About joannesclimb

Live to dream, dream to live. Climb a mountain, mountains to climb. There are too many climbs, too little time. Slowly and steadily, the tortoise will get to the top. Life is too short to idle.

Got to Smile, despite!

Posted on January 19, 2012 by joannesclimb

Walking with a pair of crutches is by no means an easy task. It gets harder each time when I rest my weight on the hand grips because my armpits are feeling sore! Perhaps the technique is not right. But hell, who wants to be good with using the crutches? not me! 😀

My two extra pair of “legs”

Got to smile! =)

Two things I probably cannot do this pre-CNY.

1. To queue for Lin Zhi Yuan bak gua! I love the queuing because it gives me a sense of purpose for the long wait. Crazy? but that was my way of staying happy for CNY!

2. To go shop for goodies for CNY. And that’s to say, I will have to miss eating those CNY goodies since I cannot shop for them. Haiz! Now I regret for not buying the goodies earlier.

Oh well, I am so looking forward to a quick recovery. What made me happy today is that I received these images from colleagues in NP. I just cannot stop laughing, if you can guess what went on this images! =)

I was obviously in pain! haha

He is Bond …

James Bond!

Walking is a challenging affair for now

Posted on January 18, 2012 by joannesclimb

As a climber/mountaineer and occasionally a runner, I have always been weary about getting injuries. I supposed minor pain here and there is inevitable, but getting it too often and too serious is scary. Recently, especially the period when I was preparing for Island Peak and Ama Dablam, I have noticed a nagging discomfort on my archilles tendon especially the heel bone area. I felt the stiffness when out of bed in the morning. Apart from this, I also noticed some pain on the groin over the years. The groin pain amplified when I was in Nepal after the AD climb.

Kumaran, a Doctor by Profession, tried to guide me with some stretching exercises to alleviate the pain

My greatest mistake was to have ignored all the minor pain all these while. Believing that if I continue to exercise, it will heal over time and that the condition will not get worsen (it will, if I had been diligent with my pre/post-workout warm up and stretches).Frankly, I have not suffered any major injuries thus I really have little experience on dealing with it especially when it happens to me. The excruciating pain on my groin that I suffered at Lukla was a big scare to me. I cried. Because the pain was sharp, I was not able to stand on my feet.

So on Tuesday (yesterday), I suffered a sharp acute pain on my heel bone (Calcanus) after a round of badminton. I believe that my warm up and stretching exercises were not effective considering that I have not been working out much after my return from Nepal. So Ouch!

Badminton kakis in action, I could only watch!

No swell, just pain!

There were no swelling and redness, but the area was painful to touch. I could still walk but with an obvious limp. I went to the nearby restroom hoping to change to my jeans but the pain was too much for me to want to do anything. I decided to go home. When I got out of the vehicle, it was already too painful to walk. I literally hopped my way home from the car park. The immediate treatment was to apply the RICE treatment. It would have been better if I had ice it earlier …

Icing my heel bone at home

It has been more than 24hrs since the pain came on. The pain hasn’t gone lesser, and I am still unable to walk with the injured leg. Last evening, a concerned friend (Joe), we share the same birthday and same chinese animal horoscope but 12 yrs a part (ok, nothing to do with anything haha), sent me a set of his used crutches. With the crutches, I can move around in my flat without having to hop and risk injuring the good leg.

I am still pretty much in my high spirit, just hope that this injury won’t last too long. My biggest challenge is not about the walk with a limp, but more so to recover fast enough so that my mum won’t suffer. She has been extremely sensitive to my needs, and knowing very well that all the little routine things I do everyday become difficult for me. Mum is mum, she is just forever so caring. I am appreciating her more.

New year, new plans

Posted on January 4, 2012 by joannesclimb

We have marched into a brand new year. New year must have new plans. I am currently planning for a climb in Mt Siguniang, the First sister Peak (5038m), from 17-25 March 2012. It will take about 9 days. I am hoping to recruit 6-8 other people with me.

