I'm baaaack !

I arrived back in Sydney last Thursday after 3 months o/s. I had the most amazing time. If you haven't been following my travels on my other blog, in brief I've:

- climbed Mera Peak (6460m)

(Everest is the large peak to my left)

and Island Peak (6189m)

in Nepal;

- ice climbed for the first time (and loved it!)

- spent 3 weeks travelling through Egypt


and Jordan


- seen the Red Sea (I was too sick to go in), snorkled in the Indian Ocean and floated in the Dead Sea


- climbed Mt Meru (4556m)


and Kilimanjaro (5895m)

in Tanzania,

- been on safari in Africa,

- experienced my first white Christmas, my first hockey game (that's ice hockey for those who don't speak Canadian) and experienced what -47 degrees feels like,


- gained 5kg in weight (yikes!),

amongst many other things.

The fun isn't over yet. In just over 2 weeks, I fly out again to Argentina to climb Aconcagua; at 6,962m it is the highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas. I am really nervous about this one. It will be, by far, the hardest thing I've attempted; not only due to the altitude but that it is a full expedition meaning that I have to carry loads of around 20kg-25kg which is hard at the best of times, never mind doing so at altitude.....

Unfortunately my training between treks was almost non-existant due to 2 colds/chest infections, one which required 2 courses of anti-biotics to kick so I am feeling decidedly underdone. But with only 2 & a bit weeks left, it's time to do some finetuning physically and (perhaps most importantly) mentally. Since arriving back on Thursday, I've been easing back into the training -

Fri: 2 hours hike at Glenbrook w/13.5kg pack (9.27km)

Sat: 45mins weights session (full body) + 45mins stepper interval session. Very tough session!

Sun: rest

Mon: 3.12 ride on M7 with TA - 67.45km - av.21k/h. My first time on the bike in almost 4 months! Was great to catch up with you, TA. Thanks!

After Aconcagua, my 2 main priorities are losing the 5kg I put on while I was o/s (*she blushes*) and to rehab my ankle & get running again. I haven't run since I stuffed my ankle back in September. It is ok (but not great) for the purposes of my hiking/trekking but it is far from 100%. But I'm not thinking about that right now. It's time to get my head & body ready for the next - and freaking high -adventure :-)