The Big Apple, Letterman, Obama and U2

Obama was on Letterman on Monday. I think that’s pretty cool of a major world leader. I don’t remember Bush being on any popular show. If he was, the show wasn’t popular afterwards. Not only did Obama do Letterman, but Clinton did it the day after. Props to Letterman for bringing in the big wigs. So who would he get Wednesday? Well my brother, Pablo and myself actually got tickets to Wednesday’s taping as we happened to be in NYC at the time.

Some dude recruiting audience members for the show in Times Square offered us the free tickets but the condition was he couldn’t tell us what star was going to be on as guest. So we took the chance that they would continue their hot streak of bringing in major names in the world of politics and showed up at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway at 3pm for the taping.

To my complete amazement the major star interviewed by Letterman was… Simon Baker from CBS’s The Mentalist. Disappointing? Me thinks yes. I had never heard of the guy. No offence to him, but it seemed a pretty weak follow up to the two previous episodes. It was still pretty cool to see the theater and see the show. Mary J Blidge was the musical performer which was also decent. She has 6 Grammys. Not so bad.

After the show we took the bus from the Manhattan Port Authority Bus Terminal to Meadowlands New Jersey where we saw U2 with Muse at Giants Stadium. What a bunch of insanity that was. Because U2’s stage is a 360 degree stage this allows for the entire football stadium to be filled up with people while maintaing a view of the stage from all angles. 82 000 people filled Giant’s Stadium setting a new record for that venue. It was nuts. As usual the band didn’t disappoint mixing up new songs with classics and performing a show well worth the trip to see.

Here's a quick clip of the show, you can hear my brother signing in the background.

When the concert was over everyone tried to leave. All 82 000 of us. The Meadowlands parking lots, public transit systems and roads were a mess. Of course we had no idea which bus or train to take and waiting in line for them would take hours anyway. We thought the best option would be to walk around the area until we found an empty taxi. At one point my brother just started hitch hiking. A funny scene, my brother, exhausted, trying to hitch hike in grid lock on the New Jersey Turnpike. It took us almost 2 hours to find a taxi. We got back from the concert at 2am.

New York, what a town. I’m glad to actually finally write something about NYC as I have been there multiple times since I started this travel blog. It truly is the most famous city in the world and has never been boring on any of my trips there. I highly recommend going and spending some time there if you haven’t been or haven’t been lately.

Return to Bloggage!

It’s been a while since my last entry into this travel blog. Last thing I wrote about was climbing rock in tropical Malaysia in March. I have had a few trips since then and not really written anything. I will have to put some quick pics up for those trips soon. Now with another winter already in full force, my travels shift gears slightly from climbing in Malaysia to skiing in the Alps. 2 entries from Switzerland below.

Gornergratbahn: Up to the Matterhorn

Right now I am mid way over the North Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America. We’re exactly at that area where turning back either way would be almost impossible in case of emergency. I’m sure pilots have a name for this area, probably the “no-fuck-ups-zone” or something like that. At this point I’m feeling really good for having chosen skiing in Switzerland over skiing in the rockies. I can sum it all up with one word “MATTERHORN”.

The rockies are great. I love skiing there also. But they don’t have the Matterhorn. If you’ve been there and seen it, then you know what I mean. If you don’t know what it is, then you should Wikipedia it right now. Find out. I can’t explain it all here.

It wasn’t till I got on the Gornergratbahn that I really saw it. The Gornergratbahn is a COG railway that goes up from the town of Zermatt to the top of the mountain directly above it. It uses rack and pinion tracks to climb straight up it. But that’s not the cool part, you can find that anywhere in the Alps... the amazing part is that it passes directly in front of the Matterhorn. We rose up it’s neighbouring peak and as soon as we cleared the town and the trees, the full mountain became crisply visible.