Siguniang mountain range

On the summit of First Sister Peak (March 2011)

Random Thoughts

Posted on December 3, 2011 by joannesclimb

I will never trade climbing for anything else. So please stop asking me when will I stop climbing. Instead, ask me when will be my next climb, but ask only if you are genuinely interested to know.I fully understand the risk involved, the time and money spent to climb. And yes, I know I have families and friends who are worried when I climb, but hey, even crossing a road is dangerous, and you might just get run over by a train in the MRT station. I’d rather die in the mountain (ahem, touch wood!) than to die of some deadly illness or to be in the hands of some reckless drink drivers. Period.

I have so much to catch up. I want to share with you the climbs I did like Aconcagua in Feb and my recent climbs on Island Peak and Ama Dablam. As you can see, my last entry was more than 6 months ago! Haiz. I just need to get my ass down and map out my thoughts. Not forgetting that I am also rushing out my thoughts on our Everest journey. The SWET team is really behind time with our book which we have been telling people about. We had postponed our climb, we cannot postpone the writing. Yes, we will get it out somehow.

Returning to Nepal was a nostalgic experience. Everything that I saw in Kathmandu and in the Khumbu was just so familiar. Climbing Everest with SWET seemed just a recent affair when I traveled on the trails. It was definitely a nice feeling. And guess what, the SWET team Marmot shell was so eye-catching. I had strangers telling my climbing sherpas that they recognised the shell belonging to the women’s team from Singapore. I felt like being watched! On the other hand, I feel proud to be part of the SWET.

At the summit of Island Peak with Dorje and donning that “SWET ” shell that many other climbing sherpas were familiar with.

Jumping for joy on the summit of Ama Dablam

Year 2011 is coming to an end soon. Looking back, I have had a jolly good time climbing, from Argentina to China and back to Nepal, I can’t ask for more.

Scavenging in Mendoza

Posted on March 5, 2011 by joannesclimb

The team at the start of the day one trek

Climbing and food come hand in hand. You need to eat, you need energy to stay alive, more so when in the mountain. The meaty meals before the climb was filled with excitement and in anticipation, like in heaven. After the climb, it was more like a chore than anything else. The pig-out days in Mendoza (Argentina) still lingers in my mind – the streets filled with restaurants, the wine, the sparkling drinks and the slow moving human traffic. I am still pretty overdosed with the food (sorry, the MEAT), felt like I was a huge carnivore. My stomach is still learning to digest. My stools (excuse me, please) are still in some sort of like watery state, nothing solid. I haven’t eaten dinner for the past days since I returned to this lovely sunny island I called home (my lovely home, truly). The flight delay in Auckland airport was a torture to me, I declare that I never felt so homesick ever before. Seems like the Mendoza scavenging inked on me more than the climb did. Many people told me not to miss the steaks and the winery tour in Mendoza. I went for the steak, but not the wine tour, and not to mention the wine festival that I deliberately skipped.

Yummy steak before the climb

I ordered BBQ pork after the climb (more than half was not consumed, TOO MUCH)

The ribs for Klaus (the real carnivore :))

Seafood on Caesar Salad (Carmen’s fav, the one Alan didn’t get to eat)

It was raining in Mendoza by the time we return from the climb, and the weather has changed from hot & sunny to windy & chilly. When it poured, the streets turned into a running river. Who’s complaining about the floods in Orchard Road?

Heavy downpour floods the streets of Mendoza.

What else can we do in Mendoza? I supposed that we were just not adventurous enough. In order to try to burn some calories from the eating, we went cycling! It was fun, but I kept paddling on the wrong side of the road (left hand drive) and getting head on with other road users. The road was pretty much FLAT, technically nothing too strenuous for any serious fat-burning excursion. And a late lunch added to the scale.

Cycling excursion!

Another round of eating after the cycling excursion

Ahem. We never felt hungry when in Mendoza, oh, at least not for me. Glorious food we behold, we hunt down one of the highly recommended restaurants in Mendoza by Times magazine – Siete Continentes (the restaurant name, it means 7 continents). We ordered the 7 course dinner – Siete Cocinas de Argentina. BURP!!!!! That was our last evening in Mendoza.

