Author Archives: joannesclimb

Unknown's avatar

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.

Midnight Ramble

Posted on by
Reply

With less than 4 weeks to my departure to Aconcagua, the highest in South America, I am pushing my training harder. Two days ago, I organised a night walk with the team. Often than not, the summit attempt happens after midnight; anxiety caused by stress and fear would prevent us from having a good rest, not to mention sleep. The objective of the night walk was to prepare ourselves for sleep deprivation climb.

After a days work, the team met at MacRitchie Reservoir Park at 9.30pm, with a loaded pack each. We all loaded our packs with unusually heavy loads, among us, our packs weigh between 16kg and 25kg. We needed to practice load carrying as we will be ferrying our personal and team gear from camp to camp.

Klaus diligently weighs each of our packs’ load

I have always encouraged everyone to take note of the load that we train with. Knowing exactly how much we each can carry is important. It is also a crucial skill for mountaineers to be able to estimate personal backpack load so as to be able to moderate the load as the expedition goes.

I am extremely impressed with the 3 petite ladies who are able to lug a backpack load of 16-18kg for 7hrs. They have started with a humble load of 10kg when we first started our team training in August 2010.Obviously, the training had paid off.

Most of us carried water with us, simply because if need to, can easily be off-loaded. Other than that, we have books, t-shirts, food etc. I have a mahjong set and two 50m condemn climbing ropes in my pack. My pack weighs about 20kg.

We called this madness midnight ramble.

A madness pose before the start of the walk

We started at 10pm. We covered a total distance of 21km, about 60% on trail, with some short breaks between distances of 3km and 4km.

One of the best pit stops we had was at an Esso patrol kiosk along Dunearn Road. It was already 4am by then. We bought sugared drinks, some of us had ice cream. I had a Magnum! one of my favourites where I indulge myself with only if I had train hard, train well.   

Vinnie threw herself next to the ice cooler to enjoy her paddle pop in isolation

Carmen (L) and Seow Thong parked themselves next to the pump station

At 5am (still pretty much alive), we were happy to see this overhead bridge as that would mean that MacRitchie Reservoir Park is near

Our target was to return to MacRitchie before 6am. We walked along Adam Road, passed the PIE entrances/exits, our mood was high, we were looking forward to a hearty breakfast. We arrived at MacRitchie Reservoir Park at 5.25am. Happy with the walk, we adjourned for breakfast at Upper Thomson Road.

Our runs, stairs and Bukit Timah trail climb training is on-going till the week that we will depart. I guess we are pretty much prepared except for the packing and some last minute shopping for additional gear. How I wish I could shop for “Luck”, priceless. Cheer us on, please.

Last Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

My last Christmas was a unique one. Unique because I spent my Christmas eve on the high camp of Er Feng (二峰，四姑娘山), and on Christmas day, together with Kim Boon and the team of students from the NUS Make It Real programme, we made a planned attempt to climb Er Feng after some 5 days of ice climbing inside Shuang Qiao Gou (双桥沟）.

The view of Balang range from high camp

Impressive 4,800m
The weather was not as clear as my last climb with the Singapore Women’s Everest Team in December 2005. This time, it was much colder and with thick layer of fresh snow, plus WIND. The same weather patterns to my first attempt in February 2004, then I turned around at 5,000m.  Siyuan, Robert and I reached at 4,800m and decided to turn around. A few reasons to the decision to abort our climb earlier than expected. To Siyuan and Robert, it was a tough climb. I must applaud the duo as Er Feng was their first mountain, literally the first for them as they have not climbed any besides Bukit Timah Hill. Reaching at 4,800m was not an easy feat for a beginner, they were clever to conserve their energy for the descent (we descended to Rilong town on the same day – 5hrs trek from high camp).

Old Climbing Boots the Culprit
The key factor was – the poor condition climbing boots. I have loan my personal boots to Robert, and I picked up a spare boot that Kim Boon has (KB kept a few spare boots for contingencies). This spare boot was already near its shelve life, I was hoping that I could survived with it just before it disintegrate completely. So the story goes; it broke down at the wrong time wrong place, one side of the shoe soles came off completely when I was on a snow slope. I was already using cords to secure the heels of both shoes. I was worried about the descent after, as the descent on the snow filled rock slates would be treacherous. I radioed Kim Boon to inform him that I would turn around (because of my boots condition). While I made that decision, Robert had also decided to turn around with me (his spectacle was fogging up badly that hindered his vision, making his climb tougher to manage). Since Siyuan was with us, the obvious decision for him was to follow us (we were about 45mins away from the main group) though he had hope to move on.

