I was looking for a moderate climb, since Rainier wasn't available, and I think I have settled on Mt. Baker. At 10,781 ft., its smaller than Rainier but offers the real climbing experience. 65lb packs, camping on the mountain for two nights, early morning ascents, skills training etc.

The big open question is who's going. I am definitely in. My partner just started a new work gig and is far from committed to the climb. Brothers-in-law? Friends? Husbands of friends? All are welcome, who will climb?

MAMC - iMedia Edition

I am at iMedia Breakthrough 07 this week. I guess its time that I explain what I do. I work with a team that manages the Starwood brands across interactive marketing, web site development and call center strategy.

iMedia is a conference that brings together clients, agencies and sellers. The sessions leave something to be desired, but the real value is in the networking. Today, for an hour and a half, we had a "speed dating" session where the brands sat at a table, and the sellers had 60 seconds to explain what they do before rotating on to the next brand. I met a ton of people. Tonight, Bob Garfield, of Ad Age spoke. Talk about arrogant! We were not nearly as impressed with him as he was!