The journey home was tedious, as we didn’t get to fly as scheduled. So the airport became our temporary home. Obviously, FOOD became our targets. We had burgers, fire wings (aka buffalo wings) and sushi!

The two mini burgers – I only managed the fries, burgers were adopted by the rest

The sushi spread we had, we bought it with the food vouchers given to us by the airline

The food vouchers – at first was one per pax, then 2nd voucher came, then more and more vouchers. We knew, the more we get, the longer we would have to wait. Sigh.

Overdose with food! I had enough!

Climbing stories another day.

Precious gems

Posted on February 4, 2011 by joannesclimb

Friends are gems, so precious, you want to keep them for life.

June, a long time friend since our days organising adventure camps with Outdoor Specialist, organised a simple CNY gathering over dinner. Conveniently, it also became a send-off dinner for me, before I head to climb Aconcagua. Since my earlier days in aiming to climb Mt Everest, friends have been very supportive of me and never failed to take time to gather to give me morale support. From climbing Mustagh Ata to Cho Oyu to Mt Everest, my friends had took time to prepare gatherings, surprises and send-off party at the airport for me. Some even involved their spouses. I have always felt that I have overly abused their time spent with me. I owe part of my Mt Everest success to my friends. These are lovely people, my lovely friends.

June, forever so jolly good fellow a person

I have always called Su Ping as ping-ping an-an … her name kept me safe 🙂 [ i think she will have comments about this ghostly looking photo of her]

Polaroid photos put together … I am bringing all these for the climb [as usual, i like to carry photos of friends with me during my climbing trips]

Ahem, in no way the above represent the entirety of my precious gems, but surely, they are with me in spirit.

Tranquil MacRitchie on CNY day

Posted on February 3, 2011 by joannesclimb

MacRitchie was pretty quiet this morning, I saw some visitors but mostly were those who do not celebrate Chinese new year (based on assumption as they are non-chinese) . I went for a 10km jog. Pretty usual on a weekday morning, but the kayaking area was extremely quiet. I spotted a lady lying on the platform reading a book, having a good time by herself. Then it strike me to think that MacRitchie Reservoir used to be so serene and tranquil. Now with the bustling kayaking training participated by schools, that area seems very messy and noisy at times. However, MacRitchie reservoir is indeed an ideal place for kayaking training, for we do not have many choices. Got to give and take.

I ran passed families, groups of friends strolling in the trail, and a couple of others who went there to run/jog. I overheard a lady, she didn’t sound like she is a local, who was amazed that the reservoir forms part of our drinking water. She plainly pointed out to her friend and said ” this is the drinking water? so dirty!?” haha, I laughed to myself. Should I walk to her to explain to her about the water treatment system we have here?

Consumable Energy

Posted on February 1, 2011 by joannesclimb

These are some of the usual stuff that I will have with me when I go to the mountains.

Strepsils – that’s lozenges (for sore throat).
Fisherman’s friend – another lozenges (more for comfort than anything).
The Natural Confectionery – my favourite soft jellies on the move on high camps, refreshingly sweet.
Skippy – Peanut Butter – I love peanut butter, it taste good no matter how I choose to eat it with.
Pills – Ginko and Ginseng pills from GNC.
Redoxon – chewable vitamin C , help to keep my immune system healthy.
Pocari Sweat – energy drink, I usually drink them when on the move. But not everyday.
Gu Gels – energy gels, not a supplement for food, but it helps a bit especially on a hard day’s climb.
Electrolytes – especially good for a hot day’s climb, help to replenish salt, prevent dehydration.

Plan to get some chocolates when I am in Mendoza .

Maiden ride with Bokor

Posted on January 30, 2011 by joannesclimb

I finally own a mountain bike. Yayness for that! To start with, I know nuts about bike, not to mention about the bike parts, but over the past few months, with the help of a friend, Chu, I learned quite a fair bit in the hope to assemble a personal mountain bike at a reasonable cost.

