Reflecting
Over the past week, I did a successful guided ascent up a few peaks in upstate New York, snowshoeing parts and using crampons/axe for others. We intended to skin up, but there was sadly not consistent enough snow. A highlight was glissading (sledding on your ass) down a snowfield faaaaast; down what took us hours to climb up in a few minutes, using ice axes as rudders and, in theory, brakes if necessary. Fitness, skills and gear held up for a tactical victory over gravity. Then I did a multi-day ice climbing adventure. It was fun, challenging, and potentially consequential. I climbed until my calves, triceps, and hands gave out. More seasoned ice climbers would have lasted longer, but they know how to be as delicate as possible with pressure on ice tools. I still death grip a bit when I get really high up.
Ice is different than rock. Falls are the cost of doing business on rock. I whip a few times per day on rock. I never want to fall on ice. My feet have 34 blades, my hands have three (two tools with an adze on the back of one, hammer on the back of the other), and my waist has a skirt of spikey screws). If you whip, it would be suboptimal. So one gets pretty precise with movement. But you also have to be aggressive. You can’t peck at the ice, but instead need to swing deliberately. You kick your crampons into the ice in a perpendicular kick, both feet roughly parallel. Then you swing your tools, but this time not parallel. Ice breaks off in “dinner plates” or chunks such that it is important to have one of two tools remain fixed to avoid excess drama. Then you just keep going. At one relatively high point, my tool punctured through the ice to the still liquid waterfall beneath, shooting water down my tool, down my sleeve to my armpit. Cold cold water. It was a moment when you question your choices but have to just keep going. None of this is scary in the moment because you are too busy going through what the guides train you to do.
The most difficult balancing act is to make sure that your tools go in far enough but not so far that you break off the entire thing you’re climbing on. This is particularly relevant for freestanding waterfalls. They also present a bit of a safety paradox – when do you screw in? Do you screw in? Once you get confident in your crampons and tool placement, you probably won’t fall. So you can go decently long distances between screws, often upward of 50-60 feet. But once the screws are in, then you’re committed to that section of ice. If you get past it but are screwed in and it cracks off, then like it or not (probably not) you’re revisiting that ice at high speed. So it is a brainer. As Prof. Thomas Sowell says,
There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.
In this case, each climber needs to assess how much he trusts himself versus how much he trusts that ice and which one he wants to place a big bet on.
Looking at mortality stats for the developed world in the 21st century, you can see how concentrated risks are to cancer, heart disease, and car crashes. If you can optimize your life to avoid just those three, you can radically increase you life expectancy. The equivalent three priorities for the backcountry are to not die from hypothermia, dehydration, or head trauma. Bring water, a snack for warmth as well as a heavy belay jacket and mittens, and keep your helmet on anywhere near ice or rock. The most dangerous spots feel dangerous but the vicinity feels safe while hiding many of the same risks. If those three don’t kill you, you can probably survive long enough for help to arrive.
Training
5 AM tomorrow morning, it will be time for the second week of the CrossFit Open:
Then my next run:
Fueling
I mostly eat red meat but bodybuilders eat chicken so I tried my hand at prepping some chicken breasts from Pat LaFrieda. Not my #1 favorite type of meat but lean and pretty tasty. LaFrieda is delivered fresh to my door and has never disappointed me. Oh and Pat introduced me to Maldon salt, which makes meat taste better. My running club friends tend to take salt tablets on endurance runs, but I prefer to just put some sea salt flakes on a steak.
My current favorite snack is a big box of Kishu mandarins, Page tangerines, and Fuerte avocados with a few Bearss limes from Churchill Orchard. They just sold out but I recommend their email list; if you want anything, especially their annual haul of Kishus, you have to order within minutes of getting an email.
And here’s my rations for the coming week:
Supplementing
I was away for the past four days and decided to take no supplements with me. I didn’t miss them and felt more reactive to them upon my return. In particular, I wanted no stimulants of any kind in my system ice climbing which required more calm than energy.
Measuring
Wow are ice climbers lean. Study and wiry limbs but zero extra weight. I’m at 191 in my latest InBody weigh in and probably had 40-50 pounds on climbers my same height.
Recovering
While it was a heavily “active” active recovery, it was probably good to be away from the gym for a few days. I slipped in a workout Saturday then was away Sunday through Tuesday. I was bursting to get back in Wednesday morning and cranked on the ski erg and assault bike until my lungs bled and my mouth tasted like iron.
Closing
Thanks for reading. Here’s what else you’ve been reading (you have good taste including in newsletters by my son, business partner, and friend):
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Chicken thighs >>>>> breasts. Surprisingly close macro wise for the additional taste
But duck trumps all. Highly recommend switching it in for chicken (we think the chicken is the bodybuilder go to solely because most don't make a ton of $ and chicken is a lot cheaper). Its worth the extra gram of fat for the significantly better taste - we will choose duck over even a good steak.