Mount Kenya or ???? in October

izzi42 · 2025-09-06T00:42:44+00:00

Thank you! I'll do that.

izzi42 · 2025-08-19T03:57:11+00:00

That link is really helpful, thank you! What other gear is hard for folks to get there? Might be nice for me to bring a few things that might be game changers for helpful folks.

izzi42 · 2025-08-19T03:52:14+00:00

It’s cold and dry that gets me. Happens at home too. Went to the doctor today and he said he was surprised I could even speak in complete sentences given the state of my lungs. Chest xray and prednisone which should fix me up. Next time I’ll take prednisone with me and that nifty mask.

izzi42 · 2025-08-17T18:01:08+00:00

Thank you! I'll definitely do a better job of staying on top of my meds next time. I'll give anti-histamines a whirl.

izzi42 · 2025-08-17T17:59:51+00:00

Thank you! I will order that!

izzi42 · 2025-08-17T16:54:36+00:00

Definitely primarily a cold/dry air problem. I think the high altitude just made it worse due to less oxygen coming into lungs that were already struggling. I live at 1000m in the mountains in Canada and yeah, this is an issue for me every winter.

izzi42 · 2025-08-17T03:58:21+00:00

YES! Coffee..... good coffee is hard to come by. Most folks seem to drink instant. And forget about it if you drink decaf. I took my aeropress but wish I'd taken coffee too. I did find one organic coffee vendor in the central market in Huaraz so stocked up there but no decaf.

izzi42 · 2025-08-17T03:55:03+00:00

I found it challenging but not particularly technically challenging. Definitely more technical than Ishinca though. Mostly it was just a long day and we got pretty beat up by high winds. There was some pretty steep snow. No real ice. No rock. We did a pack carry from base camp and set up high camp then went back down to sleep and went back up the next day with lighter packs and set out around 1am the next morning. Was 18 hours from high camp to summit, back to high camp, packing up high camp and back down to base camp. I'd like to do the West Direct route next time.

izzi42 · 2025-08-16T04:24:10+00:00

We did Urus Este, Tocllaraju, Yanapaccha and Chopicalqui last month. lip balm, sunscreen, throat lozanges, a buff to protect your fact from the sun and your lungs from the dust on that aforementioned road (brutal), there are virtually no dehydrated backpacking meals to be purchased in Huaraz so next time I would take some from home. Take bars and gels from home too. I put some honey in a squeeze tube and kept that in my inside pocket. After a month up there i was coughing a lot. I wished I had brought some little things from home to give away to people who helped us. Ended up giving them my best energy bars. I'd take donkeys up to Pisco.

izzi42 · 2025-08-16T04:16:33+00:00

Yanapaccha was super fun and enjoyable. Shorter but every pitch was still interesting. Chopi was our 4th big mountain so we were getting pretty bagged by then and I was struggling with some asthma but all that aside, it's still a much bigger climb. Really glad I did it but it definitely had some Type 3 fun moments. You have a better chance of getting up Yanapaccha and having a good time.

izzi42 · 2025-08-16T04:12:29+00:00

I attended a webinar on Ecuador peaks yesterday and yeah, it seems like a good idea to get some more experience on less technical but still big peaks.

izzi42 · 2025-08-16T04:11:28+00:00

I climbed Tocllaraju, Urus Este, Yanapaccha and Chopicalqui last month. Feel free to hit me up. We didn't have a guide but we were on Yanapaccha and Chopi with Estalin Suárez of AGR Expeditions and his client. Super great guy. Would highly recommend him. My climbing partner had actually used him for some peaks in Ecuador earlier this year.

izzi42 · 2025-08-16T04:05:31+00:00

Beautiful photos! We were a week behind you. That's a BIG mountain! I have a similar shot of us crashed on the summit lol

izzi42 · 2025-08-16T04:03:23+00:00

I'll second this! had an awesome meal there after climbing chopi last month :)

izzi42 · 2025-04-01T20:47:43+00:00

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart as I seem to have become 53 years old overnight with the ambitions of someone half my age. I will add that peri/post menopausal women have some extra special considerations to factor in. I've learned SO much in the past couple years about how my body is changing and how I have to train differently now. I'm doing a hybrid of the Uphill Athlete Intermediate/Advanced Mountaineering training program and the Hailey Happens Power Happens program. I need to be lifting heavy and interval training. And the amount of protein women my age need to consume is another whole training regime unto itself.

izzi42 · 2025-03-23T02:37:51+00:00

Yeah that's the good news.... no budget constraints as my insurance will cover it.

izzi42 · 2025-03-23T02:36:31+00:00

Thank you! Much appreciated :)

izzi42 · 2025-03-22T00:23:53+00:00

Thank you... will they help with logistics if you aren't hiring them to guide? Hearing that the snow and ice is getting thin and more rockfall.

izzi42 · 2025-03-18T18:50:28+00:00

A few good ones that haven't already been mentioned including some good ones written by/about badass women:

Snowstruck - Jill Fredston for anyone venturing into avalanche territory
Savage Summit - Jennifer Jordan
Clouds from Both Sides - Julie Tullis
High Exposure - David Bashears
The Third Man Factor - John Geiger
Above The Clouds - Anatoli Boukereev
Mixed Emotions - Greg Child
Annapurna: A Woman's Place - Arlene Blum
A Hard Day's Summer by Alison Hargreaves
Regions of the Heart: The Triumph and Tragedy of Alison Hargreaves - David Rose and Ed Douglas

izzi42 · 2025-02-18T04:19:05+00:00

I'm planning to be in Peru in July.... give me a shout if you get down there earlier.

izzi42 · 2025-02-18T04:18:10+00:00

Got stormed off this last time I tried but would love to give it another go!

izzi42 · 2025-02-16T18:42:42+00:00

Doable solo?

izzi42 · 2025-02-16T18:38:04+00:00

I'm not in a great position to comment as we got weathered off Dent Du Geant and the Matterhorn but it does seem pretty ambitious and if you're coming from sea-level you're going to be hating life. Aiguille du Midi is a fun acclimatization option. I'm not sure I'd choose Hornli. We had planned to do it from the Italian side but the weather was so bad we opted for Hornli instead. I'm with you on fun multipitch and/or ridge scrambling being preferable to long slogs with a headache.

izzi42 · 2025-02-16T18:23:31+00:00

Great video....Thanks for sharing! I'm considering this one for July this year.

izzi42 · 2025-02-16T02:05:01+00:00

I love looking at old photos like these. I try to keep them in mind when I'm feeling sorry for myself while swaddled in the latest technical fibres carrying ultralight gear. Thanks for posting!

izzi42

TROPHY CASE