I wanted a reasonable “good” bike, lightweight if possible. But I do not have a high budget for it. After some deliberation, I decided to put in some investment on the bike frame and the wheel set, and will probably upgrade the rest of the parts later. Well, I guess the other bike parts work well for now and likely for a good time, frankly, I am no expert in mountain biking, I probably cannot differentiate the performance of the parts, except that I could feel the weight of the bike 😀

Voodoo “Bokor One” frame

Chu helped me to identify some bike frames, and eventually, browsing online, I settled for a Voodoo “Bokor One” frame. When I saw the bike frame right before my eye, my jaw dropped. It has a mysterious feel, just as it described as “Voodoo Black Magic Aluminum”. I like the color, black!

Next was the wheel set. Highly recommended by Chu for me to get the American Classic MTB 26. I am just a follower, nevertheless, the 2011 series is really pretty, and it matches well with the black magic Bokor (matching colors are every part of a women’s life). To avoid over spending, I took over Chu’s old bike fork – heavy, but I am strong 🙂 (he had upgraded to a Rock Shox SID fork.

Chic looking wheel – American Classic MTB 26

The bike is assembled at Gee Hin Chan (GHC), one of the oldest bike shops in Singapore (according to another friend, Yu Seung, the shop is in the hands of the 3rd generation. Impressive!). My bike currently weighs about 12kg, I would consider it as light compared to the bike I used to borrow from Siti. Moreover, I carry 15kg load on my shoulder to trek/climb, so 12kg sound relatively acceptable to me. Haha, well, I know it is not the same, but what’s the difference other than one number is bigger than the other? No big deal for me, at least not for now at my entry level.

So, with the intention not to spend too much on a mountain bike, the rest of the bike parts are on an economical scale, meaning, nothing too elaborate but good enough to get me paddling.

It has been raining since last evening. As I am typing now, the rain has been non-stop for the last 30hours. Despite the rain, I went on my maiden ride with my Bokor! It is really nice to see my new bike getting dirty in the rain rather than being a nice display piece at home.

Getting dirty =)

AM MTB 26 2010 (left) and 2011 series. Which do you prefer? 🙂

New year new gear

Posted on January 27, 2011 by joannesclimb

I have gotten new gear for the climb to Aconcagua! Buying climbing gear is as exciting as the climb. I have stocked up another set of gloves – a baselayer glove (mid weight) and a fleece glove and a new pair of high altitude mountain boot.

When up in the mountain, anything possibly bad can happen might just happen. Because the climb is long, there is always a possibility of losing gear, or have no time to do laundry. So having spare gear helps. I owned two pairs of Marmot Fleece gloves, and I simply love them. It helps with my decision to get new gloves when I spotted my favourite gloves at Campers’ Corner come in different colors.

Baselayer glove (black – right) + a Fleece glove is one of the best layering system to keep my hands warm

With the new addition, I now have two pairs of lighweight baselayer, two pairs of midwight baselayer gloves and 3 pairs of fleece gloves (I have more actually, but my fav has been the Marmot ones). On a typical trekking day with the sun above me, I will trek with a pair of lightweight baselayer glove, and will add on a fleece glove when it gets colder. If I will to start my climb in the middle of the night, I will use my midweight baselayer together with a fleece glove. This layering system works very well for me. Layering system applies not just on our body, we need it for our hands and feet too. It is not advisable to put on just one piece of thick glove hoping that it can keep our hands warm. The baselayer helps to retain heat within our palm. Same goes to our feet, the baselayer socks help to retain heat. Keep the baselayer dry, change it if it gets wet due to perspiration or what ever shit happens.

Barunste, La Sportiva

Another new addition to my gear box. Please welcome my new pair of mountain boots – Barunste, one of the best reviewed high altitude boot. It is suitable for climbs up to 7000m. It is unlike plastic boots that feel so hardy, the inner boot is soft and easy on the feet. What I like best is the lacing system of the inner boot. It is a simple pull-and-wrap-round-and-stick-to-velco system. No need knots or hitches to stay fastened. No more worrying about having cumbersome gloves while fastening the lace. Can’t wait to try it out on the snow field.

Baruntse with crampon (G12)

Joanne's climb

Tales of a Mountain Tortoise

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