Climb Against the Odds 2014

A place to share the personal journal of my preparation as a climb team member of the Breast Cancer Fund's 2014 CLIMB AGAINST THE ODDS and to help spread the mission of Breast Cancer PREVENTION and EDUCATION. This will be my very first attempt at climbing a 14er. I doubt it will be my last. I was diagnosed with Stage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) at the age of 39 in June 2010. I want to share some things I learned as a breast cancer survivor. Feel free to ask me anything using the link below.

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Please consider checking out my friend Rob's link, and learn more about The Breast Cancer Fund's efforts to lead the way toward cancer PREVENTION. 

This will be Rob's SECOND climb with the BCF.  His story is beyond inspiring!  I'm so proud to have climbed with him during our first Climb Against the Odds in June 2014.  Rob was so prepared, he even climbed Mt. Shasta TWICE that week.  He's training hard to once again summit Mt. Shasta for his Mom. who is a four-year survivor of breast cancer.  Way to go Momma A!

Many more mountains for us to climb in making strides toward giving our children a fighting chance against a disease that will claim too many.  We CAN do something to change that.  We have the knowledge, and the Breast Cancer Fund is challenging the science to give us a better understanding of our risks and prevention.  

I continue to support the BCF, and Rob, because of my own experience with the team and the effort.  It's a great organization, and the people are EXTRAORDINARY.  The experience:  well, I encourage you to try it for yourself.  I'm thinking about doing New England Peaks for Prevention this fall.

Happy Trails to Rob as he trains for the next Shasta summit in June 2015!

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Stevie Nicks - Landslide

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After I returned to Shasta, life took a sudden turn.  I was so grateful that my mom was there to follow my first Climb Against the Odds with The Breast Cancer Fund.  Follow the link to read our story.

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The work continues in memory of my mother Linda, pictured above with me and her husband and my father, Robert, as I returned from a successful summit attempt of Mt. Shasta on June 19, 2014.  

http://prevention.breastcancerfund.org/site/TR?px=1178805&fr_id=1320&pg=personal#.VAEskV0W7m8.facebook

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Time

There's something about events like this, or events like getting cancer, that change your perception of time.  Everything goes fast then slow, as if in slow motion.  You become acutely aware of everything.

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Breast Cancer Fund Flickr photo stream

Explore Breast Cancer Fund's photostream on Flickr. This user has 12919 photos on Flickr.

Loved getting to know the 2014 Climb Against the Odds team on Mt. Shasta. 

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didn't have quite as much snow at the West Face of Mt. Shasta this year...but it was still amazing...Climb Against the Odds and Shasta Mountain Guides:  amazing.  Photo via Shasta Mountain Guides.  See their blog for current conditions. 

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Great looking team practicing for our first team photo shoot at Mt. Shasta Resort. That was this morning and it feels like ages ago. All the months of preparation and still more prep today. We are full of so many emotions but it's clear everyone is so excited. So grateful to be among such wonderful people supporting The Breast Cancer Fund and the mission of Prevention!

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SOCIAL MEDIA INFO for CLIMB AGAINST THE ODDS 2014!

Making my way from Ohio to Mt. Shasta today!

If you are interested in following our summit attempt, which will begin at the Bunny Flat trailhead June 17:

BLOG: We’ll post ongoing coverage of the climb from now until next Thursday so you can always stay up-to-date at www.insideprevention.org. We’re also featuring individual climber stories here.

PHOTOS: We’ll regularly post photos to our Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcf/  Feel free to use any of those photos on social media or on your blog. Just please attribute to the photographer if someone is listed in the credits on Flickr.

FACEBOOK/TWITTER: We’ll also offer regular updates, posts and multimedia  to Facebook and Twitter.

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Lake Siskiyou and Mount Shasta, California © kevin mcneal

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What a view!  This is why we climb, too.  

Lucky us, our rooms while we’re not making our summit attempt will be right on the banks of the Lake. I am pretty sure I’m gonna fall down on the ground when I see all of this in person.

I don’t even know what to write at this point.  I’m so beyond words.  ;)

No time for words.  Still in the midst of preparing and packing.  So much to do, so many feelings, so many great people.  And this!

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Cathy Ann's Favorite Poem

Today, the Climb Against the Odds team received a very special email from our team trainer extraordinaire.  Cathy Ann Taylor has been leading the Climb team over the last 15 years, and since this event started, and has been with each and every team, guiding us each step of the way.  She also travels all over the world with the Breast Cancer Fund's Sacred Treks. Her dedication to the Breast Cancer Fund is amazing.  Talk about inspiration.