One of the many boots that did not survive the winter (all stored in Singapore and brought over for the climb)

The main team turned around eventually, at about 5,100m due to strong wind. Disappointed they may seem, but I strongly believe it was a good learning experience for many of them. The summit is never a given, never guaranteed, no matter how much you have put in. The reality is such that a small fraction of something do not lies in our hands. That’s life in the real world and we have to accept that while we win we may lose as well.

My Arcteryx Shell gets exposure (at last)
Yes, for the first time that I have the opportunity to don the lovely shell given to me by my lovely friends. It was a gift from 40+ people (expensive shell, so shared by many lovely friends :)) on my 36th birthday. As I have been storing it since I gotten it in 2006, the cords liner are peeling off.

a lovely gift from my lovely friends 🙂 I love this shell

Next, my focus has to be the Aconcagua trip. Time really flies. We will be departing in less than a month. Looking forward to it.

Monkey Business

Posted on by
Reply

The notorious monkeys at Bukit Timah somehow just know when the best time to make their appearances. When I was there on some weekdays, they seem to have gone into hiding, and on weekends, I would see them everywhere around the visitor centre. They could tell that every 5 quiet days at the woods, there would be 2 days filled with human visiting them.These monkeys are super hyper active, and do you know why? Because they ever took my energy gels from my hands, and they snatch my apples. These are my energy food during training, but it became theirs. I didn’t offer it to them, they helped themselves by scavenging my pack for the apples, and they could sniff like a dog. So uninviting. Last Saturday, I witnessed this one monkey dried up the 100plus can.

Having drank up what was left in the 100plus can, this monkey sure can maintain his energy level to continue to haunt at visitors

Please. Please. Please, to all the ignorant visitors of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Please stop exposing your drinks or food to the monkeys. Please don’t challenge them because they will come for more. Avoid eating when you are in the nature reserve, especially when you have already spotted the sight of ONE monkey, mind you, they come in a platoon if there are plenty of food to be offered. And oh please, if you cannot finish your syrup drinks, and do not wish to offer it to another human, for goodness sack, empty the cans before you put them into the bin. Please do not attempt to leave your canned drinks, fruits, sweets or whatever that is edible on the benches, you are inviting the monkeys to share your food. Many visitors like to invite their children to witness the monkeys at play. They are cute, but when they turn violent, cute is not a word to describe them anymore.

Friday 2210 not again!

Posted on by
Reply

22 Oct should be a happy day, 3 of my friends shared the same birth date. Serena Tan (Sarina), Karen Go, and our beloved Jane Lee Yen Ling.  But it turned out to be a day filled with uneventful encounters for me. 

First, it was at the coaching session with my climbing students. They usually climb in small groups of 3-4 and have been taught how to ensure safe climbing, the measures to take to avoid any possible mishaps that may caused bodily injury to the climbers. The three boys were making plans to climb, and one of them went ahead to climb even when his belayer weren’t ready to belay him. I spotted a long slack of ropes between the climber, who was already climbing up to the 3rd meter, and the belayer, who was still in the process of clipping the belay device to his belay loop. It was obviously an act of complacency. I punished the boys after giving them a piece of my mind. The punishment was not severe, they just had to stand on one leg (facing the wall) till we end our climbing session. They stood that way for about 30mins, that also means that they have lost 30mins of climbing.

I am not exactly proud of myself, I am not proud to the fact that the boys accepted my punishment, I am not proud that I could command that authority to punish them. I am very disappointed in fact. Disappointed that I have not taught them well, I have not instill in them the importance of safe climbing. I have failed in some ways. Or else, the boys would not have been complacent with their climbing protocols. I may have to approach this teaching in a different way.

