Thursday, August 20, 2009

Leaving

Author : Steve Adamson

How many times have I been in this situation, sitting at an airport waiting for a plane to arrive? Peter (my son) and I are waiting to see if our plane will be able to land given that it is very foggy.

We are hoping to fly to Toronto
and then onto Los Angeles. We plan to climb in the High Sierras for a week and then onto Yosemite for a week.

Back to my first question, I think the number of times I have been sitting, waiting at an airport hundreds of times. This is tough part of any trip. We have the apprehension of starting a new trip; Will we lose our baggage, will we make the connection, will the weather be good or bad, so many questions waiting to be a
nswered.

Peter is now 17 years old, and climbing much harder than me. We are hoping to climb long routes in the High Sierras. 1000' 5.8's that top out at 14,000'. We will definitely feel the altitude, but the climbing difficulty should not be a problem. Peter just red pointed a 5.13 the other day, and I have climbed many mountain routes.

We are hoping to try the Nose route on El Cap in Yosemite. This is a 3000' route that will take 4 days to climb. This route should be more of a challenge, especially if the weather is hot. We will be hauling 8 gallons of water up the route, along with sleeping bags and climbing gear.

10 minutes until the plane is scheduled to land. If it can
land, then it will be no problem for it to take off again. Here's hoping.

The past year has been a good one for climbing trips. At christmas 2008 Darlene, Jon, PJ, and I went to Las Vegas and climbed at Red Rocks.

Then at March break 2008 we flew to Joshua Tree.

Then in June 2008 PJ and I took my Mum and Dad to Yosemite. We climbed and hiked while Mum and Dad explored.

Then for March break 2009 Jon, Pj, myself, and 18 others went back to Joshua Tree.

-5 mintues till the plane arrives!

These trips were possible because I was working 2 jobs. 1 at Pt. Lepreau nuclear plant, and 1 at the community college. The extra income paid for the trips. However, I am now back to 1 job (at the college) so this may be the last trip for a while, especially considering that Peter is going to UNB in the fall.

For the nose route we have 2 haul bags, 1 large and 1 small.

-The plane landed, so it looks good for getting out to Toronto.

-Toronto Airport. We made it this far. Saw our bags at customs, so hopefully they will make it to L.A. We split the gear between the bags so that we would not be screwed if one of them does not make it.Starting out

No comments:

Post a Comment