Visas

We received our visas in the mail this week. We needed one visa for each country we are visiting in Africa (Kenya and Tanzania). To get a visa, we needed to mail our passports to the Kenyan and Tanzanian embassies in Washington, DC, and allow one month for each of them to approve our applications and return our passports.

Due to time constraints, and to ensure everything went through OK, we hired a visa expediting service, in late November.

We had to very carefully fill out our applications for each visa. We both are legibility-challenged, so it took some time. Some of the questions just aren't understandable at first take either. I went in to the Visa service with our carefully filled out, somewhat legible forms, and they reviewed them and said we had to redo one of them. Turns out the Tanzanian embassy no longer accepts signatures in black ink, they must be signed in blue ink.

So we re-did them, sent them in. Waited and waited, and they finally arrived via fedex, all ready to go. Check.

Tiger Mt, One More Time

Our list of potential hikes during late December are incredibly unimaginative, but we really don’t have many choices. A lot of snow fell over the holidays, which is very rare here at sea level. Up in the mountains, a whole lot of snow in a short period of time leads to very unstable snow conditions. Extreme avalanche conditions were listed for most areas above 3,000 ft.

So, we hiked Tiger Mt. again. Just Doreen and me today, Lucy had to stay home because we had plans to do Big City things after our hike. But, it really wasn’t the same old hike. This was a winter hike that we had to gear up for. He have several pieces of equipment that needed testing, and these were the perfect conditions to try them out. Winter gear- check; hard shell parkas- check; gaiters – check; trekking poles- check; crampons- oh crap! They were laid out last night to bring, along with the snowshoes. Where are they??

Oh yeah, we decided last minute that we wouldn’t need snowshoes because this trail was likely to be well trampled. The crampons must have been under the snowshoes back at home. So, onward we slogged. We hit snow and ice in no time. With no crampons, it was a bit difficult to get along, but with the poles, we actually got along just fine, and we felt ready for any giant snowy volcano out there.

Tiger Mt. again

Lucy and I assaulted Tiger Mt. again today. This time for good measure, I loaded up with my usual load, plus an additional 4 liters of water. Training.

Lucy had her usual outfitting. Funny thing is, in the summer when we did this hike she had to throw herself on the ground several times and pant for a while because the heat was too much for her. On this hike, we encountered snow at about 2,000 ft. Lucy was in her own little heaven.

We don't know what kind of dog she is, but I think she is part Bernese Mt dog and part bear. She has the thickest, widest coat. The rescue place where we got her from called her a Heinz 57 variety dog. That's really funny to me because everyone knows that the breed varieties have to be divisible by a factor of four after one generation.

Me? I had a great hike, and when I got to the top I poured out 4 liters of extra water and felt like I was moon walking all the way down with all that weight missing.

Planning and Training for the Climb

Training to climb Kilimanjaro is more than hiking and climbing mountains. It just isn't feasible to do get out to hike more than one or two days a week. My training in general has been to take daily walks (at least 5 days a week for a half hour to an hour) with the dogs.

My first goal is to work out so that my heart rate is in the high end of my target heart rate zone for about an hour at a time (elliptical trainer or similar). Second, work on long term workouts where the heart rate is elevated for several hours at at time (hiking and climbing). Third, strengthening (weights).

I joined the local athletic club to get some time on cardio machines and weights. The club has elliptical trainers, stair masters (horrible little instruments), and treadmills. Also a weight room and a pool.

Finally, mental training and motivation. I set up a training and planning center in a corner of our kitchen. There's a couple of white boards, photos of Kilimanjaro, and a calendar. We keep our constantly-changing equipment lists, deadlines, training records, vaccination schedules, and to-do lists on the white boards. In addition, we each carry around a packing list that we can write lists of equipment and other needs on. This month we are meeting weekly to discuss what we got done the week before and what needs to get done the next week.

Tiger Mountain

Tiger Mountain is a very accessible mountain located 45 minutes east of Seattle. It is one of my staple hikes. I have climbed it several times because it can be done in less than three hours, and it is straight up so it is a really good work out. Many people train on this mountain by running up and down it daily. I prefer to slog my way up with a big heavy pack.

Today was a training hike for me and trusty Lucy. Lucy had the appropriate outfit and gear for the occasion (dog suit, long tongue). I had to pile on a few layers, lace up the boots, fill my pack with things I might want or need, and bring lots of water.

Tiger routinely takes about a 1.25 hour to climb and about 1 hour to descend. On top you might get treated to a nice little bald top view of Seattle and Puget Sound, and a glorious view of Mt. Rainier to the south. But most of the time, it is socked in. Today was no exception to that. Anyway, I felt good getting out and hiking.