I had that kind of not-very-fruitful coaching session feeling after I left the school, but not to the call of total distress. What I am going to share next will likely to set you thinking about the coincidences we have in life. I met with a minor vehicle collision 30mins later. The fault mainly lies in the other driver (Renault Kangoo) who was a little too impatient and was driving faster than he should have. Oh well, it takes two hands to clap, I am definitely guilty to some extend (IMO). I was in an open car park, had reduced my speed to prepare for a full stop, and had planned to reverse park into the loading bay lots. I had activated my hazard lights earlier as I have spotted the Kangoo coming from a distance. I stopped my vehicle and when I was preparing to reverse he tried to overtake and that was when his bumper hit my right mud guard, my side mirror was hit too. A little traumatized by it as I had expected him to slow down and move on only after I have reversed the vehicle into the loading bay. Well, next was some exchanges of words trying to defend each others’ rights. Not the best time to negotiate for sure. We managed a win-win closure and in a amicable & non-violent way. Anyway, it was not a serious serious accident, but what freak me now is that , my first road accident happened in 2004 on 22 Oct, also a Friday! Today was my 2nd *shake head* sigh …

22 Oct — 2210 — 2+2+1+0 = 5 … freak!

End of Autumn

Posted on by
Reply

Take a breather, slow down your pace and you will noticed that dried leaves are scattering around us. It kind of mark the end of autumn, and if our little island here in Singapore has four seasons, then we would be approaching winter.

I will imagine a winter scene here in Singapore.

We are surrounded by water, and our reservoir will ice up and become a huge ice floor. We would have a group of ice skaters, dancing on the iced reservoir like in the Winter Games.Oh, we could also dig a hole on the ice floor and do ice fishing. We do not have waterfalls here, but plenty in Malaysia, and we could do ice climbing without having to travel too far! Kota Tinggi will be a hot spot for climbers.

If we have winter here, our refrigerator could take a 3months break! We wouldn’t have to worry about stale meat for a while. I can enjoy hot and spicy food without much fear of an outbreak on my face! 

If we have winter here, our fashion selection can be less boring. We could wear funky beanie and hat, have a nice woolly scarf around our neck, have winter boots when shopping. Oh oh, I don’t have to shower every day! Haha!

But I could only imagine, and dream about it!  Having dream is great isn’t? it just so spice up my life! Meanwhile, I will continue to admire the dried leaves that fall upon me and imagine about winter in Singapore 😀 and soon, Christmas will arrive.

 

Training No Enuf

Posted on by
Reply

I was panting really hard on my last set of stairs last evening. Carmen had to push me a little by a little, as if coaxing a young kid who were at the verge of giving up. I was lagging behind her at the mid level. I refused to lift my head to look at the floor number. “Come on, this is the last set” … I picked up my pace, breath harder and step by step went up the stairs … “10 more floors to go” … ouch! You mean we are only at the 20th floor? I talked to myself, and still, I refused to lift my head to confirm that. I now quite understood what is like to breath from a straw. I felt constricted all over my chest, I cannot extend my diaphragm unless I lift my head and lean back. I went on as if like having an asthma attack on the next few floors (if that’s indeed how asthmatic patient felt when suffering from an asthma attack*). I cannot recall how many turns I had done as I refused to count (self denial). Then I felt a breeze entering from the window … it was only then that I was sure I was near the top. I eventually lifted my head, more air gush through the airway that raised my chest, and I spotted a number 28, two more floors to go. What a relieve. The final push was tough, my legs felt jellied. The last set was only the 6th! Darn, I better buck up.

30 storey / Number of sets: 6
Load: 15kg (last set probably 14kg cos I almost finished my 1.5ltrs of water)
Time taken for each set:
Set 1: 7min 40sec
Set 2: 8min 08sec
Set 3: 8min 35sec
Set 4: 9min 15sec
Set 5: 9min 52sec
Set 6: 8min 25sec
Average:  8min 45sec

Mood: I thought I can be stronger since I just came back from climbing Mt Rinjani carrying 13kg load on average during the trek. But I was wrong, obviously! So TIRED!

After completing my 6 sets, and Carmen completed 8 sets

*Note: Asthma attack is typically narrowing of airways that makes it difficult for air to be exhaled (breathed out) from the lungs. When someone is suffering from an asthma attack, allow the patient to lean forward (sort of like a sit-up position with the chest near [but not touching] to the knees) to prevent further resistance to exhaling.