The email today was one of many "Cat" has sent out to the team over the last many months, encouraging all of us and helping us to prepare mentally and physically for the Climb.  In today's email, she wrote at length about the history of Mt. Shasta, and holding mountains as sacred places.  And then she shared a most wonderful poem by Nanao Sakaki:

Why climb a mountain?

Look! a mountain there.

I don't climb mountain.

Mountain climbs me.

Mountain is myself.

I climb on myself.

There is no mountain

nor myself.

Something

moves up and down

in the air.

Please check out Cattara's website: 

www.cattara.com

Cattara

Adventures with Insight

Sausalito, CA 94966

Link to Sacred Treks on the Breast Cancer Fund's website.  Trekking the Georgian Caucasus this July.

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/events/find-an-event/sacred-treks-georgian-caucasus.html

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FOUR MORE YEARS!!

Four years ago, at about 3:15pm, I stepped out of a meeting at work to take a call that changed my life forever.  The radiologist called to tell me I had IDC (invasive ductal carcinoma).  Breast cancer.  I'll never forget that day because it was also a time when I learned:  support is everything. This morning, I remember the friends that helped me to gather my things as I left work, reeling from the news.  I can't wait to see them today!

I remember getting home and telling my boyfriend, and then calling my parents.  I remember and reflect on where I've been, and what a long road it's been.  I'm happy to be on it still.

It's hard to know what the exact date of my cancer anti-versary.  I think every day is a day to celebrate survivorship of this wretched dis-ease.  And every day is most certainly a day to be grateful for all of the people that have provided their unerring support since then.  You put your life in so many hands.  

FOUR MORE YEARS!!  Namaste.

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One of the Ten Essentials:  Fuel aka FOOD!  

This is about eight pounds of the food I will be packing for my trip. Based on Eberle's chapters on Multiday Endurance Events and High Altitude, here are my crude calculations on the caloric needs of a 125-pound (57kg) person.  

30-35 calories/hour for working at altitudes of 10,000 feet.  For our two-day summit attempt this means I need to pack at least 7500 calories, and eat about 250 calories per hour if I use sixteen hours as the amount of time I have to consume...that said, it will obviously be a challenge.  At altitude, appetites wane.  It's imperative to start fueling almost immediately, and carb loading in the days before our climb will be part of the plan.  Quick energy is important, so I'm also packing a dehydrated coconut water powder, which will be mixed with molasses, sea salt, and honey to help with liquid carbs and electrolytes.

"Eat before you're hungry, and drink before you're thirsty" will be another mantra as we head up Mt. Shasta. 

As a gluten-free person, I've experimented with and tried a variety of items during my training.  There are many awesome options!  The spread I have is mostly organic, all gluten-free, and is a mixture of flavors.  I'll be bringing along a prepared rice and rice ramen to augment our evening meals. 

I will have other events to attend, so not all of this will be consumed in two days, but as I tallied my inventory, it has become obvious that moving food into my body was going to be a full-time job.  Also, I'm hoping to share some of my fuel with my teammates.  It's always fun to share!

Final thought on this:  this is an enormous amount of packaged foods which are not typically part of my repertoire for a variety of reasons.  That said, I am tremendously grateful to have the resources to carry and consume high quality, organic nutrition on the mountain.  Of course, every single wrapper is coming back with me as part of the Leave No Trace principles.  

For more information on LNT:  

https://lnt.org/learn/7-principles 

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The New Ten Essentials—A Systems Approach

Today is a big packing day.  Priority number one:  the Ten Essentials.

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Notes on High Altitude Nutrition for Endurance

Metabolic rate jumps about 30% at altitude, so aim to ingest 30-35 calories per pound...60% carbs...but get calories any way you can, including straight fat (pass the butter please). Bring alternatives to sweeter foods. Eat early, eat often, eat first at every rest break. Over 10,000 ft, need about 4 L of water per day. Refuel promptly at recovery.

Hm. Sounds like trying to get through chemo.

Source: Endurance Sports Nutrition--3rd Ed. --Suzanne Girard Eberle.

http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/endurance-sports-nutrition-3rd-edition

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Mt Shasta Postcard (by DM Weber)

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When I first caught sight of it I was 50 miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since."

John Muir