It’s a site that’s impossible to forget. It’s not like any mountain in the world. You can’t mistake it. I don’t think that you need to be a mountaineer or rock climber to appreciate it either. Anyone would be in awe. I saw all these pictures of it before, and took a ton of pics while I was there... but I think there’s really nothing that can do justice to standing in its presence. Mark my words- See the Matterhorn up close... it’s worth the trip just for that.

Oh... and of course skiing. We were ripping right down 13 000 ft peaks with the Matterhorn as our backdrop. Powder runs, with the option of skiing down into Zermatt, Switzerland or Cervinia, Italy. You pick. If you’re reading this and you ski or climb, one word; “MATTERHORN”. GO!

In The Shadow of The Eiger

The one down fall to spending time in Switzerland is the price of eating and drinking. Opening a menu in a restaurant is like having the waiter hold your hands behind your back while a 500lb gorilla sacks you. Apart from that, it’s an amazing country. There’s ton’s of awesomeness packed into a small area.

About 2 years ago, I saw a movie on tv called the Eiger Sanction, starring Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood tries to climb this gnarly peak in the Swiss Alps, The Eiger, while being sanctioned to kill one of his climbing partners... but he doesn’t know which one... he has to figure it out on the mountain. It’s total B movie quality. But it still has good Clint lines. It was really the first I had heard of this deadly mountain, which I later realized had been made the subject of a number of books and movies.

When I got to Switzerland I was anxious to see just how massive the Eiger is. I was quite interested to find out that many of the neighbouring peaks and plenty of other mountains in the Swiss Alps are in fact higher than the Eiger. The fuss, it turns out, is not about its height, but more it’s shearness and overall unforgivingness.

In the Bernese Oberland there are Eiger Restaurants, Eiger Hotels, and even Eiger beauty salons. Everyone who lives around the area can point exactly where the Eiger is. I suppose some of this can be attributed to Clint, and the cult following that the Eiger Sanction has... but most of it is due to the fact that it’s a really gnarly climb. Around 700 have climbed the North Face and almost 70 have died on it.

It’s basically a 6000ft climbing wall. All vertical climbing to the summit. In German North Face is called Nordwand. The Eiger’s North Wall was given the nickname “Mordwand” or “Murder Wall” due to the death to climb ratio on it.

Strangely this ratio makes it more appealing to climbers. Desire to summit the North Wall boarders on obsession for serious climbers. As twisted as this seems, I must admit, while skiing directly in the shadow of the North Face, I myself, almost hit several trees while looking at possible routes up it. It’s almost hypnotic. One can’t dismiss the strange allure of the Eiger. It’s one to train for I guess.

Rock!!

We were at the Batu Caves, a large limestone rock formation just outside the city of Kuala Lumpur. The actual caves themselves hold a large hindu shrine, a huge tourist actraction in Malaysia. People come from all over the world to worship and bask in the holiness and all that stuff. Kinda neat, but fun for all of 20 minutes.

The real reason we went out to Batu Caves was to rock climb. There are over 200 sport climbing routes scattered around the crags, cliffs and walls nearby. A little more action then worshipping.

We were up in a cave on top of a cliff, something you would expect the Grinch to live in. I was 60 ft up the cave wall, trying to figure out a move that I was stuck on. I managed to reach up onto a hold with my foot and tried to squat my body up onto that ledge. The whole formation of rock that made up that foothold snapped off from the wall. I don't mean a small hold braking off, I mean a huge ass 80lbs section of rock crumbled away from beneath me.

I was fine. I managed to hang off the wall with my hands for a bit until I could find something else to brace my feet. The problem was... Mike was down below belaying me. The protocol for a climber when he drops a piece of rock is to immediatly yell ROCK! I was kind of late with this reaction. I mean... I yelled it... but the boulder was already 3/4 of the way to Mikes head.

Thankfully Mike had watched this whole fiasco unravel and with a quick reaction let go of the rope and jumped for his life. The rock smashed into the ground inches from him, and broke

into many pieces directly where he was standing. However, anyone who has ever rock climbed would know that when the belayer lets go of the rope it usually means your climber is up shit creek without a paddle.

