One definition offast and light: Colin Haley simu soloing at this point and about to start simu climbing.
photo courtey of Colin Haley, http://colinhaley.blogspot.com/.Jack aint exactly normalhimself (just look at his feet and is past resume in the mtns and you'll understand that statement) so commentslike that stand out in a conversation.
Anyway I digress.
These is so much "bull shit" to fast and light. You aint going to go fast if you aren't going light. More to the point and more important to me personally isyou aren't going to be going fast if you are too cold. But no way in hell will you go fast if you are too hot.
"Say what? What are you talking about now Dane? Light? Fast? Cold? Hot?"
Here is my thought on it. To go fast you have to go light. To stay warm you have to keep moving. If the climbing is too hard for your skill set or too slow because of yourcomfort level the idea of fast and light hits the ZERO fun button pretty quickly.
To climb fast and light both climbers obviously have to climb quickly. In the mtns, rock, ice and mixed...the secondneeds to be half the time of the leader. That takes some effort generally and you have to want it. Better yet simu clim or simu solo. Which is why I pay so much attention to my umbilicals.
To climb fast you can't over dress, but neither can you afford to get really chilled.Add too many clothes and you can't climb in them or over heat instantly when you do start climbing.
Cold will numb the body given enough time, but worse yet it will numb the mind if you allow it to.
And I have allowed it.
Pushing the conditions (climbing in lots of new snow) made several of our recent climbs really slow. Really slow. Seldom have I been so uncomfortable in the mountains, slow. To stay warm atthe belays in the shade at 12K feet in -20 temps took some effort. It only takes one of those trips to encourage you to take enough clothes the nexttime. Having your core get chilled and shiveringon belays and then not being able to generate enough heat to warm up on lead or while following can be mentally and physically disabling.
For an old fat guy I pride myself on the speed at which I can climb technical ground and the lwt weight clothing systems I choose to do so in. But to climb fast and dress lightI have to be able to closely monitor and controlmy body core temperature. Which means I have to be able to climb quickly and spend little time on the belays.
Terrain, conditions and the team'sskills will define the speed at which you climb. The idea is to hit the perfect balance between those three and your gear selection.
Here is a good comparison:
I am wearinga Atom SV plus anAtom Lt and likely two lwt hoodies under that combo, with NWA salopettes and two pair of longs under them. It took that to stay warm at the belays. The SV would come off mid pitch if we belayedand was in the pack when we climbed together. Even with just an Atom LT on as an outer garment climbing together I was too warm. But if I had stopped for any length of time I would have chilled my core.
Better answer? We should have simu climbed the entire routetogether (which would have required a stronger and/or more skilled team)and I should have had a lighter outer shell available (my poor gear choice).
For this one I am usinga Gortex hybrid shell jacket, a lwt Merino wool sweater and a pair of Gamma LT pants with no longs. If I had stopped or had to belay....no question I would have chilled my core in a very short amount of time. Better answer? One pair of longs would have made this a much more comfortable (mentally) combination. Physically, for this climb, this day it was a perfect combo for soloing. But it was also very obvious to me I didn't want to stop for long either.
I'm still learning. And the best lessons are still painful. But every lesson makes the game easier in the long run.
It kept following me around, so finally I took a picture.
When describing what we like or dislike about riding a particular bike, we speak of that bicycle's "ride quality". But what exactly is that? In simple terms, it's how a bicycle feels to ride. Is it comfortable? how does it feel over bumps? how does it accelerate? how does it behave when turning corners? how does it feel when loaded? At least to some extent, all of the descriptions we provide under the umbrella of "ride quality" are subjective. And although there are objective, technical factors underlying the subjective experiences, the relationship between these factors is so complex and so sensitive to even the most minuscule variations, that translating sensations into explanations can be tricky.
This is especially true of my Royal H. mixte. Its ride quality intrigues me, because it is like nothing I have experienced before. For one thing, the frame feels oddly soft and springy. Some may suggest it's the tires, but no - the sensation is from the actual metal. It's like riding a bike carved out of a cloud, and the feeling is the exact opposite of the vintage Motobecane I used to own - whose frame felt "painful" and "hard". The other mysterious aspect of the Royal H., is the extent to which it likes to keep its line of travel. You can launch this bicycle across a room without a rider, and it will go straight. When I turn a corner, it goes at the exact trajectory I want it to go. I have never experienced anything quite like it. I know that Bryan (the framebuilder behind Royal H.) chose a delightfully eccentric combination of tubing specifically to combat the discomfort issues I was having with my vintage mixte, and that he built the bicycle with neutral trail so that it would feel stable. But is it really as simple as that? I have ridden other bicycles with good tubing and neutral trail, and they did not handle quite like this. So I prefer to attribute it to magic.
Being an annoying academic by training, I like to analyse everything until I understand it. But sometimes the things we feel are beyond the sum of their parts - things like love, happiness, ennui, longing ...and ride quality.
Yesterday's blizzard delivered even heavier snowfall than the first one we had, but our neighbourhood was a lot more functional and lively this time.
The Co-Habitant cycled to work as usual, but I set off on foot. Upon reaching the main road, I was surprised to see many other pedestrians trekking along it. There are some small grocery stores and restaurants along this street, so the trekkers must have been heading to and from these establishments.
This particular place of business was especially popular!
Lots of bikes buried in the snow, but I saw only two on the roads.
Mountain bikes are useful in these conditions - though the Co-Habitant says his Pashley handled fine as well. Apparently people photographed and videotaped him as he cycled to work.
Given the conditions outdoors, I was truly impressed with the relative normality of everything.Many businesses and institutions were open, people were out and about, and fewer things were cancelled than last time.In the morning, the electricity went out on our street for a few minutes, but then came right back on. And the lock on the outside door was frozen when I came home, so I had to work on it for a while before I could fit the key in. But other than that, we had no blizzard-related disturbances.
It is fascinating to me, that after only a few weeks of heavy snowfall my neighbourhood has already adapted to the new circumstances and normalised them - human beings are resilient! The atmosphere felt relaxed and not at all apocalyptic; it was a functional blizzard. And if this sort of thing continues, I will have to reconsider snow tires: Even the plowed parts of the roads were covered with at least a thin layer of snow. Turning the bike lanes into ski lanes would also work for me, but somehow I don't see that happening quite yet.