Climbing Nostalgically

Posted on by
6

Mount Rinjani never fails to remind me the harshness of staying in the wilderness and the vast nature that we human can never conquer.

Our team comprises a group of experience endurance athletes and climbers, and half of the team had been up to the summit of Rinjani at least once. Both Jack and I had been up on the summit for 4 times, twice for Thiam Huat, and once for Clarence and Joyce. So newbies on this mountain were Catherine, Colla, Chu and Ramesh. The combination of the height and distances we have scaled and ran collectively surpassed the height and distances of Mt Everest in multiply.  Past experiences and height scaled do not necessary guarantee a summit on Mt Rinjani.

I still find getting up the same slope a challenging affair. This trip, we had zero summit. None from our team managed to scramble up the slope without fear, and none of us dare to defy the wind and gravity. We aborted our attempt at 3314m (highest point is at 3726m). We had started 1hr later than the rest of the climbing teams around the base camp. By the time we arrived at 3314m, many had already turned back due to the strong wind and some climbers were really ill prepared for the cold. A fairly strong couple and a Japanese team made the summit an hour earlier. They were already descending when we were still contemplating to proceed or to turn around. Catherine was intimidated when she witnessed our climbing guide scrambling on all fours battling the wind while moving on the narrow ridge. Our climbing guide is far too tiny to hold himself up with that kind of strong wind pressing against him, going on his fours was his best way to maintain a good footing. One of the porters who followed us up requested to stop his ascent with us as he was feeling too cold (damn, he used only a Sarong to keep himself warm!). I gave him some water and food and asked him to descend lower to wait for us.

The point where we decided to abort the ascent. (Right: Joyce, Catherine and Clarence hiding to stay clear from the wind as much)

The call to abort our climb was not exactly difficult to make. I focus on asking how will the team descend if we eventually do make to the summit. Will the wind be less strong or will it get worst? I picked the safer choice. Simply because, the mountain is always there. Or perhaps I was just not too adventurous, not gutsy enough; I didn’t want to gamble with nature, for we may just be wipe out completely and never live to tell our little story of battling with the wind on a single path ridge. A fall could mean returning to where we started the day before (Sembalun Lawang) not knowing how many limps can be intact, or rolling into the crater of the volcanic rim. None would be favourable.

But the remaining journey of our trek was not dampened by the failed summit attempt. We enjoyed each other’s company very much. We stayed an additional night at the base camp (about 2600m), we soaked in the sun, wind, cold and dust.

The team at base camp (2,559m – my Polar AXN300 read so :))
Ramesh (Centre) descent to Sembalun Lawang shortly as he was not feeling well. A porter accompanied him.
We had carrot cake prepared by Jack at the base camp

The descent to our next campsite was filled with stunning view of Segara Anak (the crater lake). As we descended early the following day, we avoided the afternoon sun, the trek was cooling and refreshing.

Close-up view of Segara Anak as we descent towards our new campsite at the lake

Clarence jumping for joy by the lake
Catherine and Colla had a good catch
Chu tried really hard but to no avail

We stayed one night by the lake and the following day we trek from the lake to Senaru. We started at 8.15am and arrived at end of the trek by 4.20pm. Colla commented that she had never descent on a trek at that fast pace before. I am personally very impressed with Colla’s performance and endurance. I guess you just do well in the things you enjoy doing.

Joyce posing by the rim of Palawangan I, overlooking the lake and the summit of Mt Rinjani, before we descent into the jungle trail towards Senaru

With Colla, our first trekking trip together, we climbed at Safra Yishun on wednesday evening.

We cajoled into feasting at Lombok Tanjung (I was biting on to an Ikan Sate)

In summary, we had fun trekking together. We didn’t get to the summit of Mt Rinjani, but we hold loads of good memories. In life, we win some, we lose some. I am pretty sure, I’ll be back again! 😀

New Shoes

Posted on by
Reply

I am heading to Lombok in a few hours time. I am so excited about it, even if this is my 7th visit to Mt Rinjani lol (,”). I think given to anyone, they will be as excited too as we are going CLIMBING!

