rantlust

Posted by riyer on July 22nd 2007 in Health & Fitness, Outdoors, Roads, Sports, Trivia
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When I was studying for my BSc, undergrad to you ‘mericuns, my friends (a very colorful bunch - I must add) and I, had some hilarious - albeit crass, expressions. These were expressions you would dub as “poly” (i.e foul) in kannada and they indeed were, but I am convinced that we made some of these up on the fly. One that I had reason to remember yesterday is “niN tHeega karGathe” ( i.e. arse will dissolve or reduce). Another Hindi expression also came to mind yesterday- “gaanD phategi” less chemical than the Kannada expression and a tad more pathological, it simply means “arse will rip”.

Why was I remembering these yesterday? Actually I can Google map the exact spot at which I remembered these expressions..but I am getting ahead of my story. Over the last 10 years, every year, I have set myself a physically challenging goal to accomplish. There were a couple of trips up Mt. Whitney, a few up Half Dome, and a few backpacking trips etc. Most of these goals I successfully accomplished but there have been a few failures, the most notable one being Mt. Dana. A few frequently tell the story of my stupidity that cost me the mountain, but I attribute it to chivalry (yes, it is not dead, long live and all that rot). Turns out I gave my gloves to someone and as I continued my way up the summit, the wind-chill was so brutal it was dangerous to continue which forced me to turn around.

This year has been like none other. I started off in May by doing a 3 day backpacking trip along the Lost coast (will do it again, anytime). Ran a 10K and next week is the opportunity to go back to Mt Dana - (I have given adequate caution to my hiking partner about warm clothing and gloves). I have been telling my buddies that given my fitness this year I will whistle my way to the top of this 13,500 feet mountain. We start hiking at Tioga pass (which is at 9000+ ft). It looks simple but the wind-chill and the elements make it one of the toughest mountains I have hiked.
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Posted by anupcs on July 18th 2007 in Nature, Outdoors, Photography
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For those lazy blogging days (weeks), I am going to start a series called Photo of the Day (POTD) to showcase a photograph from my now extensive digital collection. While I don’t expect rantlust to become a photoblog, this will enable me to at least see my own photographs once in a while. These photos will be randomly chosen from my collection and will be those taken after 2001 when I first acquired a digital camera (Minolta Dimage 7).

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Posted by anupcs on June 14th 2007 in Outdoors, Photography
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The Channel Islands National Park comprises five (out of eight) of the Channel islands off the coast of Southern California. It’s a relatively new entrant into the NPS (1980). These islands, never connected to the mainland, have been inhabited by seafaring people as early as 13,000 years ago. It takes a little bit of effort to get to these islands as we have to either go by boat or small aircraft. Hence, it’s not as often visited as some of the other giants in the California national park scene such as Yosemite or Death Valley. Our trip last weekend, was to Santa Cruz island, the largest of the national park. It’s 22 miles long and 2-6 miles wide. Only a small portion of this land falls under the administration of NPS; the rest belongs to the Nature Conservancy and access is limited to their land.
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Posted by anupcs on December 16th 2006 in Engineering, Outdoors, USA
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Here’s something to cure your vertigo. The Hualapai Native American tribe is trying to lure tourists with an engineering marvel - a horseshoe-shaped glass bottomed walkway jutting out 70 feet from the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. The platform will be 4000 feet above the canyon floor, the Colorado river a distant sliver. To give you some perspective, Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building is only 1671 feet tall.

The “big hole in the ground” has always been a special place for me and have been there a total of 13 times (including a memorable four day backpacking trip deep in the canyon) but I’m not sure I’d want to walk on this platform.

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Posted by papi on December 07th 2006 in Nature, Outdoors
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In the past couple of weeks, two stories of being lost in the wilderness have captured headlines in the bay area. The first story was of a couple who went out for a late afternoon stroll at Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains, and ended up missing for 5 days, before being rescued. The official version of the story is that they went exploring down a waterfall, and lost their way. They ended up living in the hollow of a tree for the next few days till they were found by searchers. Castle Rock State Park used to be one of my favorite short hikes, for its views and fantastically shaped rock formations, and I know the area well. I find the official story scarcely credible, since the park itself is so small that if you keep walking in almost any direction, you will come out onto some road in a few hours, or at most a day. But then, this was the same park where a couple of years ago, they found a man who’d been living in the wild, holed out in a tent with a shotgun, farming marijuana, so I guess the park does have its secrets. The other little detail is that right next door is the Los Altos Gun Club, from where you can frequently hear the sound of gunshots being fired, a real annoyance when you’re out hiking. If you’re lost in the area, all you have to do is follow the sound. Maybe the club was closed during their adventure.

The other story was the tragic death of James Kim in the Oregon backwoods, after he and his family lost their way and were stranded near Grant’s Pass. Given that most of us hike and climb frequently, this is a situation which hits close to home. I’ve been lost in the mountains many times, and in bad weather, it’s quite easy to make a wrong turn. The choice that James Kim faced was a horrible one - follow conventional wisdom, stay with his family near the car, and possibly watch them die, or take the risk of hiking it out of there against even longer odds?

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Posted by papi on October 02nd 2006 in Africa, Nature, Outdoors, Raves, Travel
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Mt. Kilimanjaro… the very name is redolent of romance. Rising in splendid solitude from the vast dusty plains of East Africa, Kilimanjaro has since ancient times been a magnet for explorers and adventurers, and an inspiration for writers, artists and marketing departments. So naturally, when I recently heard of an old schoolmate of mine who’d settled in Tanzania, my thoughts turned immediately to Kilimanjaro. I hadn’t seen him in a long 18 years, but my school crowd has always been rather tight-knit, and it was no surprise to me when, in response to my letter, I received a warm welcome to visit him in Zanzibar and seek my summit attempt on Kili. Accordingly, I started my preparations - reacquainting myself with the works of Hemingway, climbing mountains, and so on.

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Posted by anupcs on August 09th 2006 in Outdoors
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1996 was the year that Mt Everest received the most press since Hillary and Norgay’s feats in the fifties. This was and still is the deadliest season in the mountain’s history, having claimed 11 lives. The cast of characters and their follies and heroism were well documented in film (the IMAX movie) and print (“Into Thin Air,” “The Climb”). Ten years after, history has repeated itself and 10 climbers perished on the deadly slopes of Everest. While we await the inevitable books (and at least one documentary), let’s take a look at the players in this year’s drama on the world’s highest mountain.
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Posted by anupcs on July 28th 2006 in Health & Fitness, Outdoors
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When out hiking in mountains, I normally tend to wear long sleeve shirts and trousers often inviting incredulous looks from the ignorant. It’s the sun, stupid, I want to yell out. Apart from the sun, appropriate clothing can also protect you from creepy-crawlies and poisonous plants. Though apparently not ticks.

This week, the WHO warned that about 60,000 people die annually from too much exposure to the sun. The majority of these are caused by skin cancer developed as a result of exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The effect of the UV rays are felt the most between 10am and 2pm which is when most hikers are out and about. If you are hiking in snowy areas, it’s all the more important to protect yourself as 80% of the light is reflected.

Like most people of darker skin tone, I also assumed until now, that I am safer from the sun than people with lighter skin tone. This myth has also been dispelled today by US researchers. While a darker skin does offer some protection from sunburn, it doesn’t protect you from melanoma. The pigment melanin present in dark skinned people, provides an SPF of 13. You need much more depending on where you are in the sun. A safer bet is to wear protective clothing especially if you are hiking.

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