Luckily Mike was using a special belay device that immediatly locks when you remove your hands from it. My paddle. So technically, even though Mike completely abandonned his post, I was never technically off belay. Had he been using another device it could have been a bad deal.

Disaster averted in the end. Not to dramatisize or over analyse, but had Mike reacted a split second later he would be dead. I'm pretty sure of it. Nothing like near death, to make you feel alive. Just ask Mike.

A small piece of what was.

Mystic Mountain, Missing Girl, Missed Opportunity

The whole point of going to Malaysia was to climb Gunung Tahan which is considered to be the hardest trek in South East Asia. Malaysia has tons more to offer of course, but that was our main goal. To climb the mountain in 4 days from the Northern entry point of Taman Nagara, the national park and rainforest in the Northern part of peninsular Malaysia.













After many flights, many taxis, many buses and other methods of transportation, we arrived at the base of the mountain and at the Northern park headquarters. It was early afternoon, we were prepped, we were stoked, we were anxious to start the 4 day expedition.

On February 8th a group of students from a Malaysian University were climbing Gunung Tahan and a girl disappeared. The rangers at Park headquarters told us that there was an ongoing search and rescue effort to find the girl and that no climbers were being permitted to access the mountain until it was over. All the mountain guides, rangers, and anyone who knew their way up the mountain were out looking. Their hopes were that even after 2 weeks the girl could possibly still turn up alive.

Our mountain climbing trek was over before it even started. It was a fucked up situation, cause as much as we wanted to feel bad for ourselves it was kind of overpowered by feelings of sympathy for a young freaked out college chick, who was lost in a gnarly forest covered mountain.

A lot of locals, guides and even rangers have an old style of thinking. Their belief is that the mountain is mystical, sacred and even haunted. More then once we heard the theories that the girl had been taken by spirits or was sacrificed to the mountain. They were interesting theories, but not something you really want to hear from people in charge of taking you up the mountain. This old style of thinking often gets compounded with Malaysia grass smoking and before you know it everything is “mystical”.

So we embarked on plan B. 4 days of Jungle trekking. Our bags were already packed… so all we needed to do was join a group and take the riverboat to the middle of the rainforest. So our sorrows of not being able to summit Tahan were promptly washed away by sweat and sucked away by leaches. It was good exercise, and an unforgettable experience in its own right.
























We got to live in harmony with the snakes and scorpions, sleep in a large cave, swim in the warm rainforest rivers, swing on vines and do all that stuff that can only be done in a lush South East Asian jungle. Kinda like being a soldier in Vietnam without the death, napalm, Vietcong and underground tunnels and all that.

On the day that we finished our trek we arrived at the bank of the river to meet our riverboat to take us out of the jungle. The boat driver told us that earlier that morning the missing girl had been found less than a kilometer away from where we were hiking. After 16 days of confusion she was found… weak, but alive. I guess the spirits spared her after all.

Escape to Jasper

Being in the world's largest shopping mall for 7 straight days was fun. However mentally, it only re-affirmed what I already knew... I am an outdoor person. Don't get me wrong, the West Ed Mall is a must see for anyone traveling to Edmonton for the first time. Lots of interesting shops, a great water park and bungee site, an aquarium like exhibit, tons of great restaurants, multiple movie theaters, gyms, and pretty much anything else you could imagine in a mall. But I'll be dammed if I'm gonna come to Alberta and not see the rocky mountains and breath the fresh air of the greatest national parks in Canada.

Ian and I took a day after the course and shot out to Jasper. What a good move. Even though the area has nowhere near the amount of snow coverage that the East has… the amazing scenery and sweet terrain makes up for it.

We only had a day, and were on rental gear, but we still gave it all we had. We took the chairs as high as they would go, and then hiked for 1 hour until we actually reached the summit of Marmot Basin. For 1 day... I was in heaven.

Check the video

Next week I am going in to get immunizations and shots for my next 2 trips. Asia and then Africa. More to come.