European Wrap-up

Photo: Stelian Pavalache

Aside from all the new friends made, experience gained from going to all the World Competitions (including Rabenstein), and finding a way home through winter storms and airport closures, I sit down with a Starbucks at the airport and wonder "what just happened?" The whole trip flashed right by and I'm a month and a half older and already making plans for the remainder of the winter. Skiing is on the docket and I have 3 more avalanche courses to teach at Red Mountain Pass and in NM. In April, I'm gearing up for Alaska once again, this time for the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam.

Here's some great images from Lukaz:

http://lwimages.ifp3.com/root/lwimages/iphoto/main2.cfm

Although the Ice World Ice Climbing Competitions remind me a lot of a traveling circus in many ways, it was enthralling to see so many new places, meet great people, and learn new skills. It's a highly demanding circuit. Those who wish to compete in only one or two competitions get a taste of the tour, but I feel that having stayed and competed in a11 of the competitions including both difficulty and speed has given me some insight on the training and mandates of the style of climbing necessary to be competitive in that venue. Most of the time it's a "downer" for the athletes since only one person can win. But even then, the winner knows that they could have done better. It's always that way. We know we can push ourselves, but its the times when we exceed our own expectations that we as athletes revel in the moment. That's the time when it all comes together and the stars align and our performance becomes memorable. We live for those times and anticipate their existence in our future. Experiencing a moment like this is what keeps us going.

I'm already building my own training facility to work on this and hope that I can interest some other good mixed ice climbers to train hard and become a competitor. The UIAA will be working with the Olympic Committee and will hopefully turn this into an Olympic event.

As it stands, there will be 5 World Cups next year. The sport is growing and there is interest in holding a World Cup in the USA. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me. Sponsors, athletes, and others interested in making this happen should join forces. The North Americans will need to train hard if we are to be competitive.

In the meantime, I'm glad to be back home in NM and am looking forward to getting in some more skiing, climbing, and getting back to feeling "normal" in this time zone for a while. I'll be back in school this semester as well and can't wait to start using the thinking side of my brain for a while. I'm hoping to get some good research going with the Exercise Science department.

I'll have to go through all the photos that Justin compiled while we were on the trip. I don't think I've seen many of them, we just shot first and will look later.

Snow on !