Colorado Trip

hello to all! first off, one more "thank you" to everyone who has shown so much support for us on this endevour. it's now july 6th, only 22 days 'til we depart pittsburgh for africa. hard to believe we can now count the time in mere days!

preparations have been coming together for us (flights, shots, paperwork, fundraising, route options, and gathering gear are all behind us for the most part) and we are now concentrating on our physical training until we leave. brad, brian and i met in denver on the morning of june 25th and trained together in the altitude of the colorado mountains for a few days. it was a terrific trip! we were able to get out and hike in some foul weather to test some of our gear, work up some steep terrain, have a couple long days at altitude, negotiate some intense boulder fields, do some more night hiking, and most importantly work together as a team learning each others strengths and weaknesses. training at high altitude was great. of course it's a good workout. but it gave us the chance to have brad and brian, who live alot closer to sea level than i, to feel what affects the altitude would have on their bodies. both of them did really well with minimal side effects, and relatively quick acclimatization as breathing was noticably easier every day we were there. high in the mountains the scenery was beautiful, but once again the most spectacular thing i saw was the determination brad had to get through a particularly difficult stretch of boulders at about 13,000 feet! with large and small boulders jumbled together at angles that create gaps and holes in the rock that provides less than adequate footing on sometimes pivoting and sliding granite, it's a challenge for a fit climber who can SEE! after a long day to this point, brad worked his way through this section with no trouble. i guess slow and steady (and alot of intense concentration) does win the race! the trip was not without disappointment though. our night work left us all feeling abit unprepared. it was a more difficult situation than we had trained on to this point, but it pointed out to us some areas we need to adjust and work toward significant improvement.

in all, the trip to the colorado rockies was a great success. brian, brad and i feel much more prepared because of the trip and are now focusing on the 19,340 ft summit of kilimanjaro!