The People You Meet: Alpamayo Expedition Wrap Up...

Every return begins where you finish. The journey in its entirety,  however seamlessly straightforward, epically complicated, big or small is made more fulfilling and memorable by those people who you meet along the way - those who guide you, those with whom you share a smile, a laugh,a joke, a tear, an embrace, a lesson learned. There are journeys where these moments play out against a backdrop that is as spectacular and poignant...

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Huaraz: The mountains are calling and we must go...

Yesterday I found myself hurtling, knuckles white with fear and exhilaration, down a narrow dirt track in the shadow of some of the most stunning scenery that I've seen in a while... snow capped mountains stretching far into the valleys below, paths lined with pre-Incan ruins on a radiant blue-bird day. I was in Huaraz - a village that I'd long heard about for its friendly mountain feel and its reputation as the gateway to the Cordillera Blanca...

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Living Large in Lima...

'Stepping out of your comfort zone' is my personal definition of the word 'adventure'. Adventure means different things to different people because 'your comfort zone' is, by its very definition a personal boundary. On Thursday morning I found myself 'stepping out of my comfort zone' as I stepped on my flight to Lima, Peru...  For the first time in a long time I felt as though I was on a grand adventure -  stepping out of my comfort...

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"Oh the places you'll go...!" Next stop: Alpamayo, Peru!

You're off to great places, Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting,  So... get on your way..! -Dr. Seuss, Oh the Places You'll Go A few final thoughts as the count-down well and truly begins..! I've put my finely tuned project management skills into overdrive and my two bags are already parked at the front door waiting to whisked away on yet another this great adventure..! I have a number of different emotions and thoughts going...

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The People You Meet: The Excess Baggage Police

One of the critical people I’ve met since I started climbing is the Excess Baggage Police of most major (and minor) airlines. I have disturbing early childhood memories of my own parents panicking with an open, overstuffed suitcase in front of an Air Canada counter, demanding that my wide-eyed little brothers and I wear / eat / drink / sell the excess 5kgs that they were in danger of having to compensate for. Since that day, I decided that I...

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