Xplore

I’m off to climb in the Blue Mountains this weekend to further advance my skills with the team from the Australian School of Mountaineering, the weather is perfect and I’m chomping at the bit…

 I am currently investing time in developing and advancing my rope handling skills with a big focus on self-rescue and rescue techniques generally in preparation for a climb I am doing in New Zealand this coming January, Mt Aspiring in the country’s South Island.

I’ll be spending a total of two weeks in New Zealand, training and practising my skills and working on steep technical climbs as well as crevice rescues.

Later in 2013 I am heading to Nepal to climb three 6,000 metre peaks, Island Peak, Pokalde, and Lobuche East.  This will enable me to further develop my skills, visit a wonderful country with my family, and to be able to take a peek at Cho Oyu.

My aim is to make an attempt on Cho Oyu in 2014.

 Cho Oyu is the world’s sixth highest mountain and possibly one of the easiest of the world’s fourteen 8,000 metre peaks. Although, this is more because of the ease of access, as there is nothing really easy about exposing yourself to 8,000 metre peaks.

I have partnered with Adventure Consultants, a New Zealand based high altitude Specialist Company that was started by the legendary Rob Hall and Gary Ball in the early 1990s. Their stories are ones of great adventure and determination and I’d encourage anyone with an interest in adventure to take time to read about them. And I must say the team at Adventure Consultants have been very helpful thus far in assisting me to meet my goals.

For me this is a journey, of which one can never be sure of where it will lead, or what you will see and do along the way, and that makes it incredibly exciting. It also provides the motivation to take my fitness to a completely new level.

I am a great believer of simply living in the moment and sometimes I feel like I am planning my life away, however there is much planning to do, and as we all know, time seems to fly…

But, it is one step at a time, so I’m looking forward to this weekend, and the backdrop of the Blue Mountains makes rock climbing in the area even that more pleasant.