By Beck on Saturday, September 15, 2007

Not a care in the world... one foot in front of the other was all i had to do...

By Beck on Friday, September 14, 2007

I am writing this from a school classroom in Huayllapa. It is definitely a new experience. Our tea ands dinner are made in and with water where we just watched the local village women wash their families´clothes and this is slightly upstream from where the chool toilets are! Ah, the joys! We set off quite early for our huge day – the San Antonio pass. It was a recovering Kelly, Marayka, Catherine, Zac, Gladys and me. The up was SO steep and incredibly tough. As I neared the top, about 5000m, it began to be five steps at a time with breaks in between. The last section seemed to go forever, and yet looking up at it, it wasn´t as intimidating as it had looked yesterday! The minute I saw the peaks, it was all worthwhile. The ... Read More »

By Beck on Thursday, September 13, 2007

Today was another assault and overwhelming of the senses. A dip in the hot springs before breakfast and a wash of my hair over the edge was so refreshing. Getting out was another story – the icy wind was a rude awakening. After breaky, we set off – Sara and Kel on horses, as they are still not well. It was all uphill today and the chilled wind blew straight into our faces as we battled the climb.
Up the second part of up we discovered a condor soaring and gliding its way above us in wide archs. It was e ... Read More »

By Beck on Wednesday, September 12, 2007

There´s us, the runs, lost gloves, aching backs or greasy hair struggling with the decision between a five hour “medio” day, or an eight hour, tougher one, and really, either is fine. And they do the whole thing, two packs, jeans, runners, laughing!

By Beck on Tuesday, September 11, 2007

“WE ARE IN THE HUAYUASH CIRCUIT IN The PERUVIAN ANDES!” I sort of have to keep reminding myself… We reached camp this afternoon and after setting up the others beds and our own, Sara and I had lunch before joining the others in the hot springs. They were amazing. My back feels renewed and the view was incredible. Jade gave the crew some swimming lessons ands a few of us were able to wash our hair and shave our legs!! This part really, was surreal. It started to hail, and we just sat there in the boiling he ... Read More »

By Beck on Monday, September 10, 2007

We were welcomed to the day with rain but by the time we´d had tea in our tents it had stopped. Alter breaky, the hail set in, so we wrapped ourselves in countless layers of plastic and other waterproof fixtures and set off.
“My toes is froze” took on a new meaning and there were whispered enquiries about frost bite! But we soldiered on and as the sleet turned to snow, it floated in diagonal sheets around us.
The pass was easier and somewhat less dramatic today. The path wound around and through the mountains. After four hours, the path led us to a cliff edge, revealing our first full view of the mountains.
We came across a nomadic family whose current home opened out onto the view below – a gia ... Read More »

By Beck on Saturday, September 08, 2007

It was an amazing bus trip to our first camp site – 4100m. We set up tents and had a beautiful dinner and Zac, our guide, took us for a walk to see the pass for the following day. Kel and I shared a tent. Slept pretty well and had no issues with altitude. Was quite surreal looking up at the mountains and realizing where we were and what we were about to do.

Next day
Reaching the pass, we were rewarded with the most amazing view of a valley that just opened up beneath us. We descended the mountain and traversed the paddocks , windy ands flat. Rounding a hill, a few houses came into view along wiht a few towering, snow covered peaks. We walked towards the them, until we came over a mountain ansd a lake ... Read More »

By Beck on Friday, September 07, 2007

After too many sunrises and sunsets for one day on the 2nd, we amade it Beunos Aires without a hiccup. Was an interesting 6 hours spent in transit though after confusions as to whether we were actually allowed OUT of the airport or not!! We eventually escaped though after a few dodgy taxi fare quotes, some misunderstanding about how long it would take us to reach the city and a lack of time before our next flight, we ended up paying a re-entry fee to simply sit in an outdoor area of a cafe that was attached to the airpor ... Read More »

By Beck on Sunday, August 26, 2007

Thanks so much for your comments! So much has happened since I last wrote. Card production, both filling orders and keeping stockists stocked has literally become a full time job. Training has been stepping up too. I can proudly say I am making significant progress – and I owe it all to the thousand steps in the beautiful Dandenongs, where most of my training has taken place. Thank you to all of my training buddies so far who spur me on, and the tales of fellow step climbers who share their training purposes – whethe ... Read More »

By Beck on Thursday, July 05, 2007

I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of Kathmandu’s generosity on Monday. Salomon fixed me up with my boots too. I’m nearly fully kitted out with only a few things left to get. I tested my new gear against the elements today by braving the rain and freezing winds of St Kilda beach.
Besides being the only person on the beach, questioning my sanity, feeling precious about getting sand on my new boots and smelling like a wet dog (my favourite old wool beanie doesn’t smell so good when made soggy by the rain) ... Read More »

By Beck on Sunday, June 17, 2007

Well, we are now well on the way and things are feeling much more real now that we have all been able to spend some time together. We were lucky enough to spend the first weekend of June together in Sydney. It was amazing to see the amount of work , the ideas and the situations that had brought our little group together. It really made me realise what ordinary individuals are capable of when they put their minds to it and realise what is possible. Having said that, there is a still lot to be done! I have been ... Read More »