Kindness begets kindness I guess. I loan out my precious trekking pole to a friend’s friend (whom I now called as my friend :D) for her trek in Switzerland. When she returned the trek poles to me, I found that my trek poles have got a brand new pair of “shoes”. So thoughtful of her!

The new rubber tip on my not so old trekking poles

The rubber tip is important. It is good to have one when you travel, especially if you want to slip the poles into your duffle bag, the rubber tip can prevent your poles from poking through your bag or any items inside your duffle. It also serves as a protector to the pole if you use it indoors or on pavement (concrete ground). I recalled when I went for my first 100km Trailwalker in Japan, the organiser encouraged walkers to place a rubber tip on the trek pole to protect the environment (less impact when less people poke on the trail).

woolala … I am going, you know?

Stairway to Acon!

Posted on by
Reply
The stairway

Training resume! At last, I am back to climbing stairs at Blk 21 of Tiong Bahru estates 🙂 Too far from home, but I still find this block a better place for me.

We had our first stairs training (the Aconcagua team), but not all members made their first appearance. One has gone overseas, another is busy at work.

Among us, we are making short overseas climb to prepare for the grueling climb next year. Thiam Huat and I will be heading to Mt Rinjani this weekend. Seow Thong and Klaus are taking 3weeks off to climb Kilimanjaro. Carmen and Erdina are left here to train on their own.
 

Being our first stair climbing training (especially for Seow Thong and Thiam Huat), I set a very realistic target for everyone. 3 sets of 30storey stairs with a 10kg load. Our aim is to progressively increase the number of sets from 3 to 10 and the load of our pack from 10kg to 18kg (or more).

As we progressed to our 3rd set, I gave a quick hint to Seow Thong and Thiam Huat to push for another set, and left them with no room for negotiation. Oops! haha, the duo gladly went for another set. Kudos, they have completed 4sets of 30storey. That’s great isn’t? clap clap clap 🙂

Front (L-R) Seow Thong, Carmen / Back (L-R) Thiam Huat, Phei Sunn

Phei Sunn will be climbing Aconcagua this December, while the rest of us will make our attempt in Feb 2011.   It is indeed bored to stair climb alone, glad we can be in each others company.

Mountaineering is such a sport that requires individual’s commitment and discipline to prepare the body for a grueling climb, while still very much a team sport as support from fellow climbing mates have effects to a successful journey.

Carmen (centre), Phei Sunn and I got into this familiar space, where we used to train together for Mera Peak (Nepal) and Siguniang Shan (Four Sisters mountain, Sichuan, China)

This ever familiar scene, climbers with loaded backpack plodding the void deck
Have a look at Phei Sunn’s slim and well toned legs (I am so envy of her)

This hyper bunny carries about 15kg or more and still smiling
Phei Sunn did 10sets, Carmen and I did 6sets (pale in comparison)

Our trekking boots: La Sportiva (Red – Joanne’s), Trezeta (Brown – Carmen’s), Lafuma (Purple – Phei Sunn’s)  I love my La Sportiva boots – much thanks to Campers’ Corner

What a cold looking corridor (spooky?) 😀

30storeys/ 6sets: average 9mins (very leisure pace)
Load: 10kg
Mood: Happy go lucky as this was our first team training on stairs

New Toy

Posted on by
Reply

I have shelved up training for a while. Ace Adventure Challenge is just round the corner. Everything seems going fine but somehow, I still wished I have another week to work on details.  In the midst of drawing out all my gadgets like the climbing & abseiling ropes, the biners, check point signages, reflective tapes and so on, I realized I have misplaced the four precious rope ladders I built. Panic button activated!  

As I danced on the hot pan, one good friend introduce a new toy to me.

I tried climbing on it, it is really not an easy task. It is similar to those SOC ropes course that the army guys used to train on, like those knotted ropes. But for this, it is the horizontal stick that the climber could stand on (provided you step on the two corners with good balance, else you’ll slip), next, it is all about arm power. Somehow, even when you have a good placing on the rungs, you will still need a considerable exertion of the arms. This is worst than the rope ladders I have. Anyone keen to try it?